Strana 7
Lt. Col. Gabby Gabreski and his HV
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MODEL & STORY / Zdeněk Šebesta and Vladimír Šulc
On the morning of July 20th, 1944, the day of the failed assassination attempt
on Hitler in the Wolf’s Lair in far-off East Prussia, two pilots were waiting
at Boxted Airfield near Colchester in Essex to fly to the United States. They
were Captain Jim Carter and Lieutenant Colonel Francis Gabreski. Gabreski’s
fiance, Kay Cochran, was at the same time preparing for their wedding in Oil
City, Pennsylvania, scheduled for the following week. Gabreski’s hometown
had raised $2,000 to buy a wedding present for their hero, the most success-
ful fighter ace of the European theatre. But the expected event did not occur.
Francis Gabreski, an excellent but somewhat impulsive fighter pilot, decided
to shorten his wait and let his successor as commander, Dave Schilling,
entice him with one more farewell sortie over Germany. It wasn‘t as short
a flight as Gabby Gabreski had expected. He didn‘t return until 10 months
later, on May 15th, 1945. The wedding would have to wait.
March 1939
HISTORICAL REFLECTION / Jan Bobek
In mid-March, the Czech Republic commemorated a dark events from 1939.
At that time, Hitler‘s forces occupied the remaining territory of Bohemia and
Moravia practically without resistance. This land was a barely defensible
remnant of the historic lands of the Czech Crown. The reduction of Czecho-
slovakia’s territory had already begun six months earlier, in September 1938.
Without firing a single shot, Hitler annexed the border regions in the wes-
tern part of Czechoslovakia into the Reich. With the exception of very small
areas, these regions with German-speaking populations had never been part
of Germany or any of its former kingdoms. Hitler’s strategic goal was the
dismantling of democratic Czechoslovakia and the subjugation of its Czech-
-speaking population, industrial capacity, and natural resources.
Bankers and Arms Producers
CURRENT AFFAIRS / Jan Bobek
NATO‘s European member states are currently emerging from years of
lethargy regarding investments in their military armaments. Over the
past decade, many states have invested less than 2% of their GDP in
this area. This threshold was established in 2014, and its insufficient
fulfillment has repeatedly and justifiably been criticized by some member
states, particularly the United States. However, over the past decade,
European allies and Canada have gradually increased their collective
defense investments. From 1.43% of their combined GDP in 2014 to 2.02%
in 2024, when they were expected to invest over $430 billion in defense.
Yet, the often-cited 2% GDP target now seems insufficient given current
developments in Russia. Despite facing numerous demographic and
economic challenges, the Russian Federation has shifted to a wartime
economy, whether we like it or not.