A memorial to the fallen • the Javorníky ridge • 1,055 m a.s.l.
Three crosses for three fallen soldiers. Two names were added to the memorial only after 77 years.
Stratenec (Ztracenec in Czech) is a flat, cleared summit on the main ridge of the Javorníky Mountains, a short way beyond the Czech-Slovak border on the Slovak side. Three concrete crosses stand on it, along with a wooden lookout tower, a shelter and a few benches.
The crosses are here for three soldiers of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps who fell crossing the border on 3 May 1945. Two of them had the word “unknown” on the memorial instead of a name – until 2022.
Why come here
The three crosses of 1969 stand for three fallen soldiers. Two of them were nameless on the memorial – their names were added after seventy-seven years, thanks to a letter from a teacher in Velké Karlovice.
When to come
Around the anniversary of the liberation of Velké Karlovice a commemorative gathering of Czechs and Slovaks comes up here; the exact date differs from year to year, so check it with the municipalities. The rest of the year the summit is freely accessible.
What not to miss
In front of the large slab lies a small stone from the woods of Makov with the names of Rudolf Miko and Ludvík Somoši. It is deliberately modest, so as not to disturb the memorial of 1969 – the story behind it, though, is anything but modest.
A memorial to the fallen, a view into two countries and a place to stop
The memorial looks like a single whole, but it took over half a century to come about – the crosses speak of a number, the slab of an event, and the stone in front of it of how much can still be put right after decades.
Three concrete crosses of different heights, interwoven into one form on a low step. Carved lines decorate the shafts, and each cross has its arms at a different height. There are three because three soldiers fell here; the memorial went up twenty-four years after the war.
The original slab of the memorial carries the carved text: “On 3 May 1945, during the liberation of Velké Karlovice, two unknown members of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps and Andrej Rabčan, born 9 November 1922 at Drabsko, fell here on Ztracenec.”
Since May 2022 a low stone from the woods of Makov has lain in front of the slab. The names of the other two – previously unidentified – soldiers are carved into it, along with the small coat of arms of Makov. It is deliberately unobtrusive, so as not to disturb the older memorial.
Two benches on the edge of the slope
The clearing falls away on the Moravian side, and right on its edge stand two wooden benches – one with a back, one without. From them you can see the valley of the Vsetínská Bečva and the opposite ridge of the Vsetínské vrchy, the direction the front advanced from in May 1945.
A seat with a table stands opposite at the edge of the wood, right by the lookout tower, and a short way from the memorial there is also a covered shelter with a bench. Young spruces block part of the view, though; anyone who wants to see the other side of the border as well has to go up the tower.
From the bench on the edge of the slope the view is open to the horizon.
Eight metres, enough to rise above the wood
The wooden lookout tower of 2008 does not have to be tall – it only has to rise above the young wood around the clearing. It is eight metres high, the viewing platform is at five metres and twenty-four steps lead up. Even so it is the highest viewing tower in the Javorníky.
The gallery rises above the treetops, so from it you can see both sides of the border: on the Moravian side the Vsetínské vrchy and, in good visibility, Radhošť, Pustevny, Smrk and Lysá hora; on the Slovak side Považí with the Strážovské vrchy. The tower is freely accessible all year and free of charge.
From the gallery you can see over the treetops to both sides of the border.
The front crossed the ridge in a single night. Filling in who died in the process took seventy-seven years.
1–2 May 1945
On 1 May 1945 people in Velké Karlovice heard the artillery of the approaching front for the first time. The Javorníky ridge was held by German troops, who had been fortifying it with trenches and strongpoints since the summer of 1944; Hungarian soldiers were retreating this way alongside them.
Units of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps were fighting their way to the ridge from the east in rain and sleet. An attack up a wooded slope against trenches is a slow business, and the border was not crossed at the first attempt.
The next day, 2 May, after a full day's fighting, Papajské sedlo fell – the lowest point of the Javorníky ridge, about fifteen kilometres to the west. That evening part of the brigade reached the Kychová valley at Huslenky and so cut off the German unit at Karlovice from its retreat to Vsetín.
The ridge that the red waymarks follow today was the front line in those days. Stratenec is one of the places where it was crossed.
The night of 3–4 May 1945
On Thursday 3 May Soviet units began liberating Karlovice together with the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps. An artillery duel flared up along the valley: the attackers fired on the main road at Léskové, and German guns by the school at Podťaté answered. The Germans in the village had already lost their shortest line of retreat to Vsetín the day before, though, and the patrols they sent out stopped coming back. The commander therefore ordered an immediate withdrawal: until seven in the evening columns of German and Hungarian soldiers from the Léskové and Podťaté valleys streamed through the village on the one remaining road towards Jezerné below Soláň.
On the night of 4 May the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps crossed the border in the area of Stratenec. Three soldiers of the corps fell in that crossing – exactly where, and in what circumstances, the sources do not say. At dawn the brigade descended into the Pluskovec valley, and before six in the morning the first self-propelled gun reached the burgher school: Velké and Malé Karlovice – then two separate villages – were free after six years of occupation. The fallen were buried on 6 May in the Karlovice cemetery, but only one of them got a name on the gravestone.
1969
The crosses came to the ridge in 1969, twenty-four years after the war. The concrete triple cross recalls the fighting for the ridge during the liberation; far more died in it, but the memorial names the three who fell here.
Only one of them could be named, though. The slab gives Andrej Rabčan, and for the other two it says “two unknown members of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps”. Their graves at Velké Karlovice said the same: “Unknown soldier of the Czechoslovak army, fell 3 May 1945 in the Javorníky.”
It was not carelessness. In the last days of the war burials were quick and papers were often missing. For many of the fallen a name was traced only decades later, and for some never.
2021–2022
The names of the two soldiers came to light during work on the book Poslední výstřely (Milan Kopecký and Petr Sehnálek) about the journey of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps across Moravia in May 1945. The authors found them in the archives: Rudolf Miko and Ludvík Somoši, both from the 4th battalion of the 3rd Czechoslovak Brigade.
Marie Mikulcová, a retired teacher from Velké Karlovice, took up the discovery. She wrote to Martin Pavlík, the mayor of Makov, saying that those young men deserved to stop being unknown. The mayor drove out to meet her – they met in the Karlovice cemetery, where all three soldiers lie.
So as not to disturb the memorial of 1969, the municipality agreed with the carver Jozef Šimek on a modest solution: a low stone from the woods of Makov, with the names and the small municipal coat of arms carved into it. On 8 May 2022, symbolically on the 77th anniversary of the liberation, the mayor unveiled it on Stratenec with Šimek and Mrs Mikulcová.
Today
The gathering at the Three Crosses has built up a firm tradition: around the anniversary of the liberation of Velké Karlovice hundreds of Czechs and Slovaks climb up here from both sides of the border. The shortest approach comes from Kasárne – the last four kilometres run along the ridge.
Timeline
From the first shots above Karlovice in May 1945 to the additional slab unveiled in 2022.
1 May 1945
People in Velké Karlovice hear the first artillery. The 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps fights its way through rain to the Javorníky ridge, fortified with trenches; it does not cross the border at the first attempt.
2 May 1945
After a full day's fighting Papajské sedlo falls. Part of the brigade reaches Huslenky and cuts off the German units' retreat to Vsetín.
3 May 1945
The liberation of Karlovice begins. Three soldiers fall crossing the border at Stratenec – Andrej Rabčan, Rudolf Miko and Ludvík Somoši.
4 May 1945
In the night the 3rd Brigade enters the territory of Velké Karlovice in the area of Stratenec; before six in the morning six years of occupation are over.
6 May 1945
All three of the fallen are buried with honours at Velké Karlovice. Only Andrej Rabčan has a name on the gravestone.
1969
A concrete memorial in the form of three crosses goes up on the summit, with a slab that names one soldier and describes two as unknown.
2008
A wooden lookout tower rises beside the memorial – the highest viewing tower in the Javorníky. It came out of a cross-border walking route project.
8 May 2022
Symbolically on the 77th anniversary of the liberation, the municipality of Makov unveils an additional stone with the names of Rudolf Miko and Ludvík Somoši.
today
Around the anniversary of the liberation of Velké Karlovice a commemorative gathering is held at the crosses, attended by hundreds of people from both sides of the border.
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A mountain settlement and resort on the ridge. Two waymarked routes lead from here: the yellow over the Gežov saddle (shorter, 4.3 km) and the green to Bútorky, joining the red over Veľký Javorník (5 km).
A saddle with a wooden shelter on the ridge. From here the route follows the red waymarks westwards across meadows with views to the Moravian side.
The summit clearing with the Three Crosses, the lookout tower, a shelter and benches. The ridge route carries on to Malý Javorník and Bumbálka.
From the Czech side people walk from Velké Karlovice: on the green route through Bukovina and then about a kilometre east on the red, or from Podťaté over the Gežov saddle. From the Slovak side the yellow route from Podjavorník also reaches the summit.
The summit and the tower are freely accessible all year, with no admission and no opening hours. The last stretch is always on foot.
The crosses are a memorial to three men who died; they are buried down at Velké Karlovice.
A thousand metres above sea level means wind, mist and fast changes of weather. The views of Radhošť and Lysá hora only work in good visibility – and there is almost no shade on the clearing.
By the tower there is a covered shelter and a seat with a table. Refreshments and toilets are at Kasárne, four kilometres along the ridge.
In winter the red ridge route becomes a groomed cross-country ski track – part of the Beskydsko-javornícka magistrála.
The summit lies on the Slovak side and the path to it follows the border line – your phone will most likely switch to a Slovak network on the way.
One for each of the soldiers who fell here on 3 May 1945 crossing the border during the liberation of Velké Karlovice. The concrete memorial in the form of three crosses was made in 1969.
Andrej Rabčan (born 9 November 1922 at Drábsko near Brezno nad Hronom), Rudolf Miko (born 13 August 1921 at Tolčemeš in the Sabinov area) and Ludvík Somoši. All three were Slovaks of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps and are buried in the cemetery at Velké Karlovice.
The authors of the book Poslední výstřely traced them in the archives. Marie Mikulcová, a retired teacher from Velké Karlovice, wrote to the mayor of Makov about it; the municipality then had an additional stone carved, unveiled on 8 May 2022.
The summit lies on the Slovak side of the ridge, on the boundary between the cadastres of Makov and Papradno, only a few steps from the Czech-Slovak border by Velké Karlovice. People walk to it from both countries.
On foot along the ridge route. The shortest way runs from Kasárne on the yellow route over the Gežov saddle (4.3 km, about 1 hour 30 minutes), the longer one from Kasárne over Veľký Javorník on the green and red routes (5 km). From the Czech side people walk from Velké Karlovice through Bukovina or from Podťaté.
A wooden double cross on the summit of Veľký Javorník (1,071.5 m a.s.l.), the highest mountain of the Javorníky, about 2.5 km east along the red waymarks. It has no connection with the memorial on Stratenec – it is a summit cross.
Yes, the wooden tower of 2008 is freely accessible all year, free of charge. It is eight metres high, the viewing platform is at five metres and twenty-four steps lead up to it.
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The highest mountain of the range, further east
The summit with its wooden double cross stands two and a half kilometres east – sixteen metres higher and wholly in Slovakia.
Přejít na stránku →The starting point and a five-hundred-year border saga
The settlement people set out from for Stratenec – and one that Moravia and Hungary pulled over for five centuries.
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A border legible from a stone
Twenty kilometres away, on Trojačka, stands a boundary stone of 1906 with the names of three territories.
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The fight for the ridge a year earlier
The memorial in the Makov pass recalls the crossing of the Jan Žižka partisan brigade into Moravia in September 1944.
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