<P> Czechoslovakia had fielded a modern army of 35 divisions and was a major manufacturer of machine guns, tanks, and artillery, most of them assembled in the Škoda factory in Plzeň . Many Czech factories continued to produce Czech designs until converted for German designs . Czechoslovakia also had other major manufacturing companies . Entire steel and chemical factories were moved from Czechoslovakia and reassembled in Linz (which incidentally remains a heavily industrialized area of Austria). In a speech delivered in the Reichstag, Hitler stressed the military importance of occupation, noting that by occupying Czechoslovakia, Germany gained 2,175 field cannons, 469 tanks, 500 anti-aircraft artillery pieces, 43,000 machine guns, 1,090,000 military rifles, 114,000 pistols, about a billion rounds of ammunition and three million anti-aircraft grenades . This amount of weaponry would be sufficient to arm about half of the then Wehrmacht . Czechoslovak weaponry later played a major part in the German conquests of Poland (1939) and France (1940)--countries that had pressured Czechoslovakia's surrender to Germany in 1938 . </P> <P> Beneš--the leader of the Czechoslovak government - in - exile--and František Moravec--head of Czechoslovak military intelligence--organized and coordinated a resistance network . Hácha, Prime Minister Alois Eliáš, and the Czechoslovak resistance acknowledged Beneš's leadership . Active collaboration between London and the Czechoslovak home front was maintained throughout the war years . The most important event of the resistance was Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, SS leader Heinrich Himmler's deputy and the then Protector of Bohemia and Moravia . Infuriated, Hitler ordered the arrest and execution of 10,000 randomly selected Czechs . Over 10,000 were arrested, and at least 1,300 executed . According to one estimate, 5,000 were killed in reprisals . The assassination resulted in one of the most well - known reprisals of the war . The Nazis completely destroyed the villages of Lidice and Ležáky; all men over 16 years from the village were murdered, and the rest of the population was sent to Nazi concentration camps where many women and nearly all the children were killed . </P> <P> The Czechoslovak resistance comprised four main groups: </P> <Ul> <Li> The army command coordinated with a multitude of spontaneous groupings to form the Defense of the Nation (Obrana národa, ON) with branches in Britain and France . Czechoslovak units and formations with Czechs (c. 65--70%), and Slovaks (c. 30%) served with the Polish Army (Czechoslovak Legion), the French Army, the Royal Air Force, the British Army (the 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade), and the Red Army (I Corps). Two thousand eighty - eight Czechs and 401 Slovaks fought in 11th Infantry Battalion - East alongside the British during the war in areas such as North Africa and Palestine . Among others, Czech fighter pilot, Sergeant Josef František was one of the most successful fighter pilots in the Battle of Britain . </Li> <Li> Beneš's collaborators, led by Prokop Drtina (cs), created the Political Center (Politické ústředí, PÚ). The PÚ was nearly destroyed by arrests in November 1939, after which younger politicians took control . </Li> <Li> Social democrats and leftist intellectuals, in association with such groups as trade unions and educational institutions, constituted the Committee of the Petition that We Remain Faithful (Petiční výbor Věrni zůstaneme, PVVZ). </Li> <Li> The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) was the fourth major resistance group . The KSČ had been one of over 20 political parties in the democratic First Republic, but it had never gained sufficient votes to unsettle the democratic government . After the Munich Agreement, the leadership of the KSČ moved to Moscow and the party went underground . Until 1943, however, KSČ resistance was weak . The 1939 Molotov--Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, had left the KSČ in disarray . But ever faithful to the Soviet line, the KSČ began a more active struggle against the Germans after Operation Barbarossa, Germany's attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 . </Li> </Ul>

How did czechoslovakia react to germany’s annexation of sudetenland