THE LIBERATION OF FRANCE 1944
“THEIR MISSION WAS TO STOP THREE PANZER DIVISIONS OF RESERVES FROM REACHING THE BEACHES”
In the build up to and aftermath of the Normandy landings, several SAS squadrons entered German territory and caused mayhem for the enemy, destroying weapons, supplies and communication and transport lines
In March 1944, SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) issued the SAS its operational instructions for D-day. The brigade (now made up of 1SAS, 2SAS, two French regiments, 3 & 4, and a company of Belgian soldiers) would parachute into Normandy between the landing beaches and the German reserves 36 hours ahead of the main invasion. Their mission was to stop three Panzer divisions of reserves from reaching the beaches after the landings began. Recognising this was an impossible mission, Lieutenant Colonel Bill Stirling demanded that the SAS should operate in occupied France similar to their methods in North Africa, attacking the lines of communication, liaising with the French resistance and hampering German reinforcements.
On 28 May, 21 Army Group issued an amended order for the brigade to replace the original order two months earlier. The SAS would carry out 43 missions in France, all but one entailing the insertion of SAS units deep behind enemy lines.
01 OPERATION HOUNDSWORTH
The first major mission into Occupied France was codenamed Houndsworth, and involved A Squadron. Its aim was to cut the railway lines between Lyon and Paris, train groups of Maquis in the area, and generally disrupt enemy activity as much as possible. As the Allied invasion fleet prepared to sail for the Normandy beaches on the night of 5 June, a small number of A Squadron landed in the countryside of the Massif du Morvan, west of the city of Dijon. By 22 June, the remaining 46 men of A Squadron were safely inserted, and two days later ambushed an Axis convoy sent to intercept them.
02 OPERATION WALLACE
Between 19 August and 10 September, 2SAS harassed German units in the area around Auxerre, ambushing convoys and sabotaging fuel depots. 500 Germans were killed or wounded, 59 motorised vehicles destroyed and nearly 500,000 litres of enemy fuel destroyed.
03 OPERATION TITANIC
Titanic was conducted by just four SAS men, whose objectives were to create a diversion just behind the Normandy beaches, before the arrival of the main invasion on 6 June. This distraction consisted of throwing several sandbags dressed up as paratroopers from a low-flying aircraft. The sandbags were fitted with firecrackers to explode on landing – the mission was unsuccessful.
04 OPERATION DINGSON
This mission in Brittany was carried out by the French SAS in June and ended in the Battle of St Marcel, which cost six SAS and left 300 Germans dead.
05 OPERATION HAFT
This reconnaissance mission was launched in July 1944, with the goal of identifying and relaying German positions ahead of the Allied breakout from the Cotentin Peninsula.
06 OPERATION HARDY
The forerunner to Operation Wallace, Hardy’s goal was to lay supplies and provide intelligence for another SAS squadron arriving to operate in the region.
07 OPERATION RUPERT
This 2SAS operation only began in the middle of August, 1944. The men dropped into eastern France with orders to sabotage railway lines between Nancy and Chalons-surmarne. By late summer, however, the Germans were already rapidly heading east, with the American Third Army not far behind them. This meant for a time the squadron acted as reconnaissance patrols for their allies.
08 OPERATION COONEY
This mission saw 18 French SAS sabotage teams dropped into France by parachute. Cooney’s aim was to isolate
Brittany by quickly cutting its railway lines. The mission began on 8 June and forced an entire battle group of the German 275th Division to abandon the railway and take to the road. They eventually arrived to the frontline, and the Allied beach heads, some two days late.
09 OPERATION BULBASKET
Commanded by Captain John Tonkin, Bulbasket was a 1SAS operation that began on the night of 5/6 June when the men parachuted into the countryside south of Poitiers. From the start, the operation suffered from the proximity of large numbers of enemy troops and at dawn on 3 July the camp was overrun by the Germans, who captured 31 SAS soldiers – all of whom were executed.
10 OPERATION GAIN
D squadron, 1SAS, operated for two months in the Rambouillet area, 50km south of Paris. Although several of the 60 or so men who began the mission were lost, the SAS inflicted heavy damage on the Germans in a series of guerrilla style raids, while also derailing trains, cutting railway lines and relaying key intelligence on German troop movements close to the capital.
11 OPERATION HAGGARD
One squadron of 1SAS troops parachuted in west of the Loire in early August, forming a base between Bourges and Nevers. Ordered to create chaos and disruption among the German ranks, during one attack they ambushed an enemy convoy with a huge roadside bomb, before mopping up the survivors with small-arms fire. Approximately 100 enemy were reportedly killed during this single action.