Those who were chosen for the special mission had been waiting for days.
The training and rehearsals had been completed, and the men were ready to take on the Germans.
Everything was going according to plan, and Major John Frost was satisfied with the current
conditions: little to no wind for the parachutists, good nighttime visibility for the Air Force,
and the right tide for the Navy.
On February 27, 1942, the last night of the mission window, the men of C Company embarked
for France on board converted Whitley bombers.
There was a lot of tension in the air, as the British desperately needed a win.
Operation Biting called for them to steal unknown advanced equipment from a mysterious
German coastal radar installation that was believed to be key in guiding Luftwaffe nighttime
fighters toward British bomber formations.
At last, the rookie soldiers readied their parachutes and valiantly jumped out of their
aircraft into Bruneval.
There was a lot at stake, and it was now or never…
Looking For A Radar
After the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk in 1940, most of the United Kingdom's
war effort turned to the Royal Air Force Bomber Command and the strategic bomber campaign
against Nazi Germany.
However, the British kept losing bombers at an alarming rate going into 1941, and they
believed it was because of the enemy's use of advanced radar technology.
Both parties had been competing for nearly a decade, with German technology often at
the same level or surpassing the British.
Despite having some of the best scientists in the world, the British had yet to successfully
devise an effective night defense system.
Through the examination of leaked German documents, crashed Luftwaffe aircraft, and prisoner-of-war
interrogations, British scientist Reginald Victor Jones discovered that some kind of
high-frequency radio signals were being transmitted across Britain from somewhere in Europe.
Believing they came from a directional radar system, Jones looked for such devices and
found one that he thought was used specifically to detect British bomber aircraft, known as
the "Freya-Meldung-Freya" array after an ancient Norse goddess.
The scientist also found proof of a second part of the Freya device, referred to in leaked
documents as Würzburg, while a series of RAF reconnaissance photos taken in the fall
of 1941 helped understand the nature of the set-up.
With a parabolic antenna that measured ten feet in diameter, it seemed like Würzburg
worked in conjunction with Freya to locate Royal Air Force bombers and direct German
nighttime fighters toward them.
Jones and his team needed to study one up close to neutralize and eliminate such an
essential and intricate system.
Planning
After sighting one of the Würzburg antennae during a reconnaissance flight over a hilltop
in the French Northern village of Bruneval, a request to raid the site was sent to Admiral
Lord Louis Mountbatten, the commander of Combined Operations.
After a short debate, the Chiefs of Staff agreed and greenlighted Operation Biting.
Mountbatten and his men studied the Bruneval installation thoroughly.
Heavily protected by coastal defenses, the Würzburg antenna was too well-guarded for
a seaborne commando raid.
Believing that both surprise and speed would be essential to ensure the radar's capture,
the commander suggested an airborne assault using paratroopers.
As such, in early January of 1942, he contacted the headquarters of the Royal Air Force’s
1st Airborne Division and 38 Wing.
Commander Major-General Frederick Browning was particularly enthusiastic about the idea,
as the British troops and general population desperately needed a morale boost.
Both commanders agreed that the end of February would be the ideal period to launch the operation,
given the expected weather conditions.
Wishing to keep their only fully-trained parachute battalion intact for a larger operation, Browning
ordered the 2nd Parachute Battalion to send another company.
The C Company, commanded by Major John Frost, was ultimately chosen to carry out the Bruneval
raid.
The company had just been formed, and most men had not even completed their parachute
jumping course.
The level of secrecy was such that Major Frost was initially informed that his company would
take part in an airborne warfare demonstration for the War Cabinet.
But despite his men not having previous experience dropping parachutists, the training exercises
were quite successful.
The Target
British intelligence gathered as much information as they could about the Bruneval installation
with the help of the French resistance.
The site had two distinct areas: a villa half a mile from the edge of a cliff that contained
the radar station, and an enclosure with several heavily protected smaller buildings.
The Würzburg antenna was erected between the villa and the cliff.
The British were also notified that the area was permanently manned by expert Luftwaffe
technicians, surrounded by 30 guards, with about a hundred additional German troops in
the vicinity, and with an entire platoon of infantry to the south.
To successfully conduct the raid, the parachuters would be accompanied by RAF Flight Sergeant
Charles W.H. Cox, an expert radio mechanic that would locate the radar set, photograph
it, and then dismantle it to take it back to Britain.
According to the war planners, a combination of a full moon and a rising tide would allow
the landing craft to maneuver in shallow waters with high visibility, narrowing down the window
in which the operation would need to take place.
Paratroopers In The Sky
On the night of February 27, after intense training and a few delays due to bad weather,
the airborne troops were ready to launch the operation.
The company was divided into five sections named after famed British naval officers:
Nelson, Jellicoe, Hardy, Drake, and Rodney.
Three sections, Jellicoe, Hardy, and Drake, were tasked with assaulting the German garrison
at the station and capturing the Würzburg radar.
Meanwhile, the Nelson unit would clear the beach chosen for the evacuation and the area
between it and the station.
And the Rodney unit would be guarding the most likely approach of a German counterattack.
With ideal weather, clear skies, and good visibility provided by a full moon, the aircraft
of 51 Squadron took the paratroopers into France, dropping them a few miles from the
installation.
Major Frost would later recall: [QUOTE] "On the way across in the planes, you would never
have thought it was an operational flight.
It was more like a joy ride.
Every machine, I think, had its own concert party.
It was by no means so frightening as everybody had expected.
You sat at the hole, looked down and saw a few tracer bullets go past below – and jumped."
The Fight For Bruneval
As the men from C Company leaped from their aircraft, the Germans were unaware of the
ordeal.
Soon, the Jellicoe, Hardy, and Drake paratrooper units assaulted the villa near the radar station
and successfully took out the lone German soldier defending the house.
The attack, however, alerted the remaining garrison in nearby buildings, who immediately
returned fire and took the life of one paratrooper.
According to Frost, the fire exchange lasted two hours.
As the three units battled the Germans, Flight Sergeant Cox and his team began dismantling
the radar while under heavy fire.
It took them half an hour, but they now had all the necessary parts, photographs, and
information.
They then loaded everything onto carts to haul them back to the evacuation beach.
Meanwhile, the British paratroopers captured two German radar technicians with vital knowledge
of the operation of the Würzburg radar.
After these accomplishments, Frost ordered his men to withdraw to the beach just as a
column of German vehicles arrived at the station.
They came from a pillbox guard post that should have been cleared by the Nelson team.
Little did Major Frost know that some of the troops had not been able to jump on time at
the beginning of the operation, and thus, the beach was not entirely evacuated.
A Much Needed Win
While a small portion of the Nelson group was already fighting to hold the beach, the
remainder was still hurrying to reach their objective.
After a brief but dangerous encounter with the Germans, the remaining Nelson forces arrived
just in time to allow the rest of the force and the stolen Würzburg radar to reach the
beach.
But because the paratroopers had no communication with the Royal Navy flotilla assigned for
their evacuation, the men worried they would not be able to get out.
Frost then decided to fire signal flares, and after a few moments, a lookout spotted
a trail of headlights moving towards them: it was three Royal Navy landing craft.
As the brave men returned to England, they were given a hero’s welcome.
Despite having two downed men, two wounded, and six taken as prisoners, the intelligence
gathered was crucial.
Because the barbed wire network marking the radar station's protection system was identical
across the entire Atlantic Wall, most German stations were quickly identified, aiding in
the preparation of Operation Overlord in Normandy.
The Bruneval Raid was highly praised, even by the Germans, as a leaked report from the
leader of the army's airborne forces recognized its execution.
The raid’s effectiveness also reinforced the Allies’ morale and highlighted the importance
and reach of paratrooper units.
Soon, such commando units and actions would grow to form much larger formations.
Two months after the operation, the British set up a training center for airborne troops
and even transformed several infantry battalions, creating the first-ever British Army paratrooper
regiments.
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