The lectures given by Soviet political officers served as great inspiration for our specific Czech sense of humor.
Václav Drnek was born in 1918 in České Budějovice. He completed his compulsory military service just before the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. He decided to cross the Protectorate border and apply to join the Czechoslovak units in Poland. Although he applied for the Foreign Legion, he was eventually sent with others to the USSR, where he was interned in several camps. He spent most of his imprisonment in Suzdal, until the end of 1941. He took part in the fighting for Sokolovo, Kiev, and in the Dukla operation. He was a commander of a mortar unit, and eventually served as a staff commander of the artillery column.