RAIDS AND SUBVERSIONS 139
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RAIDS AND
SUBVERSIONS
With much of Europe under Nazi control by mid-1940, Britain
resorted to unconventional means of attacking the enemy. A
secret body—the Special Operations Executive (SOE)—trained
commandos in guerrilla tactics and employed special forces
to conduct clandestine operations in occupied territory.
At a time when Hitler’s plans for Europe
seemed close to success, Britain’s War
Cabinet considered it important to take
the offensive by staging surprise attacks
on occupied territory. Sometimes these
took the form of combined operations,
with air, land, and naval forces working
together. The first such raid, on the
Lofoten Islands in Norway, was
conducted successfully in March 1941.
Other attacks followed, aimed at
spreading fear along the coasts. The
most ambitious was the assault on St.
Nazaire in March 1942, the success of
which encouraged Allied commanders
to launch the disastrous Dieppe Raid
five months later.
“In no previous war ... have resistance forces been
so closely harnessed to the main military effort.”
US GENERAL DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, 1945
Meanwhile, from early 1941 onward the
SOE had been coordinating espionage
and sabotage activities in the occupied
lands, as well as liaising with resistance
movements across the continent (see
pp.176–177). Some incursions were
conducted by its own operatives, while
others employed SOE-trained resistance
fighters inserted back into their own
homelands to carry out missions.
The SOE’s activities were sometimes
controversial, as they risked triggering
Nazi reprisals on local civilians. Yet
by striking into the heart of occupied
Europe, they kept the spirit of resistance
alive and helped prepare the path for
D-Day (see pp.186–187).
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR COLIN GUBBINS
1896–1976
The SOE—also known as “Churchill’s secret
army”—was officially formed in 1940. The
organization was shaped and then led by
Colin Gubbins, the son of a British diplomat.
Gubbins served with distinction in World
War I, winning the Military Cross for rescuing
wounded men under fire. He developed an
interest in irregular warfare while serving in
Russia and then Ireland in the immediate
post-war years. In 1940, after service in the
brief Norwegian campaign, he was seconded to
the newly formed SOE, taking over as its head
in 1943. There he coordinated the work of
resistance groups in the occupied lands, playing
a significant, if little-acknowledged, part in the
victorious Allied war effort.
Assault route Attack on heavy
water plant
Assault route Attack on port
OPERATION FRANKTON
DECEMBER 7–12, 1942
Celebrated after the war as the “cockleshell
heroes,” a team of Royal Marines was carried by
submarine to the mouth of the Gironde River.
They then paddled more than 62 miles (100 km)
upstream in folding kayaks (“cockles”) to the port
of Bordeaux—a journey that took five nights—and
attached limpet mines to shipping, damaging six
vessels. Eight of the ten men who made the assault
died during the raid or were executed after it.
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Assault route Attack on port
OPERATION CHARIOT MARCH 28, 1942
An Allied naval and commando raid on the port
of St. Nazaire succeeded in blowing up the only
dry dock big enough to handle large warships
on France’s Atlantic coast. To do so, an obsolete
destroyer packed with high explosives was
rammed into the dock gates. At the same time,
commandos attacked targets in the town. The
cost was heavy: of 611 men involved in the raid,
169 were killed and 215 captured.
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OPERATION GUNNERSIDE
FEBRUARY 27–28, 1943
An attack on the hydroelectric plant at the Rjukan
waterfall in Telemark, Norway, destroyed the only
facility able to produce the heavy water needed
for the Nazis’ experimental nuclear weapons
program. It was carried out by Norwegian
resistance fighters assisted by the SOE. Parachuted
from England, then traveling cross-country on skis,
the team successfully evaded capture after
completing their mission.
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Nov 25, 1942 An SOE team
working with local resistance fighters
destroys the Gorgopotamos Bridge
in central Greece.
Assault route Attack on port
THE DIEPPE RAID AUGUST 19, 1942
An Allied show of force, the Dieppe Raid was the
largest assault on the French mainland before
D-Day. More than 6,000 troops were involved,
5,000 of them Canadian; over half were killed,
wounded, or captured. Survivors were evacuated
within 10 hours of the launch of the assault, which
failed in its main objectives. In addition, the RAF
lost more than 100 planes, and a Royal Navy
destroyer had to be scuttled.
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