The Field Army Bernolák ( sk, Slovenská Poľná Armádna skupina "Bernolák") was a

field army A field army (or numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps and may be subordinate to an army group. Likewise, Air army, air armies are equivalent formation within some air forces, ...

of the Axis

Slovak Republic Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. It was named after Anton Bernolák, the first codifier of the literary

Slovak language Slovak () , is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. It is part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of the larger Balto-Slavic branch. Spoken by app ...

. The Slovak 1st Infantry Division "Janošík" took part in the

Slovak invasion of Poland The Slovak invasion of Poland occurred during Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939. The recently-created Slovak Republic joined the attack, and Field Army Bernolák contributed over 50,000 soldiers in three divisions. Since most ...

in September 1939. In October it returned to Slovakia and was upgraded to a fully motorized division. Another component, the Fast Troops Group ''Kalinčiak'', took part in

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...

in 1941, advancing under

Army Group South Army Group South (german: Heeresgruppe Süd) was the name of three German Army Groups during World War II. It was first used in the 1939 September Campaign, along with Army Group North to invade Poland. In the invasion of Poland Army Group So ...

. In August 1943 the Fast Division was restructured and renamed the 1st Infantry Division. However, the 1st Infantry Division saw very little action and was used for rear area duties until it was disbanded in July 1944 to form construction units.

Order of Battle

The army's

order of battle In modern use, the order of battle of an armed force participating in a military operation or campaign shows the hierarchical organization, command structure, strength, disposition of personnel, and equipment of units and formations of the armed ...

between 1939 and 1944 was as follows: Army Commander: General Ferdinand Čatloš * Slovak 1st Infantry Division "Janošík" ** Gen. Antonin Pulanich * Slovak 2nd Infantry Division "Škultéty" ** Col. Ivan Imro, later Gen. Alexandr Čunderlik * Slovak 3rd Infantry Division "Razus" ** Gen.

Augustín Malár Augustín Malár (18 July 1894 in Reitern, Austria-Hungary – 1945? in Sachsenhausen, Germany) was a Slovak general during World War II. During the interwar period, Malár was one of the few successful higher officers of Slovak nationality ...

Fast Troops Group "Kalinčiak" Fast or FAST may refer to: * Fast (noun), high speed or velocity * Fast (noun, verb), to practice fasting, abstaining from food and/or water for a certain period of time Acronyms and coded Computing and software * ''Faceted Application of Sub ...

** Col. Ivan Imro

References

*Ready, J. Lee. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1995. Military history of Slovakia during World War II Infantry divisions of World War II Military history of Poland during World War II Military units and formations established in 1939 Military units and formations disestablished in 1944 {{mil-unit-stub