In the autumn of 1941,
the British Army assembled a secret commando team that would strike behind enemy lines in Libya.
Codenamed Operation Flipper, the mission's main objective was to
destroy the presumed headquarters of the famous Nazi General Erwin Rommel.
He was known to the British Press as Desert Fox for his sly and often chivalrous demeanor,
and removing him from battle was thought to be key to any future Allied success in North Africa.
Operation Flipper was one of the most fearless and courageous special force operations of World War
II. The North African campaign's fate would be in the hands of a handful of young British soldiers
from the No. 11 Scottish Commandos, led by one brave young man who even Rommel came to respect...
Panzer Group Afrika
With the North African Campaign in full swing during World War II, the number of German troops
in the area multiplied. The Wehrmacht quickly developed an intricate command structure,
with troops ready for battle in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts.
Established on January 11, 1941, the Afrika Korps,
a German expeditionary force, became the North African campaign's backbone.
Six months later, the Nazi Armed Forces High Command established new headquarters in Libya. It
was called Panzer Group Afrika. By August, the PGA had a new leader: Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel.
Known as the Desert Fox to British journalists,
the Nazi General had a longstanding reputation of efficacy, and had been praised by the Führer
himself for his outstanding leadership during the 1940 invasion of France.
Facing a Panzer group at full strength,
British General Claude Auchinleck prepared his latest offensive,
Operation Crusader. This was set to circumvent Axis defenses in the Egypt–Libya border, defeat
their armed forces, and relieve the Siege of Tobruk, which had been in battle since April 1941.
General Auchinleck, along with Prime Minister Winston Churchill,
knew that if Operation Crusader achieved its goal of eliminating the Nazi threat in the area,
they still had one big obstacle: General Rommel.
If Rommel and his headquarters could be destroyed, the resulting turmoil and panic in the Axis
command would give the British Army a more significant chance of success in North Africa.
To that end, General Auchinleck authorized Operation Flipper.
Operation Flipper
From October to November of 1941, the plan was laid out and carefully strategized.
Flipper had four objectives.
The primary task was to attack General Rommel and his presumed headquarters in Beda Littoria
about 20 miles inland from Eastern Libya. This was 250 miles behind enemy lines.
British Intelligence believed Rommel's headquarters were there
based on Captain John Haselden's confirmed sighting. Disguised as an Arab citizen,
Haselden had surveyed the area and spotted Rommel's staff driving by the site.
The second objective was to destroy the nearby Italian building and its
state-of-the-art wireless communications network.
Thirdly, the commandos were to sabotage an Italian Intelligence Office in the
harbor town of Appolonia and attack any other Axis forces they encountered along the way.
And finally, the mission would seek to destroy the
headquarters of the Italian Trieste Division near Slonta.
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Laycock was chosen to lead the Operation. His second in command,
24-years old Lt. Col Geoffrey Keyes, volunteered to lead the attack on Rommel's headquarters.
Laycock, already a veteran of successful operations in Africa and the Middle East,
showed reservations about the mission's potential and was ultimately dismissed.
As he reported to his superiors, he believed that [QUOTE]:
"The chances of being evacuated after the Operation were very slender, and that the attack
on General Rommel's house in particular appeared to be desperate in the extreme. This attack,
even if initially successful, meant almost certain death for those who took part in it."
Laycock tried to persuade Keyes into handing the attack's leadership to someone else,
but he refused. Keyes, who came from a military family, considered it an honor.
Despite his mistrust, Laycock agreed to accompany the troops as an onlooker,
separate from Keyes's Beda Littoria taskforce.
Beach Landings
On November 10, the HMS Torbay carried Lt Keyes,
Captain Robin Campbell, Lieutenant Roy Cooke, and 25 other men to Lybian shores.
They would do the final planning on their upcoming attack to Beda Littoria there.
That same day, the HMS Talisman set sail from Alexandria, transporting Laycock and 27 other men.
On the night of November 14, Keyes's squad landed on Khashm al-Kalb's beach.
They were now 250 miles away from Axis lines.
The weather had been stormy during the landing, and the men were soaked by both the ocean and
heavy rain. When they finally found shelter in a cave, the soldiers dried their clothes, rested,
and attempted contact with Captain Haselden, who was nearby in a reconnaissance mission.
The men aboard the HMS Talisman experienced deteriorating weather,
and Laycock's group had difficulty getting ashore. After several attempts,
only Laycock and seven other men landed. The rest were stranded on the Talisman.
Because only a little more than half of the original force was able to land,
Operation Flipper's plans had to be modified.
Laycock and Keyes spent the entire day adjusting the initial scheme.
According to the new plan, Laycock would remain near the cave shelter with three men to secure
the beach. Keyes would lead his detachment of 25 men, including Campbell and Terry,
to attack Rommel's headquarters. Lieutenant Cooke
would lead a six-man team to destroy the Italian communications structures.
Meanwhile, Haselden's team finished their reconnaissance mission and
were picked up by the Long Range Desert Group.
Keyes
The weather in Libya only worsened over time. Even
a local Arab shepherd who had enrolled as a guide refused to continue the trek.
As they began a 1,800-foot climb, the young soldiers’ morale began to flag,
but Keyes' leadership motivated them to move forward. Finally,
on the night of November 16, the men were only five miles away from Beda Littoria.
Just before midnight, Keyes and his party moved silently towards Rommel's presumed headquarters.
Because Captain Campbell spoke German,
he was the one who demanded entrance once they reached the building's main door.
Once inside, the men were instantly greeted by enemy fire.
Keyes managed to throw a grenade before closing the door as protection.
Keyes was shot, and thanks to his bravery, only one round of
ammo was fired by the Germans before their remaining men fled the area.
When Captain Campbell was accidentally shot by a stray bullet and taken prisoner,
Sergeant Jack Terry became the raid’s leader.
Quickly, Sergeant Terry gathered the raiding team and retreated with 17 of his men
to rejoin Laycock and the other men at the rendezvous point.
Scattered
When Terry’s and Laycock's teams met up, they waited for Cooke and his group,
but they never arrived. Lieutenant Cooke and his men had been discovered by the Italians
and surrendered after being threatened with flamethrowers.
On November 18, the HMS Torbay contacted Laycock with bad news: the seas were still
too rough to launch the dinghies. Luckily, a submarine managed to deliver food and water.
The next day, the enemy surprised them with open fire,
forcing them to abandon their position and scatter all over the area in small groups.
The teams had to plan their escape and decide between three options:
to swim to a beach where the HMS Talisman would be waiting, to travel by foot to another coastal
area where the Long Range Desert Group could save them, or travel to the north of Cyrene,
where they could wait and join Operation Crusader, hoping for the best outcome.
Friendly Arabs later told one of the groups that the enemy had found a map on one of the
British prisoner's pockets, which led to the discovery of their hiding spot.
Unbeknownst to Laycock, Keyes, and all the other commanders, the buildings in Beda
Littoria that Captain John Haselden had spotted while undercover had only been General Rommel's
headquarters for a brief period. They were now occupied by another branch of the Afrika Korps.
General Rommel had moved his workspace closer to the occupied Tobruk area.
At the time of the attack, Rommel was not even in North Africa. He was actually in Rome,
requesting replacements and repairs for some of his ships attacked by the British Army.
Aftermath
On November 16, British intelligence found out about Rommel's trip to Rome.
He would fly back to Africa two days later.
An emergency signal was sent to the Africa Command post, but it was too late to call back the raid.
Operation Flipper was a total failure. Only three German Colonels and a soldier were
killed in the Beda Littoria area, and only one fuel supply warehouse was destroyed.
The British lost two men, 28 were captured,
three were wounded, and three others managed to flee to safety.
For his bravery, Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Keyes was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
Colonel Laycock was chosen to write the citation for Keyes's award. This went
against British military custom, in which a witness of the actions is usually the writer.
Other Operation Flipper participants also received awards. Sergeant Jack
Terry and Bombardier John Brittlebank were both awarded with the Distinguished Conduct Medal.
Another soldier, gunner Jim Gornall, was awarded the Military Medal.
Colonel Laycock continued to serve in the British Armed Forces for the remainder of the war,
eventually rising to Major General. In 1943, he became the Chief of Combined Operations.
Chivalry
When General Rommel heard about Operation Flipper, he was outraged
that the Allies believed he would set up his headquarters 250 miles behind the main front.
The Nazi Colonel liked being near the frontline, directing his troops with a hands-on approach.
But true to his gallant and chivalrous reputation,
Rommel ordered that Lt. Col. Geoffrey Keyes be buried with full military honors.
He even flew his personal chaplain, priest Rudolf Dalmrath, to officiate a ceremony in Libya.
Rommel made sure that cypress crosses and wreaths were put together for the brave British soldier.
Rommel also demanded that photographs of the
ceremony and Keyes' burial site be sent to his family in England.
Four years later, in July 1944, a Special Air Service group again attempted to capture or kill
General Rommel in Operation Gaff to no avail. The Desert Fox’s fate would remain in his own hands.