Operation Constellation

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Operation Constellation was the name of one of a number of World War II missions, proposed by Vice Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, in 1943 to take back the Channel Islands from German occupation in World War II. It was never mounted. The others were Operation Condor, Operation Concertina and Operation Coverlet.

1 Background
2 Proposal
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Background

Between 1940 and 1945, the Channel Islands were the only fragments of British territory to come under Nazi occupation. On these islands were entrenched almost 40,000 German soldiers, sailors and airmen, snug behind fortifications that had consumed more than 10% of the concrete used in Nazi Germany's much vaunted Atlantic Wall, that stretched from Norway to the Pyrenees.

[edit] Proposal

In 1943, British Chief of Combined Operations, Vice-Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten proposed Operation Constellation, an offensive against the Channel Islands, Operation Concertina, an offensive against Alderney, Operation Coverlet, the offensive against Guernsey, and Operation Condor, the offensive against Jersey. He suggested that:

"There is no doubt that the enemy has fully appreciated the value of the Channel Islands, and the potential threat those islands would offer if re-occupied by our forces"

In 1941, the Channel Islands, captured without opposition in July 1940 were turned into impregnable fortresses, never to be surrendered. These developments had been overwatched by Mountbatten, through aerial reconnaissance. Mountbatten commented:

"Each island is a veritable fortress, the assault against which cannot be contemplated unless the defences are neutralised, or reduced to a very considerable extent by prior action."

This was the problem, "prior action" meant either naval bombardment or aerial bombing. Although most defences were on or near the coast, the inaccuracies of bombing or shelling had the potential to pulverise two thirds of Guernsey's land surface, and at least half of Jersey's. What would have happened to the sixty five thousand or so local civilians if this happened? Because of the likely appalling civilian casualties, the operations were shelved, and Mountbatten gained fame in South East Asia instead.

Although the Germans believed that occupying the Channel Islands gave them an ongoing propaganda coup, such as photographs of German soldiers talking with British "bobbies" (policemen), in strategic terms, the islands were of little value to them. They were much better placed for an invasion of Normandy by the Allies, than most offensive/defensive action by the Axis. However, Stalin's badgering was instrumental in causing a western front to be opened. Eventually, when one did come, it was not to be in the Channel Islands, but nearby mainland Normandy. However, when this was taking place, the Germans themselves removed many of their wounded to the Channel Islands for treatment.