Plzeň, the Škoda Works

an engineering company and armaments factory · Tylova 1/57, 301 00 Plzeň-Plzeň 3, Czech Republic

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Fog – the Germans’ aerial defence

Available in: English | Česky

During World War 2, the Pilsen Škoda factory served as an arms facility for the Third Reich, and thus it became a prime target for Allied bombing. The Germans protected themselves against the bombing runs in various ways. Active defence included flak (anti-air cannons), which were deployed around the factory and the city (e.g. on the roof of the Škoda Research Institute on Huss Square, or on the hill in Litice) and which shot at incoming aircraft. Passive protection was based on masking the facility and confusing the pilots. The Germans built a wooden dummy of the Škoda Works near the village of Vochov to deceive pilots. Another defensive tool was a fog-making machine, which produced fog over the factory so that the bombers had trouble aiming properly. As a boy, Richard Smola used to go play in the old Goldscheidrovka brickyard, which stood close to the Škoda Works. He remembers that there were great big barrels placed there with a sign saying Nebelsäure – fog acid. During an air raid, the Germans would start up the machine and create an artificial fog which covered the factory. The vapour did not consist of water, however, but rather a weak acid – it was for this reason that the “fog” pinched the children’s skin and left tiny holes in their clothes.

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Richard Smola

He was born in Pilsen in 1930. His father was Ing. Alois Smola, the owner of a turbogenerator company, Ferrotechna, and president of the Pilsen Society for Trade and Commerce, which became the target for communist persecution following 1948; Alois Smola was arrested and sentenced to one year of prison. In 1953, the whole family was forced to move out of Pilsen under Operation B - Bourgeoisie. In October 1951, Richard Smola had to join the Auxiliary Engineering Corps (abbr. PTP, forced labour units - transl.), where he remained until the PTP were disbanded in May 1954. He was stationed at Libavá, at the airport construction site in Přerov, in the mines at Ostrava and in Hájníky near Banská Bystrica. After his release he completed his university studies and gained employment as a mechanic at Energostroje, which later became part of the Škoda Works.

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Plzeň, the Škoda Works

Available in: English | Česky

The company was founded in 1859 by Count Waldstein (Valdštejn) as a branch of his foundry and engineering works in Plzeň. However, its famous history started only seven years later with the advent of engineer Emil Škoda. He was soon to buy the whole company, expanded it and turned it into one of the most successful engineering plants in the country. The Škoda factories produced a wide range of engineering products (equipment for mines, steam engines, boilers, steel bridge constructions, equipment for railways). Arms were one of the important products as well. After 1918, the portfolio of the company was extended to include the manufacture of transport means - locomotives, automobiles, aircraft and boats. During the Second World War, the Škoda Works became part of the German armaments-production sector, and therefore represented a strategic target of Allied air raids. The bombing which took place at the end of April 1945 destroyed 70% of the factory premises. In 1945, the joint-stock company Škoda Works were nationalized and some of its parts were separated (for e.g. the automobile factory in Mladá Boleslav or the aircraft factory in Prague). In the socialist era, the works focused mainly on the production of equipment for the heavy industry and the energy sector to be exported to the countries of the Eastern bloc. After 1989, the Škoda Works were privatized.

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Fog – the Germans’ aerial defence

Richard Smola