Download or read book Cockleshell Raid written by Paul Oldfield and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2013-01-19 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Operation Frankton is a story of how a handful of determined and resourceful men, using flimsy canoes, achieved what thousands could not by conventional means. The volunteers had enlisted for Hostilities Only and, except for their leader, none had been in a canoe before. However, with a few months training they carried out what one German officer described as, the outstanding commando raid of the war. They became known as the Cockleshell Heroes, having been immortalized in a film and a book of that name in the 1950s. This book covers the whole of the Frankton story including the development of the Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment, the planning and preparation for the raid, its aftermath and an account of the horrific war crimes inflicted on those who were captured. It also includes the epic escape by Haslar and Corporal Bill Sparks across occupied France into Spain.
Download or read book The Cockleshell Raid written by Ken Ford and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-12-20 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the night of December 7, 1942, five canoes were launched off the mouth of the Gironde river, each containing a pair of British commandoes tasked with slipping into the port of Bordeaux and destroying as many of the merchant ships as possible. Only two of the canoes made it to the target, but it was enough. Five enemy ships were badly damaged in the attack. It then became a game of cat and mouse for the surviving commandoes in their attempt to get back to Britain. Some of the men made it to Gibraltar; others were caught and executed. Author Ken Ford gives a blow-by-blow account of one of the most daring raids of World War II, which badly upset the flow of material into Germany, and which gave the British public a much needed victory.
Download or read book A Brilliant Little Operation written by Paddy Ashdown and published by Aurum. This book was released on 2013-05-02 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The complete story of the remarkable canoe raid on German ships in Bordeaux Harbour – by the man who himself served in the Special Boat Squadron. In 1942, before El Alamein turned the tide of war, the German merchant fleet was re-supplying its war machine with impunity. So Operation Frankton, a daring and secret raid, was launched by Mountbatten’s Combined Operations and led by the enigmatic ‘Blondie’ Hasler – to paddle ‘Cockleshell’ canoes right into Bordeaux harbour and sink the ships at anchor. It was a desperately hazardous mission from the start – dropped by submarine to canoe some hundred miles up the Gironde into the heart of Vichy France, surviving terrifying tidal races, only to face the biggest challenge of all: escaping across the Pyrenees. Fewer than half the men made it to Bordeaux; only four laid their mines; just two got back alive. But the most damage was done to the Germans’ sense of impregnability. Paddy Ashdown, himself a member of the Royal Marines’ elite Special Boat Squadron formed as a consequence of Frankton, has always been fascinated by this classic story of bravery and ingenuity - as a young man even meeting his hero Hasler once. Now, after researching previously unseen archives and tracing surviving witnesses, he has written the definitive account of the raid. The real truth, he discovers – a deplorable tale of Whitehall rivalry and breakdowns in communication – serves only to make the achievements of the ‘Cockleshell’ heroes all the more heroic.
Download or read book The Cockleshell Raid written by Ken Ford and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-12-20 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the night of December 7, 1942, five canoes were launched off the mouth of the Gironde river, each containing a pair of British commandoes tasked with slipping into the port of Bordeaux and destroying as many of the merchant ships as possible. Only two of the canoes made it to the target, but it was enough. Five enemy ships were badly damaged in the attack. It then became a game of cat and mouse for the surviving commandoes in their attempt to get back to Britain. Some of the men made it to Gibraltar; others were caught and executed. Author Ken Ford gives a blow-by-blow account of one of the most daring raids of World War II, which badly upset the flow of material into Germany, and which gave the British public a much needed victory.
Download or read book Cockleshell Raid written by Paul Oldfield and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2013-01-19 with total page 509 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Operation Frankton is a story of how a handful of determined and resourceful men, using flimsy canoes, achieved what thousands could not by conventional means. The volunteers had enlisted for Hostilities Only and, except for their leader, none had been in a canoe before. However, with a few months training they carried out what one German officer described as, the outstanding commando raid of the war. They became known as the Cockleshell Heroes, having been immortalized in a film and a book of that name in the 1950s. This book covers the whole of the Frankton story including the development of the Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment, the planning and preparation for the raid, its aftermath and an account of the horrific war crimes inflicted on those who were captured. It also includes the epic escape by Haslar and Corporal Bill Sparks across occupied France into Spain.
Download or read book Cockleshell Heroes written by Quentin Rees and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2010-12-15 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive book on the Cockleshell Heroes, and one of the most famous Marine raids of World War Two.
Download or read book The Bruneval Raid written by Ken Ford and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-03-20 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the darkest days of World War II, the British planned a daring airborne operation to capture the secret of the new German radar. Lead by Major John Frost, a company of paratroopers dropped into Bruneval on the French coast, and quickly neutralized a small German garrison. Then began a desperate fight for time as the British tried to dismantle the German radar and evacuate back to England, as ever more German units converged on their position. Using artwork, photographs, and detailed maps, this action-packed narrative puts the reader in the planning room and on the battlefield of one of the greatest raids of World War II.
Download or read book The Cabanatuan Prison Raid written by Gordon L. Rottman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-10-20 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 27 January 1945 the 6th Ranger Battalion and the 6th Army Special Reconnaissance Unit (the Alamo Scouts) began the most dangerous and important mission of their careers to rescue 500 American, British and Dutch prisoners-of-war held at a camp near Cabanatuan. This daring plan was fraught with difficulties – the rangers had to struggle with harsh jungle terrain, 30 miles behind enemy lines against a far larger force, knowing that if their secret mission was leaked, the POWs would be massacred by their captors. Yet, with the help of a Filipino guerilla force, they managed to liberate 513 prisoners and kill 225 Japanese in 15 minutes, while only suffering two losses themselves. Relive the dramatic rescue in this action-packed account, complete with bird's eye view and battlescene artwork. Gordon Rottman details the build-up to and execution of the operation, analyzing the difficulties faced and the contribution made by the guerrillas. This is a story not only of extraordinary military success but a compelling tale of courage in the face of overwhelming odds.
Download or read book Operation Suicide written by Robert Lyman and published by Quercus. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Second World War, it is hard to imagine a situation where the British High Command could think that one of the only ways they could attack Hitler was to send ten canoeists with limpet mines to paddle one hundred miles up the Gironde estuary, in the middle of winter, in an attempt to sink German blockade ships in Bordeaux harbor. Yet this is precisely what happened in 1942. The man who gave the go-ahead for the audacious commando raid--Lord Louis Mountbatten, head of Combined Operations--fully anticipated that all ten men would die in the attempt. Mountbatten wasn't far wrong--two ripped their collapsible canoes as they were manhandling them out of the submarine; two drowned when their canoes capsized entering the Gironde estuary; and a further six were captured by the Germans and later executed. By complete chance, the two canoeists who managed to escape--Major "Blondie" Hasler and Marine Bill Sparks--stumbled into the arms of the French resistance. Once in their care, Hasler and Sparks made their way across France and into Spain, crossing the Pyrenees in the company (though they did not know it) of a Gestapo agent intent on bringing down the resistance network. Operation Suicide is the first account of this enthralling raid for over fifty years. In utilizing primary source material, including detailed German records captured by the British in 1944 (which remained censored until 1976), Robert Lyman brings to life one of the most courageous and dramatic events to take place in the darkest days of the Second World War.
Download or read book The Cockleshell Canoes written by Quentin Rees and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2008-12-15 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The gripping story of the development of the Cockleshell Canoes.
Download or read book Operation Suicide written by Robert Lyman and published by Quercus. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Second World War, it is hard to imagine a situation where the British High Command could think that one of the only ways they could attack Hitler was to send ten canoeists with limpet mines to paddle one hundred miles up the Gironde estuary, in the middle of winter, in an attempt to sink German blockade ships in Bordeaux harbor. Yet this is precisely what happened in 1942. The man who gave the go-ahead for the audacious commando raid--Lord Louis Mountbatten, head of Combined Operations--fully anticipated that all ten men would die in the attempt. Mountbatten wasn't far wrong--two ripped their collapsible canoes as they were manhandling them out of the submarine; two drowned when their canoes capsized entering the Gironde estuary; and a further six were captured by the Germans and later executed. By complete chance, the two canoeists who managed to escape--Major "Blondie" Hasler and Marine Bill Sparks--stumbled into the arms of the French resistance. Once in their care, Hasler and Sparks made their way across France and into Spain, crossing the Pyrenees in the company (though they did not know it) of a Gestapo agent intent on bringing down the resistance network. Operation Suicide is the first account of this enthralling raid for over fifty years. In utilizing primary source material, including detailed German records captured by the British in 1944 (which remained censored until 1976), Robert Lyman brings to life one of the most courageous and dramatic events to take place in the darkest days of the Second World War.
Download or read book Daring Raids of World War Two written by Peter Jacobs and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2015-06-30 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Second World War saw a host of heroic raids enacted across the various theatres, all delivered valiantly in a variety of ways by British combatants; on land, by sea and from the air. Daring exploits such as the raid on Rommel, the endeavours of the Cockleshell Heroes and the Dam Busters have become legendary in the annals of warfare. All feature here, alongside details of fascinating lesser-known operations.??It goes without saying that not all the raids were a success; in fact, some went disastrously wrong but the men who carried them out did so with extreme courage and in the knowledge that they might not return. Here, Peter Jacobs tells the gripping stories of some of the most heroic raids of the entire conflict. These include the disastrous landings at Dieppe; the amphibious assault on the dry dock at St Nazaire (more Victoria Crosses were won during this raid than in any other operation of the war); the airborne assaults on the German radar installation at Bruneval and later on Pegasus Bridge as a prelude to D-Day; and the low-level raid by RAF Mosquitos on the prison at Amiens to release members of the French Resistance.??This is an intriguing and insightful historical record of thirty of the most daring and strategic raids of military history and is sure to appeal to all enthusiasts of the genre.
Download or read book Red Christmas written by Robert Forczyk and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-04-20 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By December 1942, the Soviets had surrounded the German 6th Army in Stalingrad, cutting off all lines of supply except through the air. Seeking to sever this last German lifeline, Soviet Command decided to launch a raid with the entire 24th Tank Corps to seize the airfield at Tatsinskaya, the primary operating base for the German airlift efforts. On 17 December, the 24th Tank Corps advanced toward Tatsinskaya, seizing the airfield on Christmas Eve. The Soviet tankers succeeded in destroying many Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground, but afterwards found themselves isolated and out of fuel behind the German lines. Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein rapidly organized a counterattack with elements of two panzer divisions, crushing most of the raiding force between 26 and 28 December. Just before the raiding force was annihilated, it received permission to abandon its heavy equipment and escape back to Soviet lines on foot. Thus, the raiders accomplished their mission of severely disrupting the airlift to Stalingrad, but at the cost of an entire tank corps.
Download or read book The Great Chevauch e written by David Nicolle and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-04-20 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1373, John of Gaunt set off from Calais on a great raid to strike at the heart of France. Driven by the high ideals of chivalry,the raiders left with epic pageantry. However, the reality soon overwhelmed the raiders. Beset on all sides by French ambushes and plagued by disease and starvation, the raiders battled their way through Champagne, east of Paris, into Burgundy, across the Massif Central and finally down into the Dordogne. Unable to attack any major fortifications, John of Gaunt's men plundered the countryside, raiding towns and villages, weakening the French infrastructure. While the military value of the raid is debatable, the English knights who finally made it home were hailed as heroes. This book charts the course of the raid from beginning to end, studying all the battles and skirmishes the raiders fought along the way in this bloody example of chivalric warfare.
Download or read book Certain Death in Sierra Leone written by Will Fowler and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-06-20 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In September 2000 the notorious militia gang, 'West Side Boys' kidnapped eleven British soldiers in Sierra Leone and Operation Barras was launched as the rescue operation. Fast roping in from helicopters, the SAS soldiers engaged in a heavy firefight with the militia, killing several, and capturing their leader. Meanwhile the Paras advanced on foot, fighting their way through a village to recover the Land Rovers abandoned by the kidnapped soldiers. The operation was a complete success, with all the soldiers being rescued. This daring raid is brought to life with specially commissioned artwork, detailed maps and overhead shots to recreate one of the greatest hostage-rescue success stories.
Download or read book Knight s Move written by David Greentree and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-06-20 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 25 May 1944, 800 men of the 500th SS Parachute Battalion descended on Drvar, a town behind enemy lines in north-western Bosnia. Their aim was to kill or capture Tito, the leader of the partisan movement in the region. The plan was to land the battalion by glider and parachute in two waves which would be relieved the next day by a ground assault. Tito knew an attack was imminent but dismissed the idea of an airborne assault. The attempt to eliminate Tito was a colossal failure. The elite battalion had been decimated, with only 200 men fit for duty the next day. Inter-agency rivalry between the Abwehr and the SS had meant that intelligence was not shared, a problem exacerbated by a failure to exploit HUMINT about Tito's precise location and the adoption of a plan that did not take into account these intelligence limitations.
Download or read book Gothic Serpent written by Clayton K. S. Chun and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-05-20 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tells the story of Task Force Ranger – a unit of US Rangers and Special Forces – and their attempt to capture the lieutenants of the Somali warlord Muhamed Farrah Aideed, during the 1993 United Nations' humanitarian relief mission. What started as a simple snatch-and-grab mission quickly degenerated into a desperate battle for survival when US Black Hawk helicopters were struck by rocket-propelled grenades and crashed into the streets of Mogadishu. Racing to save the crew, Task Force Ranger was surrounded by mobs of hostile Somali gunmen. The battle in the city raged all night as the better-equipped and better-trained US forces kept the nearly overwhelming numbers of Somalis at bay. Finally, battered, bloodied, and low on ammunition, the Task Force was rescued by a combined UN and US relief force and extracted to safety. Containing detailed maps and declassified information, this is a dramatic retelling of a brutal battle that had a far-reaching impact on US military policy.
