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The Bruneval Raid - Operation Biting 1942

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The Bruneval Raid - Operation Biting 1942

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Description

In the darkest days of World War II, the British planned a daring airborne operation to capture the secret of the new German radar. Lead by Major John Frost, a company of paratroopers dropped into Bruneval on the French coast, and quickly neutralized a small German garrison. Then began a desperate fight for time as the British tried to dismantle the German radar and evacuate back to England, as ever more German units converged on their position. Using artwork, photographs, and detailed maps, this action-packed narrative puts the reader in the planning room and on the battlefield of one of the greatest raids of World War II.

Product Details

Author:	Ken Ford
Paperback:	64 pages
Publisher:	Osprey Publishing
Publication Date:	August 24, 2010
Language:	English
ISBN:	1846038499
Package Length:	9.69 inches
Package Width:	7.17 inches
Package Height:	0.31 inches
Package Weight:	0.57 pounds
Average Customer Rating:	based on 1 reviews

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One of the Best Raid Titles to Date Aug 24, 2010
The British raid on the German radar station near Bruneval in France on 28 February 1942 is widely regarded as one of the classic special operations raids of the Second World War. Never mind that it was conducted by British paratroopers not commandos, it is still viewed as a model `commando-type' raid. In Osprey's Raid No. 13, British author Ken Ford details the planning, preparation and execution of the Bruneval Raid. It is an exciting read and perfect for this format. This is one of the best Raid series volumes to date.

The author begins with the genesis of the radar war between England and Germany in 1940-41 and the intelligence gaps which led to the raid. Intelligence specialists should appreciate the author's discussion of the British priority intelligence requirements (what the new German radars looked like, how they were used and on what frequencies) and how IMINT and ELINT provided some insight, but not enough to answer the key questions. Clearly, understanding the new generation of German air defenses radars would be critical in order for the RAF to operate effectively over occupied Europe, so gaining physical access to one of these radars became imperative. Once the British selected the radar site at Bruneval as their target - primarily because it was right on the coast - military politics shaped the raid. Even though the Royal Marine Commandos were probably best suited and trained for such a raid, the new British Airborne Regiment was anxious to prove itself and one company was selected for the operation. Although the author does not comment upon it, it must have occurred to the planners that choosing an airborne unit would sacrifice surprise, since transport planes could hardly expect to approach an air defense radar without being detected. The author does note the problems that surfaced during training, where the paratroopers had difficulty coordinating with the Royal Navy motor gunboats for pick-up. Again, the Commandos had already worked with the Royal Navy and would have been a better choice, by this was a case where service politics played a role.

The author does a fine job describing German defenses at Bruneval, the run in to the target, the drop, the raid and the withdrawal. It is gripping material, at points. In short, some things went wrong, but the raid achieved its objectives of returning to England with captured radar components, enabling the development of countermeasures such as Window. Although the raiders had operational surprise, they failed to achieve tactical surprise and the nearby German troops were soon moving against them. Overall, the author does a great job telling this story but there were a few interesting sidebars that could have received more attention. Just as predicted by the pre-raid training exercise blunders, six of the raiders - 5 percent of the raiding force - were left behind and captured by the Germans. It would have been interested to learn more about what the Germans learned about British raiding tactics from these prisoner interrogations.

Graphically, the volume has two 2-D maps (objectives and German defenses; routes of the raiding force to/from the objective) and two 3-D BEV maps (the attack and the withdrawal). It also has two battle scenes (dismantling the radar set and clearing the way to the beach) by Howard Gerrard. The photos throughout the volume are quite good, particularly RAF aerial recon photos used in the planning of the raid.