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During the Second World War, the former Czechoslovak President Edvard Benes and his government were in exile in England. Originally they were based in London, but in late 1940, due to the blitz, the President and his Cabinet moved to a small village called Aston Abbotts, in the southern English county of Buckinghamshire.

In addition to the government personnel, Czech, Slovak and Ruthenian presidential guards also stayed in the village. President Benes and his wife, along with the entire Czech community of the time left a deep impression

Exactly 60 years ago, on 5th May 1945, the Prague Uprising against the German occupiers began here in the very building that houses Radio Prague. "Calling all Czechs" went the now legendary appeal over the airwaves, as defiant radio journalists here at our headquarters in Vinohradska Street, called on the people of Prague to rise up against their occupiers. In the three days that followed over 2,000 Czechs lost their lives in intense street fighting that focused more than anywhere else on the radio building.

Zuzana Ruzickova is one of Europe's most renowned harpsichord players, and has made dozens of recording during a career spanning over a half a century. But 60 years ago, after three hellish years in Nazi concentration camps, she feared she might never play again. Here she recalls coming home from the War to her hometown of Pilsen in west Bohemia, when she was 18.

Some 400 Czech volunteers enlisted in the German, Soviet and Czechoslovak armies on Saturday ahead of the battle for control of the Mosnov airfield. There were no reported causalities, or even wounded, thankfully, as this was merely a re-enactment of the bloodiest battle to take place on Czech soil during World War II: the liberation of Ostrava from Nazi German control.

Over the next week Radio Prague will be marking the 60th anniversary of the end of Word War II with a number of special reports, ranging from a trip to the English village where the Czechoslovak government in exile were based to the first military parade on Prague's Letna plain since the fall of communism.

The retired teacher Ludmila Seidlova was a teenager during the Second World War. In her choice of profession she was inspired by her father who was headmaster at the so-called "Teachers' Institute" in Panska Street, just off Prague's famous Na Prikope Street. Ludmila Seidlova lived with her family right in the school, originally built by the Piarist Order in the 18th century.

Some fifty communities across the western part of the Czech Republic are holding celebrations in the coming days to mark the 60th anniversary of their World War II liberation by U.S., Czech and Belgian soldiers under the command of the American General George S. Patton. The Allies' role in the liberation of Czechoslovakia from Nazi tyranny was, to put it mildly, played down by the Soviet Union for propaganda purposes. Ahead of the celebrations marking 'V-E' day, the U.S. Embassy in Prague has commissioned a compilation of raw, historical footage,

...At midday the Russians launched an almighty attack on Hrabyne, their air force led the barrage. From over the hills a whole chain of Russian tanks approached. The Germans retaliated with a desperate counter attack. This was the start of a terrible panzer battle, which is impossible to imagine for those who weren't there. The din of anti-tank weaponry, the explosion of grenades and the baying of the tanks' machine guns fused into one. There was a constant explosion of bombs and mines. The battle lasted all afternoon. Several times the Russians

Last year in the West Bohemian city of Plzen, the foundation stone was laid for a large bronze statue of General George Patton, whose 3rd US Army liberated the city in the spring of 1945. It seemed an apt gesture to remember one of the war's great generals, and the unveiling was to be one of the highpoints of this year's 60th anniversary celebrations taking place next week in Plzen. At the time no-one could have guessed that just a few months later the stone would be dug up again, and that the city would not have its statue after all, after city

If the film Casablanca had not been fiction, perhaps Sam would have played "As Time Goes By" for the Prague-born writer Lenka Reinerova. In 1941 she was one of many thousands of refugees who found themselves trapped in the Moroccan port as they tried to escape occupied Europe for the New World. Lenka Reinerova was born 88 years ago into a German-speaking Prague Jewish family.