Operation Anthropoid

You're standing near the hairpin turn where Operation Anthropoid unfolded. May 27, 1942, 10:30 AM. Reinhard Heydrich's open top Mercedes slowed right here. He was the Butcher, architect of the Holocaust, third most powerful Nazi after Hitler and Himmler. That morning, he drove without guards. Jozef Gabčík stepped into the road and pulled the trigger. His Sten gun jammed. Heydrich stood up to shoot back. That's when Jan Kubiš threw a modified anti tank grenade from behind. It exploded against the rear wheel. Shrapnel ripped through Heydrich's body. He died 8 days later from blood poisoning and infections. The Nazis had the best doctors in Europe, but antibiotics were still experimental. Dirt, horsehair from the car seat, and fragments of his own uniform killed him. Hitler ordered revenge on a scale that shocked even the SS. Lidice village was erased. Every man shot, women sent to camps, children gassed or Germanized. Ležáky followed. Over 5,000 Czechs killed in total. Gabčík and Kubiš hid for 3 weeks before the Gestapo found them in a church crypt. They fought for 6 hours. When the Germans flooded the crypt, both men used their last bullets on themselves.