During World War II, Operation Anthropoid was the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi “Protector of Czechoslovakia.”

Two resistance fighters, Josef Gabcik and Jan Kubiš, flew into Czechoslovakia on the night of 28 December, 1941 landing near Pilsen. The attackers wounded Heydrich and in May 1942; he died of blood poisoning in early June.

Over fifteen thousand Czechs were killed in reprisals.

The story of this operation was the basis for the play Hangmen Also Die.