Kill Rommel!: Operation Flipper 1941 Download UPDATED

Kill Rommel!: Operation Flipper 1941 Download

Operation Flipper (besides called the Rommel Raid) was a British commando raid during the Second Earth War, mainly by men from No. 11 (Scottish) Commando. The operation included an attack on the headquarters of Erwin Rommel, the commander of Panzergruppe Afrika in North Africa. Information technology was timed for the night of 17/eighteen Nov 1941, simply earlier the commencement of Operation Crusader. The operation failed as Rommel had left the target firm weeks earlier and all simply ii of the commandos who landed were killed or captured. 1 member of the Special Boat Department team, who had secured the beach for the commando party, also escaped.

Planning [edit]

From October to November 1941, a program was formulated at Eighth Regular army headquarters to set on: (data from Jones 2006 unless indicated)^[1]

• Rommel'south presumed headquarters most Beda Littoria, some eighteen mi (29 km) inland from Apollonia, Great socialist people's libyan arab jamahiriya
• a wireless station and intelligence centre at Apollonia
• an Italian headquarters and communications cablevision mast at Cyrene
• the headquarters of the Italian Trieste Division nearly Slonta

Although not specified in the orders, the goal of the raid was to kill or capture Rommel, to disrupt High german organization earlier the start of Crusader. Rommel'southward headquarters was believed to be at Beda Littoria, considering Captain John Haselden had reconnoitred the area disguised every bit an Arab and reported that Rommel's staff automobile came and went from the former Prefecture. The operation was led by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Laycock; Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Keyes, present throughout the planning stage, selected the most hazardous chore of the attack on Rommel's headquarters for himself. Unbeknownst to the planners, Beda Littoria had only briefly been Rommel's headquarters and had been taken over by the primary quartermaster of Panzergruppe Afrika , General Schleusener. Some weeks earlier, Rommel had moved his headquarters nearer to Tobruk to be close to the activity. Rommel was non even in Northward Africa during Flipper, having gone to Rome to request replacements for supply ships sunk by the British.^[2]

Raid [edit]

10–14/15 November [edit]

On 10 November, HMSTorbay carried Keyes, Helm Robin Campbell, Lieutenant Roy Cooke and 25 men. HMSTalisman transported Laycock, Captain Glennie, Lieutenant David Macbeth Sutherland and 25 men from Alexandria. On the nighttime of 14/15 November 1941, Keyes' disengagement landed on the beach of Khashm al-Kalb (The Canis familiaris'southward Olfactory organ), guided past two-man Special Boat Section (SBS) teams in folboats (folding canoes).^[iii] The beach lay well-nigh a identify known as Hamama, some 250 mi (400 km) behind Axis lines. Once ashore, they made contact with Haselden, delivered earlier by the Long Range Desert Group for reconnaissance. The weather deteriorated and Laycock's group had a much more difficult time getting ashore. Laycock and seven men landed but the residual were stranded on Talisman. With but 34 of the 59 men available, instead of four detachments attacking the targets, there were only to be three.^[4] Laycock remained at the rendezvous with three men to secure the embankment, Keyes led his disengagement of 25 men for the attack on Rommel'south supposed headquarters, while Lieutenant Cooke took half-dozen men to destroy the communications facilities almost Cyrene. Haselden's disengagement completed its mission and was picked up by the LRDG.

15–18 November [edit]

Shortly before get-go lite, Keyes' men moved to a wadi, where they sheltered until dark on the second dark then moved off. Their Arab guide refused to accompany the party in the deteriorating weather. Keyes then led his men on a 1,800 ft (550 m) climb, followed by an arroyo march of 18 mi (29 km) in pitch dark and torrential rain. Hiding in a cave during the day, the detachment advanced to within a few hundred yards of the objective by 22:00 on the third night. At 23:59, Keyes led his party past sentries and other defences upward to the business firm. Unable to find an open up window or door, Keyes took reward of Campbell's excellent German language by having him pound on the front door and need entrance. They set upon the sentry who opened the door. Campbell shot him and Keyes might have been wounded in the scuffle. The official version^{[ which? ]} is that Keyes opened the door to a nearby room, found Germans inside, closed it once again abruptly, reopened information technology to hurl in a grenade and was shot by 1 of the Germans. But i round was fired past the Germans during the raid on the HQ.^[5]

Keyes was taken outside just chop-chop died. Shortly afterwards, Campbell was accidentally shot in the leg by one of his own men. He passed command to Sergeant Jack Terry and remained behind. Terry gathered the raiding team and retreated with 17 men to rejoin Laycock at the embankment. An Italian source, non explicit in naming the British names, points that Cooke's men encountered a platoon of Italian police paratroopers. The Italians had been searching for the British raiders close to the village Mansura (virtually nine mi (15 km) north of Cyrene).

xix November [edit]

According to the source, 2nd Lieutenant Alfredo Sandulli Mercuro and the 3rd Platoon, 2nd Company, 1° Battaglione Paracadutisti Carabinieri Reali encountered what he thought was a band of Arabs hiding along a mount ridge on 19 November. When chosen upon by Mercuro's Arab interpreter, the Italians were fired on and the paratroopers engaged what they now knew were British commandos, who withdrew to a cavern. With no way out, the wounded commandos surrendered after Mercuro threatened to employ flamethrowers on them. The paratroops took prisoner a grouping consisting of an officer, one NCO and three other ranks. Except for the officer, all the British were wounded and received medical treatment from the Italians. Mercuro searched the cave and found pocket-sized arms and three demolition charges. The Italians suffered 3 wounded during the fight.^[6]

It proved impossible for the Laycock party to re-embark on the submarines and they waited for the atmospheric condition to improve. They were discovered and exchanged fire with local Italian gendarmes (and German troops by some accounts). Aware that they could not promise to stand off the large force that was surely being organised, Laycock ordered the men to scatter. Laycock and Terry made it to safety later on 37 days in the desert and Bombardier John Brittlebank, one of the SBS team who had guided the commandos in the folbots, escaped and survived alone in the desert for forty days until picked upwards past Allied troops. The rest of the raiding force was captured, some of them wounded. Reverse to some reports, merely Keyes was killed by the Germans; one man had drowned during the landing.

Nominal roll [edit]

(Reconstructed past Michael Asher (2004), based on a listing past Hans Edelmaier, amended from documentary and witness bear witness, with the assist of the Commando Association [now defunct]. Information technology might contain errors.)^[7]

(Captured, unless otherwise noted.)

• Beach party
  • Lt. Col. Robert Laycock, Majestic Horse Guards (escaped)
  • Sgt. Charles Nicol, Gordon Highlanders
  • Bdr. George Dunn, Royal Artillery
  • Fifty/Cpl. Larry Codd, Imperial Corps of Signals
  • Pte. E.C. Atkins, Beds & Herts Regt
  • Lt. John Pryor, Beds & Herts Regt & SBS (wounded and captured)
  • Bdr. John Brittlebank, Regal Artillery & SBS (escaped)
  • Pte. Robert Fowler, Cameron Highlanders
• High german HQ assail party
  • Lt. Col Geoffrey Keyes, Majestic Scots Greys (killed)
  • Capt. Robin Campbell, Full general List (wounded and captured)
  • Sgt. Jack Terry, Royal Artillery (escaped)
  • L/Cpl. Dennis Coulthread, Royal Scots
  • L/Bdr. A. Brodie, Majestic Artillery
  • Cpl/Interpreter Avishalom Drori (Palestine), 51 ME Commando
• German language HQ covering party
  • L/Cpl. William Pryde, Cameron Highlanders
  • Cpl. A.E. Radcliffe, RASC, (wounded and captured)
  • Pte. John Phiminster, Cameron Highlanders
  • L/Cpl. Frank Varney, Sherwood Foresters
  • Bdr. Joseph Kearney, (Newfoundland) Purple Artillery
  • L/Cpl. Malcolm Hughes, Manchester Regt
  • Cpl. William Heavyside, Yorks & Lancs Regt
• High german HQ outside covering party
  • Sgt. Charles Bruce, Blackness Watch [Purple Highland Regt]
  • Cpl. Charles Lock, London Scottish [Gordon Highlanders]
  • Pte. James Bogle, Gordon Highlanders
  • Pte. Robert Murray, Highland Low-cal Infantry
• Cyrene crossroads political party
  • Lt. Roy Cooke, Majestic Due west. Kent Regt
  • Sgt. Frederick Birch, Liverpool Scottish [Cameron Highlanders]
  • Cpl. John Kerr, Cameron Highlanders
  • Gnr. James Gornall, Royal Artillery
  • L/Bdr. Terence O'Hagen, Royal Artillery
  • Gnr. P. Macrae, Royal Artillery
  • Pte. Charles Paxton, Cameron Highlanders

Aftermath [edit]

On 17 November 1941, the mean solar day of the raid, Rommel was in Italy, having left for Rome on 1 November, which became known to British military intelligence via Ultra on 17 November and that he was due dorsum in Africa on 18 Nov. An emergency signal was sent to Heart East Command but was too tardily to finish the operation. On 15 November, a decrypt of an Italian C 38m machine nothing had revealed that the Italians knew from diverse sources that a British landing was imminent near Apollonia.^[8]

The German historian Hans Edelmaier suggests that Rommel was non the objective of the raid and his name not featuring in the plan supports this. In that location is no proof that Haselden reported Rommel's presence at the firm in Beda and it has never been explained how Rommel was to be institute or recognised past the commando unit.^{[nine] [ folio needed ]} The just extant evidence that Rommel was the object of the raid came from a witness, Gunner Jim Gornall, who related that Keyes briefed the men on board the Torbay that their objective was to "get Rommel".^[ten] When news of the raid reached him, Rommel was said to be indignant that the British should believe his headquarters was 250 mi (400 km) behind the front; Rommel preferred to be near the front line with his troops.^{[2] [a]}

Casualties [edit]

The British suffered two men killed, 28 captured (3 wounded) and three men escaped; High german casualties were four killed and three wounded. Keyes' body and those of the four dead Germans were cached with war machine honours on Rommel's orders in a local Catholic cemetery.^[11] For his actions Keyes was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. The citation for the honor was written by Robert Laycock, who reverse to British war machine custom, was not a witness to Keyes' actions on the night in which he was killed. Almost none of the statements in the citation are verifiable and some contradict witness accounts.

Bob Laycock's report and his commendation for Keyes' VC were virtually entirely specious from commencement to end.

—Asher^[12]

Sergeant Jack Terry was awarded the Distinguished Carry Medal (DCM) and Bombardier John Brittlebank (SBS) later received the DCM for actions including the Rommel Raid. Gunner Jim Gornall was awarded the Military Medal (MM). (Another try, this time by an SAS grouping, was made to kidnap or assassinate Rommel in Operation Gaff in July 1944 simply Rommel had suffered skull fractures in an RAF attack eleven days earlier.)^[13]

Meet also [edit]

• List of British military equipment of Globe War Ii
• List of German war machine equipment of Earth State of war II
• Listing of Italian military equipment in World War II

Notes [edit]

1. ^ An commodity in the Scottish Daily Limited (Th July nine, 1942) titled Up Rommel's H.Q. describes the story relayed past repatriated New Zealanders of 23 survivors of the raid interned in Italy. Sergeant Charles Nicol of Aberdeen, Sergeant Charles Bruce of Brechin Angus and Bombardier D. Brodie of Ballinluig Perthshire were named. They and other Commandos told the New Zealanders that they had been taken upwardly the coast in a submarine. They were at first unable to land at their destination because of tempest but on the following dark they set off in rubber boats, i of which capsized. Some of the men swam aground in life-belts. Sergeant Bruce was nearly drowned but was dragged out by Sergeant Nicol. On the beach, which was swept by a gale, they were met by an intelligence officer who was dressed equally a desert nomad. He guided them to Rommel's headquarters. They travelled 2 days. On the final stage a thunderstorm soaked their bomb fuses. While shooting up Rommel's firm Bombardier Brodie blew up the generator with bombs. Bad weather prevented the survivors from getting away by sea. Sergeant Charles Bruce, a 41-year-old Brechin homo, went to Australia when he was 21. He was working on a farm there when war broke out. He tried to enlist but without success. So he came abode, volunteered and joined an Ground forces unit in December 1939, transferring to the Commandos more than than a year later.^{[ citation needed ]}

References [edit]

1. ^ Jones 2006, p. 197.
2. ^ ^{a b} Brighton 2009, p. 110.
3. ^ Pitt 2001, p. 39.
4. ^ Jones 2006, p. 198.
5. ^ Asher 2004, p. 243.
6. ^ Cursi 2014, p. 75.
7. ^ Asher 2004, pp. 310–311.
8. ^ Hinsley 1994, p. 188.
9. ^ Edelmaier 2000.
10. ^ Asher 2004, p. 166.
11. ^ Mortimer 2014, p. 64.
12. ^ Asher 2004, p. 246.
13. ^ Asher 2004, pp. 301–304; Mortimer 2014, pp. 75–77.

Bibliography [edit]

• Asher, Michael (2004). Become Rommel: The Hole-and-corner British Mission to Kill Hitler's Greatest General. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN978-0-297-84685-7.
• Brighton, Terry (2009). Masters of Battle: Monty, Patton and Rommel at War. London: Penguin. ISBN978-0-xiv-102985-6.
• Cursi, Enrico (2014). I leoni de deserto : storia del primo battaglione paracadutisti Carabinieri reali, 1940–1942 [The Lions of the Desert, History of the Kickoff Royal Carabinieri Parachute Battalion]. Memori (in Italian). Roma: Edizione Chillemi. ISBN978-88-96522-49-3.
• Edelmaier, Hans (2000). Das Rommel-Unternehmen: der Überfall britischer Commandos auf den vermuteten Gefechtsstand General Rommels bei Beda Littoria in der Nacht vom 17. zum 18. November 1941 [The Raid on Rommel: The British Commando Raid on the Suspected Headquarters Full general Rommel at Beda Littoria on the Dark of 17/18 November 1941] (in German). Salzburg: Osterreichischer Miliz-Verlag. ISBN978-3-901185-xix-9.
• Hinsley, F. H. (1994) [1993]. British Intelligence in the Second World War. Its influence on Strategy and Operations (abridged). History of the 2nd World War (2d rev. ed.). London: HMSO. ISBN978-0-eleven-630961-7.
• Jones, Tim (2006). SAS Zero Hour: The Secret Origins of the Special Air Service. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN978-i-85367-669-7.
• Mortimer, Thousand. (2014). Kill Rommel! Functioning Flipper 1941. Raid (ebook ed.). Oxford: Osprey. ISBN978-1-4728-0111-1.
• Pitt, B. (2001) [1980]. The Crucible of War: Auchinleck'south Control. Vol. II (repr. iii vol. Cassell ed.). London: Jonathan Cape (2 vol.). ISBN0-304-35951-3.

External links [edit]

• Operation Flipper, Rommel's HQ, 14/18 November 1941 combinedops.com
• HQ Operation Flipper, the Raid on Rommel's HQ combinedops.com

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