Jan Morávek (1902-1984) was an important member of the

Czech Resistance Czechoslovak resistance to the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, German occupation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia during World War II began after the occupation of the rest of Czechoslovakia and the formation of the protectorate o ...

against the German occupation (1939-1945) in Czechoslovakia. He worked at the Ceska Zbrojovka armament factory in Prague and later in Romania, under the command of Albert Göring. Albert Göring was the younger brother of Reichmarschall

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

(second in command to Hitler). Morávek, through Stolle, was linked to the British secret service

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

. Morávek coordinated the underground resistance in the Skoda armaments factory. Albert Göring, acting with Hromatko (a member of the Skoda Board) devised a scheme to transfer commission from sales of armaments into a Swiss bank account. Part of those funds were used to help escape several hundred Jews and other persons persecuted by the Nazis. Receiving information from a Czech scientist that worked at

Peenemünde Peenemünde (, ) is a municipality on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany. It is part of the ''Amt (country subdivision), Amt'' (collective municipality) of Used ...

, Morávek informed the British on 15 August 1943 about the secret development of the V1 and V2 rockets. Within 48 hours, the British diverted forces from the strategic bombing offensive for

Operation Crossbow ''Crossbow'' was the code name in World War II for Anglo-American operations against the German V-weapons, long range reprisal weapons (V-weapons) programme. The primary V-weapons were the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket, which were launched agai ...

into the

Operation Hydra (1943) Operation Hydra was an attack by RAF Bomber Command on a German scientific research centre at Peenemünde on the night of 17/18 August 1943. Group Captain John Searby, commanding officer of No. 83 Squadron RAF, commanded the operation, the fir ...

that bombed Peenemünde. This bombing was highly successful, delaying considerably the development and utilisation of the rockets V1 and V2.

Sources

* ''My roots continents apart'' pages 94–95, author Elsa Morávek Perou de Wagner, 2005 iUniverse Inc. * London Times, article by Adam LeBor

* ''The Warlord and the Renegade: The Story of Hermann and Albert Goering'' by James Wyllie (Hardcover - Oct 2, 2006) Czech resistance members Place of birth missing Place of death missing 1902 births 1984 deaths {{CzechRepublic-bio-stub