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Operation Bamboozle
by Derek RobinsonFrom 1941 to 1943 it was the Germans. Then it was the turn of the British. Come the Cold War, he's conning McCarthy. Now he's going head to head with the L.A. mob.For high stakes con artist Luis Cabrillo, once known as Eldorado, the million-dollar spy, trouble is never far away. And when he and his corker-of-a-New-Yorker squeeze, Julie Conroy, run into the cream of Los Angele's shady side, the result is a heady brew of disorganized crime, hot dollars, triple virgins and dead bodies in the begonias. The fourth and final Luis Cabrillo novel is yet another fiendishly plotted rollercoaster ride of wit and wisecracking, as the Second World War's most daring and audacious spy finds that old habits die hard, even in peacetime.
Operation Bamboozle
by Derek RobinsonFrom 1941 to 1943 it was the Germans. Then it was the turn of the British. Come the Cold War, he's conning McCarthy. Now he's going head to head with the L.A. mob. For high-stakes con artist Luis Cabrillo, once known as Eldorado, the million-dollar spy, trouble is never far away. And when he and his corker-of-a-New-Yorker squeeze, Julie Conroy, run into the cream of Los Angeles' shady side, the result is a heady brew of disorganised crime, hot dollars, triple virgins and dead bodies in the begonias. The fourth and final Luis Cabrillo novel is yet another fiendishly plotted rollercoaster ride of wit and wisecracking, as the Second World War's most daring and audacious spy finds that old habits die hard, even in peacetime.
Operation Bamboozle
by Derek RobinsonFrom 1941 to 1943 it was the Germans. Then it was the turn of the British. Come the Cold War, he's conning McCarthy. Now he's going head to head with the L.A. mob. For high-stakes con artist Luis Cabrillo, once known as Eldorado, the million-dollar spy, trouble is never far away. And when he and his corker-of-a-New-Yorker squeeze, Julie Conroy, run into the cream of Los Angeles' shady side, the result is a heady brew of disorganised crime, hot dollars, triple virgins and dead bodies in the begonias. The fourth and final Luis Cabrillo novel is yet another fiendishly plotted rollercoaster ride of wit and wisecracking, as the Second World War's most daring and audacious spy finds that old habits die hard, even in peacetime.
Operation Barbarossa
by Robert KirchubelIn the first 6 months of Hitler's World War II Nazi invasion, over 5 million of Stalin's Russian troops were killed, wounded, or captured defending their Motherland. Germany's surprise assault on the Soviet Union in June 1941, Operation Barbarossa, aimed at nothing less than the destruction of the Soviet Union. Adolf Hitler saw this as the last vital step in the establishing of 'Lebensraum' for the German people in the East.Three German Army Groups, supported by numerous European allies, poured across the Soviet border crushing all before them in a lightning campaign that threatened to eliminate all Soviet resistance and secure an easy victory. However, the vast resources and size of Soviet Russia caused the German armoured spearheads to slow and the advance finally ground to a halt within sight of Moscow itself, and with it Hitler's dreams of a quick victory.This book combines Osprey's three Campaign titles on the Barbarossa campaign, along with new material specifically created, in order to tell the story of one of definitive campaigns of World War II.
Operation Barbarossa 1941
by Peter Dennis Robert KirchubelOsprey's third and final volume in the Barbarossa trilogy, this title completes the account of the strategic intricacies of the German campaign against Russia. Detailing the final Nazi push for Moscow, Robert Kirchubel examines the causes behind the German failure, including the inability to re-supply troops or provide reserves, and the lack of decent German winter uniforms and transport.Full-color artwork, maps and bird's-eye views illustrate the campaign in detail, revealing how the Red Army capitalized on every German weakness in spite of its own flaws.
Operation Barbarossa 1941
by Howard Gerrard Robert KirchubelOsprey's second title examining the events of Operation Barbarossa. Of the German Army Groups that attacked Soviet Russia, Von Leeb's Army Group North, tasked with seizing the Baltic States and Leningrad, was the smallest and weakest. General Kuznetzov's Northwestern Front, however, was in an even weaker state. Despite brave counterattacks and defense by the Soviet forces, the Germans smashed through the Dvina Line, then the Stalin Line, flooded into Latvia and pressed on to encircle Leningrad. This book examines the German offensive and also the courageous Soviet attempts to halt the German spearhead, defending every possible line against overwhelming odds.
Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East
by David StahelOperation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, began the largest and most costly campaign in military history. Its failure was a key turning point of the Second World War. The operation was planned as a Blitzkrieg to win Germany its Lebensraum in the east, and the summer of 1941 is well-known for the German army's unprecedented victories and advances. Yet the German Blitzkrieg depended almost entirely upon the motorised Panzer groups, particularly those of Army Group Centre. Using archival records, in this 2009 book David Stahel presents a history of Germany's summer campaign from the perspective of the two largest and most powerful Panzer groups on the Eastern front. Stahel's research provides a fundamental reassessment of Germany's war against the Soviet Union, highlighting the prodigious internal problems of the vital Panzer forces and revealing that their demise in the earliest phase of the war undermined the whole German invasion.
Operation Barras: The Sas Rescue Mission Sierra Leone 2000 (Sven Hassel War Classics)
by William FowlerThe inside story of the most daring SAS rescue mission everIn September 2000 eleven British soldiers were captured by a notorious militia gang in Sierra Leone. The so-called 'West Side Boys' had subjected their part of the country to a long reign of terror, murdering, kidnapping and mutilating anyone who stood in their way.Now British soldiers were at their mercy. Surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered, any resistance would have seen them all killed; yet their hopes of a quick exchange soon faded. They were assaulted and subjected to mock executions. Negotiations with the 'Revolutionary United Front' leaders and the 'West Side Boys' proved futile. Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered the armed forces to get the men back. The SAS and elements of the Parachute Regiment were rushed to West Africa and a naval squadron assembled offshore. The stage was set for the biggest British military operation on the continent for a generation - and their most daring rescue mission ever.
Operation Barras
by William FowlerThe inside story of the most daring SAS rescue mission everIn September 2000 eleven British soldiers were captured by a notorious militia gang in Sierra Leone. The so-called 'West Side Boys' had subjected their part of the country to a long reign of terror, murdering, kidnapping and mutilating anyone who stood in their way.Now British soldiers were at their mercy. Surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered, any resistance would have seen them all killed; yet their hopes of a quick exchange soon faded. They were assaulted and subjected to mock executions. Negotiations with the 'Revolutionary United Front' leaders and the 'West Side Boys' proved futile. Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered the armed forces to get the men back. The SAS and elements of the Parachute Regiment were rushed to West Africa and a naval squadron assembled offshore. The stage was set for the biggest British military operation on the continent for a generation - and their most daring rescue mission ever.
Operation Black Key: A Dom Riley Thriller
by Kim HughesGET INSIDE THE MIND OF A REAL LIFE BOMB DISPOSAL EXPERT Left reeling from the disappearance of his daughter and ex-wife, Staff Sergeant Dom Riley is a haunted man. After spending months investigating, he has exhausted nearly all leads in his hunt for answers. As Riley decides to make one final push for the truth, it emerges that multiple bombs are on board a civilian cruise ship and he is sent in to neutralise the threat. The mission is perilous before it&’s even begun, requiring a low-altitude parachute jump, a manoeuvre he has only completed in training – but it&’s not the journey, nor the bombs themselves, that pose the real threat. In fact, in travelling halfway across the Atlantic, Riley will ultimately learn that the danger is much closer to home . . . This is action-thriller writing at its best – gripping, fast-paced and authentic. Perfect for fans of Chris Ryan, Andy McNab and Frank Gardner, this is follow up to Operation Certain Death, part of the compulsive, breathless Dominic Riley series from Sunday Times bestselling author and bomb disposal expert, Kim Hughes GC. Praise for Kim's memoir Painting the Sand: 'Breathtaking. Kim Hughes is the man who stands between us and oblivion' Andy McNab (author of Bravo Two Zero) 'An uplifting and enlightening account of the personal courage and dedication required to do a very lonely job in the most extreme of conditions' John Nichol (The Mail On Sunday)
Operation Blue Star Ka Sach: ऑपरेशन ब्लू स्टार का सच
by Lieutenant General K. S. Brar"ऑपरेशन ब्लू स्टार का सच" पुस्तक लेफ्टिनेंट जनरल के. एस. बराड़ द्वारा लिखी गई है, जिन्होंने इस ऑपरेशन का नेतृत्व किया था। इस पुस्तक में उन्होंने 1984 में अमृतसर के स्वर्ण मंदिर में चलाए गए ऑपरेशन ब्लू स्टार की घटनाओं, रणनीतियों, और इसके पीछे के सैन्य और राजनीतिक कारणों का विस्तृत विवरण दिया है। लेफ्टिनेंट जनरल के. एस. बराड़ ने अपनी इस पुस्तक में ऑपरेशन के दौरान के अनुभवों और चुनौतियों को स्पष्ट रूप से प्रस्तुत किया है, जिससे पाठकों को इस ऐतिहासिक घटना की गहन समझ प्राप्त होती है।
Operation Bluecoat: Breakout from Normandy (Over the Battlefield)
by Ian DaglishAfter seven weeks of bitter fighting there was a desperate need to break out of the Normandy bridgehead. In late July 1944 Lieutenant-General Sir Miles Dempseys Second Army moved two entire corps from the Caen sector to the relatively quiet countryside around Caumont. Here, the British XXX Corps prepared to give battle, with VII Corps advancing in support on the right flank between XXX Corps and the American first Army. The offensive did not go to plan. While the XXX Corps attack stalled, VIII Corps surged ahead. With the experienced 11th Armoured and 15th Scottish Divisions in the lead and Guards Armoured close behind, a deep penetration was made, threatening to take the pivotal city of Vire and unhinge General Haussers German Seventh Army.The main narrative of this book will span the initial break-in from Caumont on 30 July, through the armored battles of the following days, to the desperate German counter-attacks of 4 6 August, the no less desperate German defense of Estry up to the middle of the month, and the final withdrawal from Normandy. The book also examines Montys refusal to seize Vire, the disputed Anglo-American border and the Operations impact on the German Mortain offensive.
Operation Breitschwert (Eves Krieg, Heldinnen der Special Operations Executive #3)
by Hannah HoweOperation Breitschwert ist Buch drei der Reihe Eves Krieg, Heldinnen der Special Operations Executive. Das Buch kann auch als eigenständiges Werk gelesen werden. Aber für das beste Lesevergnügen empfehlen wir, dass Sie die Bücher in der richtigen Reihenfolge lesen. Eves Krieg ist eine Reihe aus zwölf Novellen. Jedes Buch ist circa 20.000 Wörter lang und beinhaltet eine in sich abgeschlossene Geschichte. Der Preis wird für die gesamte Reihe auf ein Minimum gesetzt. Der Handlungsbogen von Eves Geschichte wird am Ende der Reihe beendet. Während Mimi ihr Funkgerät untersuchte, trat eine Gestalt aus der Dunkelheit. Der Mann war Mitte 30, hatte breite Schultern und war muskulös gebaut, während eine stolze Nase und ein sauber gestutzter Schnurrbart seine hübschen Züge dominierten. „Die Eulen sind heute laut“, sagte der Mann in einem tiefen Bariton. „Man kann laut sein, wenn man der weiseste unter den Vögeln ist“, antwortete ich. Als der Code ausgesprochen war, trat der Mann vor und schüttelte meine Hand. Sein Händedruck war fest und die Auf-Ab-Bewegung drohte, meinen Arm auszukugeln. „Ich bin Jean-Claude“, stellte er sich lächelnd vor. „Jean-Claude Quiniou. Ich werde euch zum Unterschlupf führen und euch mit der Le-Roux-Familie bekanntmachen.“ „Ich bin Genevieve“, sagte ich, „und das ist Lise.“ Natürlich verwendete ich unsere Decknamen, denn Eve und Mimi gehörten in ein anderes Leben. Die Bücher in der richtigen Reihenfolge: Operation Zickzack Operation Schlosser Operation Breitschwert Operation Treasure Operation Sherlock Operation Cameo Operation Rose Operation Watchmaker Operation Overlord Operation Jedburgh Operation Butterfly Operation Liberty
Operation Broken Reed: Truman's Secret North Korean Spy Mission that Averted World War III
by Lt. Col. Arthur L. BoydAt the height of the Korean War, President Truman launched one of the most important intelligence - gathering operations in history. <P><P>So valuable were the mission's findings about the North Korean-Soviet-Chinese alliance that it is no stretch to say they prevented World War III. Only one man - sworn to secrecy for a half-century-survived Operation Broken Reed. Arthur Boyd recalls his role as cryptographer on a team of Army Rangers, Navy Frogmen, Air Force officers, and CIA operatives that posed as the captured crew of a B-29 bomber in January 1952. Given cover names and cyanide capsules in case of discovery, the men were transported by Chinese Nationalists wearing Communist uniforms across North Korea, where undercover allies delivered information about troop strengths, weaponry, and intention. Fraught with danger, the mission came apart on its last day when the Americans came under fire from Chinese forces wise to the operation. The members of Broken Reed supplied Truman with proof of massive Chinese and Soviet buildups and a heavy Soviet bomber group in Manchuria, fully loaded with atomic weapons. With the potential destruction of the world outlined in front of him, Truman chose not to escalate the Korean War, saving millions of lives.
Operation Certain Death: A Dom Riley Thriller
by Kim Hughes&‘A powerful tale from an author who knows his stuff. Addictively compelling, you&’ll be reading into the small hours&’ Alan McDermott, author of Fight to SurviveHE THOUGHT HE'D LEFT THE WAY BEHIND. BUT IT'S COME HOME WITH HIM. A bomb explodes in a newly designed shopping complex, ripping through the lives of everyone in its wake. Confirmed as a targeted terrorist attack, special units are quickly brought in to lock down the area. For bomb-disposal expert, Staff Sergeant Dominic Riley, Afghanistan never feels far away and that&’s especially true on the morning of the bombing. And it's only just beginning. The bomb-maker has bigger plans in place, designed for maximum destruction. Plans that are personal to Riley - and his family. And he has no qualms about how many innocent bystanders are caught in the firestorm. But our fate is in the hands of a man who has his own demons to face. And they might just push him over the edge . . .Perfect for fans of Ollie Ollerton, Andy McNab and Mark 'Billy' Billingham, this is the first breathless, edge-of-your-seat thriller from Sunday Times bestselling author and bomb disposal expert, Kim Hughes GC. Praise for Kim's memoir Painting the Sand: 'Breathtaking. Kim Hughes is the man who stands between us and oblivion' Andy McNab (author of Bravo Two Zero) 'An uplifting and enlightening account of the personal courage and dedication required to do a very lonely job in the most extreme of conditions' John Nichol (The Mail On Sunday)
Operation Certain Death: The Inside Story of the Greatest SAS Battles
by Damien LewisThe terrifyingly true tale of a daring British special forces rescue mission and all-out assault on a savage Sierra Leone guerrilla gang: “What a story!” (Frederick Forsyth, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Day of the Jackal). Officially, the SAS mission was called Operation Barras. The men on the ground called it Operation Certain Death. In 2000, the British Special Air Service (SAS) attempted its riskiest rescue mission in more than half a century. A year before, an eleven-man patrol of Royal Irish Rangers who were training government troops in Sierra Leone was captured and held prisoner by the infamously ruthless rebel forces known as the West Side Boys. Their fortified base was hidden deep in the West African jungle, its barricades adorned with severed heads on spikes. Some four hundred heavily armed renegades were not only bloodthirsty—they were drink-and-drugs crazed. The guerrillas favored pink shades, shower caps, and fluorescent wigs, draping themselves in voodoo charms they believed made them bulletproof—a delusion reenforced by the steady consumption of ganja, heroin, crack, and sweet palm wine. This was the vicious and cutthroat enemy British special forces would confront in order to rescue their own. Featuring extensive interviews with survivors, this gritty, blow-by-blow account of the bloody battle that brought an end to ten years of Africa’s most brutal civil war is “as good as any thriller I have ever read. This really is the low down” (Frederick Forsyth).
Operation Certain Death: THE INSIDE STORY OF THE SAS’S GREATEST BATTLE
by Damien LewisOperation Certain Death chronicles the story of the single most daring Special Forces operation since World War Two - Operation Barras; the attempted rescue by the SAS of the British Forces who were being held captive by guerrilla gang the West Side Boys in the Sierra Leone jungle. The West Side Boys were a strange-looking bunch, wearing pink shades, shower caps, fluorescent wigs and voodoo charms they believed made them invulnerable to bullets - an impression re-enforced by ganja, heroine, crack cocaine and gallons of sweet palm wine. In 1999 a twelve man patrol of Royal Irish Rangers, who were training government troops in Sierra Leone, were captured and held hostage by the West Side Boys. They were held prisoner in a fortified jungle hideaway, with severed heads decorating the palisades, defended by some 400 heavily armed soldiers.Operation Barras, the rescue mission, was a combined force of 100 Paras, twelve members of the Special Boat Squadron, helicopters from the Navy and RAF and, spearheading the operation, 40-strong D squadron of the SAS. Against amazing odds the hostages were rescued - over 150 of the enemy were killed. Operation Certain Death is a thrilling true story of all out war. No hostages taken. Blood-letting on a vast scale inflicted on a very blood-thirsty enemy. A gripping piece of true military history, perfect for fans of action adventure stories and anyone interested in the top secret division of the British Army.'As good as any thriller I have ever read' Frederick Forsyth(P)2023 Quercus Editions Limited
Operation Chaos
by Poul AndersonSteve Matuckek Book 1In a war waged against Black Magic, the fact that Steve is a werewolf and his wife is a highly skilled witch is not unusual. But their adventures prove very unusual, even for their world, when they are given the task of neutralizing an enemy's ultimate weapon - the world's most powerful demon.
Operation Chariot: The Raid on St Nazaire (Elite Forces Operations Series)
by Jon CookseyBy March 1942, mainland France had been under German occupation for almost two years. Every month that passed saw Germany bolster her defenses against an expected allied invasion. Every month that passed saw Germany tighten her grip on Britain's transatlantic lifeline; menacing allied shipping from the French west coast ports. At St Nazaire on the Loire estuary, the vast Normandie dry dock was the only one capable of holding the mighty battleship Tirpitz, still at large and free to hunt allied ships. Something had to be done. Operation Chariot was conceived; an audacious plan to mount a large-scale commando raid on the Normandie dock using a loaned US destroyer packed with high explosive as a battering ram. For the Germans at St Nazaire the invasion came earlier than expected. In the dead of night British commandos were landed and swarmed over the quaysides to destroy key installations. Grit, determination and training carried them forward to accomplish their mission at a heavy price in dead, wounded and captured. The award of more than eighty decorations for the raid - including five VCs - bore witness to the ferocity of the struggle to strike at the Germans in France.
Operation Chariot: The St Nazaire Raid, 1942 (Casemate Illustrated #Cis0013)
by Jean-Charles StasiAn illustrated history of the World War II British amphibious attack on a dry dock in the German-occupied French town. At the beginning of 1942, the prospect of Germany&’s Tirpitz, the heaviest battleship ever built by a European navy, patrolling the Atlantic posed a huge threat to the convoys that were the lifeline for Britain. Bombing raids to destroy the ship failed. A more radical plan was conceived to destroy the dry-dock facility at St Nazaire on the French Atlantic coast. Without the use of the only suitable base for the ship, the threat would be neutralized. The plan was to ram the entrance gates with a ship packed with explosives on a delayed fuse. A motorboat armed with torpedoes would fire at the inner gate causing further damage to submarine pens. The troops and crew would then destroy as many dockyard targets as they could and withdraw in fast motor launches that had followed them in. All this was to be achieved under cover of an air raid. HMS Campbeltown, a U.S. lend-lease destroyer, was chosen for the task. On the night of March 27, the raid commenced. The Campbeltown succeeded in lodging its bows in the outer gates. The fuses detonated the explosives in its hold the following day. The dock gates were destroyed. The cost to the Allies was high, but the Tirpitz was never able to leave Norwegian waters. This volume in the Casemate Illustrated series gives a clear overview of the planning and execution of the raid and its aftermath, accompanied by 125 photographs and images, including color profiles and maps.
Operation Chastise: The RAF's Most Brilliant Attack of World War II
by Max HastingsOne of the most lauded historians of our time returns to the Second World War in this magnificent retelling of the awe-inspiring raid on German dams conducted by the Royal Army Force’s 617 Squadron.The attack on Nazi Germany’s dams on May 17, 1943, was one of the most remarkable feats in military history. The absurdly young men of the Royal Air Force’s 617 Squadron set forth in cold blood and darkness, without benefit of electronic aids, to fly lumbering heavy bombers straight and level towards a target at a height above the water less than the length of a bowling alley. Yet this story—and the later wartime experience of the 617 Squadron—has never been told in full. Max Hastings takes us back to the May 1943 raid to reveal how the truth of that night is considerably different from the popularized account most people know. The RAF had identified the Ruhr dams as strategic objectives as far back as 1938; in those five years Wing Commander Guy Gibson formed and trained the 617 Squadron. Hastings observes that while the dropping of Wallis’s mines provided the dramatic climax, only two of the eight aircraft lost came down over the dams—the rest were shot down on the flight to, or back from, the mission. And while the 617 Squadron’s valor is indisputable, the ultimate industrial damage caused by the dam raid was actually rather modest. In 1943, these brave men caught the imagination of the world and uplifted the weary spirits of the British people. Their achievement unnerved the Nazi high command, and caused them to expend large resources on dam defenses—making the mission a success. An example of Churchill’s “military theatre” at its best, what 617 Squadron did was an extraordinary and heroic achievement, and a triumph of British ingenuity and technology—a story to be told for generations to come.Operation Chastise includes three 8-page black-and-white photo inserts and 6 maps.
Operation Cobra 1944
by Tony Bryan Steven ZalogaOne of the most decisive months of World War II (1939-1945) was the 30 days between 25 July and 25 August 1944. After the success of the D-Day landings, the Allied forces found themselves bogged down in a bloody stalemate in Normandy. On 25 July General Bradley launched Operation Cobra to break the deadlock. US forces punched a hole in the German frontline and began a spectacular advance. As Patton's Third Army poured into Brittany and raced south to the Loire, the German army was threatened with encirclement. By the end of August German forces in Normandy were utterly destroyed, and the remaining German units in central and southern France were in headlong retreat to the German frontier. In this title Steve Zaloga explains how the breakout from Normandy came about.
Operation Cobra and the Great Offensive
by Bill YenneTHE BEGINNINGS OF VICTORYShortly after the D-Day invasion, the Allied forces in Europe had stalled. A limited operation was set in motion to punch a small hole in the enemy defenses, starting on July 25, 1944. It was called Operation Cobra, and it would become one of the greatest offensives in all of military history. In the sixty days following the launch of the operation, the Allies -- commanded by Dwight Eisenhower and led by men such as the irascible General George Patton and General Omar Bradley -...
Operation Columba—The Secret Pigeon Service: The Untold Story of World War II Resistance in Europe
by Gordon CoreraThe fascinating, untold story of how British intelligence secretly used homing pigeons as part of a clandestine espionage operation to gather information, communicate, and coordinate with members of the Resistance to defeat the Nazis in occupied Europe during World War II.Between 1941 and 1944, British intelligence dropped sixteen thousand homing pigeons in an arc across Nazi-occupied Europe, from Bordeaux, France to Copenhagen, Denmark, as part of a spy operation code-named Columba. Returning to MI14, the secret government branch in charge of the "Special Pigeon Service," the birds carried messages that offered a glimpse of life under the Germans in rural France, Holland, and Belgium. Written on tiny pieces of rice paper tucked into canisters and tied to the birds’ legs, these messages were sometimes comic, often tragic, and occasionally invaluable—reporting details of German troop movements and fortifications, new Nazi weapons, radar systems, and even the deployment of the feared V-1 and V-2 rockets used to terrorize London.The people who sent these messages were not trained spies. They were ordinary men and women willing to risk their lives in the name of freedom, including the "Leopold Vindictive" network—a small group of Belgian villagers led by an extraordinary priest named Joseph Raskin. The intelligence Raskin sent back by pigeon proved so valuable that it reached Churchill and MI6 parachuted agents behind enemy lines to assist him.Gordon Corera uses declassified documents and extensive original research to tell the story of the Operation Columba and the Secret Pigeon Service for the first time. A powerful tale of wartime espionage, bitter rivalries, extraordinary courage, astonishing betrayal, harrowing tragedy, and a quirky, quarrelsome band of spy masters and their special mission, Operation Columba opens a fascinating new chapter in the annals of World War II. It is ultimately, the story of how, in one of the darkest and most dangerous times in history, under threat of death, people bravely chose to resist.
Operation Compass 1940
by Jim Laurier Jon LatimerOsprey's Campaign title for the first battle of the desert war, Operation Compass, which was originally envisaged as a spoiling attack, combined with a reconnaissance in force to disrupt the Italian forces that had advanced into Egypt in September 1940. Lt Gen. Richard O'Connor launched what amounted to a British 'Blitzkrieg'. In less than two months the British forces swept 500 miles along the coast of North Africa. 7th Armoured Division raced across the desert to cut off the retreating Italians, and O'Connor's men destroyed 9 Italian divisions, and took 130,000 prisoners. In March 1941 General Rommel and the Afrikakorps landed at Tripoli.