Just Finished Reading: Operation Biting – The 1942 Parachute Assault to Capture Hitler's Radar by Max Hastings (FP: 2024) [268pp] 

By the end of 1941 with the Battle of Britain won and the threat of invasion consigned to history Britain was looking for ways to strike back at the Axis Powers in Europe. Bomber Command was doing what it could with the aircraft it had available, but more needed to be done - especially as bomber losses, even at night, were increasing. Partially informed by a mixture of pride and arrogance it was long, too long, believed that either Germany did not use RADAR or that their technology was primitive in comparison to the British achievement. But the growing air losses, electronic signals from the Continent, ENIGMA traffic and strange reconnaissance photographs suggested otherwise. One location in particular intrigued the British war planners. It was an isolated facility in Normandy near the village of Bruneval. It looked ideal for an assault from the air, something the British armed forces had never tried before. On hearing of the idea Churchill, always up for an example of exotic warfare, agreed that it should be planned and executed as soon as possible, not only to show to the public that the British bulldog still had teeth but also to show the Americans that Britain was still very much in the fight. 

I'd heard of the famous Bruneval raid before but had never read anything much about it before. I think the thing that surprised me more than anything else reading this excellent study of the event was how much planning went into it and just how many people were involved. It was an early example of true combined arms warfare involving ground troops being dropped from the air – in hastily modified and totally unsuitable obsolete bombers - who fought a ground action and were later picked up by Naval forces from the French beach. Of course, being the first time anything like this had been attempted (and despite extensive if patchy training) the co-ordination between Services was... less than stellar. Not only were some of the paratroopers dropped FAR from their landing zones (a glider assault would have been a much better idea, but not suitable gliders had yet been built and tested) but the Navy failed to pick up any of the troop's signals when they needed rescue until some hours had passed. Only a fair amount of luck and a very lacklustre response from the local German forces prevented the operation becoming a failure. 

Unfortunately, despite the ultimate success of the mission, many of the wrong lessons had been learnt and, rather inevitably, a number of significantly upscaled missions followed – notably the attacks on Saint-Nazaire and catastrophically the assault on Dieppe [more on both missions later] provided little in the way of positive results but did result in very heavy casualties on the Allied side. The disaster of Dieppe did, fortunately, have an upside as it prompted the Allies to plan the later invasion of 'fortress Europe' to a much greater degree and provide it with overwhelming force to achieve its aims. This was a small unit action that has largely faded into the background of larger actions in WW2 which is a shame. Full of 'interesting' and 'exotic' characters in the British Special Forces (again something very new at the time) this was a valuable look at an operation that influenced many aspects of fighting later in the war. Definitely worth a read if this is in your scope of interest. Much more from the author to come. 

Interesting!

Just Finished Reading: Red Devils – The Trailblazers of the Paras in World War Two – An Authorised History of the Parachute Regiment by Mark Urban (FP: 2022) [280pp] 

You couldn’t help but be impressed by the German’s use of glider and parachute forces as the Blitzkrieg rolled across western Europe. With bridges secured and supposedly impregnable fortresses taken it would be hard not to be. The second inevitable thought was: why haven’t we got anything like that? So was born the idea and the seed of Britain’s elite Parachute Regiment. 

Prime Minister Winston Churchill was, of course, notoriously fond of special elite units like the Royal Marine Commandoes and the Special Air (and Boat) Service. So, he was delighted with the idea of dropping in troops from the skies to take and hold positions – and much else besides – where required. But the question was – where can they be used, and would they be of any use? Their first test came with a smash & grab operation in France early in 1942. The mission, Operation Biting, was a simple one – to grab German radar equipment that was giving the RAF a hard time so that countermeasures could be developed (more to come on this). It was both a successful mission and an ideal opportunity to learn valuable lessons before moving on to anything bigger. Naturally one of the consequences of ‘going large’ was that a purely volunteer force was no longer an option, so entire Infantry units were transferred over, and parachute (or glider) training was undertaken.  

The next opportunity/learning experience was in North Africa where more limitations were exposed for all to see – specially the lack of heavy anti-tank equipment – which cost the Regiment dearly. But it was also the place where they got the famous ‘nickname’ of the Red Devils, given to them by the opposing German forces before of their fighting prowess. Not surprisingly, the name was adopted with pride. Moving on to Sicily more painful lessons along with more encounters with their opposite numbers, the German parachutists, helped harden the Regiment for its toughest and most important mission yet – the invasion of Continental Europe: D Day. The deployments of paratroopers and glider forces (including the famous taking of Pegasus Bridge) before and around D-Day was a huge success and paved the way for the successful landings that day and in the following ones. Losses were high but still significantly less than expected or feared. The new doctrine had more than lived up to expectations. 

Not surprisingly, after such a success the temptation was to go even larger. Hubris, it must be said, played a significant role in the idea and planning of Operation Market Garden which hoped to shorten the war by leapfrogging through the Low Countries and end with pointing a dagger at the heart of the Rhineland. It was, as we now know with hindsight ‘a bridge too far’ as the attempted capture of the crossing at Arnhem failed spectacularly. From the authors notes it does seem that the idea was both rushed in the planning stage and in its application. Cooler heads should have seen that the operation was simply too risky and relied with everything going exactly right. Having many year's experience at this point the planners should have been well aware that NO plan survives contact with the enemy. So, when the troops at Arnhem met a Panzer division at rest it was effectively game over – despite a truly heroic defence of their perimeter (more later!) which has since passed into legend.  

Although a little too exhaustive in places, this was often a fascinating look at – from the British standpoint at least – a new way of warfare. When used properly (certainly not always the case) it was devastatingly effective. When used improperly (when strengths and weaknesses were not understood by Infantry commanders) casualty lists ballooned. Even so, the Parachute Regiment always fought above its weight as befits an elite unit and has more than earned its place in history. An interesting read and, therefore, recommended. 

Just Finished re-Reading: Shoot the Women First by Eileen MacDonald (FP: 1991) [241pp] 

The first time she heard about it she wasn’t sure what to think. Apparently, a head of a German anti-terrorist unit was giving the advice that, in any terrorist situation, the security services of the country involved should prioritise in ‘neutralising’ the female terrorists as quickly as possible – in other words to shoot the women first. But why? This book was the authors attempt to discover the reason behind that advice – not by speaking to the security services (that came later), but by speaking to the terrorists themselves. Over the subsequent months she travelled to Spain to speak to the women of ETA, the Basque separatist organisation, interviewed Kim Hyon Hui the North Korean woman who planted the bomb on Korean Air Flight 858 killing all on board in an attempt to disrupt the Seoul Olympic games that year, spent time with the women of the West Bank and interviewed Leila Khaled, infamous hijacker of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), felt vulnerable, for the first time, when she spoke to women from the IRA, interviewed Susanna Ronconi of the Italian Red Brigades and finally spent some time with a number of infamous women of the Red Army Faction from Germany including Astrid Proll. 

I remember reading this not long after it came out in paperback. It was the days when I was commuting into London each day on the train from Kent. You can imagine to looks I got when people saw the title! Reading it over 30 years ago meant that I had very little memory of the text so it felt like the first time. It was interesting looking back to the sometimes dark days of the 70’s and 80’s when planes were being hijacked on a regular basis and bombs were going off all over Europe – including the very city I worked in each day. It was also interesting peeking into the minds of the women doing the hijacking, planting the bombs and shooting it out with the police and security services. Most interesting, naturally, was both their motivation and the ever-present question of why they were considered more dangerous than men.  The author went through several theories – including the old arguments about female terrorists being lesbians or ugly (neither of which is universally true) or even that they felt that had to out-do the men to prove they were worthy (sometimes true to some extent). The answer slowly crystalised through conversations and with a final interview with a member of the German Security Services. Male terrorists, it appeared, treated their activity as a ‘job’ - something they did. Female terrorists, by contrast, treated it as their life. Generally, they had sacrificed much more than the men – family, children, a future – and so their dedication to the cause was much greater. When confronted by armed police a male terrorist would be more likely to surrender, a female terrorist much more likely to pick up her AK-47 and start shooting.  

One of the things that most surprised the author – no doubt expecting the women she spoke to be monsters or at the very least damaged or broken people – was how very ordinary these women were. Although a few frightened her in various ways, she couldn’t help but like a number of them and even admire their stance in the face of oppression and dangerous violence. Many, if not all, were feminists of one sort or another striving for a form of equality. All of them were looking to the future for a better life and better prospects for their children or the future generations of their people. None took their activities lightly and many agonised over the people they had personally killed but felt they had little choice in the matter.  

In some ways this was not an easy read. These women were often killers after all who used violence and the threat of violence to promote their political ends. But terrorism cannot be effectively opposed in any age if we do not at least attempt to understand those who undertake these actions and the reasons behind their acts. I think this book – not at all dated since its original publication – goes a small way towards that understanding. Recommended if you can source a copy.  

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Just Finished Reading: Steel From the Sky – Behind Enemy Lines in German-Occupied France (The Jedburgh Raiders, France 1944) by Roger Ford (FP: 2004)

With the planned Invasion of Europe almost upon them the senior leaders within the Allied Powers conceived of a bold plan. For years, not long after the fall of France, both British and French operatives had been working in the occupied territories gather intelligence, forming relationships with various resistance cells and offering help with training and weapons were possible. Now, with the end in sight they needed something more proactive, something more robust, and something more recognisable as military intervention. So the Jedburgh Raiders were born.

Picked from volunteers with a knowledge of French and a taste for adventure each 3 man team was made up (with a few exceptions) of one Britain, one American and one Frenchman who dropped behind enemy lines in the months following D-Day with orders to harass the (often retreating) enemy, prevent Axis demolition efforts, distribute arms to all those willing and able to carry them and aid the Allied forces on the ground once they reached them. Around 100 teams embarked from Britain or Algeria over several months and operated in France to varying effect from a period of days to months. Surprisingly, given the nature of their mission, most Jedburgh’s survived the war and one of which was instrumental in the foundation of the CIA.

Although the quality of the men (and their equipment) was generally very high this could not be said about some of the planning, logistics or delivery of the teams themselves. A number of raiders were injured or killed during the drops often to avoidable accidents. In some cases the reception committee in France itself had no idea they were coming. Messages for supply drops – especially of weapons – were too often ignored either because of code errors, faulty radio equipment or for purely political reasons when it was decided that too many weapons in the hands of the resistance only meant future headaches for whatever government took charge post-occupation. Despite all of this some sterling work was done by the teams – often with huge obstacles to overcome – resulting in an impressive number of Axis troops killed or captured, ammo dumps destroyed, communications rendered useless and possible invasion counter moves delayed or (often literally) derailed.

This was definitely as aspect of the liberation of France that I had not come across before. I obviously knew about D-Day and the Allied forces push across France, I knew about co-ordinated resistance efforts to assist in their own liberation but I didn’t know anything about this aspect of the fight involving both SOE and OSS (plus French secret service and SAS units) as part of the fight. I also didn’t realise, until reading this book, just how long the fighting went on and how intense some of it was. I previously had the impression that Allies invade, Axis fall back and just like that France was free. Nothing could be further from the truth. In some places the Germans and their allies melted away in the face of Allied advances but in other locations they only surrendered after the fall of Germany itself.

Whilst generally interesting the book did, I feel, have one serious flaw. For understandable reasons the author selected to tell the story of the Jedburgh’s region by region and team by team. This meant much repetition of Team X, leaving airfield Y, landing at zone Z and completing missions A, B and C. As a resource book (very little had been written about this aspect of the war prior to its publication) it’s important if not invaluable to get this information in print for those who follow the authors lead. However, coming into the topic cold as I did, the format undermined any idea or possibility of a compelling narrative to the Jedburgh story. Certainly interesting (and important) but not exactly a page-turner. (R) 

Just Finished Reading: Ian Fleming’s Commandos – The Story of 30 Assault Unit in WWII by Nicholas Rankin (FP: 2011)

At the beginning of WW2, after the disaster of Norway and the retreat from Dunkirk, England stood alone against Germany and desperately needed to strike back in any way it could. There was also a real need to understand exactly what we were up against in the way of advanced technology and especially anything to do with the fabled Enigma machine. Without such knowledge England would be fighting against a most dangerous enemy with one arm tied behind its back. Enter Ian Fleming who was recommended to Naval Intelligence as someone who could get the job done in difficult circumstances. On being promoted to Lieutenant-Commander he had a brilliant idea – why not simple ‘nick’ enemy technology and bring it back for analysis? So was born a small commando unit tasked with the dangerous job of working behind enemy lines, stealing what they could and returning safely to the UK. Operating in Occupied France, the Mediterranean and later in most theatres of the war 30 Assault Unit was responsible for the capture of several vital pieces of enemy equipment – including the latest Germany radar units and Enigma machine parts – during daring raids that would have put Flemings later creation James Bond to shame. Drawing parallels between Fleming and his wartime experiences and his later James Bond novels adds an interesting extra level to this book. But primarily this is about an almost forgotten aspect of the war where daring (indeed sometimes suicidal bravery) won the day over impressive odds and, usually, resulted in significant gains of intelligence.

Read in conjunction with my recent reading on Bletchley Park, early aerial reconnaissance and the hunt for the V-weapons, this book adds another layer and another dimension to the story of British resistance to Germany and her Axis allies in WW2 and especially in the early days – the most interesting I find – when improvisation and thinking way outside the box where vital to fighting back with very limited resources. Of course not everything turned out well – far from it – but we eventually learned our lessons (often the hard way) and eventually got the hang of unconventional warfare in the days before we had the ability to face the enemy on equal terms. This was a gripping narrative full of fascinating details and heroic individuals seemingly doing the impossible on a daily basis. With our backs against the wall we used our native cunning to hit back in any way possible – no matter how ‘whacky’ the ideas seemed at the time. Some of them worked and some of them worked brilliantly. If you’re a fan of this kind of history or even of Fleming and James Bond this is definitely the book for you. Highly recommended.