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Truth is, for all its modest success both tactically and as a proof of concept mission for SOE, Operation Postmaster was a minor and mostly unnecessary operation in the grand scheme of WWII. The British were desperate for any success in those gloomy days of early 1941, before the US entered the war. But Operation Postmaster was a fringe operation, the kind the British were overly enamored with and for which the US was challenged to change British thinking to focus on the main strategic goal -- taking the battle to NAZI Germany itself. Missions like Operation Postmaster were usually perceived as frivolous by the Americans, because they did not contribute to the main effort. While the British certainly had a right to think otherwise, it still means this is an unambitious project for a book length read. I enjoyed it, but felt left with a kind of a "so what" feeling at the end. I would have preferred a lengthier book highlighting two or three comparable operations and an epilogue telling the rest of the story as to what happened to the SOE key personalities by war's end. All we are told is that the four main SOE agents for whom Bond is a synthesis did not survive the war. I wanted to know more about these fascinating and heroic men.
After completing his training, Winter worked with the Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF). During 1942, while the rank of warrant officer, he took part in three key missions – codenamed Operations Postmaster, Dryad and Aquatint. The operation was a huge embarrassment to the Germans and a massive morale boost to the Cretan resistance and population. Twelve raiders left Portsmouth, again in MTB 344, shortly after 8pm, arriving off the coast at 10pm. Moving slowly towards the shore, the MTB appeared to arrive at its objective of Sainte-Honorine at midnight. boat, 17ft 6ins (5+m) long with a beam of 4ft 6ins, weighing 2 cwt that could be assembled by two men in 1.5 minutes, dropped Graham Hayes with 9 men at St HonorineGus fought with the British Expeditionary Force, was evacuated through Dunkirk in May and June 1940, and then joined the newly-established Commandos. From there, he was recruited into the Special Operations Executive in January 1941. SOE was the most secret of the wartime secret services. Although I only rate this as a three-star book, it's still recommended. For Bond fans, I believe Brian Lett has succeeded admirably in tracing the real world origins of James Bond. This is superior to any other book, article, or film I have seen on this subject. In fact, it puts many of them to shame. The first two operations led to him being awarded the Military Medal. The third resulted in abject failure and dire consequences for all involved. Despite the loss of Gus, one of Dorset’s greatest heroes of the Second World War, the SSRF reformed and carried on, continuing their raids into 1943 now under the command of Geoffrey Appleyard. Eventually, the SSRF was disbanded in the late Spring of 1943, as attention was turned to the planning of the D-Day landings. Operation Postmaster was a British special operation conducted on the Spanish island of Fernando Po, now known as Bioko, off West Africa in the Gulf of Guinea, during the Second World War. The mission was carried out by the Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF) and the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in January 1942. Their objective was to board the Italian and German ships in the harbour and sail them to Lagos. The SSRF under the command of Major Gus March-Phillipps left Britain in August 1941 and sailed the Brixham trawler, Maid of Honour, [1] to the Spanish colony.
Since 1953, Fleming’s 14 Bond books have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. The latest, Bond film, No Time To Die, starring Daniel Craig, is released in the UK this week having been postponed three times over 18 months due to the pandemic. The next raid of any consequence from the United Kingdom was Operation Claymore in March 1941, by No. 3 and No. 4 Commandos. This was the first large scale raid from the United Kingdom during the war. Their objective was the undefended Norwegian Lofoten Islands. They successfully destroyed the fish-oil factories, petrol dumps, and 11 ships, capturing 216 Germans, encryption equipment and codebooks. [11]
Dunning, James (2003). The Fighting Fourth: No. 4 Commando at War 1940–45. Sutton. ISBN 978-0-7509-3095-6. In 1941 the British Admiralty started receiving reports that German submarines were using the rivers in Vichy French parts of Africa as a base for refuelling. [2] The unit selected to investigate the reports was the Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF) also known as No. 62 Commando. [3] The SSRF was formed in 1941, and consisted of a small group of 55 commando-trained personnel working with the Special Operations Executive (SOE). [3] While being under operational control of Combined Operations Headquarters, No. 62 Commando itself was under the command Major Gustavus Henry March-Phillipps. [4] Samples from Special Forces Hero - Anders Lassen VC, MC** - Symi, September-October 1944 and Comacchio, April 1945
Zuehlke, Mark (2008). Operation Husky: the Canadian invasion of Sicily, July 10 – August 7, 1943. Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 1-55365-324-6. This is a true story of a force of ‘licensed to kill’ secret agents, commanded by a real war time secret service chief code names M, with whom Ian Fleming worked, and upon whom his James Bond stories were based. Operation Postmaster was a highly secret joint raid in West Africa by 11 men of the SSRF and four from the SOE.Bourne was based at HMS Gosport when he became involved in Coastal Forces. A chance meeting with Lt Roger Thornycroft, of the well known shipbuilding Empire U, V W, Y, Z". World Ship Society . http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/EmpireU.html . Retrieved 1 September 2010. The force dragged the boat onto the beach and moved towards the village itself, only to see a small German patrol of eight or nine men. A firefight ensued, and the raiders made a fighting retreat to their boat.
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