Adolf Opálka First Lieutenant Adolf Opálka ( 4 January 1915 – 18 June 1942 ) was a Czechoslovak soldier . He was a member of the Czech sabotage group Out Distance , a World War II anti - Nazi resistance group , and a participant in Operation Anthropoid , the successful mission to kill Reinhard Heydrich . Opálka was born into a middle - class family in Rešice and joined the Czechoslovak Army in 1936 where he served in the 43rd Infantry Regiment in Brno . The Munich Agreement and subsequent German occupation of Czechoslovakia led to the disbanding of the Czechoslovak Army , and Opálka ' s career ended . He escaped to North Africa where he served in the French Foreign Legion , and he later returned to France . He then joined the Out Distance group and participated in Operation Anthropoid . He was found days later by the Nazis , and he committed suicide in the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Prague after a gunfight in which he was injured . Life . Opálka was born in Rešice near Dukovany the illegitimate son of miller Viktor Jarolím ( 1889 – 1942 ) of Tulešice and Anežka Opálková . When his mother died in 1923 , Opálka lived with his aunt Marie Opálková ( 1882 – 1942 ) . Between 1932 and 1936 , Opálka studied at the Commercial Academy and , shortly after his graduation in 1936 , he joined the army of Czechoslovakia . After recruitment and training , he was assigned to the 43rd Infantry Regiment in Brno and shortly afterwards attended the Army Academy in Hranice . After graduation , Opálka joined the 2nd Mountain Regiment in Ružomberok as a lieutenant . The Munich Agreement ended Opálka ' s army career in his homeland , and he left Czechoslovakia with his cousin František Pospíšil . First traveling through Poland and France , they fled to North Africa , where they joined the French Foreign Legion . Opálka served in Sidi Bel Abbes as a sergeant of the 1st Infantry Regiment . Later , he joined Senegal ' s Gunmen in Oran . Opálka ' s fiancée spoke about this period of his life : … shortly before he left he burned all our correspondence , I did the same on his request . In the morning before he left , I photographed him for the last time . The picture is unhappy just like the departure itself , because we didn ' t know what he was putting himself into … After the start of World War II and the occupation of Czechoslovakia , Opálka returned to France from Africa and joined a developing Czechoslovak army in Agde , serving as leader of an infantry platoon of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the 1st Czechoslovak Infantry Division . In January 1940 , he was transferred to the 3rd Infantry Division and commanded the 5th Infantry Battalion . On 12 July 1940 , when France was defeated , Opálka sailed on the ship " Neuralia " to the United Kingdom and as an unfiled officer served in a machine gun platoon . In the summer of 1941 , he volunteered as a soldier for covert operations behind enemy lines . He had been trained in Scotland in Special Training Schools . Afterwards , he became leader of the group codenamed " Out Distance " . Out Distance . Opálka ( cover name " Adolf Král " ) , Ivan Kolařík ( " Jan Krátký " ) , and Karel Čurda ( " Karel Vrbas " ) secretly parachuted into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia on 28 March 1942 to perform covert operations including bomber navigation and sabotage . The operations of Out Distance were complicated from the beginning . A navigational mistake by the Handley Page Halifax plane bringing them in caused the entire group to be dropped at the wrong location . This , together with the loss of equipment , led to the splitting up of the group . Opálka contacted captain Alfréd Bartoš from the group Silver - A and informed him of the situation . He later joined the group gathered around Operation Anthropoid in Prague and became leader of the Prague parachuters . Operation Anthropoid . After the successful killing of Heydrich with a modified anti - tank grenade , Opálka and his six fellow combatants ( Josef Bublík , Josef Gabčík , Jan Hrubý , Jan Kubiš , Josef Valčík , and Jaroslav Švarc ) were tracked to the Church of St . Cyril and St . Methodious in Prague . At 16 : 15 on 18 June 1942 , the church was besieged by 800 soldiers of the Wehrmacht Heer and Waffen - SS . After a seven - hours fight , the outnumbered group of paratroopers fell . All died , including First Lieutenant Opálka who , injured by shrapnel , committed suicide . Opálka wrote this shortly after his departure , on his 27th birthday , speaking of homesickness : I ' m 27 years old today , the entire trip I pondered upon the words " Longing for home is a terrible thing , I know " . Yes , only now do I know and understand . And this " homesickness " of Božena Němcová , which I never understood , is nothing compared to my longing for home . I ' m willing to suffer through , and do whatever it takes , but only home and home and to honestly work , work for something . . . How can some speak of beauty , when they ' ve never seen Rešice and the fields from Kordula to Rešice , who never strolled through the warm dirt there , who never felt the warm air and over the grain fields , who never saw our chapel in the milk of white cherries , Husák ' s garden , which always reminded me of Sholokhov , especially the dirt lumps under the " vortex " and the " Bare Hill " and all the other places on all of which I am . Parts of me are all over the world . In England , little was left of me , maybe more in Scotland . . . 27 years of life behind me . Death for my homeland . With that I have dealt , and am ready to do what it takes . After the mission of the paratroopers , the Nazis unleashed strong reprisals . Opálka ' s aunt , Marie Opálková , was executed in Mauthausen on 24 October 1942 . His father , Viktor Jarolím , was also killed . Films . Many films based on Operation Anthropoid were made . The Czechoslovak " Atentát " , and the American " Operation Daybreak " where Opálka was portrayed by Jiří Krampol . There is also German television film , " Reinhard Heydrich - Manager des Terrors " . ( IMDB profile )