Jan Kubiš was born in 1913 in Dolní Vilémovice,
Moravia in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire (present-day
Czech Republic). Jan was a
Boy Scout. Jan Kubiš, having previously been an active member of
Orel, started his military career as a Czechoslovak army conscript on 1 November 1935 by 31st Infantry Regiment "
Arco" in
Jihlava. After passing petty officer course and promotion to corporal, Kubiš served some time in
Znojmo before being transferred to 34th infantry regiment "
Marksman Jan Čapek" in
Opava, where he served at guard battalion stationed in
Jakartovice. Here, Kubiš reached promotion to platoon sergeant. During the
Czechoslovak mobilisation of 1938, Kubiš served as deputy commander of a platoon in
Czechoslovak border fortifications in the Opava area. Following the
Munich Agreement and demobilisation, Kubiš was discharged from army on 19 October 1938 and returned to his civilian life, working at a brick factory. At the eve of
World War II, on 16 June 1939, Kubiš fled
Czechoslovakia and joined a forming Czechoslovak unit in
Kraków, Poland. Soon he was transferred to
Algiers, where he entered the
French Foreign Legion. He fought in France during the early stage of World War II and received his
Croix de Guerre there. A month after the German victory in the
Battle of France, Kubiš fled to Great Britain, where he received training as a
paratrooper. The Free Czechoslovaks, as he and other self-exiled Czechoslovaks were called, were stationed at
Cholmondeley Castle near
Malpas in Cheshire. He and his best friend,
Jozef Gabčík, both befriended the Ellison family, from
Ightfield, Shropshire, whom they met while in
Whitchurch, Shropshire. In 1941, Kubiš was dropped into Czechoslovakia as part of
Operation Anthropoid.
Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš were airlifted along with seven soldiers from Czechoslovakia's 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. On 27 May 1942,
Reinhard Heydrich had planned to fly to Berlin for a meeting with Hitler. German documents suggest that Hitler intended to transfer Heydrich to
German occupied France, where the
French resistance was gaining ground. Heydrich would have to pass a section where the Dresden-Prague road merged with a road to the Troja Bridge. The junction, in the Prague suburb of
Libeň, was well-suited for the attack because motorists have to slow for a hairpin bend. 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 arrived, Gabčík tried to shoot Heydrich, but his
Sten 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 (concealed in a briefcase) at the vehicle; he misjudged his throw. Instead of landing inside the car, 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. As Kubiš staggered against the railings, Klein leapt out of the shattered limousine with a drawn pistol; Kubiš recovered and jumped on his bicycle and pedaled away, scattering passengers spilling from the tram, by firing in the air with his
Colt M1903 pistol. Klein tried to shoot at him but dazed by the explosion, pressed the magazine release catch and the gun jammed. Heydrich died of his injuries on 4 June.
Attempted capture of the parachutists Kubiš and his group were found on 18 June in the
Church of St Cyril and St Methodius in Resslova Street in Prague. In a battle that lasted for six hours, Kubiš was seriously wounded by a grenade and was found unconscious. He died of his wounds shortly after arrival at the hospital. Heinz Pannwitz, the German detective charged with capturing at least one of the perpetrators alive, later stated: He had tried to use poison on himself but apparently lost consciousness before he could do so. Although he was immediately transferred to the hospital none of the doctors’ attempts to keep him alive succeeded. He died within twenty minutes. The other parachutists committed suicide to avoid capture after an additional four-hour battle with the SS. Kubiš's remains, along with others, were buried secretly in a
mass grave at the
Ďáblice cemetery in Prague. In revenge, the Nazis murdered 24 family members and close relatives of Jan Kubiš in the
Mauthausen Concentration Camp: his father, both full and half-siblings, including their wives and husbands, cousins, aunts and uncles. ==Recognition==