Nehvizdy — an unexpected entry into the resistance network

Landing outside the intended area

night of 28–29 December 1941

The flight was meant to continue towards Plzeň; snow and difficult navigation contributed to the drop near Nehvizdy.

The flight carrying ANTHROPOID, SILVER A and SILVER B took off from Tangmere. The crew dropped Kubiš and Gabčík near Nehvizdy, although their intended landing area was near Plzeň.

After landing, they hid their equipment and sabotage supplies in Antonín Sedláček’s garden shed. The sources used here do not reliably locate either the landing point or the shed.

From the first helpers to Prague

29 December 1941 and the following days

Local contacts opened a path to the Sokol resistance network and safe apartments in Prague.

Antonín Sedláček sheltered the pair on their first night. They then followed their contact addresses to Rokycany and Plzeň. Václav Stehlík arranged medical help for the injured Gabčík; Václav Král subsequently helped them obtain false identity papers.

Břetislav Bauman helped them reach contacts in Sokol, the Czech physical-culture organization whose members also formed resistance networks. Accounts differ on the exact order of these first meetings. They agree on the importance of Jaroslav Starý and Jaroslav Piskáček, who also helped transport the hidden equipment to Prague.

Returning for the hidden equipment

January 1942

Nehvizdy was more than a landing site: the pair returned to collect their equipment.

Kubiš and Gabčík returned to Nehvizdy via Prague, recovered the hidden operational supplies and moved them to the city in stages. The place thus links their first night in the Protectorate—the German-controlled Czech lands—to the practical preparations that followed.