<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> <P> The democratic groups--ON, PÚ, and PVVZ--united in early 1940 and formed the Central Committee of the Home Resistance (Ústřední výbor odboje domácího, ÚVOD). Involved primarily in intelligence gathering, the ÚVOD cooperated with a Soviet intelligence organization in Prague . Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the democratic groups attempted to create a united front that would include the KSČ . Heydrich's appointment in the fall thwarted these efforts . By mid-1942, the Germans had succeeded in exterminating the most experienced elements of the Czechoslovak resistance forces . </P> <P> Czechoslovak forces regrouped in 1942--1943 . The Council of the Three (R3)--in which the communist underground was also represented--emerged as the focal point of the resistance . The R3 prepared to assist the liberating armies of the U.S. and the Soviet Union . In cooperation with Red Army partisan units, the R3 developed a guerrilla structure . </P>

What was the first country that germany annexed in 1938 thus setting off world war ii