Bilfot Point monument (Operation Fahrenheit & F/L Benignus Štefan)

My family and myself are currently enjoying a well-deserved holiday in Brittany, France.
By choosing this idyllic location I think my wife hoped to get me as far away as possible from anything remotely connected to WW2.
That didn't exactly worked out as she had expected though...

During a hiking trip near the 'Pointe de Bilfot', my attention was drawn to a strange, somewhat detached, menhir-like monument. It appeared to be a monument commemorating a commando raid which took place in 1942, about which I had never heard before: 'Operation Fahrenheit'.





After having made some local enquiries, I managed to somewhat piece together the background story related to this operation:

On the night of 11-12 November 1942, the Royal Navy's MTB 344 fast patrol boat, under command of Lt Bourne, RN, transported and landed a raiding party of eleven men (belonging to the “Small Scale Raiding Force” and N-12 Commando, under overall command of Maj. J.G. Appleyard) at Bilfot Point. Their mission was destroying the signal station and taking prisoners in order to create unrest and harass the German occupation troops. The attack took place at 3:10 a.m. on 12 November. The commandos surrounded the perimeter of the station and killed one of the sentries, wounding the other three German soldiers. The British members of the "Small Scale Raiding Force" and No. 12 Commando were unable to bring back any prisoners, but suffered no losses.

The operation would have been impossible to carry out without the information provided by a resistance fighter, Claude Robinet, from Network 31 (known as "Sidonie's gang"), who had stolen the German defense plan from the semaphore, which he himself took to London by boarding the Korrigane launch. A telegram was addressed to Winston Churchill as to testify to the success of the operation.

To commemorate these events, which would have remained in the shadows without the historical research and associated publication of Michel Guillou, a granite stele, created by the sculptor Bernard Tanguy, was erected and inaugurated on November 8, 1992, in the presence of local authorities, Charles Josselin, Secretary of State for the Sea, a delegation from the British Embassy, members of the commando and patriotic associations.

But that's not all...

Just under the monument, another commemorative plaque has been added, this time in remembrance of Flight-Lieutenant Benignus Štefan, known as "Bene" to his close friends, flying a Spitfire from the 313th (Czech) Squadron of the RAF.



Photo source: valka.cz

Bene was escorting a formation of Flying Fortresses heading towards Rennes station when he was fatally shot down by a German Focke-Wulf 190 fighter at an altitude of some 800 m on March 8, 1943. His comrade, Captain Muzika, followed him in his fall and noted in his report that Stephan seemed to have the aircraft in hand until he lost sight of it in the heat haze. At that moment, it seems, the Focke-Wulf or another one finished off the Spitfire. With the spring tide low and the weather fine, many people were on the foreshore fishing on foot and noticed the plane fall at the foot of the cliff. The German garrison carried the pilot's remains to a house in nearby Port Lazo.



Picture source: bravoaviation.com

The plaque was sealed at the main memorial on 15 August 2000, at an official ceremony attended by Czech Colonel Josinsky and New Zealand General Ottaway and Squadron Leader J. Dickson of the Royal Air Force.

 

The operation was carried from Dartmouth from their depot ship Westward Ho.

In addition to SSRF commando operations, Clandestine operations were carried from Dartmouth and Cornish bases for various secret agencies such as the SIS, SOE, MI9, SOE (RF), French 2nd BCRA into North and South Brittany.....agents to and fro especially picking up those who were on the point of arrest...arms shipments for resistance activities, capture of Germans for intelligence interrogation

Lt David Birkin RN was the second i/c on an MTB which did regular runs to Brittany and from reports, an excellent navigator. The Germans helped in some respect since to aid their navigation they maintained the lighthouses operational.

David Birkin was the father of Jane Birkin, the French based actress and singer (famous for her BBC banned song Je t'aime...moi non plus with Serge Gainsbourg) and was present when her father dedicated a monument at Plage Napoleon, (Asne Cochat) Plouha during a late post war reunion.

A large number of airmen evaders were taken off the beach by MTBs. There numerous plaques in the area and in the postwar tunnel recording the events. The occupation is well remembered throughout Brittany by abundant numbers of memorials.... everyone has a story to tell.

 

Further background to the loss of F/L Stefan. RAFVR (9/5/1915-8/3/1943)

No 3I3 (Czech) Squadron (Spitfire Vb) were in No 10 Group FC and based at RAF Church Stanton with their sister squadron No 312 (Czech) Squadron (Spitfire Vb and Vc). It was not unusual for aircraft to pass between resident like squadrons

On 8 March 1943 they were involved in a Ramrod operation to Rouen and were intercepted by FW190S as stated from the Luftwaffe Group JG2, losing one aircraft that of F/L Stefan.

Ramrod code operations were similar to Circus code operations but with the intention of destroying a target...probably targets of opportunity Circus code operations were bombers heavily escorted by fighters intended to bring enemy fighters into combat.

F/L Stefan was later buried in St Brieuc Western Communal Cemetery in Plot H, Row A, Grave 10. Unable to trace the original place of burial although the CWGC usually have a record of this information

On the day the USAAF put up 67 B17s to raid the marshalling yards at Rennes and 16 B24s to raid the Rouen marshalling yards. 2 B24s were lost along with one B17.