Just found this article and it gives the kind of picture that the grenade that exploded had botulin toxin in it and in the end caused Heydrich´s death, not the infection by the wounds...Anybody heard of this before? ------------ http://www.strategypage.com/articles/biotoxin_files/BIOTOXINASSASINATION.asp In addition to the anthrax bomb, Porton Down was working on BTX, the botulin toxins. Botulism, as described earlier, generally appears as a particularly virulent form of food poisoning, with an average mortality rate of 60%. It can also appear as "wound botulism" -- a rare complication that occurs when a puncture wound becomes infected with botulinum spores and heals partially, creating an anaerobic chamber the organism can live in. If the toxin is introduced directly into the bloodstream the course of the disease is exactly the same as if the victim had ingested contaminated food. The British Secret Service turned to Paul Fildes, director of Porton Down's research for help when, in October 1941 they began to plan Operation Anthropoid. Its object was the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. In December 1941 seven Czech assassins were parachuted in semi-moonlight near the small Bohemian town of Lidice. They carried British arms, radio and cipher equipment. Two weapons were handled with extreme care. They were British No. 73 Hand anti-tank grenades. Normally the grenades were 9.5 inches long and weighed 4 pounds. The grenades the Czechs carried were special conversions, consisting of the top third of the grenade, with adhesive tape thickly binding the open end. The grenades each weighed just over 1 pound. They had been personally prepared by Fildes at Porton Down and given, perhaps personally by Fildes to the Czechs there. Heydrich's open topped green Mercedes rounded the bend, where Gabick was standing in the middle of the road with a submachine gun. Gabick's gun jammed. Heydrich screamed at the chauffeur to put his foot on the accelerator but the driver, a last minute replacement, kept slamming on the brakes. Jan Kubis, the other leader, threw one of Fildes' grenades at the car. It missed but the explosion tore off the door. Splinters embedded themselves in Heydrich's body. Heydrich leapt into the road, cursing and screaming, then suddenly dropped his service revolver. Clutching his right hip he staggered backwards and collapsed. The gunmen fled. Heydrich, in considerable pain and bleeding from his back was driven, fully conscious, to the nearby Bulovka Hospital. Examined by physicians, he had several serious wounds. A splinter of either the grenade or car body was in the chest wall near the spleen, a rib was broken and the diaphragm had been pierced. The wounds were not a cause for alarm nor were they considered mortal. An operation was performed to removed the splinters from the wound which was about three inches deep. A day later Heyrich's condition unexpectedly deteriorated. By the end of the day he was in a coma. On June 4th he died. His general degradation was accompanied by symptoms consistent with botulin poisoning --extreme weakness, malaise, dry skin, dilated and unresponsive pupils, dry coated tongue and mouth. These were accompanied by a progressive muscular weakness with facial paralysis and weakness of arms, legs and respiratory muscles. His death, according to the Czech doctor who initially examined him, was "totally unexpected." The heads of the German Institute of Pathology and the German Institute of Forensic Medicine, drew up a joint report on the cause of Heydrich's death. They stated that death occurred as a consequence of lesion in the [vital] organs cause by bacteria and possibly poisons carried into them by the bomb splinters." There is no written evidence of Fildes' involvement in Heydrich's death. The files on the entire operation are still sealed. There is only the circumstantial evidence of the grenades, the suspicious nature of Heydrich's demise, and the claims of Fildes himself. To Alvin Pappenheimer, then a young American biologist and later a Professor of Microbiology at Harvard, Fildes bragged that Heydrich's murder "was the first notch on my pistol."
I ran a few searches and found the following website which discusses the theory that the grenade which killed Heydrich contained botulism toxins: Virtual Naval Hospital: Botulinum Toxins [ 13. January 2004, 09:26 PM: Message edited by: Crapgame ]
Thanx for the detective work, Crapgame! Maybe should get this book for the autopsy report... REINHARD HEYDRICH THE BIOGRAPHY: VOLUME 2, ENIGMA Max Williams, C,O, Volume 2 details the life of Heydrich from the beginning of the Second World War, his involvement in the Jewish question and posting as acting 'Reichsprotector' for Bohemia-Moravia. Leading through until Heydrich's assassination in 1942, his 'State Funeral' and continuing with the precarious life of his wife Lina and their family until her death in 1985. This second volume contains over 500 photographs and illustrations on 272 pages. Even includes the complete English translation of his entire autopsy report! Ten years in the making, the authors have managed to assemble a unique collection of photographs that bring to life this biography of Hitler's probable heir apparent, Reinhard Heydrich. http://www.ulric-of-england.com/bkshop1.html
Oh... I must get that book! It looks great, Kai! And I have always been very keen on general Heydrich. Very evil... I like that. Kai, did you visit PzJgr's Heydrich link which had Hitler's speech for Heydrich's funeral and a multimedia documentary?
Yes, thanx for asking. I did check the site and great pics and "stuff". Is the death mask in Prague by the way?
Read the autopsy report. Seems like Heydrich´s spleen was torn apart by a splinter and actually immediately after the operation Heydrich was almost like nothing had happened. The spleen was naturally removed. Little wonder Heydrich did not die because of the bleeding as spleen has alot of blood and vessels in it. According to the German autopsy result the death was not due to toxins from outside the body ( i.e. carried with the splinters into Heydrich´s body ) but suspected that the final cause was immediate septic shock. However the findings of bacterial infection are quite slight in my opinion in the autopsy result, but as the spleen is a very important organ against certain bacterial infections it is possible he died with less response to a major infection. For instance : Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines Overcome Splenic Dependency of Antibody Response to Pneumococcal Polysaccharides -- Breukels et al. 69 (12): 7583 -- Infection and Immunity
