Winter and Hayes then set off the charges. Similar actions took place on the second smaller craft and the larger liner, boarded by a small party led by Major March-Phillipps. CWGC headstone March-Phillipps". Commando Veterans Association. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011 . Retrieved 3 June 2010.

Operation Aquatint when raiders landed on a beach in the Baie de la Seine near Cherbourg. On this occasion the raiding party was ambushed by a German patrol The German garrison of seven men were taken by surprise and captured. Their weapons, including a 20mm cannon, were thrown into the sea; their radio smashed; and any useful paperwork such as codebooks, diaries, and letters were seized. Gus had been commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1928 at the age of twenty, and had served in India until he became bored with garrison life, and resigned his commission in 1932. Returning to England and to Dorset, Gus hunted, sailed, and wrote. He published three well-received novels before the outbreak of war in 1939. Chappell, Mike (1996). Army Commandos 1940–1945. Elite Series # 64. London: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-85532-579-9. After seven months as a mechanics instructor with the Royal Army Service Corps, Winter volunteered for the Parachute Wing, No2 Commando, in 1940.The SBS returned to Greece in autumn 1944. Lassen led an improvised group which on 29 October was the first British force to move into Saloniki. The Germans were preparing to destroy the harbour installations and fuel depots, but a daring bluff on the part of Lassen persuaded the Germans that his small, but very mobile and active force was much bigger than it was in fact, so they abandoned the town without carrying out the planned acts of destruction. The raiders left Lagos in their two tugs on the morning of 11 January 1942, and while en route they practised lowering Folbots and boarding ships at sea under the command of Captain Graham Hayes. They approached Santa Isabel harbour and at 23:15 and 23:30 hours on 14 January 1942; both tugs were in position 180 metres (590 ft) outside of the harbour. Onshore, Lippett had arranged for the officers from the Duchessa d'Aosta to be invited to a dinner party. Twelve Italian officers and two German officers from the Likomba also attended. [15] The history of the Commando Foundation". Korps Commandotroepen. Archived from the original on 2010-10-31 . Retrieved 17 April 2010. The search for the U-boat bases now started, but the SSRF found no evidence of U-boat activities in the course of its forays into many of the area’s river estuaries and deltas.

This was exactly the sort of highly dangerous mission for which the Special Operations Executive was created, a force of highlytrained but unconventional commandos to, as Churchill put it, “set the lands of the enemy ablaze.” Operation Postmaster was just the start of it. Operation Postmaster was launched in January 1942. During this, No. 62 Commando carried out a raid in neutral Spanish Guinea, when they seized an Italian liner, a German tanker and a yacht from Santa Isabel. [24] Graham Hayes, MC (9 July 1914 – 13 July 1943) was a British commando in the Small Scale Raiding Force in the Second World War. [1] Early life [ edit ] To transport the raiders to the island, the tugs Vulcan and Nuneaton were provided by the Nigerian administration. The chosen raiding force was 32 men in the form of four SOE agents, 11 SSRF commandos and 17 men recruited from the local population as crew for the tugs. The mission suffered a blow when General Sir George Giffard, the British military commander in West Africa, refused to support the mission and would not release the 17 men required on the grounds that the undertaking would compromise some unnamed plans he had in mind and that which was in law an act of piracy would have significant repercussions.

The Mission

In his last novel, Ace High Gus had already created a hero called John Sprake, who fitted the James Bond mould. Describing John Sprake, Gus had written: “It was unusual for him to be moved by sentiment in others, for it was something he did not understand. In women he looked upon it as a necessary evil. In men he ignored it.” However, Winter was undoubtedly a major inspiration for the Bond character, described by Fleming as having “dark, rather cruel, good looks”.

B Dunning, James (2003). The Fighting Fourth: No. 4 Commando at War 1940–45. Sutton. ISBN 978-0-7509-3095-6. The Special Operations Executive had now demonstrated their ability to undertake operations, no matter the political consequences. Hugh Dalton, the government minister in charge of SOE, informed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the outcome of the raid. He also stated his belief that..."other neutral governments would be impressed that Britain would if needed disregard the legal formalities of war in their efforts to succeed." [22] The agent in charge of SOE Africa station submitted a report to the head of SOE Colin Gubbins reflecting on the success of Postmaster: "perhaps next time it will not be necessary for prolonged negotiations before undertaking a 30 minute operation." [19] The raiding force departed Lagos in Nigeria on board its two tugs during the morning of 11 January, and while at sea practised lowering Folbots and boarding ships at sea under the command of Captain Graham Hayes.The Special Operations Executive had now demonstrated their ability to undertake operations, no matter the political consequences. Hugh Dalton, the government minister in charge of SOE, informed the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, of the outcome of the raid. He also stated his belief that..."other neutral governments would be impressed that Britain would if needed disregard the legal formalities of war in their efforts to succeed." [23] The agent in charge of SOE Africa station submitted a report to the head of SOE Colin Gubbins reflecting on the success of Postmaster: "perhaps next time it will not be necessary for prolonged negotiations before undertaking a 30 minute operation." [20] After the Second World War most of the commands were disbanded leaving just the Royal Marine 3 Commando Brigade but their legacy is the present day Royal Marines Commandos, the Parachute Regiment, Special Air Service and the Special Boat Service who can all trace their origins to the commandos. [2] Their legacy also extends to mainland Europe, the French Naval commandos, the Dutch Korps Commandotroepen and the Belgian Paracommando Brigade can all trace their origins to men who volunteered to serve with the British Commandos. [3] [4] [5] Operations [ edit ] 1940 [ edit ] The operation was a huge embarrassment to the Germans and a massive morale boost to the Cretan resistance and population.