Operation Anthropoid: Heydrich's Assassination in Prague

At 22:00 on 28 December 1941 a Halifax of No. 138 Squadron took off from RAF Tangmere and dropped Gabčík and Kubiš by parachute. The aircrew had navigation problems, and the pair came down near Nehvizdy, east of Prague, rather than where planned: Pilsen had been the intended landing area. They made their way to Pilsen to contact allies, then on to Prague, where the attack was to take place.

Location precision: The sources say only 'near Nehvizdy'; the pin marks the village.

At 10:30 on 27 May 1942, Heydrich began his daily commute from his home in Panenské Břežany, 14 km north of central Prague, to his headquarters at Prague Castle. He was driven by SS-Oberscharführer Johannes Klein. The route took him through Prague-Libeň, where Gabčík and Kubiš were waiting.

Location precision: The pin marks the village, not the exact residence.

Gabčík and Kubiš waited at the tram stop at the junction with V Holešovičkách in Prague-Libeň, near Bulovka Hospital. The tight curve would force Heydrich's car to slow down. Gabčík raised his Sten gun, but it jammed. Kubiš then threw a modified No. 73 grenade, hidden in a briefcase; it landed against the rear wheel, and the blast shattered the windows of a tram on the other side of the road. Heydrich was badly wounded.

Location precision: The pin is a street search for V Holešovičkách, not the exact bend where the car was attacked.

Heydrich was laid in the back of a delivery van and taken to the emergency room at Bulovka Hospital. Surgeons removed his spleen, which held a grenade fragment and upholstery. His fever eased, then on 3 June he went into shock; he died around 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, 4 June. Bulovka is still a large teaching hospital complex in Prague-Libeň.

Lidice was chosen for reprisal because its residents were suspected of harbouring resistance partisans, though they were falsely linked to Operation Anthropoid. On 10 June 1942, 172 boys and men were shot. About 340 people from Lidice were murdered, and the village was set on fire and its remains destroyed with explosives. The Lidice Memorial, built in 1946–1962, now stands on the original site, with a museum, a cemetery and a Rose Garden. A new village was built nearby in 1947–1949.

Location precision: The pin marks the present village of Lidice; the memorial lies on the site of the original village.

Visitor guidance: The memorial includes a museum in its eastern part.

Karel Čurda betrayed several safe houses, including that of the Moravec family in Žižkov. At 05:00 on 17 June 1942 the flat was raided. Marie Moravec bit into a cyanide capsule and killed herself.

Location precision: The sources name the district, not the street; the pin marks Žižkov.

The paratroopers took refuge in the Cathedral of Sts Cyril and Methodius, then a Czech and Slovak Orthodox church. On 18 June 1942 SS troops laid siege to it. Gabčík, Josef Valčík, Jaroslav Švarc and Jan Hrubý killed themselves in the crypt. The church, built in 1730–1736 to plans by Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer, has a museum in its crypt dedicated to them as national heroes.

Visitor guidance: The museum is in the church crypt.

Bishop Gorazd of the Orthodox church took the blame for the actions in the church to minimize reprisals among his flock, and was arrested on 27 June 1942. 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.