Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia – 18 June 1942
The sun had not yet risen when Jan reached the large, wooden double doors of the Saints Cyril and Methodius Cathedral. There was light on the horizon, and a few people on the street. He knocked on the door and waited. A few moments later, an Orthodox priest clad in a black robe opened the door.
"I'm a friend. I need to speak to them."
The priest looked up and down at him and said, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Jan sighed. "Anthropoid," he said.
At this, the priest's shoulders relaxed, and he took a deep breath. "Come in," he beckoned as he opened the door for Jan.
As they walked into the church in between the chairs, the priest spoke.
"I'm sorry, I thought you were a Gestapo officer. You're German, aren't you?"
"Yes."
He led Jan up a flight of stairs to the left of the altar and came upon the soldiers sleeping. They were sleeping on the floor, with only some blankets to cover them. There were seven of them and they had nothing but handguns. Gabčík was the only one who was awake. When the priest and Jan came up the stairs, he stood up and went to them.
"What are you doing here?" he asked with a low voice. "Did something happen?"
They already knew most of the latest information. Heydrich had survived and was taken to the hospital, but he died there two weeks ago of his wounds. The Nazis had been brutal in their response. Thousands had been arrested. The villages of Lidice and Ležáky had been devastated. For the former, the men were killed, the women and children sent to concentration camps. The latter, all the adults were killed. The villages were then burnt to the ground.
"Yesterday, the Moravecs' flat was raided." The Moravecs were a kind Czech family who had sheltered Gabčík and Kubiš for quite some time. "Ms. Moravec went to the bathroom, took a cyanide pill, and killed herself. Mr. Moravec and their son Ata were captured."
At this news, Gabčík's heart dropped. He looked down and leaned against a wall for support. He closed his eyes and massaged his temples.
"You must leave," the priest said. "The bishop said so. You are endangering the church and her people by staying here."
Gabčík turned to the priest.
"Where are we supposed to go, Father?"
"I don't know. But by staying here, you may cause the deaths of more innocents."
The priest then went downstairs, leaving Jan and Gabčík alone with the sleeping soldiers. Gabčík turned to Jan.
"And you. Why are you still here? Didn't Heydrich give you what you want?"
"He did. The others are taking care of it. But I decided to stay behind and help." Kevin and Elisabeth had departed the day they tried to kill Heydrich, in pursuit of the map to the weapons' vault on its way to Berlin.
"Why?"
"After what happened with Heydrich, the Nazis aren't going to stop what they're doing. They've killed thousands of innocents already, and they're hunting you down. I just couldn't stand by and watch that happen. I'm staying here, to help you. Let's try and get you out of here."
Gabčík was visibly moved by what Jan said. He came closer and held out his hand.
"Thank you, for not abandoning us. You're not so bad for a Kraut."
Jan took his hand and shook it firmly. But then the sound of wheels and engines came.
"What's that?" Gabčík asked.
The two of them hurried to the window at the end of the aisle, facing the front of the church. Jan's heart dropped as they came into view. Nazi armoured cars and trucks arriving on the street, unloading soldiers by the dozen and setting up a perimeter around the church. The building was now surrounded by soldiers and barbed wire. Gabčík and Jan turned to each other, their worst fears having come true.
"We have to wake everyone up."
The two of them went back to where the soldiers were sleeping and shook them awake.
"The Germans are surrounding the church."
Opálka took his gun and spoke to everyone there.
"Take defensive positions. We hold them from here. Bublík, take the upper gallery."
"I, the Kraut, Kubiš, Opálka, Bublík will handle things up here. The rest of you, go into the crypt and continue the work."
"What work?"
"We've been trying to dig a tunnel to escape. There's probably not enough time, but it's all we can do. Let's go."
The young soldier named Bublík went up the stairs into the upper gallery, while Jan and the rest fanned out on the walkways above the hall. Everyone only had handguns, while the men outside were armed with rifles, submachine guns, and even machine guns.
With bated breath, they waited. Cocking their handguns, they prepared for the enemy to come in. They didn't have to wait long before four German soldiers came into the church, armed with standard-issue rifles and submachine guns. They walked down the church slowly, making sure to look left and right with every step. One of them went to the side and opened a door, finding it empty. When they reached the middle of the hall, that's when it began.
Jan and the Czechoslovak soldiers opened fire on the enemy. Opálka drew first blood and unloaded his magazine on the German soldier at the rear, sending several shots straight into his back. Then Jan and Kubiš opened fire, shooting indiscriminately into the church hall below, before Gabčík and Bublík joined them. Soon, the German soldiers were either dying or taking cover as best as they could among the chairs that made for pews in the church and the tables on the sides. But the tide turned when a squad of German soldiers entered and began shooting up, forcing Jan and the others to take cover. As they kept suppressing fire on them, they came in and dragged away the wounded and retreated out of the church.
"Block the stairway!" shouted Kubiš from across the church.
Everyone moved from their positions to the stairway and began throwing anything they could down it to block the way: chairs, tables, benches, desks, bookshelves.
"That's our only way out," said Bublík as he saw the others block the stairway.
"It's also the only way up," countered Opálka.
Bublík soon joined them in throwing furniture down the stairs. Then when it was done, they took their weapons and went into cover. They nodded to each other, while heaving equally from throwing the furniture and the pressure that was on them.
But then the machine gun came. It started firing indiscriminately into the church's second floor, destroying the windows, and littering the walls with holes. Jan and the others immediately lay down on the floor and covered their ears from the deafening noise of the machine gun. There was no way for the machine gunner to know where they were, but for some reason his shots kept coming close to Bublík. He rolled up into a ball, trying to make himself as small a target as possible. All the while Kubiš was shouting his name. Once the shooting stopped, Kubiš went to him.
"I don't want to die," he kept repeating.
"Bublík," called out Kubiš as he tried to calm him down. "Look at me. Breathe with me. Deep breath in, deep breath out."
Bublík tried his best to follow, though the way he was breathing seemed to Jan like he was heaving.
"I don't want to die today," he muttered again.
Kubiš took Bublík's gun and pulled the magazine out. Then he flicked through the bullets, as if counting them, before handing it over to Bublík.
"Here. Look. Just like we trained. Nice and easy."
Bublík tried to do the same, with much less speed and precision.
"That's it," Kubiš said once he had calmed down a little.
"I'm sorry, Kubiš."
"Okay? Nice and easy."
Kubiš put his hand on Bublík's cheek.
"We're all here with you. And all of Czechoslovakia is with us."
There were shouts outside, the commander of the German soldiers ordering them to move.
"The altar!" Jan shouted.
Kubiš turned his head as Jan made his way to the railing and aimed his handgun below. Just as he expected, German troops were swarming out of the altar. Jan and the soldiers opened fire on them from above, taking down several of them. But the numerous Germans shot back, and Jan and the others were forced to take cover behind pillars and walls. They reloaded but couldn't find a chance to shoot back. Jan leaned out and saw that they were throwing down a table onto its side.
"I think they're setting up a machine gun!" he shouted.
Opálka leaned out of cover and shot at the soldiers handling the table. One fell, while the other took cover. But soon he was forced to take cover again as the soldiers shot at him. For a while, they kept repeating that. Lean out, fire, take cover. They exchanged bullets with the enemy soldiers. Jan kept his focus on the table, where the machine gunner crew had arrived and was setting it up. He shot at them, taking down one man. But they quickly dragged him away and soon three men were shooting at him, forcing him to return to cover.
And then hell began as the machine gun unleashed a hail of bullets at them, leaving its mark on the walls. Jan, Kubiš, and Bublík were on one side, while Gabčík and Opálka were on the other. Anytime either side started firing, the machine gun would direct its focus on them, forcing them back into cover. As they stood behind cover, a hook came over the barricade they had set up on the stairs.
"They're trying to get up!" Jan shouted.
"Close the stairs!" shouted Kubiš at Bublík.
Bublík ran upstairs towards the upper gallery. Jan and the others could hear the gunshots as Bublík emptied his magazine towards the bottom of the stairs. They continued exchanging fire, but then the hook pulled down the barricade. The stairway was now open.
"Bublík, the stairs!" shouted Kubiš once more.
This time they didn't hear Bublík's gunshots, only that of the machine gun.
"We lost the stairway!" he shouted from above.
With the stairs on their side, Gabčík moved from cover towards the stairs that led to the upper gallery, while Opálka remained on the same side but moved past the stairs and took cover behind a bookshelf. When the German soldiers started coming up, Jan and Kubiš shot at them, taking down three or four men. What followed was a brief silence, before their next challenge came into their sights.
The Germans threw a grenade up the stairs. Jan, Kubiš, and Opálka looked at each other. The grenade had landed just out of Opálka's reach, but it was right in front of him. All of them took cover and the explosion almost destroyed their ears.
When Jan and Kubiš looked back, one side of Opálka's body had been badly burnt. His hand and the side of his face were covered with burn wounds and shrapnel. Opálka loaded the bullets into his gun, then looked at Jan and Kubiš.
Without a word, he shot himself in the head.
Kubiš's eyes were wide, and his mouth was agape. Jan was just as shocked, but he realised the situation was dire.
"Come on, we've got to move."
Jan pulled Kubiš up, and they regrouped with Gabčík.
"Where's Opálka?" he asked.
"Dead," Jan answered.
Kubiš rested against the wall, heaving. He seemed out of it, as if the battle was no longer on his mind. Bublík and Gabčík opened fire on soldiers coming up the stairs onto the second floor.
"Stairs!" Bublík shouted.
Kubiš snapped back to reality. He and Jan took cover on each side of the walls at the end of the stairs leading to the upper gallery. When the soldiers came up, they opened fire. The lone soldier that had tried to go up now lay dead at the landing of the stairs. Kubiš then tried to reload.
"I'm out," he said.
Bublík threw him a magazine.
"Last one," he said.
Jan too was on his second-to-last magazine. Gunfire came onto the upper gallery, forcing Gabčík and Bublík to retreat further in. Jan heard footsteps. In unison, he and Kubiš came out of cover and shot at the three German soldiers that were trying to come up again. Two fell, while one retreated. But it didn't last, as he threw a grenade into the hall. Without thinking, Kubiš and Jan ran down the hallway and took cover behind the next set of walls. It exploded and deafened their ears. The upper gallery was a single hallway with arches, but they were running out of them as they were reaching the end of the hall.
They kept shooting as the German soldiers tried to force their way through. As grenades came, they threw them back. Bublík threw a grenade back down, but another was thrown and fell behind him. He tried to throw it back.
"No!" shouted Jan.
Kubiš shouted his name, but it was too late. The grenade exploded and the force threw Bublík off balance. He fell back and slipped, falling over the side of the gallery and just barely managed to hold onto the floor. Kubiš and Gabčík ran to him and tried to pull him up, while Jan opened fire on the soldiers below to provide cover. But the enemy outnumbered them, and Bublík fell. Kubiš fell back, injured from a bullet. Gabčík took cover behind a wall and shot at some German soldiers who came. Jan looked around, trying to find some way for them to get out of this alive.
"This window," he said as he went to it, knocking on the glass. "I can probably break it. We could jump out, disappear into the city."
"You can, but we can't," Gabčík said as he shot at the hallway again.
"You won't know until you try."
"We don't need to try. We know. But you should go."
"What? And leave you here to die? I'm no coward."
"It's not about bravery, Kraut. If we could live to fight another day, we would. But for us here, we have no choice. This might very well be our end. We won't surrender. No telling what they would do to us anyway."
"But I can't just leave you like this!"
"Listen!" Gabčík shouted. "I don't know what you exactly are, but I know this is not your mission. This was only a part of it. Our mission was to kill Heydrich. It's done. And now we face the consequences. But your fight isn't over. You still have a battle to fight, don't you?"
Gabčík looked straight into Jan's eyes. They were intense, fully convinced of what he was saying.
"Don't be stupid, Kraut. You want to end this war, don't you?"
Jan nodded.
"Then fight the fight and end it. Reach the finish line. Finish your mission. As for us here, we will finish ours."
Before Jan could even say anything, shots rang out as more German soldiers came into the hallway. Gabčík took cover and shot back.
"Go!" he shouted to Jan.
Jan looked at him, then to Kubiš. Kubiš nodded as well, as he reloaded his gun.
"Go!" Gabčík shouted again.
Jan held up his gun and shot the window, shattering it open. He looked back at them once more and nodded. Then he went to the edge of the hallway and ran towards the window at full speed. He jumped through and in an instant, he was soaring high above the soldiers below. He looked down at where he was going to land and took out his hidden blade.
He landed right on top of a German soldier and dug his blade deep into his neck. The other soldiers didn't react immediately out of shock, which gave Jan time to stand up and slice the throats of two right on his left and right. And then without looking back he made a run towards the alleyway right in front of him.
The German soldiers chased him through the alleys, shooting at him from behind. But he was quicker, and he went left and right and almost lost them several times. He was aiming for a resistance safe house. After what seemed like an eternity running, and with his breath almost completely out, he finally reached the entrance of the safe house.
But the next moment, he was on his back. His ears were ringing, and his sides hurt like hell. His vision was blurred, and he forgot where he was. A grenade, he thought. But then the German soldiers came and stood above him, aiming their guns at him. At that moment, he remembered where he was. Who he was. He remembered the Czechoslovak soldiers in the church, all of whom were probably dead by now.
And he felt something inside of him. Pure hatred.
And he lashed out. He jumped up. Before the soldiers could react, he had embedded his hidden blades deep in their necks. In front of him were three more soldiers. They raised their weapons and opened fire at him. He tried to dodge them, but he felt some of the shots grazing on his skin. Yet, he felt no pain. He was like a well-oiled machine, like a shaman in a trance. He went to the next one and slit his throat. Turning around, his blades dug deep into the stomach of the next one. The last remaining soldier shot at him, but he pulled his comrade's body in front of him and used him as a shield. The soldier frantically tried to reload, but Jan was on him. His blade went through the soldier's mouth, and he could see the tip of it through the soldier's tongue. His other blade went deep into his neck, and then he pulled both out. The soldier fell back, blood spewing from his neck.
Jan wiped the blades off of his coat. He touched his hurting sides, and when he pulled it up to his eyes, it was dark crimson with his blood.
And then, he lost consciousness.
Thank you for reading! Once again, this chapter is heavily based on the movie Anthropoid. The battle scene was taken from there, though with some changes. First, when the German soldiers attacked the Czechoslovak soldiers were mostly in the crypt and only Kubiš, Opálka, and Bublík were upstairs, so Gabčík was not there. Second, in the movie they had submachine guns, but I changed that to handguns because historically they only had handguns.