Operation Flipper

Operation Flipper (also known as the 'Rommel Raid')
Part of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War
Date10–18 November 1941
LocationLibya
32°55′59″N 21°44′30″E / 32.93306°N 21.74167°ECoordinates: 32°55′59″N 21°44′30″E / 32.93306°N 21.74167°E
Result British failure
Belligerents
 United Kingdom  Nazi Germany
Commanders and leaders
Robert Laycock
Geoffrey Keyes †		 Erwin Rommel
Casualties and losses
2 killed
28 captured (incl. 3 wounded)
3 escaped		 1 killed

Operation Flipper (also called the Rommel Raid) was a British commando raid, during the Second World War, carried out mainly by men from No.11 (Scottish) Commando. The operation included among its objectives an attack on the headquarters of Erwin Rommel, the commander of the Axis forces in North Africa. It was timed to strike on the night of 17/18 November 1941, just before the start of Operation Crusader, a major British offensive. The operation was a failure, Rommel had left the target house weeks earlier and all but two of the commandos who got ashore were killed or captured. One of the SBS team who had secured the beach for the commando party also escaped.

Planning

In October–November 1941, a plan was formulated at 8th Army headquarters to attack four objectives behind Axis lines:

Although not specified in the orders, the goal of the raid was to kill or capture Rommel, to disrupt German organisation before the start of Crusader. Rommel's headquarters was believed to be at Beda Littoria, because of the reports of Captain John Haselden, who had reconnoitred the area disguised as an Arab and reported that Rommel's staff car came and went from the former Prefecture building. The operation was led by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Laycock, and Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Keyes, present throughout the planning stage, selected the most hazardous task, the attack on Rommel′s headquarters, for himself. Beda Littoria had only briefly been Rommel's headquarters and had been taken over by the chief quartermaster of Panzergruppe Afrika, General Schleusener. Some weeks earlier, Rommel had moved his headquarters nearer to Tobruk, since he believed commanders needed to be close to the action. Rommel was not even in North Africa during Operation Flipper, having gone to Rome to request replacements for supply ships sunk by the British.[2]

Raid

Submarine HMS Torbay

On 10 November, two submarines left Alexandria. HMS Torbay carried Keyes, Captain Robin Campbell, Lieutenant Roy Cooke and 25 men and HMS Talisman transported Laycock, Capt. Glennie, Lt. Sutherland and 25 men. On the night of 14/15 November 1941, Keyes′ detachment landed on the beach of Khashm al-Kalb (The Dog's Nose), guided by a couple of two-man SBS (Special Boat Section) teams, in folbots (folding canoes).[3] The beach lay near a place known as Hamama, some 250 mi (400 km) behind Axis lines. Once ashore, they made contact with Captain John Haselden, delivered earlier by the Long Range Desert Group for reconnaissance.[4] The weather deteriorated and Laycock's group had a much more difficult time getting ashore, only Laycock and seven men landed, the rest were stranded on Talisman.[4] Thus, with only 34 of the 59 men available, instead of four detachments attacking separate targets, there would only be three.[4] Laycock remained at the rendezvous with three men to secure the beach. Keyes led his detachment of 25 men, for the attack on Rommel′s supposed headquarters, while Lieutenant Cooke took six men to destroy the communications facilities near Cyrene. Haselden's detachment completed its mission and were picked up by the LRDG.

Shortly before first light, Keyes′ men moved to a wadi, where they sheltered during daylight. After dark on the second night, the detachment moved off but their Arab guide refused to accompany the party in the deteriorating weather. Keyes then led his men on a 1,800 ft (550 m) climb, followed by an approach march of 18 mi (29 km) in pitch dark and torrential rain. Hiding in a cave during the day, the detachment advanced to within a few hundred yards of the objective by 22:00 on the third night. At 23:59, Keyes led his party past sentries and other defences up to the house. Unable to find an open window or door, Keyes took advantage of Campbell′s excellent German by having him pound on the front door and demand entrance. They set upon the sentry who opened the door and Campbell shot him and Keyes might have been wounded in this scuffle.[3] The official version is that Keyes opened the door to a nearby room, found Germans inside, closed it again abruptly, reopened it to hurl in a grenade and was shot by one of the Germans. Only one round was fired by the Germans during the raid on the HQ.[3]

Keyes was taken outside, but quickly died. Shortly after, Campbell was shot in the leg by one of his own men, when he ventured around a corner, having forgotten his orders to shoot on sight. With no other option, he passed command to Sergeant Jack Terry and remained behind. Terry gathered the raiding team together and retreated with 17 men to rejoin Laycock at the beach; Cooke′s detachment did not return. It proved impossible to re-embark on the submarines, so the party waited for the weather to improve. They were discovered and exchanged fire with the garrison.

Aware that they could not hope to stand off the large force that was surely being organized, Laycock ordered the men to scatter in small groups. Laycock and Terry made it to safety after 37 days in the desert. A third man, Bombadier John Brittlebank, one of the SBS team who had guided the commandos in in folbots, also escaped and survived alone in the desert for 40 days, until picked up by Allied troops. The rest of the raiding force was captured, some of them wounded. Contrary to some reports, only Keyes was killed by the Germans; one man drowned during the landing.

Nominal roll

The following roll has been reconstructed by Michael Asher, based on a list by Hans Edelmaier, and amended from documentary and eyewitness evidence. It may not be entirely accurate.

Captured, unless otherwise noted.

Aftermath and legacy

On 17 November 1941, the day the raid took place, Rommel was not in North Africa. He had left the operational area for Rome on 1 November - a fact known to British military intelligence via an Enigma intercept. He spent his 50th birthday in Rome with his wife, Lucie, and was back in the field on 18 November - the day after the raid. This intelligence may have been withheld deliberately from the commando group to protect the Enigma secret.

The fact that Rommel was known not to be in Beda Littoria at the time, however, raises the possibility, adumbrated by the German historian, Hans Edelmaier, that Rommel was not the objective of the raid at all. The fact that his name does not feature in the operational plan tends to support this. There is no proof that Hasleden ever reported Rommel's presence at the house in Beda, and it has never been explained, either, how Rommel was to be located or even recognized once the commando unit arrived at the target area.[5] The only extant evidence that Rommel was the object of the raid comes from a surviving eyewitness, Gunner Jim Gornall, who has related that Keyes briefed the men on board Torbay, stating that their objective was to 'get Rommel'.[6]

When news of the raid reached him, Rommel was said to be indignant that the British should believe his headquarters was 250 miles behind the front. Rommel was certainly courageous, and was always close to the front, often visiting the front line, sometimes unwisely close which led to his being wounded on several occasions.[2]

Keyes received a burial with full military honours in a local Catholic cemetery on Rommel′s orders. For his actions, Keyes was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. The citation for the award was written by Robert Laycock, who contrary to military custom, was not an eyewitness of the raid. Almost none of the statements in the citation is verifiably true.[7] Sergeant Jack Terry was awarded the DCM, and Bdr. John Brittlebank (SBS) later received the DCM for actions including the Rommel Raid. Gunner Jim Gornall was awarded the MM.

A fictionalized version of the raid was depicted in the 1951 film, The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel

A documentary, partly on Op. Flipper, Stalking Hitler's Generals was shown on NatGeo TV in 2011. The film is presented by former SAS-man and explorer, Michael Asher, who visited the beach at Khashm al-Kalb ('The Dog's Nose') where the commandos landed, and the house at Bayda, where the raid took place.

A further attempt to kill or capture Rommel was made by men of 2nd SAS Regiment in July 1944 in Operation Gaff in France. Gaff was abandoned when it was discovered that Rommel had been badly injured in a Spitfire attack 11 days earlier.

References

  1. ↑ Jones, Tim (2006). SAS Zero Hour: the Secret Origins of the Special Air Service. London: Greenhill Books. p. 197. ISBN 1-85367-669-1.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Terry Brighton, Masters of Battle: Monty, Patton and Rommel at War, Penguin UK, 2009 ISBN 0141029854.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Asher, Michael 'Get Rommel' 2004
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Jones, Tim (2006). SAS Zero Hour: the Secret Origins of the Special Air Service. London: Greenhill Books. p. 198. ISBN 1-85367-669-1.
  5. ↑ Edelmeier, Hans. Das Rommel-Unternehmen. Osterreichischer Milizverlag (2000) ISBN 3-901-185-19-4
  6. ↑ Asher, Michael. (2005) Get Rommel
  7. ↑ Asher, Get Rommel, "Bob Laycock's report and his citation for Keyes' VC were almost entirely specious from beginning to end."

Bibliography

External links