The Winged Lion Memorial

The Winged Lion

On one side of the Lesser Town is an area called Klárov. It has a small open area of ground with two monuments dedicated to World War Two. One of them is the Winged Lion.

The Winged Lion is specifically dedicated to 2513 Czechs and Slovaks who fought as pilots and air crew with the British during World War Two. A special fund called the Winged Lion Memorial Appeal Fund which was supported by expats in Czechia and Slovakia raised the money and the monument was officially unveiled by Sir Nicholas Soames (grandson of Winston Churchill) in 2014.

a plaque with names of czech and slovak air crew who fought in world war two — Detail of air crew on the Winged Lion Memorial in Prague’s Lesser Town

There is a difference between the original monument and the one you see now. At the time of the unveiling in 2014 the 2513 people were spoken of in general terms. The Winged Lion Memorial Appeal Fund continued to collect money and in 2017 the monument was updated and panels added to show the names and ranks of all of those 2513 people. Look carefully and you’ll see the ones who died are marked with a cross.

The Film

Originally there was to be a film released in 2022 called “the Winged Lions” but for some reason it got renamed to “Good Old Czechs”. It’s pieced together from archive film to tell the story of two Czech pilots in WW2. The two-minute trailer (with English translation) is at https://goodoldczechs.cz/en/.

Location

It’s in the park opposite the Malostranska metro/tram stop or here’s a Google Maps Link.

An Excellent Resource

The link at http://www.svazletcu.cz/en/texts-and-essays/col-in-mem-vaclav-jicha-dfc-afc is not maintained by me but it gives an excellent biography of a Czech pilot called Vaclav Jicha, his history, how he arrived in the UK, how he served and how he was later recognised. Just note that references to “Wenda” is an old way of referring to somebody called Vaclav.