We are accustomed to saying that the paratroopers of Operation ANTHROPOID are our heroes, meaning ours, the Czechs. Let us not be mistaken. The struggle against injustice and lack of freedom finds its heroes regardless of lines on maps. We present a text about our heroes from a contemporary resistance channel.
On May 27, 1942, in Prague, two Czechoslovak resistance fighters, Josef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, achieved something that seemed impossible: they eliminated the Acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich, one of the architects of the Holocaust and head of the Reich Main Security Office. Adolf Hitler himself called him “the man with the iron heart.”
Heydrich was convinced of his own invulnerability. He drove through occupied Prague in an open-top Mercedes without armor or security. He believed that fear had already won.
But fear did not win.
Operation Anthropoid was prepared by members of the Czechoslovak resistance sent from Great Britain. Behind them stood hundreds of people who risked their lives under the Nazi occupation—liaisons, messengers, people providing shelter, and other members of the resistance network. They were not just looking for an opportunity to kill Heydrich. They were looking for the moment when the system fails.
Such a moment came at a sharp bend in Prague’s Libeň district. Gabčík attempted to open fire, but his submachine gun jammed. Kubiš therefore threw a grenade under the car. The explosion severely damaged the vehicle and shrapnel mortally wounded Heydrich. He died several days later.
The Nazis immediately unleashed a bloody terror in the Czech lands. Thousands of house searches, mass arrests, daily executions, and high rewards for any information leading to the capture of the assassins followed. However, the Gestapo remained helpless for a long time. It was only after several weeks that the resistance fighters were betrayed by Karel Čurda.
Seven Czechoslovak paratroopers fought their final battle in the crypt of the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Approximately eight hundred SS and police members were deployed against them. The paratroopers fought for several hours and refused to surrender. When they ran out of ammunition, they chose death over captivity.
Operation Anthropoid destroyed one of the fundamental myths of every dictatorship—the myth of impunity.
No matter how powerful and unshakable a system of terror may seem, there can always come a moment when only a single precise throw remains between the executioner and retribution.
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