Operation Anthropoid

Abstract

On 27th May 1942 two Czech Noncommissioned Officers (NCOs) displayed extraordinary courage when they assassinated Reinhardt Hedrick of the German Army. Hedrick was appointed as Administrator/Protector of Bohemia and Moravia by the German Government during World War Two (WWII).In the mid-1930s, the German inhabitants along the Czech border areas (called the Sudetenland) began asking for autonomy. As a result in early 1938 the German population directed by Sudeten German Party raised demands to make them unacceptable for the Czechoslovak government. In the summer of 1938, Hitler declared active support of the highly publicized demands of the German population for annexation of the Sudetenland into Germany. Britain and France issued an ultimatum to Czechoslovak government to swiftly hand over the Sudetenland to Germany. The Czechoslovakian government capitulated on 21st September 1938. The next day Hitler introduced new demands insisting that the claims of Poland and Hungary for their minorities also be met. Wanting to avoid a new war in Europe, the leaders of Great Britain (Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain) and France (Prime Minister Eduard Daladier) accepted Hitlers proposal on organizing an international conference on Czechoslovak affairs. Together Chamberlain, Daladier, the leader of Italy Benito Mussolini and Germany Adolph Hitler met in a conference in Munich, Germany, on 29th September 1938. They made the decision About us without us; therefore, Czechoslovakia was forced to hand over the Sudetenland to Germany, Tesin to Poland, and parts of Slovakia to Hungary. With losing the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia lost most its natural barriers as well as modern fortifications which were being built.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 03, 2005
Accession Number
AD1112287

Entities

People

  • David Foltyn

Organizations

  • United States Army Sergeants Major Academy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Ammunition
  • Assassination
  • Autonomy
  • Czechoslovakia
  • Domestic
  • Education
  • Europe
  • Families (Human)
  • Fortifications
  • Governments
  • Health Services
  • Noncommissioned Officers
  • Resistance
  • Security
  • Sepsis
  • Slovakia
  • War

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Political Science/ International Relations/ European Studies