The Gestapo attacked during a broadcast

On the ill-fated night of the 3rd to 4th October 1941, the secret radio transmitter of the Czechoslovak resistance was working long after midnight. German safety authorities with the assistance of the order police and with the support of the Gestapo carried out a raid, and by the end of it (according to a Gestapo report) the radio operators were very much surprised. The inspector of the financial guard, Karel Prokop, managed to save himself by running away from the building. His eighteen year old son and two former soldiers were arrested. The radiotelegrapher, Jindřich Klečka, committed suicide in the hopeless situation. The secret radio transmitter, which was still connected to a power source, was secured. The subsequent investigation led to arrests of further persons and to the acquisition of broadcasting equipment in the village Jílové u Prahy. The next day marked the start of a series of arrests of resistance fighters. The discovery of the radio transmitter SPARTA I caused that, except for some exceptions, the radiotelegraphic communication between the Protectorate and the London headquarters stopped working.