With the fall of Communism in Europe seveal years behind us, it's
hard to remember what Cold War tensions were like. Yet, twenty-
five years ago this month, the Cold War became extremely cold when
the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia. As so often in modern warfare,
radio was there to play an important role.
Events preceding the invasion began on January 5, 1968. With the
economy in bad shape, there was unrest among both the Czechoslovak
people and the ruling Communist Party. First Secretary Antonin
Novotny and his hardline compatriots responded with the usual
suppression, but the rest of the party elite revolted, voting him
out of office and replacing him with Alexander Dubcek. Gradually
Novotny and his allies were pushed out of most important party and
governmental posts.
Dubeck and his faction launched a reform campaign unheard of in the
Soviet block. Under the slogan "socialism with a human face",
they ended press censorship, freed political prisoners, allowed free
travel abroad, began decentralization of the economy, and totally
turned the old Stalinist system on its head. Others dubbed the
awakening the "Prague Spring." Yet, Dubcek's government
continued to insist that it supported Communism and planned to remain
allied to the USSR, especially in foreign policy matters.
Nevertheless, Moscow saw Dubcek's movement as a threat to its
dominance in Eastern Europe. Tensions between the Soviet and Czech
governments rose as the Soviets denounced the reforms and worked
behind the scenes with Dubcek's opponents. But, Dubcek remained
solidly in control. At the end of July, Dubcek and Soviet leader
Leonid Breshnev and their advisors met for several days, and
produced an agreement called the Bratislava Declaration, which
seemed to guarantee Czechoslovakia's freedom to follow it's own
path.
As the invaders moved into key towns and eventually Prague itself,
they took over government buildings, intersections, and other
strategic points. Reformist leaders, including Dubcek, were
captured and arrested. Everything started out very smoothly, just
as expected. But, the Soviets had no idea of what really awaited
them.
At 8:00 a.m. Soviet troops surrounded the station building. A woman
announcer reported this to the listeners, noting that, "They are
going to silence our voices, but they cannot silence our hearts."
The microphone was passed from hand to hand as the announcers asked
the audience to remain calm and have courage. One man held the
microphone to the window so the listeners could hear machine gun
fire outside. As her companions sobbed in the background, the first
woman announcer came back on and reported, "They have entered the
building, but we are still here and will be with you as long as we
can hold out ... we are behind Dubcek and we will never give up,
NEVER." Then the national anthem was played.
In fact, the troops hadn't entered the building yet. As they moved
onto Vinohradska Street they were met by thousands of people waving
Czechoslovak flags and screaming, "Russians, go home!" When the
tanks moved towards the barricades, students ran out on the street
with Molotov cocktails and flaming rags and newspapers to set the
tanks on fire. Old mattresses, garbage, and wooden crates were
added to the fires. The invaders were shocked by the strong
resistance. They retreated, leaving one tank and two munitions
trucks in flames in front of the barricades. Radio Prague would
remain on the air a little longer. But, the Soviets regrouped and
a few hours later launched another attack, this time smashing
through the barricades. Just before 11:00 a.m., troops stormed
into the radio building, the last place in Prague to fall. The
station went off at 11:00 a.m.
Surprisingly, only 7 Czechoslovaks were killed in the two battles
for the radio station, out of a total of 23 killed in Prague and
other cities. Later in the afternoon, thousands of citizens
carrying a blood splattered flag made a funeral procession along
Vinohradska Street in honor of the fallen in the battle for Radio
Prague.
Within half an hour of Radio Prague's fall, a clandestine anti-
Soviet broadcaster came on the air in Prague. Gradually others
were added elsewhere in the city, and in cities such as Brno,
Pilsen, and Ceske Budejovice. Around the country, local radio
staffs left their studios and took to the airwaves from secret
locations.
At first, the clandestines provided news and moral support for the
resistance. As they became more organized, the stations actually
began to orchestrate the resistance. Then, as the resistance
centered on the clandestine network, the stations became a sort of
quasi-government for a nation without a real one. Their slogan was
"Jsme s v�mi; bud'te s n�mi!", or "We are with you; be
with us!" Although the underground stations denounced the Soviet
invasion, they always stressed their loyalty to the Socialist system
as represented by Dubcek and his "Prague Spring". Rather than
being anti-Communist, they supported a liberal form of Communism. And
they always pointed out that they were "free, legitimate" radio
stations of the Czechoslovak people.
Surprisingly, in concentrating on closing down official
Czechoslovak radio studios, the Soviets didn't bother to occupy
several key medium and long wave transmitter sites. Radio
technicians then set up make-shift studios and connected them to
the usual high-powered transmitters on their normal frequencies!
This not only made it easy for local listeners, it allowed BBC
monitors at Caversham Park to record almost all of the key output
of the clandestine broadcasts during the first few days of the
invasion. Soon, however, the Soviets wised up and occupied the
transmitter sites, too.
By this time, the free radios had set up a number of a hodgepodge
of true clandestine transmitters. Some came from the Czechoslovak
army and others from factories, especially the Tesla Electronics
Equipment plant. In other cases amateur transmitters were pressed
into service. Still others were put together at the moment with
whatever parts were at hand. As one staffer with the clandestine
network said, "We always swore about our obsolete equipment, which
was always breaking down, but it made our technicians into masters of
improvisation, and that is what they are now". Equipment was
limited, however. For example, often listeners were asked to record
the broadcasts for future generations, as the stations lacked the
equipment to do so.
The stations worked together, and soon a true clandestine network
came together. Up to nineteen stations took turns broadcasting for
fifteen minutes at a time on the same frequency. Each station had
local and national news, plus coded messages for members of the
resistance. Numbered codes signaled the end of a transmission so
the next station in the link could come on. At first the breaks
between stations were choppy with as much as five minutes of dead
air. Later the engineers became so proficient that the switches
were often not even noticable. During their time off the air, some
stations moved their transmitter to a new site before their next
turn, as a further guard against discovery.
The network operated 24 hours a day, giving the announcers and
technicians little chance for sleep. Listeners provided food and
other supplies. In some cases stations made live broadcasts from
streets or parks; watchful citizens warned them if the Soviets were
coming near. Most programming was news about the invasion and
resistance against it, but this was no propaganda operation. The
broadcasts were always objective, telling good and bad. Sometimes
it was difficult to get accurate information, but when information
turned out to be incorrect, it was always corrected on the air as
soon as possible. Everyone at the stations knew that the truth was
important to their people. The quiet, calm, unemotional reading of
news and announcements on the free radio stations became the symbol
of the resistance. Still, with highly critical events, women
announcers were used because it was believed their voices would
create a more emotional reaction in the audience. Only a few
breaks were taken for music, and those were to allow the announcers
time to compose upcoming news and announcements.
Most of the broadcasts were on medium wave, but several, including
Radio Bratislava, used shortwave. Frequencies included 233,
428,and 492 meters on medium wave and 1103 meters on longwave. In
Prague, the international service's normal 7345 and 11990 kHz
outlets was taken over by Radio Free Prague with lower-powered
clandestine equipment. Both frequencies were logged in North
America. The invasion gave DXers some unwanted signals to tune in
as well; the Soviets began jamming the VOA and BBC for the first
time since 1961.
While Czech and Slovak were the primary languages used, clandestine
broadcasts were also aimed at the invading troops and listeners
abroad. Other languages used at different times included Russian,
Polish, Ruthenian, Hungarian, Romany, German, French, and English.
When appeals in Russian for the soldiers to go home were broadcast,
listeners took their transistor radios out into the streets and
held them up so that the soldiers could hear.
The clandestine operators didn't limit themselves to radio, either.
They put on at least four underground TV stations also. The
broadcasts were highly professional, and in addition to news
carried a lot of comedy programs making fun of the invasion.
Humourous Russian lessons were especially popular, as was a
satirical tour for visitors of the sites of occupied Prague.
Ironically, the Soviets were indirectly responsible for the
clandestine network. Years before they had suggested that
Czechslovak radio make plans for clandestine operations in case of
a Western invasion. Soviet generals in 1968 probably wished that
the Czechoslovaks hadn't been so compliant on this one instruction!
Instead of confrontation, listeners were told how to resist without
getting shot. School children, who learned Russian in school, were
told to pretend they didn't understand the language if questioned
by soldiers. When KGB agents were identified, the license numbers
of their cars were given to the stations for broadcast. Listeners
then painted the numbers everywhere. It may not have stopped the
KGB, but it certainly made them spend a lot of time changing cars!
One of the easiest and most effective way to resist the invaders
was to confuse them. The Soviets and their allies did not know
their way around Czechoslovakia and its cities and towns. House
numbers were taken down and street and highway signs were switched
around. In some towns, all the street signs were renamed Dubcek
Street. When the resistance learned of additional Polish troops
coming in along a certain route, listeners were told to change the
road signs. The column followed the signs and about the time they
expected to be arriving in Prague, they found they found they had
taken a circuitous route back to the Polish border!
The free radios also urged compassion. Most of the invading
soldiers were naive 18 year old Russians. Listeners were told to
treat them kindly, as the soldiers were not responsible for their
actions and often didn't even know where they were. Some units had
been told they were invading Germany and others that they were
putting down a rebellion in the Soviet Ukraine. The stations also
discouraged listeners against taking action against Czechoslovaks
who were collaborating with the invaders. Not only was this
against the spirit of passive resistance, in many cases the
evidence against supposed traitors was little more than gossip. In
one instance, a man spying for the resistance by collaborating with
the Soviets was beaten up by other members of the resistance.
Of course as soon as the Soviets realized the scope of the free
radio network, they set out to close it down. However, the use of
multiple and ever-changing frequencies and locations made
triangulation to find the stations difficult if not impossible.
Furthermore, the Soviets had been so confident of an easy invasion
that they hadn't even brought along the equipment to do it, and it
took several days to get it shipped in. Meanwhile, the Soviets
frequently drove right by clandestine studios without even knowing
it. Gradually, frustrated officers began ordering their troops to
confiscate transistor radios out of people's hands in the street.
When the Soviets tried to bring jamming equipment from Poland to
Prague, the resistance found out and Czech engineers refused to run
the trains bringing the equipment in from the border. When
compliant engineers were found, someone cut the electric line
powering the train, delaying it still more.
Finally, the invaders located a list of government-registered hams
and the troops systematically began shutting them down one by one.
Indeed, quite a few had been using their equipment to relay the
clandestine broadcasts. Direction-finding equipment and police
state tactics helped them shut down more stations. Others stations
realized the fight was over and shut down on their own. By
Wednesday, August 28, most clandestines were off the air. One of
the last messages was "People, from now on you will have to think
about what you read and hear. You have always been good at reading
between the lines. Now our writers will have to practice the art of
writing the truth by concealing some of it ..." On Thursday,
August 29, the last free radio station, on 950 kHz at a location
near the Austrian border, closed down. The radio battle for
Czechoslovakia was over.
Thanks to the passive resistance sponsored by the clandestines, the
political battle for Czechoslovakia cooled down. The Soviets were
not interested in the political embarassment of a long difficult
occupation, and Dubcek and his government supporters realized that
they could never defeat the USSR. The two sides reached a compromise
in favor of "normalization." The Soviet troops withdrew from
government buildings, including radio and TV facilities, to camps
outside the cities. Dubcek's government was returned to power,
intact. Theoretically, life continued for Czechoslovaks with the
freedoms of before the invasion, but it was difficult to take
advantage of them with the invaders watching nearby.
This stalemate continued until March, 1969 when a Czechoslovak ice
hockey victory over the Soviet team at an international match
produced a wave of anti-Soviet protests and vandalism across
Czechoslovkia. This caused Moscow to send a high level delegation
to Prague. Either Dubcek and his most important advisors would
resign, or there would be another intervention. There was no
question that with the current tensions the new invasion would be
far bloodier than than the first. Dubeck and his allies resigned
and Gustav Husak, a close Soviet ally, took over. Husak set about
systematically to dismantle the "Prague Spring" and return
Czechoslovakia to a hardline Communist rule that would last until
once again the people of Czechoslovakia took to the streets, in
December, 1989, to overthrow Communism for good.
Soley, Lawrence C., and John S. Nichols. Clandestine Radio
Broadcasting. New York: Praeger. 1987.
The New York Times; August 21 - September 1, 1968.
Wechsberg, Joseph. The Voices. Garden City, NY: Doubleday &
Co. 1969.
This article is copyright 1993 by Don Moore.
This website is maintained by Don Moore,
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Radio History
Twenty Five Ago in Prague
By Don Moore
THE INVASION
In reality, everything was far from rosy. Secretly, the Soviet
government had been preparing an invasion of Czechoslovkia under
the guise of the Warsaw Pact. At 2200 UTC on August 20, at least
250,000 Warsaw Pact troops - mostly Soviets, but also East Germans,
Poles, Bulgarians, and Hungarians - crossed into Czechoslovakia.
News of the invasion traveled slowly to the capital, and not until
0100 did Czechoslovak Radio broadcast the first news of it to a
startled world. A nearby Associated Press office monitored the
broadcast and relayed the news to the world. It reached American
TV audiences at 0125 (9:25 p.m. EDT), about the same time the
Soviet ambassador visited the White House to inform President
Johnson. Shortwave listeners, however, reported that Radio
Prague's external services carried on with their normal prerecorded
broadcast, without any mention of the invasion. BATTLE FOR RADIO PRAGUE
The Soviets knew that controlling the flow of information would be
key to the success of their invasion. But, the Czechoslovaks knew
that also. The Prague Radio Building on Vinohrodska Street, just
behind the National Museum in the Central City, would be the center
of resistance. Within minutes of the radio's invasion
announcement, Czechoslovak youths began gathering on Vinohrodska
Street. Using wood, stones, buses and trolley cars, they began
constructing massive barricades across the street. RADIO LEADS THE RESISTANCE
Contrary to their earlier declarations, the staff did not wait
around for the Soviets to storm into the studio. A few people,
including Director Karel Hrabal, stayed at the microphone until
they were arrested. But most of the technicians, announcers, and
reporters slipped away into the crowds once it was apparent the
building would fall. They were not deserting their cause in its
hour of need. They had plans for another fight that the Soviets
hadn't counted on. PASSIVE RESISTANCE
The stations reported fighting against the invasion in many cities
with many dead and wounded. A few broadcasts even ended with the
sounds of Russian troops storming in, firing machine guns. Yet,
this was not the way Dubcek or his supporters wanted it. The Free
Radio stations always urged passive resistance; no one wanted
another 1956 Hungary, when hundreds were killed fighting Soviet
troops. On August 22 at noon, 20,000 people demonstrated in
central Prague's Wenceslas Square as part of an hour-long general
strike across the country. As cars and buses stopped in the
streets, everything was paralyzed, even the invaders' military
traffic. But, when an evening demonstration was planned and the
Soviets threatened to impose martial law, the free radio network
urged the demonstration be canceled, and no one showed up. Young
people stood on nearby streets and directed passers-by to take
other routes so the square would remain empty. THE SOVIETS STRIKE BACK
Although the Czechoslovak clandestine broadcasts caught the Soviets
by surprise, the Soviets had their own clandestine stations, too.
Just a few hours after the invasion began, Radio Vltava came on 210
meters, claiming to be a Czechoslovak station and justifiying the
invasion as the will of the Czechoslovak people. The broadcasts,
however, were in Russian-accented Czech and broken Slovak. The
free radios announced Radio Vltava's frequency to their listeners
and invited them to listen to it for amusement. Radio Vltava was
actually located in East Germany, and eventually its frequency was
taken over by Radio Berlin International. Later at least three
other Soviet-operated clandestine stations broadcast briefly to
Czechoslovakia. One, Vysilac Zare (Dawn Transmitter), pretended to
be pro-Dubcek, but careful monitoring proved it to be a subtle
attempt at spreading disinformation among the underground. EPILOGUE
In the end, the Czechoslovak clandestine radio network only delayed
the eventual Soviet takeover. But, it did show how easily radio
can be used to bring together a vast passive resistance movement,
and that people dedicated to a cause can make a differance. The
Soviets may not have been defeated on the streets, but they were
clearly routed on the airwaves.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Jensen, Don. "Crisis In Czechoslovakia." FRENDX,
October, 1968. p.12-16.
It may not be printed in
any publication without written permission.
Association of North American Radio Clubs
DXer of the Year for 1995.