President Beneš had acknowledged the likelihood of reprisals when discussing the pros and cons of Anthropoid with Colonel Moravec the previous autumn and must have expected some backlash following the death of Heydrich. Nevertheless, even he seemed genuinely shocked at the savagery of the Nazi response.
Category: Anthropoid
Initial Global Outrage and Reactions to the Lidice Atrocity – June 1942
Initial reactions upon hearing the horrors that took place in Lidice were a mix of confusion, astonishment, despair, and rage. Naturally, there were instant suggestions for responses that involved giving the Nazis a taste of their own medicine.
The Murder of the Village of Lidice – 10th June 1942 –
The fateful incursion came on the night of the 9th of June. It was on the initiative of SS-Standartenführer Horst Böhme, who telephoned Hitler in Berlin on the day of Heydrich’s funeral to present the evidence against the village and recommend retaliation.
Lidice – The First Violation of the Village – 4th June 1942
Eyewitness accounts recall the truck full of troops peeling off the main road from Prague to Kladno, racing into the village, ejecting residents from their homes, and immediately lining them up for identification.
Lidice – Deadly Combination of Naivety and Over-Zealousness – June 1942
An ill-conceived love letter was about to be handed to the secret police, which would have devastating consequences for the people of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. It would give Karl Frank the excuse he needed to create a narrative, however bogus, to link the Bohemian village of Lidice with the murder of Heydrich.
Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich – Operation Anthropoid – 1941-1942
By late 1941, the decision had been made to assassinate Heydrich, even though it was obvious that the German reaction would be brutal. The two volunteers required to do the job were selected from the Free Czech Forces training in Scotland. The men had formed a close friendship and they volunteered together.
Preparations for Operation Anthropoid in Britain and the Protectorate 1941-1942
The two volunteers required to do the job were selected from the Free Czech Forces training in Scotland. The men had formed a close friendship and they volunteered together. Both were former non-commissioned officers in the Czech Army who had fled to France following the imposition of the Munich Agreement.