Operation Anthropoid

There is a new World War 2 film coming out called Anthropoid. It covers the events of Operation Anthropoid which saw S.O.E. trained Czech commandos parachute into enemy territory with a mission to assasinate one of the Third Reich’s most important figures, SS Obergruppenführer Reynard Heydrich. 

By any standards, Heydrich was among the worst charachters of the Nazi regime. He was instrumental in organising the Kristallnacht, founded the SD (his own personal intelligence service), formed the Einsatzgruppen (SS ‘special purpose’ groups) and was one of the primary architects of the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. At the time of his death, he was reorganising the former Czech state (named by the Nazis the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia into a SS slave state, geared for the German war effort). 

While I was in Prague I accidentally stumbled upon St Cyrus Church, where the Czech commandos made their last stand in the Church’s crypt. There is a small museum explaining the events which led up to the assassination and the dreadful reprisals afterwards. It was not enough for the nazis to kill the Czech agents. They also razed the village of Lidice, falsely connected to the attack, murdered its population and deported 13000 people to concentration camps. Words cannot describe the sheer barbarity…

The museum allows you to enther the undercrypt itself, where the commandos took refuge and made their last stand once they’d been betrayed. The walls still bear the scars of the events and there are six memorial crosses to the brave men who died here. The filmakers made an exact copy of the crypt for the film, down to the entrance from the church in the ceiling.  

The reviews so far have been mixed but IMDB gives it a 7.6 out of 10. From what I have seen of the trailer, it looks and uses the actual locations locations in Prague for the film. I for one will be seeing the film in the next week or so.