Operation SILVER A

parachute mission linking domestic resistance with London

December 1941–July 1942

SILVER A was a Czechoslovak parachute team tasked with restoring radio contact between the domestic resistance and London. Its members were Alfréd Bartoš, Josef Valčík and Jiří Potůček. It flew to the Protectorate alongside ANTHROPOID but had a different mission. Its Libuše radio and support network are essential to understanding Ležáky’s fate.

A shared flight, a separate mission

ANTHROPOID, SILVER A and SILVER B were dropped during one flight on the night of 28–29 December 1941. Bartoš led SILVER A and Potůček operated Libuše. The radio link carried information between the occupied country and exile.

Libuše and local helpers

In January 1942 Libuše established contact with the exiled Czechoslovak military radio headquarters in Britain from Hluboká quarry near Ležáky. According to the Ležáky Memorial, it was hidden in the settlement’s mill from April. It did not transmit from one location throughout. Operating it required local shelters and collaborators.

Connected fates in summer 1942

After his cover was blown, Valčík moved to Prague and died with the other parachutists in Resslova Street. Čurda’s testimony and the investigation also struck SILVER A’s network. The Nazis destroyed Ležáky on 24 June because of its ties to that network. It was neither the attack site nor ANTHROPOID’s base. Potůček left Ležáky with Libuše on 18 June and continued fleeing; he was shot on 2 July 1942.

Explore further

• Josef Valčík

  SILVER A member who later hid with the others in Resslova Street.

• Tangmere

  Departure of the shared flight carrying three teams.

• Ležáky

  Libuše’s refuge and the settlement destroyed during the search for the network.

• The Škoda works

  SILVER A’s assistance with the CANONBURY raid.

• Military intelligence in London

  Czechoslovak intelligence prepared the team and its communications mission.