arpella72 Posted December 19, 2020 Share Posted December 19, 2020 (edited) Last month it was the 80th anniversary of Operation Judgment,the British attack on Tarento and ,IMO,one of the most (if not the most)brilliant and productive raid attacks of WWII.I think so because it was the first time that such kind attack was conducted,the British inflicted appalling loses to the Italians at a ridiculous cost(2 aircraft and 4 casualties with 2 dead and 2 POW ). The British crippled the bulk of the Italian naval force with 3 main battleships heavily damaged(though not lost because they sank in shallow waters) plus other shipping loses.The attack was carried on by aircraft,the torpedo-bomber Fairey Swordfish,that were already considered obsolet at that time. What's more,this attack earmarked the end of the battleship as the main asset in modern navies in favour of the carrier and it's told it inspired the Japanese the Pearl Harbour attack. Edited December 19, 2020 by arpella72 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimpleSimon Posted December 19, 2020 Share Posted December 19, 2020 (edited) Our scope for a raid seems pretty wide here. We talking best Commando raid? Best air raid? Best raid by frontline troops? Best espionage raid? A lot of guys seem pretty fixated on daring or particularly exciting raids but tbh excitement was usually not what planners were looking for, and was usually a symptom of things going more wrong than right. I guess in the big picture sort of thing you can't beat Operation Gunnerside, the relatively quiet attack which sealed the fate of the Nazi nuclear-weapons program. Most of Germany's deuterium supply was destroyed in the raid and none of the Norwegian Commandos were lost, all of them successfully evading a 3,000 strong manhunt. Not long after the decision was made to abandon nuclear weapons research. The raid probably wasn't the sole factor leading to that, but it was certainly the last straw. The Gran Sasso raid is sort of subjectively impressive to me, but in retrospect it wasn't really that surprising. Mussolini's security was untrustworthy and lightly armed and he was unimportant to everyone except Hitler by then. Edited December 19, 2020 by SimpleSimon 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjkerner Posted December 19, 2020 Share Posted December 19, 2020 I agree that excitement/action with a favorable outcome is probably the most common determining factor in most wargamers' minds. I know it is in mine! And yeah, what constitutes a raid, anyway? Regardless, I'm going with St. Nazaire. But Pearl Harbor comes to mind, if it can be classified as a raid. Successful in the short turn only, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted December 19, 2020 Share Posted December 19, 2020 I'm going to go with Operation Biting, for the sheer bloody cheek of it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wicky Posted December 19, 2020 Share Posted December 19, 2020 (edited) The Italian Manned Torpedo Attack at Alexandria, 19 December 1941 Plus this covers a few more.... Mcraven, William H.. Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice (Kindle Location 1193). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition. The German Attack on Eben Emael, 10 May 1940 The British Raid on Saint-Nazaire, 27-28 March 1942 The Rescue of Benito Mussolini, 12 September 1943 Midget Submarine Attack on the Tirpitz, 22 September 1943 U.S. Ranger Raid on Cabanatuan, 30 January 1945 and a couple of post ww2 ops`; The U.S. Army Raid on Son Tay, 21 November 1970 Operation Jonathan: The Israeli Raid on Entebbe, 4 July 1976 Edited December 19, 2020 by Wicky 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimpleSimon Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 Ooof I forgot all about that Alexandria Raid Wicky. The time a handful of Italian Frogmen did more damage to the Royal Navy than the Italian Navy itself ever did... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arpella72 Posted December 20, 2020 Author Share Posted December 20, 2020 (edited) 16 hours ago, SimpleSimon said: Our scope for a raid seems pretty wide here. We talking best Commando raid? Best air raid? Best raid by frontline troops? Best espionage raid? A lot of guys seem pretty fixated on daring or particularly exciting raids but tbh excitement was usually not what planners were looking for, and was usually a symptom of things going more wrong than right. When I said "raid operation" I mean an operation carried on by few but highly trained units which strike specific targets in a quick attack.I just posted it because I readed about the subject and I wanted to get some feedback about this kind of operations.Of course,there are plenty of them in WWII and many of them were quiet decisive in their own way. Edited December 20, 2020 by arpella72 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Combatintman Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 18 hours ago, Wicky said: The German Attack on Eben Emael, 10 May 1940 If we're using the doctrinal term for raid: "An operation to temporarily seize an area to secure information, confuse an enemy, capture personnel or equipment, or to destroy a capability culminating with a planned withdrawal," then I'm not sure Eben Emael counts. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Jack Ripper Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 On 12/19/2020 at 1:54 PM, mjkerner said: Regardless, I'm going with St. Nazaire. I always wanted to make a scenario based on that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketman Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 27 minutes ago, General Jack Ripper said: I always wanted to make a scenario based on that. There was one for CMAK IIRC. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckdyke Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 (edited) The family cat. It happened just before Christmas 1944 during the 'Honger Winter' (Dutch Spelling). The cat scratched on the door came inside with a beautiful piece of beef (Eye Fillet). The only place he got it from was the German Naval Base. The picture of Santa which became his new name always had a place of honor in our living room. A raid by definition is to destroy or seize something the enemy values. Santa fulfilled this criterion in my opinion. Edited December 25, 2020 by chuckdyke 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinkin Posted December 27, 2020 Share Posted December 27, 2020 Additional raids come to mind: "Task Force Baum was a secret and controversial World War II task force set up by U.S. Army general George S. Patton and commanded by Capt. Abraham Baum in late March 1945. Baum was given the task of penetrating 50 miles (80 km) behind German lines and liberating the POWs in camp OFLAG XIII-B, near Hammelburg. Controversy surrounds the true reasons behind the mission, which most likely was to liberate Patton's son-in-law, John K. Waters, taken captive in Tunisia in 1943. " And then there's this one http://www.fireandfury.com/scenarios/scendyhernfurth.pdf 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nik mond Posted December 27, 2020 Share Posted December 27, 2020 We need a worst raids thread . The raid on Dieppe would have to be one of the biggest fails perhaps. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinkin Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 If this is not limited to ground raids, then Doolittle's raid has to be near the top of the list. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 If we are including air missions, Operation Jericho just can't be ignored. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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