OPERATION ANTHROPOID

During World War II, the Czechoslovak-British 'Operation Anthropoid' was the code name for the assassination of top Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich. He was the chief of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) (Reich Main Security Office), the acting Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, and a chief planner of the Final Solution, the Nazi program for the genocide of the Jews of Europe.

Contents

Background

Strategic context

Operation

Insertion and planning

Assassination

Conspiracy theories

Consequences

Reprisals

Attempted capture of the assassins

Political consequence and aftermath

Notes

See also

References

External links

Background

Since 1939, Heydrich had been the chief of Reich Main Security Office (RSHA), an organization that included the Gestapo (Secret Police), the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) (Security Agency) and the Kripo (Criminal Police). He was a key planner in eliminating Hitler’s opponents, as well as (later) the key planner of the genocide of the Jews. He was involved in most of Hitler’s intrigues and a valued political ally, adviser, and friend of the dictator.
Due to his abilities and power, he was feared by almost all German generals. In September 1941, Heydrich was appointed acting Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, replacing Konstantin von Neurath, whom Hitler considered too moderate. During his role as ''de facto'' dictator of Bohemia and Moravia, Heydrich often drove with his chauffeur in a car with an open roof. This was a show of confidence in the occupation forces and the effectiveness of their repressive measures against the local population. Due to his cruelty, Heydrich was nicknamed ''the Butcher of Prague'', ''the Blond Beast'', and ''the Hangman''.

Strategic context

By late 1941, Hitler controlled almost all continental Europe, and German forces were approaching Moscow. The Allies deemed Soviet capitulation likely. The exiled government of Czechoslovakia, under President Edvard Beneš, was under pressure from British intelligence, as there had been very little visible resistance in the Czech lands since the German occupation began in 1939.
The Czech lands were producing significant military materiel for the Third Reich. The exiled government felt it had to do something that would inspire the Czech, as well as show the world the Czechs were allies. The British spy unit Special Operations Executive (SOE) trained the personnel and helped to plan the operation.^[1]. As Adolf Hitler’s groomed successor, Reinhard Heydrich was one of the most important men in Nazi Germany. His death would be a huge loss and a profound psychological, if not strategic, victory.

Operation

Insertion and planning

Seven soldiers from the Czechoslovakia’s army-in-exile in the United Kingdom, Jozef Gabčík, Jan Kubiš (''Anthropoid'') and two other groups (''Silver A'' and ''Silver B''), were parachuted by the Royal Air Force into Czechoslovakia on the night of December 28, 1941. This was not the first SOE operation; there had been several before. Gabčík and Kubiš landed east of Prague; although the plan was to land near Pilsen, the pilots had problems with orientation. The soldiers then moved to Pilsen to contact their allies, and from there on to Prague, where the attack was planned.
In Prague, they contacted several families and anti-Nazi organizations who helped them during the preparations for the assassination. Gabčík and Kubiš initially planned to assassinate Heydrich on a train, but after exploration they realized that this was not possible. The second plan was to assassinate him on the road in the forest on the way from Heydrich’s seat to Prague. They planned to pull a cable across the road that would stop Heydrich’s car but, after waiting several hours, their commander, Lt. Opálka, (from the group ''Out Distance''), came to bring them back to Prague. The third plan was to assassinate Heydrich in Prague.

Assassination

On May 27, 1942 Heydrich proceeded on his daily commuting journey from his home in Panenské Břežany to Prague Castle. In a hurry, he didn't wait for the customary police escort. Gabčík and Kubiš waited at the tram stop in the curve near Bulovka hospital. Valčik was positioned about 100 metres north of Gabčík and Kubiš as lookout for the approaching car. As Heydrich’s open-topped Mercedes-Benz neared the pair, Gabčík is said to have stepped in front of the vehicle, trying to open fire, but his Sten gun jammed. Heydrich ordered his driver, SS-Oberscharführer Klein, to stop the car. When Heydrich stood up to try to shoot Gabčík, Kubiš tossed a modified anti-tank grenade at the vehicle, and its fragments ripped through the car’s right fender, embedding shrapnel and fibres from the upholstery in Heydrich’s body, even though the grenade failed to enter the car. Heydrich managed to return fire but soon collapsed. Klein was killed in a manhunt in pursuit of Gabčík. Heydrich died 11 days later from septicemia (blood poisoning).

Conspiracy theories

Heinrich Himmler, Heydrich’s direct superior, took it upon himself to see to the welfare of his subordinate. No Czech or Wehrmacht doctors were allowed to operate on Heydrich — rather, Himmler sent his personal physicians to conduct the surgery themselves. On June 4, Heydrich succumbed to what Himmler’s physicians described as septicemia. Their theory was that some of the horsehair used in the upholstery of Heydrich’s car was forced into his body by the blast of the grenade, causing a systemic infection that their medicine could not fight. In light of the rumours that Heydrich was the one man of whom Himmler was both jealous and truly afraid, the validity of this diagnosis, and the intentions of Himmler’s doctors, have been open to much speculation.

Consequences

Reprisals

Hitler ordered the SS and Gestapo to “wade in blood” throughout Bohemia to find Heydrich’s killers. Initially, Hitler wanted to start with brutal, widespread killing of the Czech people, but, after consultations, he reduced his response to only some thousands. The Czech lands were an important industrial zone for the German military, and indiscriminate killing could reduce the productivity of the region.
Ultimately, more than 13,000 people were arrested. The most notorious incidents were the murder of all adult male residents, and the complete destruction of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky.
Britain’s wartime leader Winston Churchill, infuriated, suggested leveling three German villages for every Czech village the Nazis destroyed. Instead, the Allies stopped planning similar operations to assassinate top Nazis for the fear of similar reprisals. Two years after Heydrich was killed, however, they attempted one more time, this time targeting Hitler in Operation Foxley which failed to materialize. Operation Anthropoid remained the only successful assassination of a top-ranking Nazi German leader during the Third Reich.

Attempted capture of the assassins

The attackers initially hid with two Prague families and later took refuge in Karel Boromejsky Church, an Orthodox church dedicated to Saints Cyril and Methodius. The Gestapo could not find the assassins until Karel Čurda (of the group Out Distance, whose objective was sabotage) told the Gestapo the names of the team’s local contact persons for the bounty of 1 million Reichsmarks.
Curda betrayed several safe houses provided by the Jindra group, including that of the Moravec family in Zizkov. At 5 a.m. on June 17, the Moravec apartment was raided. The family was made to stand in the corridor while the Gestapo searched their apartment. Mrs. Moravec was, surprisingly, allowed to go to the toilet, and killed herself with a cyanide capsule. Mr. Moravec, oblivious to his family's involvement with the resistance, was taken to the Peček Palác together with his son Ata. Here, Ata was tortured throughout the day. Finally, he was stupefied with brandy and shown his mother's severed head in a fish tank. Ata Moravec told the Gestapo all he knew. SS troops laid siege to the church, but despite the best efforts of over 700 Nazi soldiers, they were unable to take the paratroopers alive; three, including Heydrich’s assassin Kubiš, were killed in the prayer loft after a brief gun battle. The other four, including Gabčík, committed suicide in the crypt to avoid capture.
Bishop Gorazd (Pavlik) of Prague, in an attempt to minimize the reprisals among his flock, took the blame for the actions in the Church on himself, even writing letters to the Nazi authorities. But, on June 27, 1942, he was arrested and tortured. On September 4, 1942, he, the Church priests, and senior lay leaders were executed by firing squad. (For his actions, Bishop Gorazd was later glorified as a martyr by the Eastern Orthodox Church.)

Political consequence and aftermath

The success of the operation made Great Britain and France renounce the Munich Agreement. They agreed that after the Nazis were defeated, the Sudetenland would be restored to Czechoslovakia. It also led to sympathy for the idea of expelling the German population of Czechoslovakia.
As Heydrich was one of the most important Nazi leaders, two large funeral ceremonies were conducted. One was in Prague, where the way to Prague Castle was lined by thousands of SS-men with torches. The second was in Berlin attended by all leading Nazi figures, including Hitler who placed the German Order and Blood Order Medals on the funeral pillow.
Karel Čurda was, after an unsuccessful suicide attempt, hanged in 1947 for high treason.
The story of this operation was the basis for the 1943 film ''Hangmen Also Die'', the 1964 film ''Atentat'' and the 1975 film ''Operation Daybreak''. It is also the basis for the 1966 novel ''Seven men at daybreak'' by Alan Burgess. The assassination inspired rock group British Sea Power to write the song “A Lovely Day Tomorrow.” Originally a b-side, the song was re-recorded with the Czech band The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, in both English and Czech (''Zítra bude krásný den'') for a limited edition release in 2004.
To commemorate the heroes of the Czech and Slovak resistance, in May 2007 the Slovak National Museum opened an exhibition presenting one of the most important resistance actions in the whole of Nazi-occupied Europe.

Notes

1. Reference MRD Foot ''SOE'' and others

See also

★ Czech resistance to Nazi occupation

★ Jan Kubiš

★ Jozef Gabčík

★ Occupation of Czechoslovakia

★ Reinhard Heydrich

★ Special Operations Executive

References

★ McDonald, Callum: ''The Killing of Reinhard Heydrich: The SS “Butcher of Prague”''. ISBN 0-306-80860-9

★ Burian, Michael: ''Assassination: Operation Anthropoid 1941–1942''. Prague: Avis, 2002.

★ Valka.cz, a complete Operation Anthropoid overview

External links

★ Radio Prague: Czechs in World War II

★ Radio Prague: Exhibitions mark 60th anniversary of assassination of Nazi governor Heydrich

★ Operation Anthropoid at Everything2

★ Czechs in Exile website

★ Exhibition on Operation Anthropoid at the Slovak Nation Museum