Jan Nálepka

(pseudonym, Repkin). Born Sept. 20, 1912, in Smižany, eastern Slovakia; died Nov. 16, 1943, near the city of Ovruch, Zhitomir Oblast. Organizer and commander of a Slovak partisan detachment. Son of a peasant.

Nálepka was a village teacher. He served in the Czechoslovak Army as a lieutenant from 1934. In 1941 the clerical fascist puppet government of Slovakia sent the military unit in which Nálepka served to the Soviet-German front. Nálepka formed an antifascist patriotic group in the Slovak 101st Regiment. He went over to the Soviet partisans in May 1943 and formed a partisan detachment from among former Slovak servicemen. He died in the battle for the liberation of the city of Ovruch. He received (posthumously) the titles of Hero of the Soviet Union (May 2, 1945) and Hero of the Slovak National Uprising (May 5, 1945). He was awarded the Order of the White Lion First Class.