NOVPUB
Chapter 76: Operation Anthropoid (2)
The Central Intelligence Agency first contacted the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) to capture their target, Heydrich.
As the talks were held at the government level, Sir Stewart Graham Menzies, the head of MI6, promised cooperation with a friendly attitude.
“We will help you make contact with our Czech and Yugoslav friends.”
Jung Gong-gu, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency’s European branch, who was also serving as the military attaché in Britain, contacted the Czechoslovak government-in-exile with the arrangement of the British intelligence service.
Sergei Ingr, the Minister of Defense who came to the negotiating table representing the government-in-exile, showed deep interest in Korea’s proposal.
“So, Korea will provide weapons, funds, and training, and we will cooperate to catch the butcher of Czechia, right?”
“That’s correct, Minister.”
“Catch Heydrich.”
Sergei Ingr deeply abhorred the butcher, Heydrich, who was taming Czechia with a whip and carrot.
Killing that monster was something he had not even dared to dream of.
“Minister, for the sake of all of us, that monster must disappear from the face of the earth.”
“That’s true.”
After much thought, the Minister decided to respond to this plan.
He could not possibly ignore the reality that the money Korea promised to provide was desperately needed by the government-in-exile.
Tito, the leader of the Yugoslav Partisans, also agreed to cooperate with the plan on the condition of receiving financial support from Korea.
After completing the groundwork for the operation, the Central Intelligence Agency leaked information to the German authorities.
The contents were all nonsense.
“The Korean Central Intelligence Agency has contacted coup forces within the Empire. Pyongyang has approved the launch of a new regime and promised to help mediate between Germany and the Soviet Union.”
“The Korean Central Intelligence Agency is in contact with the Polish Home Army. They are reportedly carrying out a plan to blow up the railway yard in Warsaw, which could affect the German-Soviet War.”
“Korean Navy Special Forces are reportedly on standby in Spain to overthrow the Italian government. The target is to kidnap or assassinate Mussolini.”
If the words don’t make sense, they won’t even pretend to believe it. These were not even worth listening to.
Heydrich snorted at the intelligence report.
“This is just Britain or those Korean bastards playing tricks.”
“Actually, there was also talk of assassinating Your Excellency.”
“With what skills do the Orientals have?”
Among them, there was also a story about plotting to assassinate Heydrich, but the blond beast did not believe it.
Rather, he had a strong idea that he should show off his prestige a bit more.
That way, he could give a piece of his mind to the Nazi officials who believed in nonsense about assassination and buried their heads in the ground.
Heydrich decided to act as usual.
Meanwhile, the Czech assassins based in Yugoslavia were entering the final stage of training for the assassination of Reinhard.
“Warrant Officer. It’s too hard. Can’t we rest a little?”
“There’s no time. Remember that we don’t have enough time to prepare until the operation. Instead of complaining, shout loudly! Understood!”
“Aaargh!”
As the sponsor, Korea, presented a tight deadline, the Czech soldiers had to move without a moment to catch their breath.
Jung Gong-gu inspected the equipment to be provided with Lieutenant Cecil Clark of the British Army, who was in charge of weapons support in Gibraltar.
“We will basically use the German MP38 rifle.”
Using German firearms, which were easy to procure ammunition for locally, was a choice that made sense.
“We have selected the German M24 grenade for the bombs.”
Considering that stick grenades were easy to throw, this was also not bad.
After inspecting the weapons, Jung Gong-gu consulted with František Moravec, the head of the intelligence agency of the Czech government-in-exile, on the method of infiltration.
Moravec suggested the following method:
“Let’s go in on a glider.”
“A, a glider?”
For Jung Gong-gu, it was a method he had never even thought of.
In fact, as the experience of the British-German Air War was relatively shallow, the night sky of Europe still remained defenseless.
If they were to pierce through this gap and carry out a night infiltration, there was a sufficient chance of success.
Jung Gong-gu listened to the advice of the British Air Force and concluded that this method had potential.
The preparations to take out Heydrich were completed on April 20, 1942.
“Let’s start the operation.”
Korea had no intention of dragging out the elimination of Heydrich.
During the time wasted, there were concerns about what effect Heydrich’s maneuvers would have, so they wanted him to be executed immediately.
“Make that bastard stop breathing.”
Gloriously, the execution order was given directly by Your Excellency.
“Let’s depart.”
As soon as the OK sign from the sponsor, Korea, was given, the assassination team departed from the makeshift airfield in Yugoslavia and crossed the night sky of Austria.
The German Air Force, which should have been monitoring this, did not even know that something had passed over their heads.
The few night fighter units that existed were deployed in eastern Germany to prevent Soviet bombers targeting East Prussia and Berlin from taking off from Soviet territory, so they were not prepared at all to stop the gliders of the assassination team.
The assassination team passed over Austria and landed near Prague.
As soon as the glider landed, Warrant Officer Josef Gabčík, the commander of the assassins, erased the traces together with Corporal Karel Svoboda.
They quickly disassembled the glider and concealed it in a barn.
The time taken up to this point was not very long.
The assassins hurried their movements to match Heydrich’s schedule, which they had figured out in advance.
Every day at 10:30 a.m., Heydrich would commute from his residence in Panenské Břežany to Prague Castle.
The security was not strict either.
Heydrich had only one driver who doubled as a personal guard, and did not receive any special protection.
10:32 a.m.
As Heydrich’s car appeared in the village of Lidice, the assassins exchanged glances.
“Get ready.”
The assassins waited for Heydrich’s Mercedes-Benz W142 to approach, then pulled out the German submachine guns hidden under their thick coats.
“Wha-what the...”
Rata-tat-tat!
Suddenly, as the gunfire poured out, Heydrich’s driver hurriedly turned the steering wheel.
The team of Corporal Karel Svoboda, who was waiting at the next position, threw a grenade.
Boom!
The seats of the Mercedes-Benz were wrecked by the impact of the grenade explosion.
“Te-terrorists!”
People were confused by the sudden gunfire and explosion, and were busy hiding here and there.
In the chaotic situation where everyone was unable to come to their senses, the attackers exchanged magazines.
Bang bang!
Heydrich, seeing this, boldly grasped his pistol and fired bullets at the assassins.
The assassins were startled by his calm demeanor.
“Heydrich! Was the bastard hit?”
“It missed.”
Unfortunately for the assassins, Heydrich was unharmed except for a slightly injured arm from the initial gunfire.
Heydrich continued to shoot, resisting the assassins.
It was not a good situation.
Soon, motorcycles carrying German soldiers began to approach.
“German troops are coming.”
“Damn it, withdraw.”
The assassins quickly gathered their weapons and began to flee.
At this point, the assassins thought they had failed in the attack.
However, Heydrich’s body was full of grenade fragments.
Unlike what was visible on the outside, Heydrich had already suffered considerable injuries.
“I, this Heydrich, being beaten by those inferior Slavic breeds.”
“Your Excellency! You must stay conscious.”
As soon as he arrived at the hospital, Heydrich lost consciousness, and despite mobilizing all the doctors for treatment, he ultimately could not rise from his place and met his end.
The unexpected Heydrich assassination incident aroused Germany’s anger.
“We will hold the impure forces of Czechia responsible for the terrorist act.”
Hitler ordered a cruel retaliation to this.
For the Nazis, they needed to make an example out of the Czechs, if only for their own safety.
Under the command of SS-Obergruppenführer Kurt Daluege, the head of the German Order Police, the SS wielded merciless violence against the Czechs.
“Drag them all out.”
For the sole reason of being the place where the Heydrich assassination was attempted, 196 men from the village of Lidice were executed.
The women and children were sent to concentration camps, and the village was flattened by bulldozers.
In the village of Ležáky, where the team members were presumed to have passed through, all the villagers were also killed or sent to camps.
The number of villages that disappeared in this way reached 10, and the number of people killed amounted to 2,000.
It was a slaughter worse than the retaliation for the original Heydrich assassination.
Italy also responded to this by carrying out a massive guerrilla suppression operation in Yugoslavia.
The Czech government-in-exile and the partisans were appalled by their ruthless retaliation.
“If we had known that cooperating with you would result in this, we would not have taken action. Didn’t the people only suffer to catch one Heydrich?”
Jung Gong-gu also had nothing to say when things twisted like this.
But he thought it was a necessary sacrifice.
The Central Intelligence Agency reported the Heydrich assassination to Your Excellency.
Upon hearing this report, Your Excellency patted Lee Kyung-ho on the shoulder.
“As I thought. You were the perfect man for the job.”
“Thank you, Your Excellency.”
“And you know what? I’d like there to be some follow-up to this incident, what do you think?”
Follow-up?
“I’d like to know Your Excellency’s intention.”
“You, let’s announce to the world that this was orchestrated by our Central Intelligence Agency.”
What?
Isn’t it normal to keep this kind of operation secret?
But Your Excellency’s thoughts seemed different.
“They need to know it was us, so we can assert more authority over our European friends after the war, don’t you think?”
Your Excellency’s words were correct.
Considering the Empire’s position after the war, it was right to advertise that Korea led such a big case.
Even if the Czechs and Yugoslavs expressed dissatisfaction in the process, it didn’t matter.
The Empire wasn’t very close with those snub-nosed bastards anyway.
“I shall obey.”
Your Excellency silently gestured for him to leave.
A few days later, Lee Kyung-ho gathered foreign reporters and spilled the shocking story.
“Th-then are you saying the Korean Empire ordered the assassination of Governor Heydrich?”
Lee Kyung-ho calmly said.
“I gave the order.”
“Wh-what the...”
As it was revealed during the Q&A that the Korean Empire was behind the Heydrich assassination, the foreign reporters did not hide their shock.
“Isn’t that a terrorist act unbecoming of a nation that claims to be a great power?”
Of course, even during wartime, assassinating a high-ranking official of the enemy was unthinkable in European war customs.
In less than a day, Germany’s furious reaction reverberated around the world.
Korea is a nation of terrorists. Such people are not even worth calling a nation. Why is the world silent on the atrocities committed by that lump of evil created by the mixing of inferior races, no, uncivilized mongrels!
Honestly, the Nazis were in no position to say that.
Does it make sense for them to bark at Korea while committing every possible evil act, from genocide, ethnic cleansing, and rape, to forced labor?
The Central Intelligence Agency decided to beat up the Nazis with honest fact-based violence.
The moment the Nazis took the bait of Korea’s provocation and stepped into the ring of a media war, they had essentially started a fight they couldn’t win.
Concentration Camps? Germany had em...Extermination Units? Bah, it’s all the nazis!
The Central Intelligence Agency focused on ruthlessly attacking the parts the Nazis didn’t want to show.
“It’s a blatant lie!”
“So what class of citizens are the Jews in Germany?”
“Jews are not Europeans, so there’s nothing to discuss.”
“They say a million Poles have already died, is that proper governance of a nation?”
“We merely relocated the inferior Slavs to a better place! Don’t falsely accuse us!”
As time went on, Germany failed to provide proper responses and was only swayed by the media war led by Korea.
Lee Kyung-ho gave a cynical smile.
“Just because one Heydrich died, Berlin has turned retarded.”
Actually, if you looked beneath the surface, this was a natural conclusion.
Admiral Canaris, the head of the Abwehr, was originally anti-Nazi and uncooperative with the Nazi regime, and the Foreign Office was also a world inhabited by noble von aristocrats, the kind of people who tried to act according to their own thoughts.
Now that Heydrich, who had somehow tried to tie together and control such bastards under the leadership of the Reich Main Security Office, had gone to the afterlife, it was perhaps inevitable that Germany’s diplomatic capabilities had turned retarded.
With Germany’s diplomacy also crippled, German operations against Korea would not have much effect in the future.
“Your Excellency’s decision to order the elimination of Heydrich has saved this country once again.”
Lee Kyung-ho once again mulled over Your Excellency’s greatness.
Indeed, Your Excellency was a superhuman who had descended to save this country.
Footnotes
1. General of the Army Jan Sergěj Ingr (2 September 1894 – 17 June 1956) was a Czechoslovak Army five star general and the Minister of National Defense in the Czechoslovak government-in-exile during the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
