In September 1942, the SOE sent a unit into Normandy with a simple objective: capture a
German guard and gather intel on the area. But as soon as the mission started, it hit the fan.
In this video, we’re going to delve into Operation Aquatint,
a British mission that almost wiped out an entire unit.
In July 1940, Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton formed the Special Operations
Executive (or SOE) to conduct espionage, sabotage,
and surveillance in Axis-occupied Europe and Southeast Asia. The SOE played a major
role in World War Two, and many called the group "Churchill's Secret Warriors."
Within the SOE, they formed a sub-group of top-performing military members to execute
special missions. This group was known as the Small Scale Raiding Force (or SSRF).
The SSRF’s first three missions were massive successes. But their fourth mission, Operation
Aquatint, would result in utter disaster. Aquatint, scheduled to take place on the 11th
of September 1942, targeted the German forces defending what would later become Omaha Beach.
Even at this time, the German position was strong, featuring a network of coastal batteries arranged
in interlocking arcs of fire. To make matters worse, the Allies had raided the French coastal
town of Dieppe about a month before Aquatint was set to begin, putting the Germans on high alert.
Reinforcements arrived, and infantry units patrolled the batteries regularly.
While monitoring the area, the SEO found that the Axis had started adding strong infantry points to
gun emplacements along the French coast, which is when they sent the SSRF through.
The SSRF team planned to drive up to a cliff near Omaha in a Motor Torpedo Boat called the MTB 344,
in the midst of the night. They would climb up the cliff, capture a German guard on patrol,
and gather as much intel about the German defense as possible, and leave before dawn.
But you know what they say about the best-laid plans…
Things went south from the get-go; foggy conditions on the night of the 11th of
September forced the SSRF to delay the operation to the following night.
Although things were off to a bad start, the team had no idea what they were in for.
The next night, the team left the British shores of Portsmouth just after eight PM. They originally
planned to climb a cliff, but they incorrectly identified a valley and couldn't find the right
cliff. Instead, they tried to land on a beach near the German camp at twenty-past twelve.
However, they were now at least a mile away from their intended landing zone.
To get to where they were supposed to be, they were forced to use a collapsible
150Kg boat built for military use known as a Goatley boat. However,
the Goatley could only carry 11 people. The remaining SSRF personnel had to stay on the MTB.
The chaos didn't end there.
Once they beached the Goatley, they realized the boat was too close to some French coastal houses,
so they dragged the boat some 600 feet to the east, wasting some valuable time.
Captain Lord Howard guarded the Goatley while the rest
of the team scouted the area to ensure the Germans patrol guards hadn’t noticed them.
While the scouting team made its way back to the beach, the men ran into a patrol unit.
The team tried to hide, but the patrol's guard dogs caught their scent, and a gunfight ensued.
The Germans attacked the Brits with rifles and grenades. Although the SSRF managed
to down a few patrol guards, the action alerted other German forces in the area.
Outnumbered and outgunned, the team withdrew to the Goatley boat,
where Captain Howard was busy dragging the boat back towards the water.
The SSRF team joined their captain and fought tooth and nail to stave off the advancing Germans.
After some 30 minutes, they finally got the boat into the water.
During the chaos, one Lieutenant Hall left his brothers in arms to try and capture a German.
The others presumed he’d been killed in action, so they took off without him.
As they fled towards the MTB, a gun emplacement fired on them from the shore, poking holes in the
Goatley, which started to sink. The remnants of the SSRF team had no choice but to abandon ship.
They tried to swim to the MTB, but that had been discovered by the German patrol now as well. And
so the survivors could either drown at sea or swim to shore and risk capture by the Germans.
They chose the latter. Of the 11 members on the Goatley,
three were killed in action, four were captured once they reached the shore,
and four managed to evade the German guards and fled the scene.
At the same time that the Goatley started sinking, the SSRF team on the MTB were holding the boat
in hopes that their comrades would return. During this time, the MTB took a bit of damage,
by they chose to retreat at about 1:30 AM, to search for their comrades along the Normandy
shore. This proved difficult, however, as the craft’s engine had been damaged by German fire.
As the Germans were now on high alert for the MTB, the team opted to wait before searching
for the Goatley. Unfortunately, an hour later, a German patrol boat found the MTG, attacking it
and forcing it to try and withdraw to Portsmouth. The boat arrived in Portsmouth at about 10:00 AM
A German message regarding the failed British operation read as follows:
“During the night of 12/13 September, guards of the coast defenses to the east
of the Cotentin (Cherbourg peninsula) located an attempt by the enemy to land on a beach.
Several men attempted to cross the beach while their disembarkation boat, attempting
to return to sea, was hit and sunk. Those on the beach were killed or taken prisoner. All
were members of the British army except one, a Frenchman officer of the Gaullist forces.”
The four captured SSRF members were Maître Andre Desgranges, Captain Lord Howard, Company
Sergeant Major Thomas Winter, and Lieutenant Hall, whose plan to capture a German obviously failed.
The captured SSRF members held valuable information about the SOE, and were subjected
to interrogation. There is not much evidence on how the Germans treated the captured brits. But we
know that Sergeant Major Winter was interrogated for a whole 10 days before joining the other
three captives. There's no evidence that any of the captives broke under interrogation.
Of the SSRF members that managed to evade the Germans on the Omaha
shores. Captain Graham Hayes, who led Operation Aquatint,
managed to hide in a French family home for a bit and tried to escape back to Europe.
He made it as far as Spain, where the Spanish captured him and handed him over to the Germans.
The captain would be transferred to Fresnes prison, where they held him in solitary
confinement for nine months. The only time he left his cell was during his visits to the Gestapo
HQ, where he'd be savagely beaten and whipped with ox-gut lashes stiffened with steel rods.
As per Hitler's decree to shoot any man in occupied Europe who fought for the Allies,
the Gestapo executed Captain Hayes on the 13th of July 1943.
Another who managed to escape was Major Appleyard.
Appleyard managed his way back home soon after the mission and rejoined the SSRF.
As author Damien Lewis put it, "Operation Aquatint turned into an unmitigated disaster."
Although the SSRF unit failed horribly, the SOE and Combined Operations Headquarters
requested that the SSRF continue to operate, under the command of Major Appleyard. Barely
two weeks after Operation Aquatint, SOE sent the raiders into action once again,
in Operation Basalt. Where the SSRF would perform a raid on German Sark and capture prisoners.
Operation Aquatint went to crap from the get-go went wrong from the get-go. This happens in war,
but it’s not what we expect from such an elite force.
What do you think the SSRF team, could have done differently? Do you think the
SOE should have continued running SSRF operations? And lastly, are there any other missions similar
to this that you'd like us to cover in a future video? Let us know in the comments below.