Reinhard Heydrich: Was Operation Anthropoid Worth It?
Vložit
- čas přidán 26. 04. 2024
- In 1942, Reinhard Heydrich was a principal architect of the Final Solution and the highest ranking Nazi to be assassinated.
→ Subscribe czcams.com/users/HindsightHi...
History begs the question, was Operation Anthropoid worth it? Was Heydrich worth the sacrifice?
******
Prologue - 00:00
The Butcher of Prague - 0:40
The Plot - 4:42
Assassination - 7:31
Manhunt - 9:39
Reprisals - 12:45
#ReinhardHeydrich #Anthropoid #WW2
Business Inquiries
► nicholas.scott.owens@gmail.com
ONE: INTRODUCTION
Known by Hitle as "The Man with the Iron Heart," Reinhard Heydrich was considered to be the leading architect of the Nazi's Final Solution to the Jewish question. He had designed the plans for the extermination of all European Jews. Within the SS, it was assumed that Heydrich was destined for the highest office and aimed at nothing less than succeeding Hitler as Führer of the Thousand Year Reich. These ambitions, however, would come to a screeching halt.
Sources:
Anthropoid, 2016
The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by Callum MacDonald
The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich: The Czech Resistance's Killing of the Top Nazi Official during World War II by Charles River Editors
With heavy heart I must say the killing 14 SS men in the gunfight is Czech myth that keeps on being narrated and I say that as a Czech. Official german records mentioned 2 wounded men one being knocked unconscious by being shot in the helmet and the second shot in the leg. That still does not downplay the heroism they showed in the battle in the church. Considering they had only pocket pistols chambered in .7.65mm and 6.35mm.
Oh... that’s too bad. I have always thought it was true.
@@boadicea5856 Why you want people to die?
@@boadicea5856 Not all Germans were bad you know.
@@garrisonnichols7372
That's true, there were many anti-Hitler Germans who paid with their lives.
However it's also true that far far too many murderous Natzis got off far too lightly after the War. These murderous psychopaths benefitted from the political rift that emerged between Stalin's USSR and the Western Allies.
The people that were hunting the Czech Paratroopers were SS. It is highly likely they were followers of the Nazi Regime and not just enlisted soldiers
Being a Czech myself I am proud of what those men did.The highest scoring pilots in the Battle of Britain were Czechs and Poles.
Janmajer, I have a photo of my machine-gunner Dad with a pretty Czech girl on VE day. His unit marched there from the Ardennes, where they fought the Nazis and scared Hitler.
You have reason to be proud. God bless, from Georgia USA. ❤
Heydrich also made the fatal mistake of stopping the car and getting out when the gun jammed. Had he ordered his driver to accelerate and leave the scene, he might have survived without a scratch. Fortunately , an extremely arrogant man who got what he deserved. Which doesn’t diminish the awesome heroism of these men taking on the bestial representative of a monstruous regime.
Heydrich would not have been suspecting a second assassin - the bomb-tosser. Heydrich probably thought this was his one and only chance to get the assassin.
@@lt.frankdrebin3317 His fate was so poetic, it was almost mythic, despite the gruesome fallout.
You forgot about the bomb mate
Not praising the evil of the SS for one second... but Heydrich's stopping of the car was also heroic.
You're so smart. Smarter than he was.
I could never understand how a highly trained commando could carry a weapon that would jam at a critical moment due to misuse or poor maintenance. The weapon should have been in perfect working order.
@Wile Coyote57 I often wonder what went through Gabčík’s mind when the Sten ended up jamming in that climactic moment. Although the Sten's craftsmanship improved with age, it was known to have two annoying habits. Jamming-common when the magazine lips were damaged or the weapon was dirty-or firing uncontrollably in full auto when simply bumped or jostled.
There's a rod of some kind in the Sten Gun. It can be put in backwards or improperly and that was a problem with this gun. He had to reassemble the weapon under his coat just before Heydrich came up and may have done it wrongly. It appears he was under a lot of mental strain and messed up. His buddy kept his cool though and threw the deadly bomb.
If ever a man deserved the karma of a painful death it was Reinhard Heydrich.
As for the jammed Sten gun, it was a mistake not to have more than one Sten ready to fire, or maybe take the more reliable Thomson, considering the value of the target. ...... Of course, Stens would fire captured German 9 mm ammo, whereas the Thomson required .45 ACP. ...... The British Lanchester also fired 9 mm, and might have been a better choice than a Sten for this operation, being much higher quality than the Sten ( which is why it remained in Royal Navy service until the 1970s ).
At that time Sten was brand new gun not thourougly tested. The factor recommendation to not hold the gun by the magazine came much later and maybe as a result of this operation even
The Sten gun a useless piece of crap for this operation. Was carried dis-assembled for concealment reasons, and was not re- assembled correctly prior to the attack. Normally you would loose off a round to make sure it worked. Not possible here.
Too bad the music overpowers the volume of the narration, otherwise pretty informative but tough to hear everything.
Stupid isn't it.
@@MalcolmLambe Looks like it got fixed, though. I think listening to is another time it sounded much more balanced. BTW, I've been watching "Conspiracy - The Denial" the HBO special of the "Meeting" in Berlin between 20 Nazi and SS officials about the Final Solution and it was run by Reinhard Heydrich
who was played by the great Kenneth Branagh and many other excellent actors like Stanley Tucci who played Eichmann and Colin Firth and they all sat at this table at a grand home previously owned by a Jew whom the Nazi confiscated and it was a very chilling movie about just the meeting and how they decided to exterminate all the Jews by gassing them. Really troubling what a ruthless POS that Reinhart was.
@@gomigman5936 Nope not fixed 😕
You are correct sir - that overpowering noise has ruined many, many a video for me. It's even worse when you're watching it on TV. I really hate it.
I turned it off because of the f music.
Evil can always be defeated but the price is often so high that that few will consider the sacrifice required. Evil knows this and confidently parades in front of us.
Very well said, Chuck. Thank you for the insight.
Lol napalm carpet bombings sanctions designed to starve civilians. U wanna see evil go look in the mirror!
@@linda5ft that’s different as the nazi were clearly evil from their slaughter of innocents and invasions of countries.
The Vietnam war was clearly unjustified as it was just red scare nonsense and the US just wanted communism to stop spreading so caused problems for the rest of the world for the Cold War.
No one is being “evil” and the top comment is right.
Please don’t start fights and cause problems and call people evil because no one is here responsible for what happened in Vietnam nabalm strikes.
The fucking Doolittle Raid cost 250,000 civilians and 70,000 soldier's lives in Japanese reprisal attacks. And the crazy thing of it all is that Chiang Kai-shek
thought the Doolittle Raid was worth all the death because it caused the Imperial Japanese Army and their Air Force to take pressure off of the Republic of China Army and redouble efforts on guarding the Japanese Home Islands.
That is sadly true.
Heydrich was preparing to travel for his new assignment in Paris. Shortly before that, he visited Paris and prepared an execution list of 100.000 people (April 1942). His fortunate assassination prevented the bloodshed from happening.
thats a nice rationalisation for the thousands killed as retaliatin, who says by the way they where not killed anyway
@Sectarian=BOT CHANNEL
Sectarian: "Gott strafe England!"
Heydrich was the cleverest of the top Nazis. He was trusted by Adolf and so probably would have been able to prevent Hitler from making stupid declarations of military strategy. The war would have lasted longer and many more people would have died on all sides.
Of course if was important to kill Heydrich. Heydrich was an extremely dangerous man. And it was very important for the czechs, because it tell the world that they dont accept the german occupation of the country. Before that, the czech resistace against Germany was little, just like for example in Denmark.
Heydrich was going to be transferred to France and Belgium after leaving for Berlin. God knows how many people he would have killed there, or how he might have strengthened the Atlantic Wall two years before Rommel. He had to die when he did.
Heydrich's death occurred right when the Nazis were starting to worry they might lose the war. It was June 1942, the USA was now involved, and the huge victory over the Soviets in the Second Battle of Kharkov was overshadowed by Heydrich's death. The top Nazis realized they were not untouchable. This had a profound psychological impact on them and increased their paranoia. Paranoia leads to reckless decision-making. Good.
Heydrich was not a military leader like Rommel was. Also don't worry, a lot of French civilians died by the SS, also by the Allied bombings.(approximately 30.000)
@@alperisler89 allied bombings came because of Nazi aggression, don't blame them. Ss killings were deliberate and state planned. Gassing innocent kids in camps that was unforgivable. Nazis needed to be fought at what ever cost. Unfortunately in any war people must die. Germans were victims of Thier stupid government
@@alperisler89 Heydrich was originally a Navy man and a fighter pilot, so He wasn't totally ignorant of military affairs. My guess is He may have moved those Panzers out of the pas de Calais area and nearer Normandy, He was a formidable operator and not frightened of Hitler. Senior German officers knew the Allies would not land in a defended port after Dieppe debacle. Only Hitler was fooled and failed to move the Panzers. Heydrich was cleverer and may have been able to convince H of a different strategy. Yes his demise was fortunate, but at great cost.
they lost the war as soon as they started it, cut themselves off resources due to sanctions and FIGHTING the soviet instead of uniting with the soviets.
Hi, I Live in Coventry in the UK. We are twinned with many places across the world. Coventry was devastated by a German raid in November of 1941 and so they decided to have links with other cities and places also devastated by war. We have a area if the city called Lidice place and a monument to the people of the village. I always point it out to people and its importance. The name of Lidice will live on despite the Nazis attempts to erase it from the map.
Did Lidlic manage to rebuild?
Why are so many, otherwise excellent, CZcams videos spoiled by loud,
unsuitable "background" music?
I completely understand with the music portion of the video. Have been incorporating this feedback into the more recent episodes on Ian Fleming, Apollo 8, Jesse Owens & Colonel Parker. Will continue to improve the audio quality moving forward.
Unfortunatly Lidice was not the only village destroyed... Lezaky village was destroyed and only 2 People survive
My fathers uncle lived near Ležaky and watched it from a distance. No historian mentioned it but the uncle said they were also dropping fire bombs from plane on the city.
😢😢😢
Not the Karel Church ...but the St Cyril and St Methodius Cathedral. I visited the crypt there over 30 years ago - a very moving experience. A visit to Lidice is even more emotionally overwhelming - especially when you see the Memorial to the Children Victims of the War which is a bronze sculpture by Marie Uchytilová. It commemorates a group of 82 children of Lidice who were gassed in mobile vans at Chełmno in the summer of 1942 as a part of the Lidice massacre. To create eighty-two statues of children in an above-life-size height took her two decades. There are statues of 42 girls and 40 boys who were murdered in 1942 looking over the Lidice valley where the villagers had been killed.
I've been there too.
You did not get the point of this mission at all. It was not about "eliminating the evil" but about showing the allies that Czechoslovakia still wants to resist the nazis.
Exactly and therefore munich treaty was revoked and Czechoslovakia officially recognized as winning power of ww2. If the assassination did not happen, Czechoslovak army would be send to fight for the nazis and would end up as third reich ally.
However futile you must resist nazism at all costs
@@17MrLeon Did not know about munich treaty being revoked leading to Czechoslovakia being recognized as a winning power. You sir have relayed to me an extremely interesting fact and I greatly appreciate it. You can relly learn from the comments.
The Czech people were starting to accept the German occupation and Heydrich was starting to offer sweeteners . A bit like now the, Czechs are lukewarm on Ukraine and some are putinistas.
As the priest in the 2016 movie said, the parachutists were not to blame for the reprisals. The SS had free will and agency to choose how to respond. Unsurprisingly considering their ideology, they chose the path of evil. When planning a course of action you cannot take into account that the other side may respond by committing a heinous crime against humanity. They alone are responsible for their actions, just as you alone are responsible for yours.
Excellent feedback, Jon. It is interesting to consider what further terror the Czech citizens would have encountered had Heydrich lived till the end of the war.
@@HindsightHistory Hard to even imagine, though it is possible it could've gone worse in the long run. He was fanatic and would accelerate hatred just like they did.
The paratroopers were not to blame, their bosses were. Heydrich's stick and carrot approach was showing results. The response of the SS was entirely predictable and to provoke it was in fact the primary goal of the operation. The Brits were always good at end-justifies-the-means reasoning.
The reprisals were to be expected and were consistent with the history of all partisan warfare against the Germans. No it was not worth it. So many innocent Czech civilians needlessly died. The course of the Holocaust was not altered.
@@Wolf-hh4rv Exactly. If you had been one of those innocent Czech people who were murdered following the assassination you might well be of the opinion that it was definitely not worth it. The people who say it was worth it were not themselves put to death and much of what they say in support of their opinion is sheer speculation.
The assassination of Heydrich sent a powerful message to the Nazis that they were not invulnerable.
To what cost you morron
True, but the reprisals were brutal. And it changed nothing in that part of Hitler's empire. War production went on unabated, and the roundup of Jews and other folk deemed unsuitable for the Reich, also continued. I suppose it could be said though, that it prevented a more 'effective' future Führer from getting into power.
Most of them knew it, thats why they had security detail... Heydrich, however was killed solely due to his over confidence and arrogance ....
It also got some 1400 civilians killed in retaliations. It would have been wiser to do something less visible but more to do with the actual war efforts.
@@Ah01 not included in those numbers are morale and propaganda value, especially in occupied territories. Realpolitik is more often about perception.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke
.....and good men usually do nothing.
I would split town as soon as possible.
Well good men are usually considered the victors.
Wise words, most people don’t do anything. British stand up and fight for the right to be free.
Heroes like Kubiš and Gabčik are making me feel proud of being Czech. The Czechoslovak airmen fought in The Battle Of Brittain, making me proud as well. Yes, Czechoslovak people had paid a high price for killing this tyrant, but every nation fighting the bloody Nazis in WW2 had paid some price. Thanks to this significant OPERATION ANTHROPOID - KILLING THE NAZI No 3 - Czechoslovakia became an ally. Great Britain retracted its' agreement from the "Munich Treaty" after this operation, and after WW2 was ended, it allowed Czechoslovakia to become a part of the victorious countries. I believe that fighting for freedom, including killing the tyrant, is worth paying any price because it gives nations their pride and feeling of national identity. My grandpa was decorated by the Czechoslovakia Medal For Bravery In Front Of An Enemy after WW2, and I am very proud of him. Heroes like this helped to create nations' pride and self-confidence. It is too bad that communists erased Czechoslovakian airmen who fought The Battle of Britain from history after WW2. The only information about OPERATION ANTHROPOID they taught us in schools was - how many lives it cost afterwords. NO OTHER NATION'S RESISTANCE SUCCEEDED IN KILLING SUCH HIGH-POSITIONED NAZI AS HEYDRICH DURING WW2!!!
I agree with you. Despite everything that followed it, the assassination of Heydrich was a noble and necessary action.
Absolutely. After all, were American and British boys supposed to die (and their families mourn) to liberate Europe, while the people of the occupied countries just sat tight, kept their heads down and waited for the day of deliverance? Everyone who fought Hitler paid some price. Afterwards, it allowed the people of the occupied countries to take pride in the role they played in their own liberation.
It's a shame Britain and the west allowed Czechoslovakia, and Poland for that case, to be fallen at the wrong side of the iron curtain. The sacrifices and efforts those countries made should have been rewarderd with another outcome after ww2.
@@johnbarnes5237 Sadly the 'liberation' today evolved into people not respecting ww2 veterans, lgbt, riots, anarchy. That's what ww2 vets fought for.
You forgot the Lezaky village. It was even worse there ...
Having already read Callum MacDonald's excellent book on the assassination all I can add is that upon its reading you'll come to the conclusion that Gabcik and Kubis were to of the bravest men to have ever lived.
Yes. There are an awful lot of very brave men criticizing them in the comments. I'm *sure* they would have done better under the circumstances.
@@jaex9617 aint that the truth
The racket in the background is a constant distraction in what is an excellent piece of history. Thanks for the video.
the music transcends the narration to cover those historical moments.
Killing Heydrich was like the first cut above the eye in the early rounds of a Title Fight.
It let Resistance know that the Nazis were not invincible and this became apparent to the Nazis as well despite their aggression afterwards.
Excellent point of history as the French resistance also knew when to catch German officers off guard. The French found out early in the occupation that their duty was clear just as in Prague.
well said. And Heydrich was one of THEE top Nazis.
Very good point, it was worth it, it made every German senior officer know they were not really safe anywhere! Here's to the brave who gave their precious lives for the right to be free from tyrants!
these braved czechs showed the world the savagery of the germans
This reprisal clearly illuminated to all of Europe what the Nazi plan was for anyone who resisted. But the killing of this genocidal piece of human trash was appropriate justice and sent a clear message to all the Nazi regime...Just 4 months before, Heydrich had officially condemned all the Jews of Europe to death, so the Czechs got some measure of revenge and word spread quickly.
A great video. There is also an excellent book on this topic simply titled 'HHHH.' Heydrich died from septicemia. The bomb blast sent 'horse hair' used in the car's seats into his liver. Hitler's response to hearing of Heydrich's death was that he was a fool to use an open topped vehicle. Thanks for sharing!
Hitler did use his open topped 6-Wheel Mercedes Benz too but he always had armed SS men and they carried their 9mm Lugers and they kept multiple MP 40’s in the back of the Mercedes behind the Fuhrer. And when the Fuhrer would stand up while looking at the spectators the SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler would be ready for anything. JFK assassination should have been avoided by placing the President in closed vehicle. That’s why TODAY Most Heads of State are not exposed bc of assassination attempts
Excellent and very informative, I learned a lot and found it fascinating.Thank you!!
I first heard of this story via a 1975 movie called Operation Daybreak - still one of my favourite films, despite the tragic outcome. The music is also great, unlike here, where it spoils, rather than enhances, the narrative.
Lots of detailed information that is often overlooked. Thank you!
EVIL must be apposed regardless of the consequences...
What are you going to do about China than?
@@garrisonnichols7372 We waited on the Soviet Union to expire and it happened in 1989. I think that China will go the same way, if you give the Chinese people the right encouragement. More diplomatic "brinkmanship" is indicated, after all that worked for the Soviet Union.
@@garrisonnichols7372 Did China invade Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Vietnam, Cuba, Venezuela and Afghanistan?
Do not bow down to evil, things will only get worse no matter the circumstances.
When you explain the details of the assassination, the music is getting louder and louder. It covers your voice and it’s hard to catch every word you say.
I agree with the theory that Heydrich was about to be promoted and transferred to Paris to crush the French resistance.
As the resistance would be vital to the eventual invasion of the French coast, their decimation at the hands of Heydrich would have greatly jeopardized the success of the invasion.
Best moment of World War Two. Anthropoid was a darling of a mission. Ultimate sacrifice by the soldiers. My god hold their souls near.
They're heroes for the rest of time in their country
"Best moment of WW2"?... What a stupid comment.
Thank you for posting
I heard about this story when I visited a service in this church not even suspecting that such a history is related to it. After service, I saw some tourists entering the basement of a church so I did the same. I discovered a small museum where is a hidden room (where those soldiers where hidden). Such a coincidence. I just went for a service and found out sth new.
Sten gun was so unreliable.
No wonder it was nicknamed the stench gun.
Spot on, Pat. The Sten seldom hit anything beyond 100 yards. The likely cause for the gun jamming is due to its tendency to stop working unless receiving constant maintenance.
Even the Germans themselves said it was the worst weapon to use in an operation such as this.
I think that reason why they choose sten gun was because it was easy to take apart and maintain
@@jabanan that’s mostly the reason. Can you imagine doing a hit job like that and the gun not working!? I would crap my pants on the spot.
@@unclestuka8543 it was mostly used because it was easy to hide and put together in a situation like that for assassination.
This video was well-researched and beautifully done. Thank you!
Just finished watching the Anthropoid. What a remarkable movie. This movie should be mandatory in every Czech school at least. Also I don't like the background music of this video. It takes away all the seriousness of the matter.
Probably great video but music background was to high for listening till end. Pls next time do check volume of music background.
Thank you for the feedback, Dominus. And I completely agree that the music was too loud in this episode. I've since been able to balance it out much better with the future episodes. I do appreciate you watching and am always looking to improve in the quality.
A concise and well narrated history of the assassination of one of the worst of the Nazis.
It is a sensitive question as to the value of killing one man for thousands to die as a result. Heydrich was foul but so were thousands of other Nazis, many who escaped justice after the war.
Is this a music video or a documentary? At times I can hear the music more than the voice audio.
Very informative video, however the background music was so loud and distracting it was difficult to watch.
Thank you for watching. I agree that the music is too loud. I’ve made sure to factor this in with recent episodes.
Music too loud and really irritating, otherwise very good.
If the movie I saw about him is acturate he died a lingering painful death. I guess it's poetic justice.
Ironic that it was Mercedes Benz upholstery that finally done him in slowly.
Good
@@unclestuka8543 Wasn't there also a suggestion that the bomb had been 'salted' by SOE with some toxin to maximise infection from shrapnel wounds?
@@PORRRIDGE_GUN Yes you may be right, there definitely was toxin present, but MI6/SOE are not going to admit it, I personally prefer the Mercedes Benz upholstery theory , eventually killing him. This was the official findings by the Surgeon operating.
very well done mate was exciting
Thank you Ali! Much more content to come.
Was it worth it? For that answer I find myself asking a simple question. How many more innocent people would have died if Reinhard Heydrich had stayed alive? The answer to that question is that at least tens of thousands of innocent people would have been murdered on Heydrich’s orders if he wasn’t killed. Perhaps even hundreds of thousands of innocent people would have been murdered if Heydrich had lived longer. So yes, the operation was worth it!
Yeah but by the time the war had ended either he would have been killed by Soviet troops, committed suicide, or rather captured them hanged as a war criminal.
The Heydrich´s plan was to exterminate the non-German population of the Protectorate, so you may dare counting with millions of killed ones. The ptice for killing the beast was very high, though priceless in comparison of what was held on the stake. Actually, it was this action that made the Allies believe we (Czechs) were the victims of Nazi terror held as the hostages, not the volunteer suppliers that were happy of staying out of the war lines. So only or mostly due to the assasination, W. Churchill decided to nullify the Munich Treaty and the Czech territory could be reinstated according to pre-Munich shapes including the areas of former "Sudetelnland".
Millions, not thousands.
Yea common highdrick would be replaced by someone just as bad or even worse.
@@pparalaxx3014 the man after him was not worse . Franke after Rienhardt where actually a bit softer and not so effecient. But that is not saying much..
From what I have been able to glean from extensive study of anthropoid it seems that the Czech government in exile was well aware that there would be horrible reprisals but they figured that this would turn the populous against the nazi occupiers.
They got sold out.
It’s a fallacy to assume that Heydrich’s assassination isn’t warranted because it caused reprisals and that Heydrich was easy to replace. Weakening the Nazi and therefore the enemy leadership is key when at war. Also, the reprisals helped align more of the Czech population against the Nazi occupiers. I am not so sure that Heydrich could so easily be replaced, as his successor “Gestapo Müller”was his subordinate but didn’t possess the leadership qualities Heydrich was recruited for by Himmler in the first place. He wasn’t even a Nazi party member and Heydrich, who was far more ruthless, taught him most about intelligence gathering and work.
Excellent video with details I hadn't heard. Evil needs to be confronted or it spreads and gains strength. It's tragic that there were such reprisals, but Heydrich was already millions deep in corpses and had to be stopped.
If you ignore such things it will spread
Yes!
This was a good video but please in future make the music less loud, it’s very distracting!
I wonder why on every doc we have to have to have music its s doc not a movie a good narrative is enough !
Throughout the history of mankind 1000s, 10s of thousands and even 100s of thousands of innocents have given everything to remove one dark soul from this beautiful home we call earth. Sad, glorious and humbling. Thank you all who gave me and mine our future.
Your video is great. It would, perhaps, be even better without the music. It does well on its own.
Thanks a lot for the content, still.
Thank you for watching @s70rk and I do appreciate the feedback on the music.
Background music is fine but it shouldn't be louder than the narration... It's utterly amazing how often this happens on CZcams videos.
Why have music?
This made me furious about Vatican's efforts of ferrying out Nazis and Argentina's offering them asylums. The Catholic Church and Argentina should forever be ashamed of themselves.
That’s just one of many reasons the Catholic Church should be ashamed of itself.
I USED TO. and I stress USED TO ve a catholic until I found out about the countless mis deads that are swept under the rug, Supporting the church is like supporting the nazis,
Hahha you are big idiots blame jews your iditos Rotschilds give money to Hitler and rise him to power
@@Coltnz1 yet you forget how many catholic organizations sheltered Jews and how many catholic priests were tortured. Smh
@@lois7235 We’re talking about the Vatican, not individual priests.
It’s always worth it to resist
Just like the Doolittle Raid, symbolic missions while not operationally significant serve a greater strategic value.
The Doolittle Raid also caused mass retaliation against the Chinese. Some estimates are up to 250k.
I recall reading that the grenade explosion propelled bits of the car's backseat's springs into Heydrich
Incredible award winning docu-drama with some never before seen footage and far more detail was just uploaded, called SS-3
Evil is something that should always be challenged and eliminated, regardless of retaliation. All we know on this side is the effect of his assassination, but there is no telling what his continued existence would have spawned. Perhaps over time it would have been an even greater tragedy and we collectively have had to endure the lesser of two heartaches.
Resistence is never futile.
Can you turn up the music a little louder over the narration? I want to make sure I miss certain details.
I thought it was too loud....
Lol
The Nazi reprisals for Anthropoid led directly to the Allies returning the Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia post war. As such Anthropoid is regarded as the single most effective act of resistance of WW2.
Well made. Thanks for making this
I really enjoyed this video, great pictures, thanks! I own a DVD of the 1975 Hollywood film Operation Daybreak, its a good war film, based on this assassination!
The movie was an excellent telling of this operation and the bravery and sacrifice of those involved with its success. I'm sure it was a shock to the Nazi's that they were not untouchable in occupied lands. As a Czech myself, I am proud of them and what they did. War is brutal and is close to hell on earth as one could get.
I think so the man was the most refined mass murdering mastermind the Reich had to offer there's no telling how much carnage he would've left had he gone on living. His sanctioned massacres and surprising competence in carrying out his plans made him too dangerous
This is one of the most detailed things I’ve watched about his assassination.. but the music is a bit to loud.
Thank you for watching @lemonaid. This was one of my earlier videos with the production quality not being to the level I would've hoped. I've since worked to ensure the narration audio is much better.
When evil is in your crosshairs you take the shot.
@Boone Helm, I agree with you. Heydrich needed to be removed.
@@HindsightHistory very much true
Thanks for the video! The movie Anthropoid was Great too!
Thank you @AmberAm. I really enjoyed Anthropoid as well. Cillian Murphy is very entertaining in the role.
@@HindsightHistory Yeah Peaky Blinders
J ai une question : est ce que les deux soldats étaient volontaires pour la mission anthropoide ou non ? Merci
Bien sûr, les deux soldats étaient volontaires et avaient eu un entrainement sérieux pour accomplir leur mission en Angleterre.
Yes, it was worth it. It demonstrated that no matter how high up the nazi leaders were vulnerable, hence the attempt on schicky 2 years later. I would venture to say the assassination saved many more lives than were lost in retaliation.
How do you know how many lives were saved? It seems very unlikely that's actually accurate. If you kill one commander then another will take his place and continue enacting whatever policy it is that they've been ordered to follow. The only difference is the amount of lives lost through retribution for any assassinations. Armies throughout history have always carried out retribution killings, it's a good way to put off the other side from targeting high ranking individuals, the cost in lives lost is too high to make it worthwhile.
No person are worth so many lifes no matter who he is because people like that are easily replaced sometimes even by someone worse and the killing of the jews just increased after his death.
@@Altair885 It was worth it because he deserved it.
@@coolbreeze2.0-mortemadfasc13 So you'd trade their lives for his? That doesn't make us any better than the Nazis does it?
This is wishful thinking.
Music is too loud
4:42 Had to turn off it right here about a week ago. Music was Inappropriate. Decided to give it another try today so I skipped ahead to 7:31 Music was only slightly better. Finally gave up at 10:43 and muted the volume and turned on closed captioning.
Its quite clear that the Czech government in exile knew full well that there would be massive reprisals for Heydrich's killing. But they decided it was worth it if it would inspire the population to resist.
Your forgetting that Reinhard Heydrich had other plan to destroy the checks.
I'm astonished that a Czech soldier provided information for money, which lead to their arrest. I never knew that.
Glad you found it informative. Karel Čurda paid the ultimate price for betraying his comrades.
Please go watch the movie Anthropoid. Thank me later.
@@JustinQuiksilver I'll give it a go, on Netflix
Eugene Bell don’t think it’s on Netflix. Try this link ww2.9movies.yt/film/anthropoid-32213/
@@JustinQuiksilver yep I've watched it, excellent it's definitely one to watch again, thanks mate.
Its ironic that Heydrich who served in the pre nazi navy and then in the ss, never fought in battle and the only time he fired a shot in combat was his last one...
Heydrich received a number of Nazi and military awards. These included the German Order,Blood Order,Golden Party Badge, Luftwaffe Pilot's Badge, bronze and silver Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe for combat missions, and the Iron Cross First and Second Classes.
The back ground music doesn't allow to hear what the commentry... Really irritating 😠
Evil must be eradicated no matter the cost!
No...
Very true .. evil can not be allowed to exist
@@amberlopez7477 you must be evil yourself to support evil
Heydrich was the "Hangman Of Prague".
Please...the background music is annoying. Hard to understand you. Thanks.
Great music 👌🏻 what are you talking about tho , cant hear anything ...
Thank you for watching. I agree it's difficult to hear the narration as this was one of my earlier videos on iMovie. Been working to improve the sound and the production quality with future content.
@@HindsightHistory yeah sorry, the fact that the video is old ive noticed after my comment
@@BOBO-xe6rl No worries - I appreciate you watching. More WWII stories to come!
This is wht happens when you let them take your GUNS,,, and Jans Kubis was my wife's family ,,,and Jans Kubis looks just like her father. He use to tell us about Jans all the time. To this day I have a old book her father gave of about Jans, and I've told my children that when I die this book stays in the family, is never to be sold. No profit shall be taken for the Czechs sacrifice.
It was the intention. British weapon found at the scene was supposed to lead germans to know it was planned by the brits and not czech resistance hoping the reprisal will not be on czechs.
No. You think the nazis would have left after someone produced a gun? The germans invaded plenty of countries awash with guns. That fantasy about an "armed population" is bullshit. You know how i know? Because during the Obama administration they said Obama was a "Muslim communist dictator" so, they let a communist Muslim dictator rule the country for eight years? You know, the "fema camp" guy? Yeah.
@@rtauzin64 Nazis banned the guns and then send jews to the gas. They clearly feared them having guns. So your argument is invalid.
21st century American civilians with guns would never win. Might buy a day or two. To think that they could fend off an army is ridiculous. Let's remember what militaries have at their disposal
@@theonemodifier you completely missed the point
Heydrich was the Number *TWO* man in the SS. Second only to Himmler.
The music overpowers the narration.
I think the prime british target was not heydrich, but rather the german reprisals that was sure to come after heydrich which were guaranteed to increase the anti-german sentiment among the czech.
Killing Reinhard Heydrich was something that needed to be done I know it sounds harsh 1 life for 5,000 Czech lives but in world war 2 you have to be willing to do things that nobody else will do
I am Czech and I totally agree.
If Heydrich was a key player in some upcoming military operation that needed to be stopped then I can understand killing him. But he was merely the military commander in Prague. He dies he is then replaced and things just carry on....The only plus i can see was that it might have rattled the Nazis for a short while.
ks - Heydrich was NOT the point of Operation Anthropoid.
It was not designed to 'take out an evil man'.
The point of it was that the Czech government in exile felt desperate to show that they were still a force to be reckoned with. That their allies should not ignore them.
And by killing someone important? They hoped for a general, partisan uprising to facilitate this.
Heydrich was simply chosen because he was the target that they thought would make the biggest 'splash.'
This was nothing but an attempted, political 'statement' on the part of the Czech Government-in-Exile.
Nothing more.
And it was an incredibly stupid thing to do, IMO.
It gained little/nothing and cost so, SO much.
@McRocket that's what I considered but like the alliance with uncle Joe of katyn fame please keep it quiet
Freedom and democracy always comes at a price, as does defeating evil. Had Heydrich survived, he would undoubtedly have implemented and accelerated his final solution plans and additionally devastated the French resistance where he was destined to go. His plan for the Czechs was to despatch the entire population to concentration camps and repopulate the country with Germans.
Dont you think the replacement of him would do the same with more will? What would killing one man gains when the whole system is build on an idealogy and easily replaces the lost puppet with the next who might be more brutal? I think sabotage and assassination is not the solution. The solution is popular revolt to take down a tyrannical regime but killing one tyrant just makes things worst.
@@alijack3523 Not really.
The SS wasn't known for being smart.
Such a good video. Please get rid of the music so I can pay attention to the content and not be distracted by the music.
The background music is way too loud!!
Dude,next time you could volume down the music when you narrate.
Jozef Gabčík was not a czech but a Slovak
Slovaks were allied with Nazis. He joined czechs. and in church he said we are czechs. Only slovaks who called them self slovaks were those believing in separate slovak republic.
I have always had the question….
Why, given all other planning, training, risks and financial costs that this operation had entailed were the assassins armed with one of the cheapest and known to jam SMGs to complete the task i.e a Sten gun (as it was 1942 probably a Mk2).
Ok, it’s relatively compact but under those circumstances how much harder would it have been to conceal (under a coat for example) something more reliable like a Thompson?
I have just seen a documentary comparing all the known guns including Thompson at that time. Thompson turned out to be not only much more havier but also bigger than Sten and not folding effectively and not stockable well. I am not sure I have used the right adjectives for the guns in English. :)But Sten turned out to be the best choice at that time for quick actions like that. You could dismantle it well and put it in the insuspicious bag and assemble it quicly well. The parachutes traveled by trams through Prague. It would be really weird to travel through Prague with Thompson under the coat. And another thing Sten was very easy gun for control.
That is what they said.
Sounds alot like Kennedys car slowing down at the sharp curve in front of the TBDB
He could’ve at least tipped off the safe houses
The greatest story never told
I cant find anthrapoid streaming anywhere
Yes the awful cost is worth eliminating evil at its highest levels.
They were trained in Arisaig in Scotland .One of the methods was to hunt red deer with their .303 military rifles .They were not allowed to shoot them any further than 50 yards .
303. Then they use steps?
@@Eric-kn4yn Sounds like you use a Zimmer frame.....
There's a lot of evidence that much more was at play in British minds. Heydrich was very intelligent and effective. He was also on the trail of anti-Hitler Admiral Canaris head of German Military Intelligence or Abwerh. Canaris had been giving information to the British and sabotaging many of Hitler's plan's. So Heydrich had to be eliminated to protect Canaris among other reasons.
So "Was it worth it"? You have to look at all the reason's for the assassination to answer that. And there is still a lot of secret information about this operation. For instance why did the Doctor Himmler sent to help Heydrich refuse to give him the antibiotics he carried that may have saved his life?
Historically it is believed that he did not give Heydrich the antibiotics because of the fact that his professional rival, Theodor Morell was a big proponent of using the drugs. So essentually the reason he didn't use Sulfa, the antibiotic that could have saved him, was because of pride and arrogance. After Heydrich died, Dr. Gebhardt and Heinrich Himmler created abunch of rigged experiments at Auschwitz to prove that the recommended use of Sulfa would not have saved his life. They purposesly wounded, infected, and killed dozens of Jewish prisoners under fake expirements to try and cover up their mistake, so that they wouldn't be killed or frowned upon.
You Brits want to take credits for something that is really yours The Exiled Czechs government in London was the one who planned and with this in mind they asked the British government for help and they said yes and their contribution was guns explosives and training at your SOE facilities and Churchill approved but it was not his plan not or the MI6 idea it was the Czechs only Had it been for your government you wouldn't have have it yourselves so take credit for Anthropoid operation because it was not your idea
@@ileanaacacostaacosta1813
The Czechs had their reasons and the Brits theirs too. In the end the Czechs almost botched the operation. Without Heydrich's incredible arrogance they would have failed.
@@ileanaacacostaacosta1813
BTW Illeano. I'm not British.
As I've read he refused the antibiotics as they were a new medicine and would only be treated by German doctors !afraid of being assanated
The back ground music was so loud one can't hear the speaker very well !
1975 Philippines.I watched this movie and made a vow to myself to visit the Country where it happened .2018 Oct Finally made good on my vow