Cz No 311 Sqn and Lidice
Seventy years ago the Sqn just was on its move by sea and air to its new base of Talbenny on the South-West coast of Wales.
Still in Ulster, the Sqn´s navigator and pilot – the cousins Josephs Stribrny and Horak - learned of wiping out of their village of Lidice and tragic fate of all its residents while listening to the BBC News this day.
Following Reinhard Heydrich´s death of injury caused by the secret agent Jan Kubis on June 4, 1942, Hitler demanded execution of ten thousand Czech men in reprisal for. The Heydrich´s follower K.H. Frank made a try to find an culprit a tany cost and sooth frenzied Hitler in this fashion. Being interrogated by the Gestapo, a married man named Riha mentioned Joe Horak´s name was said countless times. This man´ s good bye letter to his Anna was held over to the Czech Gendarms by Anna´s employer due to the sentence ´I had done what I had done´.
Though the Gestapo Secret Police found out that this lover only boasting was and had nothing with the assault on Heydrich in common, the name of Joe Horak had been recorded by them in the past, revealed by the first secret agent Frank Pavelka who had been dropped on Oct 4, 1941 and later captured. Joe Horak, Lidice was one of the contact addresses Pavelka had got in Britain prior to his drop. So the gestapo came to the wrong conclusion that Joe Horak had been one of the assailants and that reason for the village of Lidice for a victim opted was.
Not only No 311 Sqn´s members had a reason more to retaliate.
NOTES : - The families of Horak and Stribrny were shot dead on June 16 in Prague Kobylisy having been
interrogated from night of June 4 on 5, 1942.
- Eighty one chidren from Lidice were murdered by car fumes in the camp of the Chelmno
Concentration Camp on July 2, 1942.
- Prior to undegoing his flying course Sgt. Josef Horak was a front gunner of Wellington
aircraft
Open the ´No 311 Sqn at Aldergrove´ article HERE