The Last Stand in the Crypt

Take a look at this church. Beneath where you stand, in the crypt below, seven Czechoslovak paratroopers fought their last battle on June 18, 1942. They had assassinated Reinhard Heydrich three weeks earlier. The Nazi response was brutal. Entire villages burned. Thousands executed. The paratroopers went into hiding in this church's crypt. A traitor gave them up for money. At 4 AM, over 800 SS soldiers surrounded the building. The 7 men below had 4 pistols and limited ammunition. The battle lasted 6 hours. The Nazis threw grenades down the ventilation shaft. The paratroopers threw them back. When bullets did not work, the SS used fire hoses to flood the crypt. The water rose to their waists. The men tried digging through the wall with their bare hands. Nobody surrendered. 3 shot themselves. 4 drowned. Their names are on plaques outside: Josef Gabčík, Jan Kubiš, Josef Valčík, Adolf Opálka, Josef Bublík, Jan Hrubý, Jaroslav Švarc. The bullet holes are still visible in the walls. The crypt is now a memorial. You can walk down there and see where the water came in, where they fired from, where they died.