Ian Fleming and SOE's Operation Postmaster: The Top Secret Story Behind 007: The Untold Top Secret Story

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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] Sample from Special Forces Hero - Anders Lassen VC, MC** - Abduction of General Kreipe - Paros, April-May 1944 When Italy entered the Second World War on 10 June 1940, the Lloyd Triestino ship Duchessa d’Aosta was on its way from South Africa to Genoa with a cargo of wool, hides, asbestos and copper. Like many other Italian ships, the Duchessa d’Aosta also sought refuge in a neutral port, in this case Santa Isabel on the island of Fernando Po (today Bioko, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, 750 km southeast of Lagos). Fernando Po was then a Spanish colony and thus neutral territory. The Duchessa d’Aosta and her crew came to spend eighteen months there . One of the five who had sailed from Poole to Freetown in the Maid Honor was the young Dane Anders Lassen. He had been at sea since the beginning of 1939 and was one of the few professional seamen who took part in the operation. His maritime experience, together with his physical bravery and great energy was of crucial importance to the success of the operation. When his award was announced on 8 September 1945 there was a discussion in the British War Office about whether it should stand as he was Danish, although two days later the decision was upheld. A War Office official remarked: “As Major Lassen held a commission in the British Army the [Victoria] Cross has been granted.”

Born in 1920, Landers Frederik Emil Victor Lassen lived a privileged life in Nyhavn, but also an adventurous one. was 60 ft long and the other two 45 ft long. All were twin-screwed and powered by Thornycroft petrol engines of 1200 BHP giving a speed of up In the India / Burma theatre 142 Commando Company also operated in conjunction with the U.S. unit Merrill's Marauders. [ citation needed] 1944 [ edit ] No. 4 Commando engaged in house to house fighting with the Germans at Riva Bella, near Ouistreham. After subduing the opposition, No 4 Commando moved inland to link up with 6th Airborne Division. This later became No 11 Special Air Service and he was posted for duties with the Special Operations Executive (SOE), which specialised in secret actions behind enemy lines. To facilitate the Eighth Army’s breakthrough, a number of amphibious operations were to be carried out on and along Lake Comacchio. Lassen was given responsibility for some of these operations: In collaboration with local fishermen, boatmen and partisans from the 28 th Garibaldi Brigade, who were used to operating on the shallow, muddy lake, Lassen and his men reconnoitred the German positions and examined the possibility of landing along the banks.

Two of the commandos were captured and executed, but the other two were smuggled out of France and into Spain by French resistance members. The strike was a huge propaganda boost for the struggling Allies, and the Germans were forced to guard their ships more closely from then on, an increased expenditure of resources. Parker, John (2000). Commandos: The Inside Story of Britain's Most Elite Fighting Force. Headline. ISBN 978-0-7472-7008-9. 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 Honorine 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. Unhappily, it turned out that the beach was a well-defended enemy stronghold, and all ten men of the SSRF who landed were either killed or captured.

Perhaps it would not be out of place to observe that one of the chief reasons for the creation of SOE was the desirability of an organization whose actions could be disowned by His Majesty’s Government. 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.” Furthermore, Fleming, who was a naval intelligence officer during the war, met Winter, a high-explosives expert, when they were both on secret operations in West Africa in 1942. It is very likely they met again after the war too. 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] Eventually, Winter escaped, later recalling: “I used French uniforms to escape, was fired on but was not hit.”an Auxiliary Operations Group and independent raids in the English Channel ceased. SSRF was later disbanded and for his part in their operations Bourne was awarded the DSC. Dunning, James (2003). The Fighting Fourth: No. 4 Commando at War 1940–45. Sutton. ISBN 978-0-7509-3095-6. seriously hazardous work requiring a special breed of men and women. For example ‘F’ section (France) of SOE Chappell, Mike (1996). Army Commandos 1940–1945. Elite Series # 64. London: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-85532-579-9. The very simple included stink bombs intended to be used in German officers’ cloakrooms in the winters of Northern Europe to impregnate their overcoats with such evil smelling fluids that they had to send them to be thoroughly cleaned, thereby creating a shortage of warm clothing. The sophisticated included short range single shot miniature pistols disguised as cigarettes, and sleeve guns, openly described in the catalogue as murder weapons, for the assassination of targets from close range.

Geoff Appleyard remained in the MTB having sustained a leg injury on an earlier raid. He heard the landing Samples from Special Forces Hero - Anders Lassens VC, MC** - Abduction of General Kreipe - Paros, April-May 1944The Spanish government was furious about the raid, which was seen as a breach of the country's neutrality. The foreign minister Serrano Suner described the operation as an:

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] Ian Fleming and SOE’s Operation POSTMASTER: The Untold Top Secret Story, is a historical look at just one of the Special Operations Executive’s (SOE’s) missions in West Africa. The author draws parallels between this mission, the makeup of the SOE, and Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. Taken prisoner, Winter was brutally interrogated by the German SS, before spending the next two years held at PoW Camp 344 in Ober Silesia from September 30, 1942, until December 14, 1944.

The Mission

Samples from Special Forces Hero - Anders Lassen VC, MC** - Symi, September-October 1944 and Comacchio, April 1945 In Germany radio stations reported that a..."British destroyer had entered the harbour and dropped depth charges to blow up the anchor cables and the ship's crew were shot" and the 21 January 1942 edition of the Volkischer Boebachter published an article with the headline "British Denials-Admiralty Lies on Act of Piracy". [24] British Naval Intelligence, under advice from Commander Ian Fleming, issued their own communique: