Minister of Defence showed Prince Edward the place of Czechoslovak paratroopers’ last battle

Author: by MoD Press Section, photos courtesy of US DoD

Minister of Defence Jana Černochová and HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, visited the Saint Cyril and Methodius Cathedral and paid their respects to the memory of the brave paratroopers who carried out the attack on Reinhard Heydrich. The brother of HM King Charles III began his visit of the Czech Republic on Tuesday and met among others with President Petr Pavel.

“I feel honoured that I had the chance to meet the Duke of Edinburgh in person and show him the location of the last battle of the brave Anthropoid paratroopers, who successfully carried out an attack on the executioner of the Czech nation, Deputy Reich-Protector Reinhard Heydrich,” said the Minister after the meeting and added that she also had the opportunity to meet King Charles, then Prince of Wales, at the very same spot 13 years ago.

The hour-long program in the Saint Cyril and Methodius Cathedral included a tour of the exhibition of the National Memorial to the Heroes of the Heydrich Terror, opened last year, which made a significant impression on Prince Edward.

Afterwards, they continued into the crypt and observed a moment of silence to honour the memory of the fallen paratroopers and later laid wreaths by the memorial plaque outside the cathedral, where the wall still shows visible marks of bullets from the Nazi’s attempts to kill the Czechoslovak soldiers.

Minister Černochová emphasized that the success of the mission, performed on 27 May 1942 by Sergeant First Class Josef Gabčík and SFC Jan Kubiš, was also due to foreign assistance. It was the United Kingdom which played the key role, as the paratroopers prepared for the special operation on British soil.

The assassination of Heydrich resonated on an international level and led to the Western countries proclaiming the Munich Agreement to be null and void, and Czechoslovakia was promised post-war reconstruction within its pre-Munich borders.

The consequences, however, were tragic. Thousands of innocent people were executed, the towns of Lidice and Ležáky were wiped out and locals killed. Most of those who helped the paratroopers died in the Mauthausen death camp, often alongside their family members. In a single day on 24 October 1942, Mauthausen saw the execution of 262 Czech resistance members.

“We must never forget the bravery of Czechoslovak paratroopers. But neither can we forget the heroism of ordinary people who helped SFC Josef Gabčík and SFC Jan Kubiš. They were no soldiers, they were not specially trained. Their help often took the form of food and shelter. It makes their assistance all the more valuable – fear did not stop them from participating in Anthropoid, although many of them, men, women, but also children were taken away to concentration camps and later executed,” said Minister Černochová.

• For more pictures see: https://army.cz/-244255/