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Osprey Raid #21
Operation Archery: The Commandos and the Vaagso Raid 1941
Operation Archery, the raid on Vaagso and Maaloy in Norway on December 27, 1942, was the first true combined operation carried out by British forces involving the Army, Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. The Islands of Vaagso and Maaloy on the Norwegian coast between Bergen and Trondheim were selected because they offered a perfect opportunity to damage German installations and morale.
Mountbatten, the new head of Combined Operations, hoped to eliminate the local garrison, destroy the fish oil factories and sink enemy shipping. The raiding force consisted of No. 3 Commando, two troops of No. 2 Commando, a medical detachment from No. 4 Commando and a Royal Norwegian Army detachment totalling 51 officers and 525 men. To support the amphibious raid was a flotilla of warships and low-level bomb attacks by the RAF.
The raid was launched on Christmas Day 1942, taking the German defenders entirely by surprise. German resistance was stiff, however, and a fierce firefight ensued. Relive the nail-biting action of one of the great raids of World War II in this exciting book, packed with maps and photographs.
Mountbatten, the new head of Combined Operations, hoped to eliminate the local garrison, destroy the fish oil factories and sink enemy shipping. The raiding force consisted of No. 3 Commando, two troops of No. 2 Commando, a medical detachment from No. 4 Commando and a Royal Norwegian Army detachment totalling 51 officers and 525 men. To support the amphibious raid was a flotilla of warships and low-level bomb attacks by the RAF.
The raid was launched on Christmas Day 1942, taking the German defenders entirely by surprise. German resistance was stiff, however, and a fierce firefight ensued. Relive the nail-biting action of one of the great raids of World War II in this exciting book, packed with maps and photographs.
80 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
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December 26, 2016
Ken Ford writes Ospreys the way his namesake made cars: they come in one colour only, but affordability and satisfaction are guaranteed. The first commando raid of W WII on the Norvegian town of Vaagso (whose fish oil plants produced an ingredient for explosives manufacture) fits snugly within this 80 page format. The artwork is not overly energetic, but the photo selection makes up for this.
The text sucks you into the middle of the house-to-house fighting between the commandoes, appearing battle-ready out of a smoke screen, and the German defenders, battered into despair by a hail of naval shells but reinforced by 50 veterans of the 1940 campaign, who happened to be on leave in the town and proceeded to give the British a harsch lesson in urban fighting.
The contribution of the raid to the war effort is neatly summed up: while the wholesale devastation of a single Norvegian town was little comfort to the Royal Navy, who had planned to linger among the protection of the fjords for week to disrupt the ore trade to the Reich, it did provide some valuable experience in amphibious operations prior to the large-scale bloodbath of Dieppe the next year. It also drew the Sauron eye of Hitler to the north of the Atlantic: the Norvegian garrison would swell to 300.000 much-needed troops who'd surrender there long after operation Fortitude North had served its purpose to keep Normandy clear.
The text sucks you into the middle of the house-to-house fighting between the commandoes, appearing battle-ready out of a smoke screen, and the German defenders, battered into despair by a hail of naval shells but reinforced by 50 veterans of the 1940 campaign, who happened to be on leave in the town and proceeded to give the British a harsch lesson in urban fighting.
The contribution of the raid to the war effort is neatly summed up: while the wholesale devastation of a single Norvegian town was little comfort to the Royal Navy, who had planned to linger among the protection of the fjords for week to disrupt the ore trade to the Reich, it did provide some valuable experience in amphibious operations prior to the large-scale bloodbath of Dieppe the next year. It also drew the Sauron eye of Hitler to the north of the Atlantic: the Norvegian garrison would swell to 300.000 much-needed troops who'd surrender there long after operation Fortitude North had served its purpose to keep Normandy clear.
Displaying 1 of 1 review