Editing Lidice massacre (section)

===Men===
[[Horst Böhme (SS officer)|Horst Böhme]], the [[Sicherheitspolizei|SiPo]] chief for the [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]], immediately acted on the orders.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=280}} Members of the ''[[Ordnungspolizei]]'' and SD (''[[Sicherheitsdienst]]'') surrounded the village of Lidice, blocking all avenues of escape.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.welt.de/kultur/history/article106440451/Nicht-die-SS-Polizisten-mordeten-in-Lidice.html |title=NS-Massaker : Nicht die SS, Polizisten mordeten in Lidice – Nachrichten Kultur – Geschichte |publisher=Welt.de |access-date=2013-03-28 |newspaper=Die Welt |date=2012-06-08 |last1=Kellerhoff |first1=Sven Felix |archive-date=2013-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130410075114/http://www.welt.de/kultur/history/article106440451/Nicht-die-SS-Polizisten-mordeten-in-Lidice.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Nazi regime chose this village because its residents were suspected of harbouring local resistance partisans and were associated with aiding Operation Anthropoid team members.<ref>Williamson, Gordon, ''Loyalty is my Honor'' p. 87</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19480624&id=1T4aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FyUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4604,4187475&hl=fr|title=The Love Letter That destroyed Lidice|last=Wechsberg|first=Joseph|date=24 June 1948|work=The Milwaukee Journal|page=20|access-date=25 May 2016|via=Google News Archive}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

[[File:Lidice - pietni akt.jpg|thumb|Post-war memorial ceremony to honour victims]]
All men of the village were rounded up and taken to the farm of the Horák family on the edge of the village. Mattresses were taken from neighbouring houses where they were stood up against the wall of the Horáks' barn to prevent ricochets.<ref name="Kaplan246"/> The shooting of the men commenced at about 7:00&nbsp;am. At first the men were shot in groups of five, but Böhme thought the executions were proceeding too slowly and ordered that ten men be shot at a time. The dead were left lying where they fell. This continued until the afternoon hours when there were 173 dead.<ref name="Kaplan239"/> Another 11 men who were not in the village that day were arrested and murdered soon afterwards as were eight men and seven women already under arrest because they had relations serving with the [[Czechoslovak armies in exile]] in the United Kingdom.<ref name="Kaplan246"/>  Only three male inhabitants of the village survived the massacre, two of whom were in the [[Czechoslovak Air Force]] and stationed in England at the time.<ref name="The Lidice massacre after 65 years">{{Cite web|url = https://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/the-lidice-massacre-after-65-years|title = The Lidice massacre after 65 years|date = 8 June 2007|access-date = 11 July 2019|archive-date = 15 May 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180515235441/http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/the-lidice-massacre-after-65-years|url-status = live}}</ref> The only adult man from Lidice actually in Czechoslovakia who survived this atrocity was František Saidl (1887–1961), the former deputy-mayor of Lidice who had been arrested at the end of 1938 because on 19 December 1938 he accidentally killed his son Eduard Saidl. He was imprisoned for four years and had no idea about this massacre. He found out when he returned home on 23 December 1942.  Upon discovering the massacre, he was so distraught he turned himself in to SS officers in the nearby town of Kladno, confessed to being from Lidice, and even said he approved of the assassination of Heydrich.  Despite confirming his identity, the SS officers simply laughed at him and turned him away, and he went on to survive the war.<ref name="The Lidice massacre after 65 years"/>