Marking the 70th Anniversary

HITLER ANNOUNCED TO THE REICHSTAG THE DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST THE UNITED STATES
December 11, 1941

MUSSOLINI'S WAR STATEMENT
Rome, December 11, 1941

THE GERMAN DECLARATION OF WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES
December 11, 1941

GERMANY, ITALY, AND JAPAN SIGN NEW PACT BARRING A SEPARATE PEACE WITH THE UNITED STATES OR GREAT BRITAIN

 

70 years today: Operation Archery

Plan
This was the raid on Vaagsoy and Maaloy on the West coast of Norway, between Bergen and Trondheim. It was a combined operations raid, with a commando force of appr 570 troops, consisting of British Commandos and a few Norwegians from NORIC1 (Linge Company). The raid was supported by RN gunfire and RAF bombers.
The main objective of the operation was to destroy stores and production facilities for fish oil, an important asset for refining into glycerine and thus explosives.
Another objective was to force the Germans to keep a higher number of troops in Norway.


Execution
The landing was preceded by effective bombing and went smoothly, except for in the town of Maaloy where opposition was stiffer than antacipated and a fierce house-to-house battle developed. All pre-determined objects were taken out, including the sinking of eight ships in the harbour.



Outcome
The RAF had eight planes downed. No RN ships were lost, but the navy suffered four killed and four wounded. The Commandos suffered 17 killed and 53 wounded. Amongst the killed was the Norwegian CO, capt Martin Linge.
All German troops on the islands were killed or taken POWs. A complete copy of the German Naval Code books were brought back to the UK, a fact that the German High Command was unaware of. This trophy alone would have been worth the whole operation.
The raid also persuaded Hitler to move 30 000 troops to Norway.



Assessment
The Norwegian exile Government in London had not been involved in the planning, and was suitably upset. For a while, relations to the British were tense.
The operation itself was later used as a textbook example of how Special Operations should be performed. (John E Lewis: SAS and Special Forces, p 211)

 

70 years today: Operation Archery



Thanks for the reminder and the info. Hinsley does not mention this in any detail, perhaps surprising in view of the valued code books. A footnote says: "Documents captured in the Vaagsö raid, as well as providing cryptanlytic material, provided full details of German coastal defences from Norway to France."

 

Thanks for the reminder and the info. Hinsley does not mention this in any detail, perhaps surprising in view of the valued code books. A footnote says: "Documents captured in the Vaagsö raid, as well as providing cryptanlytic material, provided full details of German coastal defences from Norway to France."

When writing my above post I picked the facts from some old notes in my local lingo. Even after an extensive search I'm unfortunately unable to find the original source ref the documents and their value. "German Naval Code books" may not be an accurate translation or description. Sorry about my poor precision.

Can't do any better than this, which isn't too helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Archery:

 

Geoff's Search Engine failed even me, (secondary unit/text search not working!) so I had to do some lower lever searching and found 16 Commandos, buried at Trondheim or commemorated at Brookwood:


Name: CARLISLE, ALAN
Initials: A
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Lance Corporal
Regiment: Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment
Unit Text: and No. 3
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No. 3
Age: 21
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 6344509
Additional Information: Son of Archibald and Agnes Carlisle, of Leigh Beck, Canvey Island, Essex.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 13. Column 1.
Cemetery: BROOKWOOD MEMORIAL


Name: EVANS, FRANCIS GEORGE
Initials: F G
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Private
Regiment: Worcestershire Regiment
Unit Text: and No. 3
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No. 3
Age: 20
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 5250055
Additional Information: Son of Frederick George and Alice Mary Evans, of Worcester.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 11. Column 2.
Cemetery: BROOKWOOD MEMORIAL


Name: FORRESTER, HERBERT WILLIAM LOUIS
Initials: H W L
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Captain
Regiment: Royal Artillery
Unit Text: and No. 3
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No. 3
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 72042
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 2. Column 2.
Cemetery: BROOKWOOD MEMORIAL

Name: GILES, JOHN FREDERICK
Initials: J F
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Captain
Regiment: Royal Tank Regiment, R.A.C.
Unit Text: and No. 3
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No. 3
Age: 23
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 68678
Additional Information: Son of Frederick William and Margaret Mary Maud Palin Giles. Army Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Southern Command.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 1. Column 3.
Cemetery: BROOKWOOD MEMORIAL

Name: HAYES, FRANK
Initials: F
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Guardsman
Regiment: Grenadier Guards
Unit Text: and No. 2
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No. 2
Age: 22
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 2615360
Additional Information: Son of George Richard Hayes, and of Lillian Hayes, of Manchester.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 8. Column 2.
Cemetery: BROOKWOOD MEMORIAL

Name: HICKS, JAMES WILLIAM
Initials: J W
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Private
Regiment: Cheshire Regiment
Unit Text: and No. 3
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No. 3
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 4132073
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 10. Column 3.
Cemetery: BROOKWOOD MEMORIAL

Name: JOHNSON, DENIS ALAN
Initials: D A
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Private
Regiment: Royal Berkshire Regiment
Unit Text: and No. 3
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No. 3
Age: 21
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 5113068
Additional Information: Son of Edward Alfred and Ruby Helen Johnson.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 13. Column 1.
Cemetery: BROOKWOOD MEMORIAL

Name: LANE, WILLIAM
Initials: W
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Lance Corporal
Regiment: Royal Armoured Corps
Unit Text: and No. 3
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No. 3
Age: 21
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 321240
Additional Information: Son of John Thomas Lane and Georgina Lane.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 1. Column 2.
Cemetery: BROOKWOOD MEMORIAL

Name: POVEY, HAROLD THOMAS ANDREW
Initials: H T A
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Lance Serjeant
Regiment: Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
Unit Text: and No. 3
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No. 3
Age: 29
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 3309768
Additional Information: Son of Ernest John and Eleanor Archbold Povey; husband of D. Povey, of Streatham Hill, London.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Spec. Memorial
Cemetery: TRONDHEIM (STAVNE) CEMETERY

Name: TURLEY, FRANK WILLIAM
Initials: F W
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Private
Regiment: Worcestershire Regiment
Unit Text: and No. 3
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No. 3
Age: 24
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 5254801
Additional Information: Son of Fred and Emily Turley; husband of Irene Turley, of Hay Mills, Birmingham.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 11. Column 2.
Cemetery: BROOKWOOD MEMORIAL

Name: WHARTON, BERNARD WILLIAM
Initials: B W
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Gunner
Regiment: Royal Artillery
Unit Text: and No. 3
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No. 3
Age: 22
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 909229
Additional Information: Son of John and Mary Wharton.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 4. Column 1.
Cemetery: BROOKWOOD MEMORIAL

Name: CULLING, WILLIAM
Initials: W
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Lance Serjeant
Regiment: Essex Regiment
Unit Text: and No. 3
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No. 3
Age: 32
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 6010289
Additional Information: Son of Charles and Johanna Culling; husband of Agnes Culling, of Largs, Ayreshire.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: A IV British. H. 11.
Cemetery: TRONDHEIM (STAVNE) CEMETERY

Name: GEEAR, EDWARD JAMES
Initials: E J
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Lance Serjeant
Regiment: Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment
Unit Text: and No 3
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No 3
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 6344312
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: A IV British. H. 9.
Cemetery: TRONDHEIM (STAVNE) CEMETERY

Name: KEAST, PETER HUGH JOSEPH
Initials: P H J
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Private
Regiment: Devonshire Regiment
Unit Text: and No. 3
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No. 3
Age: 25
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 5628235
Additional Information: Son of Walter John and Caroline Mary Keast, of Exeter. M.R.C.V.S.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: A IV British. H. 14.
Cemetery: TRONDHEIM (STAVNE) CEMETERY

Name: MURRAY, JAMES GARDNER
Initials: J G
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Private
Regiment: Gordon Highlanders
Unit Text: 1st Bn. The London Scottish,
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No. 3
Age: 23
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 2879691
Additional Information: Son of William and Margaret Gardner Murray, of Bo'ness, West Lothian.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: A IV British. H. 13.
Cemetery: TRONDHEIM (STAVNE) CEMETERY

Name: SKELTON, JOHN
Initials: J
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Lance Corporal
Regiment: Royal Sussex Regiment
Unit Text: and No. 3
Secondary Regiment: Commando
Secondary Unit Text: and No. 3
Age: 31
Date of Death: 27/12/1941
Service No: 5668915
Additional Information: Son of Tom and Clara Skelton of Crookes, Sheffield; husband of Evelyn Skelton, of Sheffield.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: A IV British. H. 10.
Cemetery: TRONDHEIM (STAVNE) CEMETERY

 

Thank you, Geoff.

You'll find headstone photos for those buried at Stavne (Trondheim) here:http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/war-grave-photographs/40731-stavne-cemetery-trondheim-norway.html

There are several comments on Op Archery, too.

 

Thanks, I had not seen that thread since around the time of page 2.

 

.... "German Naval Code books" may not be an accurate translation or description....

In Hugh Sebag-Montefiore's Enigma: The battle for the code (Folio Society copy 2006, no ISBN) chapter 18 describes the issue of the code books capture at length.

Quotes:

"In December 1941 plans were made to mount two raids on the coast of Norway. Capturing code-books was only a subsidiary reason for the raids..."

"But it was the subsidiary raid, code-named 'Operation Archery', an attack on German bases on two islands off the coast of south-west Norway, which was expected to give the Navy its best chance of capturing Enigma documents."

"The cipher material captured during Operation Anklet matched what was recovered during the Vagsoy raid the following day: an Enigma machine, both sets of bigram tables, as well as copies of some of the same code manuals which had been captured over the past seven months on weather ships, supply ships and the U-110."

 

Hmmmm... thanks interesting - must check my own bookshelf from time to time! Hugh Sebag-Montefiore does dig out some interesting stuff.

A few documents come up on searching the NA for 'Operation Archery'.

 

15 March, 2012 4:20PM AEDT

It's 70 years since the men of the 39th Australian Infantry Battalion went on their march through Papua New Guinea, with virtually no training; they were young, inexperienced, and carried totally inadequate equipment.

Best known for their survival on the Kokoda Trail, these incredible men existed as a unit for only twenty months of World War II, though their story is one of the most unusual and proudest in Australian military history.

Kokoda diggers first-hand tales - ABC Melbourne - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

 

Hi all

Just to bring your attention to my daily tweets covering period 30 June - mid-November 1942 on the events of the #Alamein campaign 70 years ago.
Currently at the point when #Monty circulated his plans for #OperationLightfoot.
The Alamein 'hash tag' will get you anything on the subject (as well as some moans about the Melbourne tram/subway system and a rather obscure funk band). However, the hash tags used here will also find stuff.

Highlights of the Western Desert Campaign in 140 character chunks. Please follow me (@Brynley_H) and let me know what you think.

All the best

Bryn Hammond

 

Thursday, 25 October 2012 VA089 Media Release - VA089
VETERANS REVISIT KOKODA AND THE BEACHHEADS 70 YEARS ON

Australian veterans of the Kokoda and Beachhead battles will return to wartime soil in Papua New Guinea next week to mark the 70th anniversaries of the iconic Second World War campaign.
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Warren Snowdon said ensuring the Japanese advance halted in Papua was vital to the defence of Australia.
“Australian soldiers on the Kokoda Track won an important victory for the Allies and played a crucial role in bringing an end to Japanese occupation of Papua,” he said.
“In July 1942 the Japanese landed near Gona on the north coast of Papua (now a part of Papua New Guinea) and advanced along the Kokoda Track over the rugged Owen Stanley Range, reaching within 48 kilometres of Port Moresby.
“For four gruelling months on the treacherous terrain and jungles of the Kokoda Track, Australian soldiers fought side-by-side with Papuan infantry, forcing Japanese troops slowly back along the track. Assisting the troops were civilians who became affectionately known as the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels,” he said.
After Kokoda was secured, the fighting moved to the Beachheads where Australians and Americans joined together in attacks on the Japanese positions at Buna, Gona and Sanananda in late 1942. With increased supplies, reinforcements and air support, they took all three strongholds by January 1943.
“The battles of Kokoda and the Beachheads were a long struggle that cost more than 1,800 Australian lives and more than 4,000 wounded or struck down with terrible illnesses.”

Mr Snowdon said this special journey back to the battlefields will see veterans of the campaign share their memories and honour those who fell 70 years ago in the courageous defence of our shores.
The veterans travelling to Papua New Guinea will represent all Australians who served and died during the battles. They will participate in a range of commemorative activities including services at Kokoda and Popondetta and visits to the Bomana War Cemetery to pay tribute to lost mates.
The Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery contains the graves of more than 3,300 Australian service personnel who died in the Second World War. More than 700 Australian soldiers, sailors and airmen who have no known grave are commemorated on the Port Moresby Memorial to the Missing within the cemetery.

 

11th November 1942

From the 56 Recce "C" Sqn War Diary

08.30 1st vehicles landed ALGIERS. Received orders from HQ 78 Div to proceed to BONE as soon as vehicles landed.

16.45 Most vehicles ashore and moved to fresh harbour 24 miles East of ALGIERS. Final orders from 78 Div. Joined by one RASC.

17.30 All vehicles ashore-one LRC dropped into harbour owing to careless handling of LCM

21.00 Joined by Wing Cdr Mathias to be delivered at Bone.


It seems appropriate to post this today, it being more or less 70 years to the day since my father landed at Algiers with C Sqn ( a first party of C Sqn from the SS Viceroy of India landed with Lt Wheatley on the 8th November).

It is interesting to note that the SS Viceroy of India was sunk at 05.24 hours on the morning of 11th November after having disembarked her troops for Operation Torch and was returning empty to Gibraltar

Viceroy of India (British Troop transport) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net

 

Saturday 14 November 1942 was the date that the Italian vessel, SS Scillin, was sunk off the Tunisian coast by the British submarine, HMS Sahib.

The Scillin was transporting more than 800 Allied POWs an overcrowded. Most of these POWs lost their lives, trapped in the hold with virtually no chance of escape.

The families of those who died only received confirmation of the death of their loved ones many months afterwards. This is the true reality and the brutality of war.

May the sacrifice of all those Allied POWs who lost their lives on the Scillin never be forgotten.
=========================

One of the Allied POWs who was lost at sea when the Scillin was sunk was Gunner James Henry Pullin, R.A., aged 24, from West Cumberland:


Name: PULLIN, JAMES HENRY
Rank: Gunner
Service No: 936850
Date of Death: 14/11/1942
Age: 24
Regiment/Service: Royal Artillery
97 (The Kent Yeomanry) Field Regt.
Panel Reference: Column 40.
Memorial: ALAMEIN MEMORIAL, Egypt
Additional Information:
Son of William George and Dinah Pullin, of Whitehaven, Cumberland.

 

http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?1197

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Ceramic_(1913)

 

On this day 70 years ago, Wingate and Wavell decided that Operation Longcloth would go ahead despite the other aspects of their original plan falling through.

We Will Remember Them.

 

Four bombs dropped on Reading by a German plane on 10 February, 1943, fell on buildings in Town Hall Square. To mark the 70th anniversary, Reading Museum has an exhibition of photographs and artefacts from the time.


BBC News - In pictures: Reading bombed in 1943 by lone German plane

 

Spider.

I recall in the early 1980s visiting the Kokoda Trail in the company of three Australian Veterans who had fought there, having become good friends with them on board a ship sailing from Hong Kong to Sydney which had stop over at Papua New Guinea for a couple of days.

I was very proud to be in their company and deeply moved by the tales of the determination, heroism and bravery of the Aussies who stood their ground and defeated the Japanese Army that up to that time had seemed invincible. Their victory an inspiration to all who served in the Second World War, uplifting our spirits.

Joe Brown.