Arctic Commando Assault.
The first raid by Britain's elite Commandos was morale-raising assault on an outpost of Hitler's empire. The idea of the commandos was to raise an elite unit of men that could launch fast lethal raids on the enemy. Operating on both land and sea, the Royal Marine Commandos were perfectly e...
| Other Authors: | , |
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Language Notes: | In English. Original language in English. |
| Published: |
London, England :
British Broadcasting Corporation,
2003.
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| Series: | Great Raids of World War II ;
6 |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to this streaming video (Alexander Street Press) |
| Summary: | The first raid by Britain's elite Commandos was morale-raising assault on an outpost of Hitler's empire. The idea of the commandos was to raise an elite unit of men that could launch fast lethal raids on the enemy. Operating on both land and sea, the Royal Marine Commandos were perfectly equipped to attack enemy coastal bases. But for the first months of the war, they saw little action. Then Lord Louis Mountbatten became Director of Combined Operations in October 1941 and decided to put the commandos to test in a major operation. Earlier in the war, the Germans had invaded Norway.The British had tried to counter the invasion but were forced to withdraw. At the same British forces had been thrown out of France at Dunkirk. It was an humiliating series of defeats and it was important to show that British forces could still offer resistance to Hitler on mainland Europe. Vaagso was chosen as the point at which the British would blast back into action. Vaagso was an island off Norway used as a German base and armed with several gun batteries. No 3 Commando plus 100 extra men from No 2 Commando formed the raiding party. They sailed with the light cruiser HMS Kenya, four destroyers, a submarine and two infantry assault ships.The Royal Air Force provided fighter and bomber support. It was a truly combined operation. Rear-Admiral HM Burrough and Brigadier JC Haydon were in charge. The commandos had been thoroughly trained for the operation, taking part in exercises and studying maps and models of the target. The force set sail from Scapa Flow in December 1941. Heavy seas postponed the raid for 24 hours, but they finally reached Vaagso on the morning of December 27th.The British ships sailed into the fjord and lowered their assault craft. A German look-out spotted them, but as he tried to raise the alarm he was accused of being drunk. In the meantime the British Commandos had landed and taken their first objective at Hollevik.The Royal Navy ships opened up with their big guns, sending high-explosive shells into the town of Vaagso. The Commandos fanned out and fought house-to-house with the Germans using close-quarter weapons such as Tommy guns and grenades. The Maaloy battery was blown to pieces. Tragedy occurred when an RAF aircraft accidentally dropped a phosphorous smoke bomb into one of the landing craft, killing half the troops inside. For four hours, the commandos fought with the Germans at close hand, clearing buildings and factories as they advanced into the town of Vaagso. By early afternoon, they felt they had achieved their objectives and left.The assault had been brilliantly executed, but success had come at a price: 20 commandos killed and 57 wounded. But 16,000 tonnes of enemy shipping had been destroyed and many Germans killed or wounded in the fighting. Above all, the British had shown they were back in action, able to lead a combined arms assault on Nazi Europe. It was a tremendous morale raiser and demonstrated the potential of the new Royal Marine Commandos. |
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| Item Description: | Title from resource description page (viewed March 29, 2016). |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (25 minutes). |
| Playing Time: | 00:24:18 |