Operation Anthropoid (1942): The Assassination of Heydrich

Operation Anthropoid was the British-supported mission in which two Czechoslovak soldiers attacked Reinhard Heydrich in Prague on 27 May 1942. Heydrich, one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a chief architect of the Holocaust, died of his wounds on 4 June. He was the highest-ranking Nazi official assassinated during the Second World War, and his death provoked some of the most savage reprisals of the occupation.

Background

After the Munich Agreement of 1938 and the German occupation of March 1939, the Czech lands became the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In September 1941 Heydrich, already head of the Reich Security Main Office, was made acting Reich Protector. He crushed the Czech resistance with executions while trying to win over workers with extra rations. In January 1942 he also chaired the Wannsee Conference, which coordinated the murder of Europe’s Jews.

The Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London, led by President Edvard Beneš, wanted a dramatic act of resistance to prove its value to the Allies. With intelligence chief František Moravec and the British Special Operations Executive, it planned to kill Heydrich.

The parachutists

Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, soldiers of the Czechoslovak army in Britain, were trained in sabotage and close combat. They were dropped by an RAF aircraft on the night of 28–29 December 1941, landing near Nehvizdy, east of Prague, some way from the planned drop zone. Over the following months they lived in hiding with the help of Czech families and resistance members, studying Heydrich’s daily drive from his country house to Prague Castle.

The attack

On the morning of 27 May 1942 the two men waited at a sharp bend in the Libeň district, where Heydrich’s open Mercedes would have to slow down. As the car approached, Gabčík stepped out and aimed his Sten submachine gun, but it jammed. Heydrich ordered his driver to stop and stood up to fire his pistol. Kubiš then threw a modified anti-tank grenade, which exploded against the rear of the car.

Fragments of metal and upholstery entered Heydrich’s back. Both attackers escaped, though Kubiš was slightly wounded. Heydrich was taken to Bulovka Hospital, where he underwent surgery, but he died on 4 June, most likely from infection caused by the debris in his wounds.

Reprisals and the last stand

The Nazis imposed martial law, offered huge rewards and carried out mass arrests and executions. On 10 June they destroyed the village of Lidice, and on 24 June the hamlet of Ležáky.

Seven parachutists, including Gabčík and Kubiš, were sheltering in the crypt of the Orthodox Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius. On 16 June Karel Čurda, a parachutist from another mission, went to the Gestapo, and under torture a helper revealed the hiding place. Before dawn on 18 June several hundred SS troops surrounded the church. Kubiš, Adolf Opálka and Josef Bublík died after a fierce fight in the choir loft. The other four, Gabčík, Josef Valčík, Jan Hrubý and Josef Švarc, held out in the crypt for hours as the Germans tried to flood it, and died, most probably by their own hands.

Those who had helped them paid dearly. Bishop Gorazd of the Czech Orthodox Church was executed, and on 24 October 1942 around 250 relatives and supporters of the parachutists were killed at Mauthausen concentration camp.

Key people

• Jozef Gabčík (1912–1942), a Slovak locksmith turned soldier, who had escaped to join the Czechoslovak forces in France and then Britain.
• Jan Kubiš (1913–1942), a Czech soldier from Moravia who replaced an injured comrade in the mission team and threw the fatal grenade.
• Reinhard Heydrich (1904–1942), SS-Obergruppenführer, head of the Reich Security Main Office and acting Reich Protector.
• Edvard Beneš (1884–1948), president of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, who approved the operation.
• Karel Čurda (1911–1947), a parachutist from another team whose betrayal led the Gestapo to the church.

Debate over the operation

The decision to kill Heydrich has been debated ever since. Some resistance leaders inside the Protectorate, foreseeing savage reprisals, radioed London to ask for the mission to be called off or redirected, but it went ahead. Supporters argue that it removed one of the most dangerous Nazi leaders, showed that the occupiers were not untouchable and restored Czechoslovakia’s standing with the Allies. Critics point to the thousands of innocent people who died as a result, and to the near-destruction of the domestic resistance network.

Consequences

The total number killed in the reprisals is often estimated at around 5,000. Politically, the operation achieved one of Beneš’s goals: in August 1942 Britain formally repudiated the Munich Agreement, and the Free French followed. Čurda was tried and hanged for treason in 1947.

Timeline

• 1941, 27 September: Heydrich becomes acting Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia.
• 1941, 28–29 December: Gabčík and Kubiš are parachuted into the Protectorate.
• 1942, 20 January: Heydrich chairs the Wannsee Conference.
• 1942, 27 May: The attack on Heydrich in Prague-Libeň.
• 1942, 4 June: Heydrich dies in Bulovka Hospital.
• 1942, 10 June: Lidice is destroyed.
• 1942, 18 June: The parachutists die in the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius.
• 1942, 24 October: Some 250 relatives and helpers are executed at Mauthausen.

Why it matters

Operation Anthropoid remains a defining event in Czech and Slovak memory, a symbol of resistance and of the terrible price paid for it. The crypt where the parachutists died is now a national memorial, and the story has been retold in books and films, including Anthropoid (2016).