Youth

Gabčík was born 1912 in Poluvsie, part of town Rajecké Teplice, Trencsén County, Kingdom of Hungary (then part of Austria-Hungary, now in northwestern Slovakia). He learned to be a farrier, as well as a blacksmith. He was also taught clock making at the village of Kostelec nad Vltavou (in central Bohemia). He was taught by local master blacksmith J. Kunike. He lived with the Kunike family in their house of which still stands together with the outbuilding and yard which was used as a smithy. In 1927 the school records show that he attended school in business studies at village Kovářov near to Kostelec nad Vltavou. The building which housed the school is today the municipal office. (A marble plaque was erected in 2010, together with historical documents on the wall there – these documents were all placed there by the citizens of Kovářov.)

In 1937, he began work at a military chemical plant in Žilina; after an accident, however, he was transferred to the gas storage facility (which belonged to the Czechoslovak army) in Trenčín.

In exile

The breakup of the Czechoslovak Republic and the subsequent emergence (on 14 March 1939) of the clero-fascist and anti-Czech Slovak State he did not accept – when German Wehrmacht took over the military depot he sabotaged it. To escape punishment, he fled to Poland (on 6 June 1939) and joined forming Czechoslovak military unit in Polish service (Czechoslovak Legion). Then, with other comrades, was transferred via ship to France and there entered the 1st Regiment of the Foreign Legion. In 26 September 1939 he was drafted in Agde into the emerging Czechoslovak foreign army in France and included as deputy commander of the machine gun platoon at the 1st Infantry Regiment of the 1st Czechoslovak Infantry Division in France (1^re division d'infanterie tchécoslovaque en France). Three months later, he was promoted to the rank of četař (sergeant) and participated in the Battle of France during the spring of 1940.

Following France's surrender, together with remnants of Czechoslovak troops, he evacuated (12 July 1940) to Great Britain where he was trained as a paratrooper. He became a rotmistr (approx. UK staff sergeant) in rank. The Free Czechoslovaks, as he and other self-exiled Czechoslovaks were called, were stationed at Cholmondeley Castle near Malpas in Cheshire.^[1]

Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich

Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš were airlifted along with seven soldiers from Czechoslovak army-in-exile in the United Kingdom and two other groups named Silver A and Silver B (who had different missions) by a Royal Air Force Halifax of No. 138 Squadron into Czechoslovakia at 10  pm on 28 December 1941. In Prague, they contacted several families and anti-Nazi organisations who helped them during the preparations for the assassination.^[2]

On 27 May 1942, at 10:30 am, Heydrich proceeded on his daily commute from his home in Panenské Břežany to Prague Castle. Gabčík and Kubiš waited at the tram stop on the curve near Bulovka Hospital in Prague 8-Libeň. As Heydrich's open-topped Mercedes-Benz neared the pair, Gabčík, who concealed his Sten gun under a raincoat, dropped the raincoat and raised the gun, and, at point-blank range, tried to shoot Heydrich, but the gun jammed. Heydrich ordered his driver, SS-Oberscharführer Klein, to stop the car. As the car braked in front of him, Kubiš threw a modified anti-tank grenade^[3] (concealed in a briefcase) at the vehicle; he misjudged his throw. Instead of landing inside the Mercedes, it landed against the rear wheel. Nonetheless, the bomb severely wounded Heydrich when it detonated, its fragments ripping through the right rear fender and embedding shrapnel from the upholstery of the car into Heydrich, causing serious injuries to his left side, with major damage to his diaphragm, spleen and lung, as well as a fractured rib. Kubiš received a minor wound to his face from the shrapnel.^[4] Heydrich and Klein leapt out of the shattered limousine with drawn pistols; Klein ran towards Kubiš, who had staggered against the railings, while Heydrich went to Gabčík who stood paralyzed, holding the sten. Kubiš recovered and, jumped on his bicycle and pedalled away, scattering passengers spilling from the tram, by firing in the air with his Colt M1903 pistol. Klein tried to fire at him but dazed by the explosion, pressed the magazine release catch and the gun jammed.^[5][6] A staggering Heydrich came towards Gabčík, who dropped his sten and tried to reach his bicycle. He was forced to abandon this attempt, however, and took cover behind a telegraph pole, firing at Heydrich with his pistol. Heydrich returned fire and ducked behind the stalled tram. Suddenly, Heydrich doubled over and staggered to the side of the road in pain. He then collapsed against the railings, holding himself up with one hand. As Gabčík took the opportunity to run, Klein returned from his fruitless chase of Kubiš to help his wounded superior. Heydrich, his face pale and contorted in pain, pointed out the fleeing Slovak, saying "Get that bastard!".^[7][8] As Klein gave pursuit, Heydrich stumbled along the pavement before collapsing against the bonnet of his wrecked car.^[9] Gabčík fled into a butcher shop, where the owner, a man named Brauer, who was a Nazi sympathiser and had a brother who worked for the Gestapo, ignored Gabčík's request for help, and ran out into the roadway, attracting Klein's attention by shouting and pointing. Klein, whose gun was still jammed and useless, rushed into the shop and collided with Gabčík in the doorway. In the confusion, Gabčík shot him twice, severely wounding him in the leg.^[9] Gabčík then escaped in a tram, reaching a local safe house.^[10][11] The assassins were initially convinced that the attack had failed. Heydrich was rushed to Bulovka Hospital, where he consequently developed a fatal case of blood poisoning. He went into shock and died on the morning of June 4, 1942. ^[12]

Death

Bullet-scarred window of the Church of St. Cyril and St. Methodious in Prague where Gabčík and his compatriots were cornered

A rigorous investigation of the assassination determined that it was planned and executed by the Czech Resistance with the assistance of the British. The oppression and persecution of the defiant Czechs reached its peak following the failure of Nazi soldiers to capture the assassins alive. More than 13,000 people were ultimately arrested and tortured, including the girlfriend of Jan Kubiš, Anna Malinová, who died at Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp. First Lieutenant Adolf Opálka's aunt, Marie Opálková, was executed in Mauthausen on 24 October 1942.^[13] His father, Viktor Jarolím, was also killed.^[14] Among the unfortunate was the native of Kostelec nad Vltavou, JUDr. Jan Fleischmann. It was known locally that Jozef visited Jan Fleischmann who was a friend in Kostelec and Vltavou before the assassination of Heydrich. After the assassination, this visit was discovered due to Karel Čurda informing the Gestapo. The Nazis arrested Jan Fleischmann and took him to Pankrác where he was tortured and finally executed.

The Nazi officials in the Protectorate carried out an extensive search for the two men. Eventually, the Germans found them, along with other paratroopers, hiding in Cyril and Methodius Cathedral in Prague. After a six-hour gun battle, in which the Germans lost 14 and sustained wounds to 21 others, Gabčík and the others, with the exception of Kubiš, who was seriously wounded by a grenade, committed suicide before the Nazis could take them alive in the church catacombs.^[15] Kubiš died of his wounds shortly after arrival at the hospital.^[16]

Works cited