Anthropoid and Prague - Then and Now.

Then and Now’s from the cortège of Heydrich’s coffin. Starting at Hradcany castle and then being carried across the (today being ridiculously busy) Charles Bridge by a SS guard.

 

Went to finish off my WW2 - related Prague visits at Prague CWGC without realising that next door to it was the very austere Red Army cemetery and memorial to those Soviet Soldiers from 1945.

 

As mentioned, finished things off at the Prague CWGC Cemetery. 230 burials in here and as usual, the cemetery was in the usual excellent condition. There are lads in here who were taken POW in places as diverse as Dunkirk in 1940, Crete in 1941 and even two blokes of the 11th Parachute Battalion taken POW at Arnhem in 1944.
Positive proof that every stone has a story to tell.

 

A little bonus. I was allowed in the Crypt before it opened this morning and had 15 minutes in there alone. Atmospheric doesn’t even begin to describe it. Here’s a little video I shot on the phone.

 

Yes, its a very special place - a time capsule. I was fortunate to visit the Crypt just before closing, so like yourself had it to myself. I'd spent the previous 3 days sat chatting to a 98 year old relative about her experiences as a Partisan and the subsequent Soviet "liberation". Sitting on the steps alone inside the Crypt was one of the most profound Second World War experiences I've had.

 

A further bonus this morning. Hopped on the No.5 tram outside the hotel for a quick trip to Biskupcova 7 and the flat of the Moravec family. The text is from my now dog-eared copy of the excellent After the Battle No.24.
the window of the Moravec flat is located on the top right of the four in the photo below.
The man who was tortured in to giving up the location of the Parachutists was Vatasmil Moravec. It was the head of his mother, Marie, that the Gestapo showed Vatasmil floating in a fish tank which is depicted in the film Anthropoid as being in a bucket.
His older brother, Miroslav, was a Spitfire pilot who was lost over Normandy on 7 June 1944.

Miroslav Moravec - British Normandy Memorial

 

Hi Jonathan, Brilliant posting, great pictures and excellent Then and Now pairing up. The two Airborne graves Frederick Crabb and Raymond Morris were two men from 11th Parachute Battalion captured at Arnhem and both killed by an anti-aircraft shell when held as POWs.