Assassination of the Butcher of Prague: Reinhard Heydrich – Hitler’s Protégé

On 4 June 1942, one of the most powerful figurers of the Nazi Third Riech, Reinhard, Heydrich, the ‘Butcher of Prague’ and architect of the ‘Final solution’, died from wounds suffered in an assassination attempt carried out just days before. His death caused shockwaves in the Nazi State, and resulted in savage reprisals, with Hitler ordering the annihilation of two village populations thought to be involved in assisting the assassins. Thousands of others were sent to concentration camps where many were tortured and executed. The British trained Czech assassins, part of ‘Operation Anthropoid’, were eventually betrayed in their hideout in a Prague church. The initial battle to capture the Czech operatives in the choir stalls after many hours resulted in many German casualties. However, the German SS-troops and Gestapo soon realised another four operatives were in the vaults of the church, resulting in more fighting. Hitler ordered they be taken alive. This book provides a detailed and fascinating account of the assassination and subsequent events, hour by hour, and day by day. The Eureka Stockade is the epic account of the battle for the Eureka Stockade, an iconic moment in Australian history. On the chilly dawn morning of 3 December 1854 British soldiers and police of the Victorian colonial government attacked and stormed a crudely-built fortification erected by insurgent gold miners at the Eureka lead on the Ballarat Gold Diggings. The fighting was intense, the carnage appalling and the political consequences of the affair profound. This book, for the first time, examines in great detail the actual military events that unfolded during the twenty minutes of deadly fighting at Eureka. Many of the old assumptions about what occurred that day are turned on the heads, raising in their places provocative questions. Were the intentions of the Eureka diggers as pacific as tradition insists? How was it that men supposedly poorly armed and taken completely by surprise in their sleep were able to deliver 'sharp and well directed' fire on their attackers? How close, in fact did the assaulting infantry come to failing in their task, and why has the pivotal part played by the police in the battle been ignored in every retelling of the Eureka story? Why have the Americans, who played a decisive part in the defence of the stockade been all but ignored? The author argues convincingly that Eureka was not a wanton massacre of innocents, as it has been portrayed. Rather it was a hard fought military engagement. Eureka was a decisive moment in Australian history and in this book it comes alive in a rousing and original manner The Eureka Stockade is the epic account of the battle for the Eureka Stockade, an iconic moment in Australian history.On the chilly dawn morning of 3 December 1854 British soldiers and police of the Victorian colonial government attacked and stormed a crudely-built fortification erected by insurgent gold miners at the Eureka lead on the Ballarat Gold Diggings. The fighting was intense, the carnage appalling and the political consequences of the affair profound.This book, for the first time, examines in great detail the actual military events that unfolded during the twenty minutes of deadly fighting at Eureka. Many of the old assumptions about what occurred that day are turned on the heads, raising in their places provocative questions. Were the intentions of the Eureka diggers as pacific as tradition insists? How was it that men supposedly poorly armed and taken completely by surprise in their sleep were able to deliver sharp and well directed fire on their attackers? How close, in fact did the assaulting infantry come to failing in their task, and why has the pivotal part played by the police in the battle been ignored in every retelling of the Eureka story? Why have the Americans, who played a decisive part in the defense of the stockade been all but ignored?The author argues convincingly that Eureka was not a wanton massacre of innocents, as it has been portrayed. Rather it was a hard fought military engagement. Eureka was a decisive moment in Australian history and in this book it comes alive in a rousing and original manner.