Operation Anthropoid
From Freepedia
During World War II, Operation Anthropoid was the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi “Protector of Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia” and the chief of Nazi´s final solution.
Two resistance fighters, Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, flew into Czechoslovakia on the night of 28 December, 1941 landing near Pilsen. The attackers wounded Heydrich in May 27, 1942 in Prague; Gabcik opened fire from his Sten gun on Heydrich riding in his open-topped unarmored Mercedes car, but the gun jammed and Kubis tossed a modified anti-tank grenade on the vehicle. The grenade failed to enter the car, but its fragments ripped through the car's right wing, embedding itself and fragments of the car into Heydrich's body. Heydrich died of blood poisoning on June 4. The attackers were later tracked down by occupation forces to a church in Prague (Reslova street) and after several battles committed suicide to avoid capture.
Over fifteen thousand Czechs were killed in reprisals, with the most infamous incident being the complete destruction of the towns of Lidice and Ležáky homepage.
The story of this operation was the basis for the play and film Hangmen Also Die and the 1975 film Operation Daybreak.
