Jozef (Josef) Gabčík was a Czechoslovak soldier, a member of the Anthropoid paratroop team who took part in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in May 1942.
Josef (Jozef) Gabčík was born on 8 April 1912 in Poluvsie near Žilina. He died on 18 June 1942 in Prague's Resslova Street, in the crypt of the Orthodox church of Saints Cyril and Methodius. He served in Czechoslovak units in France and in Great Britain and, together with other soldiers, took part in Operation Anthropoid, whose aim was the assassination of the Acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich.[1]
Origins and military service
According to the Vojenský historický ústav, the head of the family worked overseas, in the United States and Argentina. He attended elementary and civic school in Rájecké Teplice, then went to Bohemia, where from 1927 to 1932 he trained as a blacksmith and locksmith.[2] He began his military service on 1 October 1932 in Košice with Infantry Regiment 14 and then went through the non-commissioned officers' school in Prešov. In 1934, as a corporal, he became a long-serving non-commissioned officer. In 1937 he ended his service and worked as a civilian employee at a military factory in Žilina and later at a depot in Trenčín.[2]
The institute also states that the form of his first name is disputed: the Slovak form Jozef is used more often in the literature, but Gabčík signed several documents as Josef, and the Czech name appears on wartime documents.[2]
Foreign army and training
On 6 June 1939 he left for Poland, where in Kraków he joined a Czechoslovak military group and first met Jan Kubiš. In France he signed up to the Foreign Legion; at the end of September 1939 he was admitted in Agde to the Czechoslovak army abroad. After the fall of France he sailed to Great Britain, completed a sergeant major course and was selected for special tasks in the occupied homeland.[2]
Training took place under the British organization SOE. Gabčík took part in the first sabotage course in Scotland and a parachute course at Ringway airfield near Manchester. At his request Jan Kubiš was assigned to Operation Anthropoid. Together they then completed training in shooting, grenade throwing and handling explosives.[2]
Operation Anthropoid
Gabčík and Kubiš were dropped on the night of 29 December 1941 near Nehvizdy close to Prague, that is, somewhere other than planned. After moving to Plzeň and then to Prague, they began planning the assassination. According to Prague 2, the assassination was carried out on 27 May 1942 by Kubiš, who threw an anti-tank grenade at the Protector's car because Gabčík's submachine gun apparently jammed. Heydrich succumbed to his injuries on 4 June 1942.[1]
After the assassination Gabčík hid in various places and finally in the crypt of the church of Saints Cyril and Methodius, where he died in a fight with the occupation forces together with the other paratroopers.[1]
Commemoration
The rank of major general was awarded to him posthumously in 2017. At the spot on Resslova and Václavská streets where his body was laid after the fight stands a memorial stone, whose exact placement was determined by research by the historian Pavel Kmoch. In the crypt of the church there is a bust with a memorial plaque, and his name is also on the plaque above the small window to the crypt.[1]