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Jan Kubiš

Czechoslovak soldier · ANTHROPOID member

24 June 1913–18 June 1942

Jan Kubiš, a soldier in the Czechoslovak army abroad, carried out ANTHROPOID with Jozef Gabčík. After landing near Nehvizdy, he lived underground for several months with domestic helpers’ support. On 27 May 1942 he threw a bomb at Reinhard Heydrich’s car and was himself wounded. He died on 18 June after the fighting in Prague’s Resslova Street church.

Joining the army abroad

Kubiš came from Dolní Vilémovice. He worked in manual occupations before beginning military service in 1935, then stayed on as a long-service non-commissioned officer. After the Munich Agreement he returned to civilian life, leaving the country in 1939.

In France he fought with a Czechoslovak infantry regiment and received Czechoslovak and French war crosses for bravery. After France’s defeat he served in Britain. He already knew Gabčík from their journey into the resistance; their later partnership was more than the chance pairing of two parachutists.

From replacement to operational partner

The originally selected Karel Svoboda was injured in training. Kubiš replaced him and undertook additional preparation with Gabčík. In late December they left Tangmere with two other parachute teams, but the crew dropped them near Nehvizdy instead of the planned Plzeň area.

The first contact addresses in Rokycany and Plzeň worked. Through Král, the Růts and other helpers, the pair reached Prague. The Sokol network provided shelters, equipment and documents. Its households shared the soldiers’ risks.

The attack and injury

At the bend below Vychovatelna on 27 May, Gabčík’s submachine gun failed. Kubiš threw the prepared bomb. The explosion struck Heydrich’s car and also injured Kubiš’s eye.

After escaping by bicycle, he stopped with the Nováks in Libeň and then the Piskáčeks in Vysočany. Through another Sokol helper, Jaroslav Piskáček arranged for physician Břetislav Lyčka to attend him there. Even after the attack, his escape depended on the domestic network.

The final refuge

Kubiš was one of seven soldiers hiding in the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius. During the German assault on 18 June, he defended the gallery with Adolf Opálka and Josef Bublík. Severely wounded, he died after being taken away.

The Nazi investigation struck the families who had housed, treated and supplied the pair, as well as Kubiš’s relatives. The operation’s history therefore extends beyond the attack site to supporters’ apartments, Terezín and Mauthausen.

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