De Havilland Mosquito
Discussion
Watching TV this morning I was channel-hopping and came across something interesting on the 'Yesterday' channel...
The show was called 'Narrow Escapes Of World War II' and the episode title was 'The Amiens Raid' (S1, E4 - first shown in 2011)
An interesting telling of the Operation Jericho story, an attack on Amiens prison by Mosquitos flown by mainly New Zealanders and Australians. Mission? To break open the perimeter walls, and breach the prison walls of the place where French resistance fighters were being held and where they were due to be executed in February 1944. The aim being to enable at least some of these condemned prisoners to escape and continue their war of sabotage and intelligence gathering against occupying German forces.
It told the story quite well, I thought, with plenty of stock/library film of Mosquitos in action (spoiled in places by a few sneaky Beaufighters and Havocs) as well as clips of FW 190s I'd not seen before. And it also had the editorial "balls" to pour some scorn on the release of prisoners being the principal reason for the raid. One interview with an ex-prisoner at the time who thought that the loss of life among prisoners meant the raid wasn't worth it, and questions asked about the (alleged) intelligence that led to it. Another local historian said he'd "combed German and French court archives and found no trace of any signed death warrants, especially not for hundreds of Resistance fighters".
Regardless of whether it was done for the right" reasons or not, it was a fantastic example of the versatility of the Mosquito and the skill and courage of it's crews. And it might even serve as a prod for me to (try to) dig out more detailed information about Op Jericho...
The show was called 'Narrow Escapes Of World War II' and the episode title was 'The Amiens Raid' (S1, E4 - first shown in 2011)
An interesting telling of the Operation Jericho story, an attack on Amiens prison by Mosquitos flown by mainly New Zealanders and Australians. Mission? To break open the perimeter walls, and breach the prison walls of the place where French resistance fighters were being held and where they were due to be executed in February 1944. The aim being to enable at least some of these condemned prisoners to escape and continue their war of sabotage and intelligence gathering against occupying German forces.
It told the story quite well, I thought, with plenty of stock/library film of Mosquitos in action (spoiled in places by a few sneaky Beaufighters and Havocs) as well as clips of FW 190s I'd not seen before. And it also had the editorial "balls" to pour some scorn on the release of prisoners being the principal reason for the raid. One interview with an ex-prisoner at the time who thought that the loss of life among prisoners meant the raid wasn't worth it, and questions asked about the (alleged) intelligence that led to it. Another local historian said he'd "combed German and French court archives and found no trace of any signed death warrants, especially not for hundreds of Resistance fighters".
Regardless of whether it was done for the right" reasons or not, it was a fantastic example of the versatility of the Mosquito and the skill and courage of it's crews. And it might even serve as a prod for me to (try to) dig out more detailed information about Op Jericho...
yellowjack said:
Watching TV this morning I was channel-hopping and came across something interesting on the 'Yesterday' channel...
The show was called 'Narrow Escapes Of World War II' and the episode title was 'The Amiens Raid' (S1, E4 - first shown in 2011)
An interesting telling of the Operation Jericho story, an attack on Amiens prison by Mosquitos flown by mainly New Zealanders and Australians. Mission? To break open the perimeter walls, and breach the prison walls of the place where French resistance fighters were being held and where they were due to be executed in February 1944. The aim being to enable at least some of these condemned prisoners to escape and continue their war of sabotage and intelligence gathering against occupying German forces.
It told the story quite well, I thought, with plenty of stock/library film of Mosquitos in action (spoiled in places by a few sneaky Beaufighters and Havocs) as well as clips of FW 190s I'd not seen before. And it also had the editorial "balls" to pour some scorn on the release of prisoners being the principal reason for the raid. One interview with an ex-prisoner at the time who thought that the loss of life among prisoners meant the raid wasn't worth it, and questions asked about the (alleged) intelligence that led to it. Another local historian said he'd "combed German and French court archives and found no trace of any signed death warrants, especially not for hundreds of Resistance fighters".
Regardless of whether it was done for the right" reasons or not, it was a fantastic example of the versatility of the Mosquito and the skill and courage of it's crews. And it might even serve as a prod for me to (try to) dig out more detailed information about Op Jericho...
Not to mention the loss of even by then, legendary RAF pilot, Grp.Cpt P.C. Pickard DSO**, DFC and his Nav, Flt.Lt J.A.Broadley DSO, DFC, DFM.The show was called 'Narrow Escapes Of World War II' and the episode title was 'The Amiens Raid' (S1, E4 - first shown in 2011)
An interesting telling of the Operation Jericho story, an attack on Amiens prison by Mosquitos flown by mainly New Zealanders and Australians. Mission? To break open the perimeter walls, and breach the prison walls of the place where French resistance fighters were being held and where they were due to be executed in February 1944. The aim being to enable at least some of these condemned prisoners to escape and continue their war of sabotage and intelligence gathering against occupying German forces.
It told the story quite well, I thought, with plenty of stock/library film of Mosquitos in action (spoiled in places by a few sneaky Beaufighters and Havocs) as well as clips of FW 190s I'd not seen before. And it also had the editorial "balls" to pour some scorn on the release of prisoners being the principal reason for the raid. One interview with an ex-prisoner at the time who thought that the loss of life among prisoners meant the raid wasn't worth it, and questions asked about the (alleged) intelligence that led to it. Another local historian said he'd "combed German and French court archives and found no trace of any signed death warrants, especially not for hundreds of Resistance fighters".
Regardless of whether it was done for the right" reasons or not, it was a fantastic example of the versatility of the Mosquito and the skill and courage of it's crews. And it might even serve as a prod for me to (try to) dig out more detailed information about Op Jericho...
yellowjack said:
Watching TV this morning I was channel-hopping and came across something interesting on the 'Yesterday' channel...
The show was called 'Narrow Escapes Of World War II' and the episode title was 'The Amiens Raid' (S1, E4 - first shown in 2011)
And it might even serve as a prod for me to (try to) dig out more detailed information about Op Jericho...
A very good book on the subject is 'The Amiens Raid' by J.P. Ducellier and published by Red Kite. It sounds like the author could be the historian you mentioned as he contends that there were not 100 resistance members awaiting execution in the prison.The show was called 'Narrow Escapes Of World War II' and the episode title was 'The Amiens Raid' (S1, E4 - first shown in 2011)
And it might even serve as a prod for me to (try to) dig out more detailed information about Op Jericho...
Operation Jericho is a postwar association based on a French film of the same name, it was known as 'Ramrod 564' by the RAF.
Its certainly a complex story and not clear really why the mission was ordered and by whom, the Picardy Resistance movement denied being involved in the operation, one theory is that it was part of the disinformation campaign in the run up to D-Day to place emphasis on the Pas-de-Calais area as the location for the landings.
Edited by Krupp88 on Tuesday 12th April 16:13
Krupp88 said:
yellowjack said:
Watching TV this morning I was channel-hopping and came across something interesting on the 'Yesterday' channel...
The show was called 'Narrow Escapes Of World War II' and the episode title was 'The Amiens Raid' (S1, E4 - first shown in 2011)
And it might even serve as a prod for me to (try to) dig out more detailed information about Op Jericho...
A very good book on the subject is 'The Amiens Raid' by J.P. Ducellier and published by Red Kite. It sounds like the author could be the historian you mentioned as he contends that there were not 100 resistance members awaiting execution in the prison.The show was called 'Narrow Escapes Of World War II' and the episode title was 'The Amiens Raid' (S1, E4 - first shown in 2011)
And it might even serve as a prod for me to (try to) dig out more detailed information about Op Jericho...
Operation Jericho is a postwar association based on a French film of the same name, it was known as 'Ramrod 564' by the RAF.
Its certainly a complex story and not clear really why the mission was ordered and by whom, the Picardy Resistance movement denied being involved in the operation, one theory is that it was part of the disinformation campaign in the run up to D-Day to place emphasis on the Pas-de-Calais area as the location for the landings.
Edited by Krupp88 on Tuesday 12th April 16:13
...the gaming angle isn't for me, but the names of the crews, the aircraft serials, and the details of various fates is interesting and provides a number of possible search words to shove into Google search, or to look up in a book index.
Someone clearly knew the truth about this raid, who planned/authorised it, and why. But that'll either be buried in some personal archive somewhere, be in an as yet unread official archive, or it died with whoever knew it.
Having wandered around in the armoured ops room at RAF Debden (my boss was the key holder) it was quite thought-provoking to wonder exactly what went on in those map rooms and offices during and between raids, and who made what decisions about targets, etc. Sobering, too, working on a WWII fighter airfield and literally treading in the footsteps of air and ground crews of the RAF and USAAF.
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