the help of his Czechoslovak contact. Due to his function of general inspector he had access to all secret materials, however investigation did not prove that he took any of them. Viest was sentenced to death, degradation to the lowest army position and loss of state citizenship on 28 March 1942. Exile On 13 September, he arrived in Paris. He became a member of the Czechoslovak national committee and commander of the Czechoslovak army in exile. From 1 January 1940, he was commander of the Czechoslovak Army Ground Forces, later transformed to the 1st Czechoslovak Division in France. After the Nazi occupation of France in June 1940, he moved to Britain and joined Edvard Beneš on 10 July. On 10 October 1940, he became a member of the Council of State and minister on 27 October 1940. On 8 May 1940, he became deputy of minister of national defence in the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. Slovak National Uprising On 8 May 1944, Czechoslovak representatives signed an agreement with the Soviet Union which guaranteed the Soviets would pass the administration of liberated territory to the exiled government in London. Rudolf Viest became the deputy delegate for liberated territory responsible for this task, and in August 1944 travelled with the Czechoslovak delegation to the Soviet Union. After the start of the Slovak National Uprising on 29 August 1944, Ján Golian became the commander of the 1st Czechoslovak Army in Slovakia and urged the government-in-exile to send Viest to support the uprising. Viest returned to Slovakia during the night of 6-7 October 1944 to take official command of the uprising, and was made a member of the Slovak National Council on 13 October. By the time Viest arrived to take command, achieving the original goals of the uprising was already likely unrealistic given internal infighting. On 18 October 1944, the German Army started a general offensive focused on eliminating resistance in the Slovak territory held by the resistance. As the situation collapsed, Viest issued a final order from Donovaly during the night of 27-28 October for his forces to switch to guerrilla warfare. This order had only symbolic value, since the army as an organized unit had already ceased to exist, and the order could not be delivered to all troops due to disrupted communication lines. Viest tried to escape from German encirclement and reach the Red Army. On 3 November 1944, he was captured