Finally, the end of the line for Operation Anthropoid after nearly six years. For the first four years or so I was sure I could do the entire narrative justice, but a combination of mojo outages & some unachievable technical aspects have led to a less ambitious result. Consequently the photos reflect only around half of what I’d originally intended – no lead-up, no blast, no Tatra van or Simca car, and an abbreviated aftermath - all mainly because I couldn’t create the multi-pose figures necessary to animate those scenes. But on the plus side I have to be content with what did get done, so overall a glass half full.
I described the digital post-production tweaks made to most of the the photos in post 810 above - I also had to tone down colour & contrast intensities caused by the glaring Oz sunshine.
My narrative is derived primarily from Gestapo chief Heinz von Pannewitz’s Investigation report to Himmler, and his post-war testimony. As far as I know not one literary account or movie recreation has accurately portrayed what happened, most falling for the gangster-style shootout and other myths. I think I know why - it would be hard to portray the reality without it resembling a tragi-comedy:
On May 27th 1942 at 10.30 a.m. SOE agents Gabčík and Kubiš had been waiting well over an hour for the Mercedes carrying Reinhard Heydrich to arrive at a sharp bend in the Prague suburb of Holešovice, en route to an airfield on the outskirts of the city where a plane was waiting to fly him to Berlin for a meeting with Hitler. SS Obergruppenführer Heydrich had been appointed Reichsprotektor of Bohemia-Moravia eight months previously.
A third agent (Valčik) signalled the car’s approach from several hundred metres up the road. As the car (licence plate SS 4) slowed down to make the hairpin, Gabčík raised the Sten he’d been hiding under a folded raincoat at near point-blank range…and it jammed. Driver Klein began to accelerate away but Heydrich stood up in the car and ordered him to stop, reaching into the door-pocket for his pistol. Gabčík dropped the Sten and took cover behind a nearby telegraph pole as Kubiš (who’d been hiding further round the bend) tossed a large customised grenade. His aim was off because the car was still slowly rolling, so instead of landing on the back seat it bounced off the side of the folded tilt and rolled under the car before exploding.
Gabčík drew his Colt, but instead of approaching the car to finish the job (and help Kubiš escape) he seemingly lost his nerve and ran off after seeing Klein get out of the car with Walther in hand, and that Heydrich had also armed himself. By fleeing he abandoned both his fellow agent and the original plan to steal Heydrich’s briefcase.
Meanwhile Kubiš had fallen to the sidewalk with a deep shrapnel wound to his temple. Drawing his Colt he scrambled past the car, heading for his bicycle parked (inexplicably) over 100 metres away on the far side of the stopped tram. Klein had conflicting priorities – to check if his boss was OK, or chase the disappearing Gabčík, or chase the nearby Kubiš. Oddly he chose Gabčík, until Heydrich yelled at him to go after Kubiš. Lumbering in slow pursuit, Klein drew a bead on the fleeing Kubiš but flicked the magazine-release, which fell to the ground with bullets bouncing out. Kubiš ran out of sight past the trams before Klein could reload, firing into the air to clear a path through panicked tram passengers…
Heydrich had forced the jammed passenger door open to get out, also taking aim at Kubiš, only to find his pistol wasn’t loaded. He began to realise he too was wounded, two slivers of shrapnel having come up through the floor pan and seat-back to lodge in his spleen. Leaning against the car and seeing Klein’s incompetence, he ordered him to go after Gabčík again. That chase ended over a kilometre away when Gabčík (having taken refuge in a butcher’s shop run, unbelievably, by a Nazi supporter) shot Klein in the leg and made good his escape on foot.
Meanwhile Kubiš had reached Gabčík’s bike (being parked slightly closer than his own) and rode away, leaving terrified tram passengers (some wounded by flying glass) to grasp what had just happened. A few hesitant bystanders flagged down a passing van to take Heydrich to hospital, clutching his briefcase and empty pistol. The van driver (possibly intentionally) drove some distance in the opposite direction to the nearest hospital before Heydrich (by this time in agony) ordered him to make a U-turn.
The joint SS/SD Investigation began within the hour, although not in time to prevent the damaged No. 3 tram being driven away to clear the line. Later that day a full reconstruction of the scene was ordered, with a substitute tram/trailer being driven into position. Positions of all evidence (debris, Gabčík’s Sten & coat, Kubiš’ abandoned bike, live & spent shells) were tagged and the entire area photographed from multiple angles. All witnesses who hadn’t already fled were interviewed, most of them unsurprisingly claimed to have seen little of value to the investgators…
[There is one inaccuracy in the photos – image F17 shows Kubiš’ abandoned bike with satchel of spare grenades & fuses leaning against the fence - in reality it was further away (way off the diorama base) leaning against a lamp post]
Pannewitz’s report was thorough (see his diagram reproduced in post #1 of this thread), but because he criticised Heydrich’s failure to take any security measures (despite being ordered by Himmler to do so only a few weeks previously) and highlighted Heydrich’s & Klein’s small-arms incompetence, he was transferred and demoted.
Heydrich died of infection/sepsis the following week. Klein would have recovered from his wound but it remains uncertain if he survived the war. Gabčík, Kubiš and Valčik committed suicide (along with several other agents) a few weeks later during a siege shootout with the German police. One of their own (Curda) had betrayed them for the huge reward money, he was subsequently caught and executed in 1946. In revenge for Heydrich’s assassination over 5,000 men, women and children (of whom only 100 or so were active in the Resistance) were murdered by the SS five months later in mass executions, or in the camps during 1943/1944. Hitler had been talked down from literally decimating the Czechoslovak population of approx. 14 million i.e. 1 in 10 to be executed.
This project commemorates the innocent victims and those brave enough to risk their own lives making a stand. The question remains whether that loss of life was a price worth paying to eliminate one tyrant? There had been repeated warnings from local Resistance leaders beforehand that Operation Anthropoid, if carried out, would result in unimaginable retribution from the Germans. The Czechoslovak government in exile in the UK deemed it a risk worth taking, to encourage the local Resistance and general population to rise up against the Occupation – it failed, and repression was redoubled.
Heydrich had chaired the secret Wansee Conference just four months earlier, by May 1942 nobody in Czechoslovakia or Britain would have known that Heydrich had already been appointed the chief administrator of the Final Solution. Perhaps it could be argued that the Holocaust (“Operation Reinhard”) would have been even more murderously efficient had he survived Holešovice.
I’m very grateful to the following people for their invaluable help and generosity, with apologies for missing surnames and to anyone I’ve forgotten:
Susie , my long-suffering wife for contributing her red leather purse for the limo seats, constructive suggestions, and infinite patience.
Mike Freeman (justsendit) for the trailer brake-wheels, Alistair Gilmour for the 3D trailer window frames & lamp post bases, various sundry materials, shiraz…, and Geoff Langridge at Custom Hobby Decals for exceptional customer service.
Special thanks to Henri-Pierre (Frenchy) for so many useful extra images & additional research; Agent Vida for going to the Prague Transport Museum to take photos of the trailer’s interior; and language/local knowledge help from Marian (guni-kid) & Zdenka, and Agent Dasha.
Alex (Artefakt) for bonus extra-large glass shards.
Alfred for architectural & colour advice about the yellow house.
Jan (and Agent Emeritus), Stuart, Tom & Erwin (Golikell) for road-sign research.
Jan (again) for particularly useful links to the Cvancara/Stehlik research.
Stephen (Hohenstaufen), Brian (BootsDMS), Erwin (Golikell) & Jerry R re SS uniforms.
Ryan, Erwin, Nick, Glenn, Matthew, Ski & others for benevolently kicking my butt in the wilderness times, and everyone who ever posted supportive comments & encouraging Likes – thank you all for keeping me company on the twists & turns of this long journey.
Last but not least, Jim Starkweather & Kitmaker/Armorama for providing this platform.
It’s over - The End.
The photography is outstanding as well. As always, thank you for sharing your fine modeling craftsmanship! 
