An interesting photo of the two famous SOE agents, Jan Kubis and Josef Gabcik (from left to right), who led Operation Anthropoid, both wearing “Cloud” Pattern Canopy Type Wings.
SOE agents 1941 bis.jpgClose-up on badge.JPG
The photo was taken on Dec 18th, 1941, in the courtyard of the Porchester Gate Building in London, site of the Command Section of Special Group D. This is another indication that this particular type of badge was issued in 1941, concurrently with the ordnance issued “split feathers” wings discussed here
https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...48&postcount=1
On the night of 28/29 December 1941 SOE agents Jan Kubis and Josef Gabcik along with seven soldiers parachuted into German occupied Czechoslovakia to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich the commander of the German Reich Security Main Office, the acting governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and a principal architect of the Holocaust.
After Heydrich was killed, seven of the paratroopers – Jan Kubiš, Jozef Gab?ík, Josef Val?ík, Adolf Opálka, Josef Bublík, Jan Hrubý and Jaroslav Švarc – took refuge in the basement of the Church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Prague, hoping to be evacuated by the resistance.
They were betrayed by an eighth paratrooper, Karel ?urda, and tracked down by the SS on June 18. The seven were killed or committed suicide in the siege that involved over 750 attacking soldiers. Bullet holes can still be seen on the wall of the church. ?urda was given a reward by the Nazis and a new identity but was arrested after the war for treason and executed in 1947.
After the death of Heydrich, a state of emergency was declared and thousands of people were arrested. In total, 1,590 were executed. The villages of Lidice and Ležáky were destroyed, and the occupants either were executed or sent to concentration camps. A large memorial including statues of the executed people can be seen in Lidice.
A detailed account of this fascinating story can be found here
https://www.army.cz/images/id_7001_8...ination-en.pdf