Josef Mašín (26 August 1896 – 30 June 1942) was an army officer of Czechoslovakia and member of the underground resistance against the Nazis. He was the father of Josef and Ctirad Mašín.

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Czech. (January 2013) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Czech Wikipedia article at [[:cs:Josef Mašín]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|cs|Josef Mašín}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation. You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Esperanto. (January 2013) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Esperanto Wikipedia article at [[:eo:Josef Mašín]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|eo|Josef Mašín}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation. You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Slovak. (January 2013) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Slovak Wikipedia article at [[:sk:Josef Mašín]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|sk|Josef Mašín}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Josef Mašín
Pre-war portrait of pplk. Josef Mašín in officer uniform of Czechoslovak army.
Born	(1896-08-26)26 August 1896 Lošany, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austria-Hungary
Died	30 June 1942(1942-06-30) (aged 45) Prague, Kobylisy Shooting Range, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Nazi Germany
Years of service	1915–1920/1922–1939
Rank	podpolkovnik, Major General i.m.
Battles/wars	Battle of Zborov, Battle of Bakhmach

Close

Josef Mašín was born in Lošany near Kolín. He was a member of the Czechoslovak Legions fighting in Russia (1916–1921) and later an officer in the Czechoslovak Army (commander of an artillery regiment). After the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany he, together with Josef Balabán and Václav Morávek, formed a resistance group concentrated on intelligence gathering and sabotage.

While more resistance groups existed, this one, aptly named Tři Králové (Three Kings), is the most known among the Czech public. Mašín was captured by the Gestapo on 13 May 1941. After being tortured, he twice attempted suicide. As part of the German retaliatory measures for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich he was shot and killed, aged 45. His body was disposed of at Strašnice Crematorium.^[1] His wife was imprisoned for several months.

After the war, Josef Mašín received a posthumous promotion to brigadier general. His sons - then 13 and 15 years old - got Medals for "personal bravery during the war" from president Edvard Beneš.