Operation Anthropoid

Operation Anthropoid
Part of World War II
Heydrich's Typ 320 damaged by the tank grenade
Type Assassination
Location Prague
Planned December 1941 – May 1942
Planned by Special Operations Executive
Target Reinhard Heydrich
Date 27 May 1942
Executed by Jozef Gabčík, Jan Kubiš
Outcome
  • Heydrich succumbs to wounds on 4 June; Nazis order reprisals

Operation Anthropoid was the code name for the assassination during World War II of Schutzstaffel (SS)-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Main Security Office, RSHA), the combined security services of Nazi Germany, and acting Reichsprotektor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.[1]

Heydrich was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and an important figure in the rise of Adolf Hitler; he was given overall charge of the Final Solution (Holocaust) of the Jews in Europe. The Czechoslovaks undertook the operation to help confer legitimacy on Edvard Beneš's government-in-exile in London, as well as for retribution against Heydrich's brutally efficient rule.[2]

The operation was carried by Czechoslovak army-in-exile soldiers in Prague, on 27 May 1942, after preparation by the British Special Operations Executive with the approval of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. Wounded in the attack, Heydrich died of his injuries on 4 June 1942. This was the only government-sponsored targeted assassination of a senior Nazi leader during the Second World War. His death led to a wave of reprisals by SS troops, including the destruction of villages and the mass killing of civilians.

Background

Reinhard Heydrich, the target of Operation Anthropoid, in 1940

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

Heydrich had been the chief of the RSHA since September 1939 and was appointed acting Protector of Bohemia and Moravia after replacing Konstantin von Neurath in September 1941. Hitler agreed with Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler and Heydrich that von Neurath's relatively lenient approach to the Czechs promoted anti-German sentiment, and encouraged anti-German resistance by strikes and sabotage.[3][4]

Heydrich came to Prague to "strengthen policy, carry out countermeasures against resistance", and keep up production quotas of Czech motors and arms that were "extremely important to the German war effort".[4] 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 his confidence in the occupation forces and in the effectiveness of his government.[5] Due to his brutal efficiency, Heydrich was nicknamed the Butcher of Prague, the Blond Beast, and the Hangman.[6]

Strategic context

Nazi zenith 1941–42

By late 1941, Germany under Hitler controlled almost all of continental Europe, and German forces were approaching Moscow.[7] 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 since the occupation of the Sudeten regions of the country in 1938. (Occupation of the whole country began in 1939.) The takeover of these regions was enforced by the Munich Agreement, and the subsequent terror of the German Reich broke the will of the Czechs for a period.

The resistance was active from the very beginning of occupation in several other countries defeated in open warfare (Poland, Yugoslavia, and Greece), but the subjugated Czech lands remained relatively calm and produced significant amounts of materiel for Nazi Germany. The exiled government felt that it had to do something that would inspire the Czechoslovaks as well as show the world that the Czechs and Slovaks were allies. Reinhard Heydrich was chosen over Karl Hermann Frank as an assassination target due to his status as the acting Protector of Bohemia and Moravia as well as his reputation for terrorizing local citizens. The operation was also intended to demonstrate to senior Nazis that they were not beyond the reach of allied forces and the resistance groups they supported.[2]

Operation

Planning

The operation was instigated by František Moravec, head of the Czechoslovak intelligence services, with the knowledge and approval of Edvard Beneš, head of the Czechoslovak government in exile in Britain, almost as soon as Heydrich was appointed Protector.[8] Moravec personally briefed Brigadier Colin Gubbins, who at the time was the Director of Operations in the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and who had responsibility for the Czech and Polish "country" sections of the organisation. Gubbins readily agreed to help mount the operation, although knowledge of it was restricted to a few of the headquarters and training staff of SOE. The operation was given the codename Anthropoid, Greek for "having the form of a human", a term usually used in zoology.

Preparation began on 20 October 1941. Moravec had personally selected two dozen of the most promising personnel from among the 2,000 exiled Czechoslovak soldiers based in Britain. They were sent to one of SOE's commando training centres at Arisaig in Scotland.[9] Warrant Officer Jozef Gabčík (Slovak) and Staff Sergeant Karel Svoboda (cs) (Czech) were chosen to carry out the operation on 28 October 1941 (Czechoslovakia's Independence Day),[2] but Svoboda was replaced by Jan Kubiš (Czech) after he received a head injury during training. This caused delays in the mission as Kubiš had not completed training, nor had the necessary false documents been prepared for him.[10]

Training was supervised by the nominated head of the Czech section, Major Alfgar Hesketh-Pritchard, who turned to Cecil Clarke to develop the necessary weapon, light enough to throw but still be lethal to an armour-plated Mercedes.[11] During extensive training, the new weapon was found to be easy to throw by Hesketh-Pritchard, who had a strong cricketing background, but less so by Gabčík and Kubiš.[12][13]

Insertion

Jozef Gabčík
Jan Kubiš

Gabčík and Kubiš, with seven other soldiers from Czechoslovakia's army in exile in the United Kingdom in two other groups named Silver A and Silver B (who had different missions), were flown from RAF Tangmere by a Halifax of No. 138 Squadron RAF at 22:00 on 28 December 1941.[14] They landed near Nehvizdy east of Prague. Originally, it had been planned to land near Pilsen, but the pilots had navigation problems.[15] 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 organisations who helped them during the preparations for the assassination.[16] Upon learning of the nature of the mission, resistance leaders begged the Czechoslovak government-in-exile to call off the attack, saying that "An attempt against Heydrich's life.. would be of no use to the Allies and its consequences for our people would be immeasurable."[17] Beneš personally broadcast a message insisting that the attack go forward,[17] although he denied any involvement after the war.[18] Professor Vojtěch Mastný argues that he "clung to the scheme as the last resort to dramatize Czech resistance."[18]

Gabčík and Kubiš initially planned to kill Heydrich on a train, but after examination of the practicalities, they realised this was not going to be possible. A second plan was to kill him on a forest road that led from Heydrich's home 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. Adolf Opálka (from the group Out Distance), came to bring them back to Prague. A third plan was to kill Heydrich in Prague.

The attack in Prague

Another of Heydrich's Mercedes 320 Convertible B cars, similar to the one in which he was mortally wounded (currently in the Military History Museum in Prague), the original being located at Egholm Museum, Denmark.[19]
A Sten submachine gun. Gabčík's gun suffered from failure to feed. Czechoslovak paratroopers often complained about the low reliability of British firearms.[20]

On 27 May 1942 at 10:30, Heydrich started his daily commute from his home in Panenské Břežany to his headquarters at Prague Castle. Gabčík and Kubiš waited at the tram stop at a tight curve near Bulovka Hospital in Prague 8-Libeň, where the curve would force the car to slow down. Josef Valčík (from group Silver A) was positioned about 100 metres (109 yards) north of Gabčík and Kubiš as lookout for the approaching car.

Heydrich's green, open-topped Mercedes 320 Convertible B reached the curve two minutes later. As Heydrich's car slowed, Gabčík stepped in front of the vehicle and tried to open fire with his Sten submachine gun, but it jammed and failed to fire. Instead of ordering his driver, SS-Oberscharführer Klein, to speed away, Heydrich called his car to halt and then stood up to shoot Gabčík with his Luger pistol. Kubiš then threw a modified anti-tank grenade[21] (concealed in a briefcase) at the rear of the car as it stopped and its fragments ripped through the car's right rear fender, embedding shrapnel and fibres from the upholstery into Heydrich’s body, upon detonation, wounding him. Kubiš was also injured by the shrapnel.[22]

Heydrich staggered out of the car, apparently unaware of his shrapnel injuries, with his gun in his hand; Gabčík and Kubiš fired at Heydrich with their Colt M1903 pistols but, themselves shocked by the explosion, failed to hit him.[23] Heydrich then chased Kubiš and tried to return fire. Kubiš jumped on his bicycle and pedaled away. Heydrich ran after him for half a block but became weak from shock and collapsed. Heydrich, still with pistol in hand, gripped his left flank, which was bleeding profusely. He ordered Klein to chase Gabčík on foot, saying "Get that bastard!".[24] Klein chased him into a butcher shop, where Gabčík shot him twice with a pistol, severely wounding him in the leg. Gabčík then escaped in a tram, reaching a local safe house.[25][26] Gabčík and Kubiš did not know that Heydrich was wounded, and were convinced the attack had failed.[27]

Medical treatment and death

A Czech woman and an off-duty policeman went to Heydrich's aid and flagged down a delivery van. Heydrich was first placed in the driver's cab, but complained that the truck's movement was causing him pain. He was then transferred to the back of the truck, placed on his stomach, and taken to the emergency room at Bulovka Hospital.[28] He had suffered severe injuries to his left side, with major damage to his diaphragm, spleen, and lung, as well as a fractured rib. A Dr Slanina packed the chest wound, while Dr Walter Diek (the Sudeten German chief of surgery at the hospital) tried unsuccessfully to remove the shrapnel splinters.

Professor Hollbaum (a Silesian German who was chairman of surgery at Charles University in Prague) operated on Heydrich with Drs Diek and Slanina's assistance.[28] The surgeons reinflated the collapsed left lung, removed the tip of the fractured eleventh rib, sutured the torn diaphragm, inserted several catheters, and removed the spleen, which contained a grenade fragment and upholstery material.[29] Heydrich's direct superior Himmler sent his personal physician, Karl Gebhardt, who flew to Prague and arrived that evening. After 29 May, Heydrich was entirely in the care of SS physicians. Postoperative care included administration of large amounts of morphine.

There are contradictory accounts concerning whether sulfanilamide (a new antibacterial drug) was given, but Gebhardt testified at his 1947 war crimes trial that it was not.[29] Theodor Morell, Hitler's personal doctor, suggested its use, but Gebhardt, thinking Heydrich was recovering, declined.[30] The patient developed a high fever of 38–39 °C (100.4–102.2 °F) and wound drainage. Despite the fever, Heydrich's recovery appeared to progress well. On 2 June, during a visit by Himmler, Heydrich reconciled himself to his fate by reciting a part of one of his father's operas:

The world is just a barrel-organ which the Lord God turns Himself. We all have to dance to the tune which is already on the drum.[31]

After seven days, his condition appeared to be improving, when he collapsed while sitting up eating a noon meal and went into shock. He spent most of his remaining hours in a coma and never regained consciousness. He died around 04:30 the next morning.[29] An autopsy concluded he died of sepsis. Heydrich's facial expression as he died betrayed an "uncanny spirituality and entirely perverted beauty, like a renaissance Cardinal," according to Bernhard Wehner, a Kripo police official who investigated the assassination.[32]

One of the theories 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.[33] It has also been suggested that he died of a massive pulmonary embolism (probably a fat embolism). In support of the latter possibility, particles of fat and blood clots were found at autopsy in the right ventricle and pulmonary artery, and severe oedema was noted in the upper lobes of the lungs, while the lower lobes were collapsed.[29]

Botulinum poisoning theory

The authors of A Higher Form of Killing claim that Heydrich died from botulism (botulinum poisoning).[34] According to this theory, the No. 73 anti-tank hand grenade used in the attack had been modified to contain botulinum toxin. This story originates from comments made by Paul Fildes, a Porton Down botulism researcher. The authors say that there is only circumstantial evidence to support this allegation,[29][35] the records of the SOE for the period have remained sealed, and few medical records of Heydrich's condition and treatment have been preserved.[29]

The general evidence cited to support the theory includes the modifications made to the No. 73 grenade: the bottom two thirds of this weapon had been removed, and the open end and sides wrapped up with adhesive tape. The modification of the weapon could indicate an attached toxic or biological payload. Heydrich received excellent medical care by the standards of the time. His post-mortem showed none of the usual signs of septicemia, although infection of the wound and areas surrounding the lungs and heart was reported.[29] A German wartime report on the incident stated, "Death occurred as a consequence of lesions in the vital parenchymatous organs caused by bacteria and possibly by poisons carried into them by bomb splinters".

Heydrich's condition while hospitalized was not documented in detail, but he was not noted to have developed any of the distinctive symptoms associated with botulism, which have a gradual, progressive onset, invariably including paralysis, with death generally resulting from respiratory failure. Two others were also wounded by fragments of the same grenade—Kubiš, the Czech soldier who threw the grenade, and a bystander—but neither was reported to have shown any sign of poisoning.[29][36]

The botulinum toxin theory has not found widespread acceptance among scholars for the above reasons. In addition, Fildes had a reputation for "extravagant boasts", and the grenade modifications could have been aimed at making the 2 kg weapon lighter.[29] Two of the six original modified grenades are kept by the Military History Institute in Prague.[37]

Consequences

Reprisals

Memorial plaques with names of the victims at the Kobylisy Shooting Range in Prague, where over 500 Czechs were executed in May and June 1942.
The relatives of Jan Kubiš and Josef Valčík and their fellows. In total, 294 people were executed in Mauthausen (262 people on 24 October 1942, 31 people on 26 January 1943 and the last one on 3 February 1944).[38]

Hitler ordered an investigation and reprisals on the very day of the assassination attempt, suggesting that Himmler send SS General Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski to Prague. According to Karl Hermann Frank's postwar testimony, Hitler knew Zelewski to be even harsher than Heydrich.[39] Hitler favored killing 10,000 politically unreliable Czechs but, after he consulted Himmler, the idea was dropped because Czech territory was an important industrial zone for the German military, and indiscriminate killing could reduce the productivity of the region.[40]

The Nazi retaliation ordered by Himmler was brutal, nonetheless. More than 13,000 were arrested, including Jan Kubiš' girlfriend Anna Malinová, who subsequently died in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp. First Lieutenant Adolf Opálka's aunt Marie Opálková was executed in the Mauthausen camp on 24 October 1942;[41] his father Viktor Jarolím was also killed.[42] According to one estimate, 5,000 people were murdered in the reprisals.[43]

Intelligence falsely linked the assassins to the village of Lidice. A Gestapo report suggested Lidice was the hiding place of the assassins, since several Czech army officers exiled in England were known to have come from there.[44] On 9 June 1942, the Germans committed the Lidice massacre: 199 men were killed, 195 women were deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp and 95 children taken prisoner. Of the children, 81 were later killed in gas vans at the Chełmno extermination camp, while eight were adopted by German families. The Czech village of Ležáky was also destroyed, because a radio transmitter belonging to the Silver A team was found there. The men and women of Ležáky were murdered, and both villages were burned and the ruins of Lidice levelled.[45][46]

The Czech government-in-exile either did not foresee the possibility that the Germans would apply the principle of "collective responsibility" on this scale in avenging Heydrich's assassination, or else they deemed it an acceptable price to pay for eliminating Heydrich and provoking reprisals, that would reduce Czech acquiescence to the German administration. Winston Churchill was infuriated enough to suggest levelling three German villages for every Czech village that the Nazis destroyed. Two years after Heydrich's death, Operation Foxley, a similar assassination plan, was drawn up against Hitler but not implemented.

Operation Anthropoid was the only successful government-organized assassination of a top-ranking Nazi. The Polish underground killed two senior SS officers in the General government in Operation Kutschera and Operation Bürkl and Wilhelm Kube, the General-Kommissar of Belarus, was killed in Operation Blowup by Soviet partisan Yelena Mazanik, a Belarusian woman who had managed to find employment in his household to kill him.[47]

Investigation and manhunt

Bullet-scarred window of the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Prague where the attackers were cornered.

In the days following Lidice, no leads were found for those responsible for Heydrich's death, despite the Nazis' zealous impatience to find them. During that time, a deadline was publicly issued to the military and the people of Czechoslovakia for the assassins to be apprehended by 18 June 1942. If they were not caught by then, the Germans threatened to spill far more blood as a consequence, believing that this threat would be enough to force a potential informant to sell out the culprits. Many civilians were indeed weary and fearful of further retaliations, making it increasingly difficult to hide information much longer. The assailants initially hid with two Prague families and later took refuge in Karel Boromejsky Church, an Eastern Orthodox church dedicated to Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Prague. The Germans were unable to locate the attackers until Karel Čurda of the "Out Distance" sabotage group turned himself in to the Gestapo and gave them the names of the team's local contacts for the bounty of one million Reichsmarks.[48]

Čurda betrayed several safe houses provided by the Jindra group, including that of the Moravec family in Žižkov. At 05:00 on 17 June, the Moravec flat was raided. The family was made to stand in the hallway while the Gestapo searched their flat. Marie Moravec was allowed to go to the toilet, where she bit into a cyanide capsule and killed herself. Alois Moravec was unaware of his family's involvement with the resistance; he was taken to the Petschek Palace together with his 17-year-old son Ata, who was tortured throughout the day but refused to talk. The youth was stupefied with brandy, shown his mother's severed head in a fish tank, and warned that, if he did not reveal the information that they were looking for, his father would be next.[49] Ata's strong willpower finally snapped, and he told the Gestapo what they wanted to know. Vlastimil "Ata" Moravec was executed by the Nazis in Mauthausen on 24 October 1942, the same day as his father, his fiancée, her mother and her brother were executed.[50]

Waffen-SS troops laid siege to the church the following day, but they were unable to take the paratroopers alive, despite the best efforts of 750 SS soldiers under the command of SS-Gruppenführer Karl Fischer von Treuenfeld. Kubiš, Adolf Opálka, and Josef Bublík were killed in the prayer loft after a two-hour gun battle. (Kubiš was said to have survived the battle and to have died shortly after from his injuries.)[51] Gabčík, Josef Valcik, Jaroslav Svarc and Jan Hruby committed suicide in the crypt after repeated SS attacks, attempts to force them out with tear gas, and Prague fire brigade trucks brought in to try to flood the crypt.[52] The German SS and police suffered casualties, as well, with 14 SS allegedly killed and 21 wounded, according to one report,[53] although the official SS report about the fight mentioned only five wounded SS soldiers.[54] The men in the church had only small-caliber pistols, while the attackers had machine guns, submachine guns, and hand grenades. After the battle, Čurda confirmed the identity of the dead Czech resistance fighters, including Kubiš and Gabčík.

Bishop Gorazd took the blame for the actions in the church, in an attempt to minimize the reprisals among his flock, and even wrote letters to the Nazi authorities, who arrested him on 27 June 1942 and tortured him. On 4 September 1942, the bishop, the church's priests, and senior lay leaders were taken to Kobylisy Shooting Range in a northern suburb of Prague and shot by Nazi firing squads. For his actions, Bishop Gorazd was later glorified as a martyr by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Political consequence and aftermath

The partition of Czechoslovakia after Munich Agreement in September 1938

The assassination of Heydrich was one of the most significant moments of the resistance in Czechoslovakia. The act led to the immediate dissolution of the Munich Agreement (called the "Munich dictate" or "Munich Treason" by the Czechs) signed by the United Kingdom, France, and Germany's ally Italy. The UK and France agreed that, after the Nazis were defeated, the annexed territory (Sudetenland) would be restored to Czechoslovakia.

Two large funeral ceremonies were performed for Heydrich as one of the most important Nazi leaders: first in Prague, where the way to Prague Castle was lined by thousands of SS men with torches, and then in Berlin attended by all leading Nazi figures, including Hitler, who placed the German Order and Blood Order medals on the funeral pillow.[55]

The betrayer Karel Čurda was hanged for high treason in 1947, after attempting suicide.[56][57]

Memorials

Memorial plaque on the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius
Memorial to Gabčík and Kubiš in Nehvizdy

The soldiers of Operation Anthropoid, their helpers, and the Operation itself were memorialized in the Czech Republic and abroad.

The oldest is the memorial plaque on Orthodox Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Resslova Street, Prague. It was created in 1947 by the ex-soldier of the Czechoslovak Army in Exile, František Bělský and is dedicated to the paratroopers, the clergymen, and other Czech patriots who lost their lives for the sake of the operation.[58]

The National Memorial to the Heroes of the Heydrich Terror was created beneath the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius in 1995. Later it underwent significant reconstruction and the extended exposition was reopened in 2010.[59]

Another important monument has the form of the fountain and symbolically commemorates the seven paratroopers. It was installed in 1968 in the Jephson Gardens, Leamington Spa (UK). In Leamington was situated the headquarters of the Czechoslovak military training camp during World War II.[60]

The Slovak National Museum opened an exhibition in May 2007 to commemorate the heroes of the Czech and Slovak resistance, one of the most important resistance actions in the whole of German-occupied Europe.

The Anthropoid Operation Memorial, 2009, Prague, authors: sculptor David Mojescik and sculptor Michal Smeral; architects: M. Tumova and J. Gulbis.

Czech Soldiers' Memorial at Arisaig

There is also a memorial in Arisaig, Scotland to the Czechoslovakian members of SOE who trained in that area, with a list of those killed and the missions in which they took part.[61]

In October 2011, a memorial plaque was unveiled on residential block Porchester Gate (London), which housed the Czechoslovak military intelligence service and where the Operation Anthropoid was planned in October 1941.[62][63]

Books

Movies

The following is the list of the movies dealing with Operation Anthropoid or assassination of Heydrich or portraying the act of assassination as the crucial moment of the film's plot:

TV documentaries

  • Opération Anthropoïde – Eliminer le SS Heydrich (2013 TV Movie)

Other

  • The short story "The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich" by Jim Shepard gives a fictionalized account of Operation Anthropoid from Kubiš's point of view.
  • The operation is the subject of the 2003 song "A Lovely Day Tomorrow" by the English band British Sea Power. The song was released as an EP containing Czech and English versions in collaboration with the Czech band The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa
  • It is also the subject of the song "Anthropoid" from the 2015 album VII: Sturm und Drang by Richmond, Virginia–based groove metal band Lamb of God.
  • It is the inspiration for the map "Anthropoid" in DLC1 of the video game Call of Duty: WWII
  • The serious video game Attentat 1942 details the suppression of the Bohemian-Moravian population after the Heydrich assassination.

Ss. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral, where the Czechoslovak paratroopers died after being cornered, and the memorial there for those killed by the SS in retaliation for Operation Anthropoid.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ McNab 2009, pp. 41, 158–161.
  2. 1 2 3 Burian 2002, p. 31.
  3. ↑ Longerich 2012, pp. 469, 470.
  4. 1 2 Williams 2003, p. 82.
  5. ↑ Williams 2003, p. 141.
  6. ↑ Ramen, Fred. Reinhard Heydrich: Hangman of the Third Reich, p. 8. ISBN 0-8239-3379-2
  7. ↑ Shepherd, Ammon (2008). "World War II — Timeline". Retrieved 7 July 2008.
  8. ↑ Milton 2016, p. 176-177.
  9. ↑ Milton 2016, p. 180.
  10. ↑ Burian 2002, p. 35.
  11. ↑ Turner 2011, pp. 106-109.
  12. ↑ Milton 2016, p. 182-185.
  13. ↑ Wilkinson, Peter (3 August 2002). Foreign Fields: The Story of an SOE Operative. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1860647796.
  14. ↑ Ivanov 1973, pp. 45,46.
  15. ↑ Burian 2002, p. 44.
  16. ↑ Burian 2002, pp. 48–49.
  17. 1 2 Mastný 1971, p. 209.
  18. 1 2 Mastný 1971, p. 210.
  19. ↑ Christoffersen, Camilla Thorup (13 February 2018). "Top Nazi Mercedes ends in Danish museum - was the center of mortal attack". tv2.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  20. ↑ "Proč výsadkář Gabčík nevystřelil? Archiv konečně vydal důkaz". Aktuálně.cz - Víte co se právě děje.
  21. ↑ Michel, Wolfgang, Britische Spezialwaffen 1939–1945: Ausrüstung für Eliteeinheiten, Geheimdienst und Widerstand, p. 72. ISBN 3-8423-3944-5
  22. ↑ Williams 2003, pp. 145–147.
  23. ↑ "Nová tajemství muže, který zabil Reinharda Heydricha". Aktuálně.cz - Víte co se právě děje.
  24. ↑ Williams 2003, pp. 147, 155.
  25. ↑ Burgess, Alan, Seven Men At Daybreak, p. 160. ISBN 0-553-23508-7
  26. ↑ Burian 2002, p. 64.
  27. ↑ Phillips, Russell (2016). A Ray of Light: Reinhard Heydrich, Lidice, and the North Staffordshire Miners. Shilka Publishing. p. 69. ISBN 9780995513303.
  28. 1 2 Williams 2003, p. 155.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Defalque, R. J.; Wright, A. J. (January 2009). "The Puzzling Death of Reinhard Heydrich" (PDF). Bulletin of Anesthesia History. Pittsburgh PA: Anesthesia History Association and Wood-Library Museum of Anesthesiology. 27 (1): 1–7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-31. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  30. ↑ Williams 2003, p. 165.
  31. ↑ Lehrer 2000, p. 86.
  32. ↑ Höhne 2000, p. 495.
  33. ↑ MacDonald 1998, pp. 182–183.
  34. ↑ Harris, Robert; Paxman, Jeremy (1982). A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret History of Chemical and Biological Warfare. London: Chatto & Windus. pp. chapter 4, pp. 70–108. ISBN 978-0-8129-6653-4. OCLC 8261705.
  35. ↑ Carus, W. Seth (2001). Bioterrorism and Biocrimes: The Illicit Use of Biological Agents Since 1900. The Minerva Group, Inc. p. 89. ISBN 1-4101-0023-5.
  36. ↑ Middlebrook and Franz (1998). Botulinum toxins (PDF). Office of The Surgeon General, Department of the Army, United States of America.
  37. ↑ http://aktualne.centrum.cz/domaci/spolecnost/clanek.phtml?id=746282 Grenades in The Military History Institute (acc to Eduard Stehlík).
  38. ↑ "List of people executed in Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp". Fronta.cz.
  39. ↑ Dederichs 2009, pp. 150–151.
  40. ↑ Dederichs 2009, p. 151.
  41. ↑ "SPOLEK PRO VOJENSKÁ PIETNÍ MÍSTA, O. S. – VPM okres Znojmo – Rešice". Vets.estranky.cz. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  42. ↑ "SPOLEK PRO VOJENSKÁ PIETNÍ MÍSTA, O. S. – VPM okres Znojmo – Vémyslice". Vets.estranky.cz. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  43. ↑ "Radio Prague - Heroes or Cowards? Czechs in World War II".
  44. ↑ Dederichs 2009, pp. 151–152.
  45. ↑ MacDonald 1998, pp. 186, 187.
  46. ↑ Dederichs 2009, p. 152.
  47. ↑ Vasiliy Tsvetkov. "A Bomb for Gauleiter". De Bello. Archived from the original on 20 December 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  48. ↑ "The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich", The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
  49. ↑ MacDonald 1998, p. 202.
  50. ↑ "The attentat on SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich".
  51. ↑ MacDonald 1998.
  52. ↑ Burgess, Alan, Seven Men At Daybreak. ISBN 0-553-23508-7
  53. ↑ Cowdery, Ray R. & Vodenka, Peter, Reinhard Heydrich: Assassination. Victory WW2 Publishing Ltd. (1994) Lakeville, MN, USA
  54. ↑ Karl von Treuenfeld: Report about the employment of Waffen-SS 23 June 1942] (in Czech translation)
  55. ↑ Williams 2003, p. 223.
  56. ↑ "Czech Traitors Hanged Today", 1947, The Free Lance-Star
  57. ↑ "Trial and terror in a by-gone Prague", 2007, The Telegraph
  58. ↑ Beránek, Jaroslav (25 March 2013). "Umělci a vojáci: František Bělský, tvůrce vojenských památníků, panovnických bust i Churchilla". VHU.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  59. ↑ "Národní památník hrdinů heydrichiády". VHU.cz. Vojenský historický ústav Praha. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  60. ↑ "Work to begin on Czech fountain in Leamington which was built to remember war heroes". The Leamington Courier. 4 May 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  61. ↑ Arisaig, Czechoslovakian Special Operations Executive Training Memorial Canmore.
  62. ↑ "Plaque: Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile Military Intelligence Service". London Remembers.com. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  63. ↑ Skalický, Jaroslav (30 May 2012). "Tady naplánovali atentát. A zde stáli Gabčík s Kubišem". Radiožurnál (in Czech). Český rozhlas. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  64. ↑ "Kulka pro Heydricha (TV film) (2013 TV movie) | Galerie". CSFD.cz. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  65. ↑ FNE Staff. "Fifty Shades Star Jamie Dornan to Play Czech Soldier". FilmNewEurope.com.

References

  • Burian, Michal (2002). "Assassination — Operation Arthropoid, 1941–1942" (PDF). Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  • Dederichs, Mario R. (2009) [2005]. Heydrich: The Face of Evil. Drexel Hill, PA: Casemate. ISBN 978-1-935149-12-5.
  • Höhne, Heinz (2000) [1969]. The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-139012-3.
  • Ivanov, Miroslav (1973). The Assassination of Heydrich: 27 May 1942. London: Hart-Davis, MacGibbon. ISBN 978-0246105646.
  • Lehrer, Steven (2000). Wannsee House and the Holocaust. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-0792-7.
  • Longerich, Peter (2012). Heinrich Himmler: A Life. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-959232-6.
  • MacDonald, Callum (1998) [1989]. The Killing of Reinhard Heydrich: The SS 'Butcher of Prague'. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-80860-9.
  • Mastný, Vojtěch (1971). The Czechs Under Nazi Rule: The Failure of National Resistance, 1939–1942. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-03303-6.
  • McNab, Chris (2009). The SS: 1923–1945. London: Amber Books. ISBN 978-1-906626-48-8.
  • Milton, Giles (2016). The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. John Murray. ISBN 978-1-444-79895-1.
  • Turner, Des (2011). SOE's Secret Weapons Centre: Station 12. The History Press. ISBN 978-0752459448.
  • Williams, Max (2003). Reinhard Heydrich: The Biography, Volume 2—Enigma. Church Stretton: Ulric Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9537577-6-3.

Further reading

  • Wiener, Jan G. (2012) [1969 (Grossman Publishers)]. The Assassination of Heydrich. Gerald Hausman (Epilogue), William L. Shirer (Introduction). New York: Irie Books. ISBN 978-1-61720-372-5. OCLC 247895.

Coordinates: 50°7′4″N 14°27′51″E / 50.11778°N 14.46417°E / 50.11778; 14.46417 (Assassination location in Prague)

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