Karel Klapálek

Karel Klapálek, CBE, DSO (May 25, 1893 – November 18, 1984) was a general of the Czechoslovak army and a member of the Czech Legion in Russia. He was decorated with numerous national honours.

Klapálek was born in the town of Nové Město nad Metují, Austria-Hungary. His father, who worked at the railway, died when Karel was 8. His mother was left alone with five children. The family was very poor. Karel went to primary school in the town of Kralupy and Vltavou and then he studied at high school in Prague. He graduated in 1911. Then he got a job as an accountant in a small factory for automatic pumps.

In 1915, Klapalek joined the 8th regiment and left for Halicz. He fought at the Russian front. He was captured by Russians on 23 September 1915. In Tashkent, 1916, he enrolled in the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia and on 6 August 1916 he was accepted to the 1st artillery regiment as a soldier. After a successful battle at Zborov he was promoted to warrant officer. He went through the majority of battles of the Czechoslovakia Legion in Russia. Then he got tuberculosis. He did not return to his country until 1920.

After World War I, Czechoslovakia was established. Klapalek worked as a professional military officer and helped to establish the army of the newborn state. He served in Pilsen, Prague, Michalovice and Uzgorod, where he met his future wife Olga Klapalkova - Kosutova. Then he served in Milovice and worked at the Military Academy in Hranice. In the interwar period, Klapálek married Olga Kosutova (born 8.3.1901). Their daughter Olga was born March 24, 1926. Olga Klapalkova - Kosutova kept a diary during her life. Later she published her notes in a book. In it she described the life in a Nazi camp in Svatoborice u Kyjova, where she was arrested during the Second World War. Later in her life, Olga also published the book of her husband’s memoirs, „Voják vypravuje.”

...
Wikipedia