Houses were set ablaze in Klenčí pod Čerchovem before the American army arrived. On April 30, several incendiary bombs were dropped from US Air Force planes. On the right side of Klenčí, opposite the church, several buildings were set on fire. The attack was not without reason—a convoy of soldiers fighting for the Germans was passing through this town in the Sudetenland, and shots had been fired from it at American low-flying pilots passing the town. They were rumored to be fighting under the turncoat General Vlasov. The surrounding area was heavily shelled by artillery as well. The first to arrive in Klenčí was Colonel Matt Konop, whom General Walter M. Robertson, the 2nd Infantry Division’s commanding officer, had appointed as the commander of the 2nd Infantry Division’s vanguard due to his Czech roots and fluency in the Czech language. Col. Konop set up the American army’s local military headquarters at the Klenčí post office.
Memorial plaque
A memorial plaque on the building of the new town hall in Klenčí pod Čerchovem bears the inscription: “Na věčnou památku americké armádě, které vděčíme za své osvobození 1. května 1945. In memory of the United States Army to which we owe deep gratitude for our liberation on May 1, 1945.”
Along with Klenčí, the following locations were also liberated on May 1:
Železná Ruda, Rozvadov, Špičák – 2nd CRS Díly — 3rd Div Klenčí, Chodov Trhanov, Postřekov, Pec, Tlumačov u Domažlic – 90th 1st Div.
These tour routes copy the movements of the US Army during the liberation of West Bohemia in the spring of 1945. Commemoration sites are connected into these tour routes in a way that ensures each site leads into the next. You’ll also find regional and private museums, as well as tourist activities connected with these military memorial sites.
We present to visitors a timeline that follows the advance of the US Army and individual parts of it from the German border to Domažlice and from there on towards Pilsen. The time information in this timeline will gradually gain in scope and detail.
The Paths of Liberation — The Pilsen Region