Assassination of the Butcher of Prague
Reynhard Herydrich – Hitler’s Protégé

Book #4 in the Shot of History Series
By David W Cameron
Published by Big Sky Publishing
RRP $24.99 in paperback | ISBN 9781923004184

This book seems something of a departure from what we are used to seeing from David W Cameron. He is well-known for his Australian military history books, most particularly his series commemorating the 80^thanniversary of the battles in New Guinea.

This time, he takes us to Europe, to the heart of the Third Reich. He charts Prussian-born Reinhard Heydrich’s rise through the ranks of the Nazi party.

By the mid-1930s he had become responsible for planning and constructing the Nazi concentration camp system. In the chain of command, he was answerable to Himmler who, in turn, was answerable to Hitler.

By 1941, as Nazi forces tightened their grip on eastern Europe, planning began for Operation Anthropoid, run by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) who enlisted exiled Czechoslovak soldiers based in Britain to conduct the assassination mission that would eventually lead to Reinhard Heydrich’s death on 4 June 1942 several days after the event.

His death caused shockwaves through the Nazi State, and resulted in the savage reprisals many had feared, with Hitler ordering the annihilation of two village populations thought to be involved in assisting the assassins. The British trained Czech assassins were eventually betrayed in their hideout in a Prague church.

VERDICT: This is an absorbing account of the assassination and terrible events that followed.