By John Nash
It has come to light how the men, materials, and equipment sent out of Czechoslovakia by Jan A. Bata were used after the Munich crisis. It turns out that after the Munich decision of Sept. 1938, Jan Bata ordered the disassembly of an enormous amount of machinery and equipment from Zlin. This machinery was a part of defense industries that Bata has created for at the request of the Czech general staff. As soon as it became apparent that Czechoslovakia would not defend itself, Bata decided to ship everything possible out of the country. As a part of this effort, one container ship packed with Zlin machinery was sent to India.
The machinery that arrived in India was repurposed and used in addition to the existing manufacturing at Batanagar to supply the Royal Air Force (RAF). The tables below give a precise accounting of what Batanagar produced for the RAF between 1940 and 1945. The numbers are mind boggling. For instance, Bata supplied more than 30 million pairs of shoes and boots throughout the war. They produced more than 37 million other items such as parachute webbing, droppings, etc. We have used very conservative figures to calculate the value that Bata’s Indian concern provided for the RAF. We estimate that Batanagar provided more than one billion (current) U.S. dollars for the Allied Cause.
The extent to which Jan Bata supported the Allied war effort during Second World War is a largely unreported fact. This article documents just one small part of Jan Bata’s overall support for the Allied war effort.
Source: The first Decade of Batanagar by Jan Baros, 1945
Wartime Cable from Batanagar to Dr. Jan A. Bata…”WE ASSURE YOU OF OUR HONEST FAITH”…”UNDER YOUR LEADERSHIP WE ARE BUILDING BATANAGAR WHICH WILL BE A TOWERING PROOF OF YOUR CREATIVE FORCE”
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The Stormy Years of an Extraordinary Enterprise: Bata 1932 - 1945
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J.Š. 27.4.2015
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