User:Pburka/Jarmila Halbrštátová

Jarmila Halbrštátová (April 7, 1924 – December 2, 2020) was a Czech retired Colonel and one of the last female veterans of the Second World War. She was born in Ústí nad Orlicí, Czechoslovakia. During the war, Halbrštátová played a significant role in the Czechoslovak army corps.

At the age of seventeen, Halbrštátová was arrested by the Soviet authorities in 1941 after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. She had been living in the town of Shakhty in the Rostov region of the Soviet Union with her family, who were not holders of passports issued by the authorities of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. She was subsequently detained in internment camps in Rostov, Moscow, Novgorod, and Oranka. Her final internment destination was a Gulag camp in Aktyubinsk. In 1942, she was released from internment and joined the Czechoslovak army corps in the town of Buzuluk on June 16.

Halbrštátová received training as a medic and was deployed to the battle for the town of Sokolovo in 1943 as a member of the 1st Czechoslovak Field Battalion and the 1st Company of Otakar Jaroš. Later, she underwent training as a radio operator and participated in battles in Kiev, Bílá Cerkev, Zaškov, and right-bank Ukraine. Following the Volhynian operations, the Czechs were integrated into the newly formed 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps. Halbrštátová remained in the 1st Brigade and saw action in the fighting around Machnówka and the Carpathian-Dukla operation.

After the war, Halbrštátová completed pilot training and worked as an instructor of glider-plane flying in the 3rd aerial area in Brno until 1946. She was subsequently demobilized and found employment as an accountant.

Jarmila Halbrštátová passed away on December 2, 2020, at the age of 96. In recognition of her bravery, she was awarded a medal for bravery by President Miloš Zeman in the year prior to her death.