Why Was Operation Anthropoid the Most Important Assassination of WW2? JJ
15 March 1939, Prague. German troops enter the city without resistance, and Czechoslovakia ceases to exist under mounting pressure from Nazi Germany. By the end of the day, swastika flags fly above Prague, and the occupation of the Czech lands becomes an irreversible reality. On the following day, by proclamation from Prague Castle, Adolf Hitler formally establishes the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Among those present in this ancient seat of Czech kings is Reinhard Heydrich, one of the most powerful figures in Nazi Germany. What
follows is not merely military control, but the gradual construction of a system built on fear, surveillance, and repression. After Heydrich’s appointment as Deputy Reich Protector two years later, in September 1941, Prague becomes the heart of the occupation, as arrests, executions, and terror escalate sharply. From the unopposed entry of German troops into Prague to the violence directed from the very centre of the Czech lands, the idea of striking back begins to take shape. An idea that soon turns into a plan aimed at assassinating a
man whose brutal rule over the Czech lands has earned him the nickname “the Butcher of Prague.” That man is Reinhard Heydrich himself, and the plan is codenamed Operation Anthropoid. Operation Anthropoid grew out of a moment when the Czech population faced one of the harshest and most closely supervised occupations in Europe. After Nazi Germany violated the Munich Agreement and occupied the remaining Czech and Moravian lands in March 1939, the Protectorate was established as a political fiction, formally autonomous but in reality, ruled through German
police power. Political parties were dissolved, censorship imposed and universities closed, and the Gestapo – the Nazi Secret Police – quickly dismantled open forms of resistance. Arrests and fear became part of everyday reality. Yet this was only the beginning. The situation deteriorated sharply in September 1941 with the arrival of Reinhard Heydrich as Deputy Reich Protector. Heydrich was not only one of the most powerful men in the Nazi state but also the head of the Reich Main Security Office, which controlled not only the Gestapo,
but also the Kripo which was the criminal police, and the SD – the Nazi intelligence agency. His appointment signalled a clear change in policy in the Protectorate. Within days he introduced martial law, ordered mass arrests, and authorised executions aimed at breaking the domestic resistance and intimidating society as a whole. Prime Minister of the local Protectorate government Alois Eliáš was arrested and sentenced to death for his contacts with the resistance, hundreds of people were shot, and thousands were imprisoned. At the same time,
Heydrich succeeded in restoring discipline in the important factories and managed to create stability for the masses in the Protectorate. From the German perspective, the Protectorate was becoming a model of effective occupation. This apparent calm deeply alarmed Czechoslovak leadership in London which confronted a serious political problem. Although Britain had recognised the Czechoslovak government in exile which was headed by President Edvard Beneš, the Munich Agreement remained legally valid. In the early years of the war,
the Western Allies had not regarded Czechoslovakia as a fully restored subject of international law, and its post-war borders were far from guaranteed. Without visible resistance at home, there was a real danger that the country would be restored only within the reduced, post-Munich boundaries. At the same time, Allied governments increasingly pressed exile movements to demonstrate active opposition to German rule in occupied territories. Initial plans assumed that a demonstrative act would come from within the Protectorate itself, possibly in the form of a political gesture such
as the resignation of the local protectorate government. However, that expectation proved unrealistic. After Heydrich’s arrival, the local political elite did not protest the introduction of martial law and increasingly accommodated itself to German demands. Beneš therefore came under growing pressure to show that the population at home had not accepted occupation. In this situation, the plan for operation Anthropoid was prepared. The operation was organised by the intelligence department of the Czechoslovak Ministry of
National Defence in exile and in close cooperation with the “Special Operations Executive” also known as the SOE. Established in 1940, the SOE was the British secret organization responsible for sabotage, subversion, and support for resistance movements in occupied Europe. It provided training facilities, instructors, weapons, explosives, aircraft, and operational planning. The political decision to target Reinhard Heydrich, however, was taken by the Czechoslovak leadership itself. The operation was regarded by its planners as extremely risky,
and its participants were repeatedly warned that the chances of their survival were minimal. The original assault team consisted of Jozef Gabčík and Karel Svoboda. After Svoboda was injured during parachute training, he was replaced at Gabčík’s request by Jan Kubiš. Both men were soldiers of the Czechoslovak army in exile who had fought in France in 1940 and escaped to Britain after the collapse of France. In Britain they underwent intensive SOE training in Scotland and England, including parachuting, sabotage, demolition of infrastructure, the use of
explosives and incendiaries, small-arms training, hand-to-hand combat, navigation, and secure communication. During this period, SOE instructors prepared several possible assassination scenarios, tailored to different environments. Anthropoid was not launched in isolation. It formed part of the first wave of Czechoslovak special operations sent to the Protectorate at the end of 1941, alongside missions such as Silver A and Silver B. These additional teams were tasked with restoring radio contact with London, gathering intelligence,
and rebuilding resistance structures in the Protectorate. The coordinated deployment was intended to strengthen underground networks while complicating German counter-intelligence efforts. After repeated postponements caused by weather and technical difficulties, the Anthropoid team was finally deployed on the night of 28 December 1941. The aircraft missed the planned drop zone near the city of Plzeň by considerable distance, and Gabčík and Kubiš landed near the village of Nehvizdy, east of Prague. From the first hours on the ground, their survival depended on
the willingness of civilians to help them. Local villagers and resistance members provided shelter, food, clothing, and initial contacts, fully aware that such assistance could lead to arrest, torture, or execution of them and their families. With the help of the resistance network Gabčík and Kubiš gradually made their way to Prague. Over the following months, they lived under false identities, changed hiding places frequently, and limited their contact to the smallest possible circle. False documents and work permits were arranged to allow them to move within the city.
Information about Heydrich’s movements was obtained through resistance channels connected to Prague Castle, where Heydrich’s daily routine could be observed. Despite the general climate of repression directed by him, Heydrich continued to travel between his residence in the village of Panenské Břežany and Prague Castle in an open car, usually accompanied only by a driver. His behaviour reflected both personal arrogance and confidence in his politics against population in the Protectorate. By the spring of 1942, the attention of the agents
increasingly focused on preparing the attack itself. Finally, on the morning of 27 May 1942, Gabčík stepped into the street and attempted to fire his Sten submachine gun at Heydrich’s car, but the weapon jammed at the decisive moment. Heydrich reacted by standing up and attempting to return fire, exposing himself in the process. Kubiš then threw a modified anti-tank grenade, which hit the side of the car and exploded. Shrapnel and fragments of the car’s body caused Heydrich to suffer severe internal injuries. Amid the chaos, both attackers escaped separately,
disappearing into the streets of Prague and evading immediate capture. Heydrich was transported to hospital and initially appeared to be recovering, but complications set in. When he succumbed to infection and blood poisoning on 4 June 1942, his death sent shockwaves through the Nazi leadership. One of the most powerful architects of the regime’s security system and persecution of the enemies of Nazi Germany had been killed in a heart of occupied Europe. The German response was immediate and brutal.
The assassination served as a pretext for another round of mass reprisals intended to terrorise the population and eradicate any remaining resistance. Martial law was declared once again, thousands of people were arrested, and executions became routine. On 10 June 1942 Nazi forces arrived in Lidice, a small village near Prague. What followed was not a military action, but an act of terror designed to send a message to the entire population: this is what happens when you attack the Reich. Men in the village were rounded up and shot.
Women were separated and sent to concentration camps. Children were taken from their families. A handful were selected for Germanization and the rest, 82 children were sent to extermination camps like Chełmno, where they were murdered. The village itself was obliterated. Buildings were burned, bulldozed, and removed from maps. Even the cemetery was desecrated. Nazi propaganda initially tried to justify the massacre by falsely linking Lidice to the attackers, though no actual evidence ever supported the claim. Lidice was chosen not for what it had done, but for what
it symbolized – a target to make others afraid. In total 340 people from Lidice were murdered. For several weeks, Gabčík, Kubiš, and other agents from different groups managed to evade capture with the help of resistance families. Seven parachutists eventually found refuge in the Orthodox Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Prague. Only Karel Čurda´s betrayal, a member of another mission, enabled the Gestapo to uncover their hiding place. On 18 June, Nazi forces finally surrounded the church in which the agents were hiding and after hours
of fierce fighting, all seven men trapped inside were dead. The Germans took their bodies to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Albertov in Prague, where an autopsy was carried out. All the bodies were decapitated and the heads of Gabčík and Kubiš were to be perfectly preserved in formaldehyde and displayed in the Crime Museum that the Nazis planned to create after the war. As for the remaining 5 men, only the skull was to be retained. On 20 April 1945, just a few weeks before the liberation of Prague, the Gestapo took
their remnants away and what happened to them next has not been credibly confirmed. Despite the deaths of its participants and the catastrophic reprisals that followed, Operation Anthropoid was regarded as a political and military success by the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. The international reaction to the German terror played a decisive role in Britain and France withdrawing recognition of the Munich Agreement. Czechoslovakia’s position among the Allied powers was strengthened, and
the post-war restoration of the state within its pre-Munich borders became a realistic prospect. Operation Anthropoid thus stands not primarily as a military operation, but as a calculated political act carried out at enormous human cost. It demonstrated that resistance in the Protectorate had not been extinguished and that the occupation could be challenged even at its highest levels. After this operation, no representative of Nazi Germany could be sure that revenge in the form of trained agents seeking to avenge all
those whom the Nazis had persecuted throughout Europe would not be waiting for them somewhere. Thanks for watching the World History Channel. Be sure to like and subscribe and click the bell notification icon so you don’t miss our next episodes. We thank you and we’ll see you next time on the channel.