Operation: Daybreak (1975)

What was wrong with this movie? Horrible directing and screen writing. The actors, to their credit, almost surpassed the cheesy soundtrack, inept direction, and poorly developed characters. Heydrich was indeed a monster and he was arguably second in command of the Nazi regime to Hitler. It would have been more interesting to have an actor around his own age (32) to have portrayed him rather than one 25 years older than the actual Heydrich. I cannot underestimate how shoddy the production was, devoid of nuances, amateurish pacing, lighting; everything. They probably had a sub par caterer as well. The question remains as to whether the assassination of Heydrich was worth it. It was common knowledge that the assassination of a German officer in occupied territory usually meant that 50 innocent civilians were rounded up and shot. It shouldn't have been much of a surprise that two villages and their inhabitants were erased as a result of killing the second highest ranking Nazi. Yet had he not been killed, Hitler would have left him in charge of all of occupied Europe. Heydrich was the chief author of the Final Solution and there is little doubt that at least a million more Jews would have been killed under his supervision. The ambitious, scheming Heydrich was a more cunning and efficient killer than Hitler. He may even have found a way to do away with him and extend the war.

Accounts of Heydrich's assassination (Operation Anthropoid) vary a great deal and I wouldn't entirely trust any account of this event, as each biographer (and country) seems to have their own agenda. The 1975 film "Operation Daybreak" (filmed in Prague and adopted from an Alan – not Anthony - Burgess novel) is a revisionist account. The assassination actually took place in the late morning (not daybreak) and involved a three (or four) man team of Czech commando's sent from England by exiled Czech President Eduard Benes. Valcike was the lookout, Gabcik was the primary assassin and was armed with a sten gun (a small British submachine gun-like an early Uzi), Kubris was the back-up assassin and carried a grenade in the pocket of his coat. Before his death 8 days later Gabcik detailed the operation in his journal. Interestingly, the siege at the church did begin at "daybreak" but the movie choose to place this action at midday (go figure).Generally correct is the movie portrayal of the actual assassination ambush. I'm hardly the last word on the subject but my understanding is that as Heydrich's open car slowed down for a hairpin curve, Gabcik attempted to shoot him but the Sten jammed. He had been instructed on how to clear the gun but in his panic could not recall the procedure, Heydrich had pulled his pistol and was pointing it at the gunman. As the car skidded to a stop the grenade exploded outside the passenger door. The wounded Heydrich began chasing Kubris, who had also been wounded by his grenade. When the shock wore off Heydrich realized he was wounded and was assisted into a van by Czech police and driven to a hospital. Heydrich's chauffeur was unharmed and found at the scene a few minutes later by some German infantrymen who were nearby on a training exercise. Some accounts have him being wounded while pursuing Gabcik.The assassination team got away in the confusion, as did all the on-site witnesses who for obvious reasons did not want to be questioned by the SS. They eventually made their way without incident to Karl Barromaeus church on Resslova Street, where the Czech resistance provided them with barge worker clothing and papers. They planned to float downstream to Melnik. But almost immediately Heydrich's second in command (Karl Frank-who was Secretary of State not the Gestapo chief) sealed the city and by pure chance (bad luck) the SS established a sentry post at the front of the church. As the SS crackdown continued four more members of the group managed to slip into the church from the presbytery next door. They hid in the crypt.For political reasons Frank did not want to offend the Greek Orthodox clergy and congregation so he did not close the church. But he did post a one million Crown reward and begin taking reprisals against the Czech population. At at-large paratrooper, Karel Curda (the Czech's Quisling), hoped that the capture of the assassination team would end the reprisals or was just attracted to the reward. He did not actually know where they were located but the information he provided eventually led to their location. Curda would later change his name, marry a German woman, and live out the war as a Gestapo operative. He was hanged for treason in 1947.Although everyone talks about the eradication of the innocent village of Lidice; the SS also wiped out Lezhaky, the village that actually assisted the parachutists who had been dropped with assassination team.The film goes completely off the reality meter with the final shoot out sequences at the Church. While accounts of this vary with the agenda of whoever is telling the story, most likely there were minimal casualties among the assaulting forces. The Germans wanted to take the paratroopers alive which made direct assault an unlikely tactic, the paratroopers were poorly armed with minimal ammunition, and while well concealed they could not do much shooting without exposing themselves to hostile fire. The official internal-use reports note only five soldiers wounded before the out-of-ammunition paratroopers committed suicide. There would be little reason to conceal casualties since the hotter the action the more justified would have been the failure to take any of the assassination team alive.It is unlikely that Heydrich was targeted because of his organizational genius or perceived value to the Third Reich. More likely he was targeted because of his position administering the conversion of the Czechs to National Socialism, which had included a Christmas massacre. It is likely that his assassination was the event that caused Hitler to finally abandon all remaining thought of resettling the Jews in the East (or elsewhere) and focus entirely on the extermination of all who were not useful as slave laborers.As a film Operation Daybreak is a rather pedestrian effort. Its production design is its strength as the Prague location shooting lent considerable authenticity to the effort. The editing and the screenplay are especially weak and account for the film's otherwise inexplicable failure to generate much suspense or audience identification.It does have one especially involving sequence showcasing Aunt Marie's daughter Jindriska (nicely played by Pavla Matejuvska who looks a lot like Saoise Ronan) just after her mother's capture. They cut between the tearful Jindriska frantically searching the Music School for her brother Ata, and Ata returning home and frantically searching the apartment for their parents. They go out of the sequence with the film's best shot, Jindriska has given up the search and is processing the full implication of what has happened; we see her tiny figure at the far end of the building's large corridor, dejectedly moving toward the camera, the faint sound of her slow footsteps the only audio. Its like a second unit with some cinematic vision briefly replaced the regular production team for this sequence.

Operation Daybreak (known as "Seven Men at Daybreak" in Argentina)is, in my opinion, one of the best history based World War II films ever made. The Obergruppenfuhrer Reynhard Heydrich's assassination in Prague, 1942, planed by the British and executed by Checz patriots, is pretty close to actual facts in this movie. It has intensity, action a good timing and well performed characters in every level though actors are not known as first rate ones (Bottoms, Andrews). Anton Diffring is very good as Heydrich and you could say he plays his ultimate Nazi aftermany similar roles (Where Eagles Dare, Checkmate or Betrayed!). He was probably older than the 39 years Heydrich was when he was killed but he surely fills the part.The final showdown of the trapped killers in the church surrounded by German soldiers, is well handled and very touching as they realize there is no way out.A final word for the opening scene in which as titles go by the Reichsprotektor is being dressed and polished by several valets at the magnificent residence he has chosen to live with his family (wife and daughter). You notice from the very start this is no ordinary man and not a kind man either.Surely a top 10 film in its genre.

I have studied the Heydrich assassination at some length as an historian, and the film does take some liberties with the facts. However this is to be expected as this is drama – not a documentary. The battle at the end does contain some errors such as the end of the agents in the main church, one was fatally wounded and the other two took poison, instead of being killed in the gun battle, but this in no way detracts from the overall accuracy of the film.The battle in the crypt likewise ended with the four agents committing suicide by gunshot, rather than a mixture of enemy action and suicide.I have been in the crypt many times and have never failed to be impressed by the astounding courage of these men.'In their darkest hour they lit a beacon that illuminated the world'