Why is it that you all are assuming that the reason why the British assassinated Heydrich were to do with things that happened after he died, which, obviously, the British didn't know about at the time of his death, in April 1942?
Obergruppenfuhrer Heydrich posed no military threat.
Looks like we need another reason...
the Brits didn't assassinate Heydrich, the Czechs did
shareThe British assisted the Czechs - the assassins were transported from England. The reason Heydrich was assassinated was that the Czechs had become too compliant to the Nazis - Czechoslovakia was producing military hardware for the Nazis. The British and the Czech government in exile knew that the Nazi response would be harsh and result in more partisan resistance and sabotage. The Czech government in exile was willing to sacrifice some of their own people for the greater good.
shareDmiley: Czech patriots killed Heydrich because he deserved to be killed. Britain assisted the Czechs because they deserved to be assisted.
shareIndeed, you are correct. I was merely replying to the OP who said that Heydrich was "no military threat". However, there is evidence that Czech production of military goods increased under Heydrich. The horrendous reprisals by the Nazis actually was counterproductive to their own interests as the reprisals only increased the resolve of the resistance and saboteurs. I think that both the Czechs and Brits anticipated the reaction of the Nazis and were willing to accept the consequences.
share[deleted]
Heydrich did pose a military threat. He was preparing a proposal to have Czech's drafted and integrated into the Wehrmacht. His death prevented it from happening, ultimately hindering the German war effort.
shareTo Danusna_Goska: I am serious student of WWII. I have read more books on WWII than you can count. Heydrich employed the carot and stick methods. A simple reference to the Wikipedia article alone on Heydrich mentions that industrial output INCREASED under Heydrich. More importantly read Heinz Hoehne's "Order of the Death's Head", pages 557-558 (paperback edition). Specifically on page 558, read this paragraph (edited here for brevity): "In London, the Czech Government-in-exile under Eduard Benes was taken aback by the reports of Heydrich's achievements". The paragraph concludes with this: "The Czech exiles drew the sober conclusion- Heydrich must be liquidated; only the murder of the mighty Reich Protector was likely to call forth the German brutality without which Czech resistance had neither purpose nor incentive". Also, from "The War Against the Jews" by Lucy Dawidowicz on page 508 (edited for brevity) (paperback): "The assassination had been ordered...in the hope of reanimating Czech resistance". So is this enough for you to prove my bona fides? I am not questioning the bravery nor dedication of the resistance I am merely pointing out the facts. I can find more references if you want. But I don't have any free links to UNRELATED books by myself like you (BTW, actually, a violation of IMDB standards).
share