18/06/2026
On this day in 1942, the bitter end of OPERATION ANTHROPOID
Having ambushed German official Reinhard Heydrich, Czech SOE agents Josef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš (pictured), and their comrades Adolf Opálka, Josef Valčík, Jaroslav Švarc and Jan Hrubý are cornered in a Prague cathedral.
The siege lasts over two hours, the attackers use small arms, including machine guns, and tear gas; they also attempt to flood the crypt where the defenders are holding out, armed only with pistols.
When called upon to surrender they reportedly replied ‘We are Czechs! We will never surrender, you hear? Never!'
None were taken alive; Heydrich, a favourite of Hitler’s, died from his wounds. German reprisals were brutal, church officials were executed and villages linked to the attack destroyed, the inhabitants executed or deported.
The operation was the only successful government sponsored assassination of a high ranking N**i official.
