This led to brutal reprisals against civilian populations. Jellicoe’s SBS raid on Heraklion in 1942 was considered a great success. However, special operations often relied on resistance support or help from local people. Indeed, they were so effective that, by 1944, one estimate suggests that around 300 men of the SBS were holding down the equivalent of several German divisions. Similarly, SBS operations in the Mediterranean forced the Axis to garrison Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece with thousands of soldiers, preventing their use on other war fronts. Most of the damaged ships were soon back in use.ĭespite heavy losses, the Chindits successfully tied down thousands of Japanese troops. One of the survivors was raid leader Major Herbert 'Blondie' Hasler who escaped to neutral Spain.Īlthough the raid was a morale boost for the British population and the French resistance, it had little long-term strategic effect. Two succumbed to hypothermia and six were caught and executed. Of the ten men - who would later become known as 'the Cockleshell Heroes' - only two survived. The other canoes capsized in the rough waters near the Gironde estuary. There they attached limpet mines to the ships, damaging six of them. Only two teams made it to the port of Bordeaux. Instead, five two-man teams of the RMBPD disembarked from a submarine in the Bay of Biscay, tasked with paddling their folding canoes up the heavily-defended River Gironde. Planners were also reluctant to launch an operation similar to the recent failed raid at Dieppe. Several of the German ships there were known to be taking specialist equipment to Japan.Ī large commando attack was ruled out as too expensive. In December 1942, men from the Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment (RMBPD) took part in a raid against German merchant vessels at Bordeaux.
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