Operation Anthropoid

- 80 years ago on 27th May 1942 was liquidated the Nazi Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich

From Wikipedia:

Operation Anthropoid was the code name for a Parachute Squadron sent from Great Britain to the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia during World War II. It was formed by soldiers of the Czechoslovak exile army Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš. It was organized by the special group " D " of the intelligence department of the exiled Ministry of national defense and was included in the first wave of paratroopers. It was a diversionary operation that took place between December 1941 and June 1942. Its main goal was to carry out the liquidation of the acting Reich Protector and head of the RSHA Reinhard Heydrich, which occurred on 27. May 1942. Diversion surgery was successful, Heydrich in the aftermath of 4. June 1942 died. The participants of the operation paid for their act with their lives, when they, along with other paratroopers, succumbed to 18. June 1942 in the battle with the overwhelming number of Nazi soldiers in the Church of St. Cyril and Methodius.

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (/ˈhaɪdrɪk/; German: [ˈʁaɪnhaʁt ˈtʁɪstan ˈʔɔʏɡn̩ ˈhaɪdʁɪç] (listen); 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a high-ranking German SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He was chief of the Reich Security Main Office (including the Gestapo, Kripo, and SD). He was also Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor (Deputy/Acting Reich-Protector) of Bohemia and Moravia. He served as president of the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC, later known as Interpol) and chaired the January 1942 Wannsee Conference which formalised plans for the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question"—the deportation and genocide of all Jews in German-occupied Europe.

In Czech Republic we are remembering now this important event which happened during World War II in capital Praha. A reconstruction of this operation is showed to thousands people looking at it in Prague quarter Libeň. The serpentine were it happened was rebuilt in the 80ties so now the place looks different however the main facts were arranged - the open luxurious Mercedes cabriolet in which Heydrich, the Reichtprotektor, travelled from castle in Dolní Břežany not far from Praha to the airport. The machine gun which was used by soldier of Czechoslovak exile army Gabčík failed and the second soldier Kubiš had to use military grenade.

For the Nazi command, this event was shocking, and they were not sure who exactly organized it. Heydrich was appointed to the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in the autumn of 1941 in order to "pacify" the Czech population and ensure that this territory diligently produced the necessary weapons and food for Nazi Germany. It is also interesting that until today we do not know if Czechoslovak president in exile Edvard Beneš in London was informed about this plan.

Heydrich´s Mercedes-Benz after the attack

 The place were it attack happened, today it is completely changed

Announcement - reward 10 million crowns for help to catch the assassins and at the same time death to the whole family for helping them

Although both parachutists Gabčík and Kubiš  perished, the mission was considered successful, since the assigned task was fully accomplished. The liquidation of Heydrich itself later became the subject of a number of disputes, because despite the advantages it had (in particular, international fame and the subsequent withdrawal of the signatory countries from the Munich Agreement , which was supposed to contribute to the restoration of the post-war Czechoslovakia in the pre-Munich borders. But it also brought disadvantages - still strengthened terror. In response to the assassination, the Nazis murdered several thousand Czechs, including burning the village of Lidice (10. June 1942) and Ležáky (24. June 1942). 24. October 1942, 26. January 1943 and 3. in February 1944, the Nazis murdered a total of 294 closest collaborators of paratroopers from the ranks of the Czech resistance in the Mauthausen concentration camp. However, even thanks to this act, the post-war Czechoslovakia was recognized among the winners of the WWII.

  Announcement of death of Heydrich

Now some interesting facts - autentic remembering what followed after the attack in the Prague hospital were Heydrich was transported. Dr.Alois Honěk was a surgeon just on service this day and his family members remember how he described the event:

"When the 27th May 1942 at 10: 30 a massive detonation sounded from a crossroads near Bulovka hospital and  dr.Alois Honěk immediately learned that Heydrich had been "massacred", he went immediately to celebrate.To his medical apartment right in the hospital. One of the witnesses would later state that dr.Honěk and selected Czech colleagues were "tapping" and "getting a little excited". When meeting with publicist Ladislav Verecký in 1998, however, dr.Honěk did not talk about alcohol and toasts, he only described the joy of the assassination."

It was not yet known to the surgeon that Heydrich was not "cut to pieces", as the hospital staff thought originally. At 11: 01a.m., a van arrived at the hospital and the temporary protector was sitting in it. He was far from unconscious, he was in shock but he reacted and helped the attending doctor. Heydrich was conscious and ordered a German doctor to operate on him. The head of surgery at Bulovka, Walter Dick, assured him that he was talking to a Sudeten German, from the south of Bohemia near the Austrian border. The head of the main office of the Reich Security (RSHA) and the security service (SD) did not trust the doctor and demanded a true Reich German. But dr.Dick could only suggest another Sudeten German, Josef Hohlbaum from the another Prague  clinic. After that dr.Alois Honěk was called to do the anesteziology. He spoke to Heydrich in Czech - most probably because a few minutes before he was already celebrating with his Czech colleagues that Heydrich was killed. Heydrich did not understand anything and was so perplexed that he followed his instructions. Reinhard Heydrich's anaesthetic went off without complications. The death of the protector several days later was fortunately not blamed on other German and Czech doctors who operated and treated him. Heydrich died several days later of sepsis.

Heydrich's assailants finally  took refuge in Ss. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral , an Orthodox church in center of Prague. After a traitor in the Czech resistance betrayed their location, the church was surrounded by 800 members of the SS and Gestapo. Several Czechs were killed, and the remainder hid in the church's crypt. The Germans attempted to flush the men out with gunfire, tear gas, and by flooding the crypt. Eventually an entrance was made using explosives. Rather than surrender, the soldiers killed themselves.

                 Thanks for reading

                                              Margaret