Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100Fri, 24 Jul 2026 15:40:56 +0200https://english.radio.cz/veterans-remember-brave-last-stand-heydrich-assassins-8062997© 2026 Radio Prague International A military band plays a slow march as Czechoslovak veterans lay wreaths outside the Church of Cyril and Methodius in Prague's Resslova street. Sixty years ago today, on June 18th 1942, hundreds of SS and Gestapo units surrounded the building. They were there to track down a group of British-trained Czechoslovak parachutists, who were hiding in the crypt of the church. Among them were Sergeant Jan Kubis and Sergeant Josef Gabcik, who three weeks earlier had assassinated the Nazi governor of Bohemia and Moravia, Reinhardt Heydrich. For six hours, Nazi troops tried unsuccessfully to force their way into the crypt, using grenades, tear gas and even the fire brigade to try and drown the parachutists. But they never surrendered, choosing instead to take their own lives. Among the veterans attending Tuesday's ceremony was Frank Kaplan, who served with the Czechoslovak forces during the war and later settled in Britain. Rob Cameron asked him whether he thought Heydrich's assassination was justified, given the terrible reprisals that followed. encr@radio.cz (Cesky Rozhlas)webmaster@radio.cz (CRo Webmaster) https://english.radio.cz/sites/default/files/images/4f5197446b1f6808606b2a0aab5e5a67.png?timestamp=1583150525 https://english.radio.cz/veterans-remember-brave-last-stand-heydrich-assassins-8062997 Radio Prague International Radio Prague International radio.prague.int@gmail.com clean 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9