OCCUPATION (MARCH 1939)
Nazi troops crossed the border at six o'clock in the morning. The IV Army Corps advanced into the capital on both banks of the Labe and Vltava (the 24th Infantry Division and reinforced 4th Infantry Division), the XIV Army Corps from the area south of Trutnov and west of Kladsko towards Hradec Králové and Pardubice, to the area south of them (the 29th Motorized Infantry Division and 28th Infantry Division) and the XVI Army Corps from the area south of Liberec to Prague (3rd Tank and 3rd Light Division). The XVI Army Corps staff entered Prague at nine o'clock in the morning. During the day, the units of the IV Army Corps deployed in Prague and in the area to the northeast of Prague and the units of the XVI Army Corps in Prague and east of Prague. Both Army Corps had their headquarters in Prague. On the afternoon of 17 March 1939, the units of the XVI Army Corps were located in Prague and in the area east of Prague up to Kolin. The 3rd Light Division was sent through Prague on 2 April 1939 as a peacekeeping garrison.
The command of the Nazi Luftwaffe wanted to impress the inhabitants of Bohemia and Moravia with a massive promotional flight on 15 March 1939, but this failed to take place due to the weather. Only the II. Gruppe Kampfgeschwader 155 managed to fly over Pilsen and the settlements east of it. However, according to Luftflotte 3's report, this was not quite the case, as the bombers took off from Fürth airport in Bavaria only over the new border near Pilsen, but because of the low clouds the whole formation had to go back and neither of the bombers dropped a single leaflet. Even on the morning of 16 March 1939, these orders could not be fulfilled due to the weather. It managed to do so after 12.30 o'clock, and only Luftflotte 3 and its subordinate Luftwaffenkommando Ostmark with the main targets of Prague and Brno. Altogether there were six bomber groups and one fighter group. The other three squadrons of Luftflotte 1, however, were told to return back to the base because of bad weather (low lying clouds). In the morning, aircraft tried to fly over Bohemia from bomber group Kampfgeschwader 155 and dive bomber squadron Sturzkampfgeschwader 165. The bombers had to return because of the bad weather when they were over Šumava and dive bombers already from Tirschenreuth in Bavaria. Both units were part of the 6th Air Division, while the commander of the 5th Air Division Robert von Greim issued a ban on any take-offs in the morning due to the weather.
On 17 March 1939, the Nazi demonstration flight over Prague was finally a complete success with the participation of air units from Luftflotte 3. Luftwaffenkommando Ostmark and Luftflotte 1 between 11 am and 1 pm from eight air squadrons. For the promotional flight over Prague, Luftflotte 3 deployed Gruppe Kampfgeschwader 255 squadrons II. and III. and from Gruppe Kampfgeschwader 355 squadrons I., II. and III., which took the promotional flight along the route Erding — České Budějovice — Písek — Erding. Two additional bomber squadrons (Staffel) II. From Gruppe Kampfgeschwader 255 and the I. squadron from Gruppe Jagdgeschwader 233 took the route Aibling — Pasov — České Budějovice — Landau (all units Fliegerdivision 5) and for the promotional flight over Prague bomber squadrons I. and II. Gruppe Kampfgeschwader 155 and two three-man swarms (Kette) of reconnaissance aircraft from 2./123. Altogether, they were 182 aircraft from Fliegerdivision 5 and Fliegerdivision 6 that took part in this action.