Operation Bulbasket
Encyclopedia
Operation Bulbasket was an ill-fated operation by 'B' Squadron, 1st Special Air Service
, behind German lines in German occupied France, between June and August 1944. The operation to the east of Poitiers
in the Vienne
department of south west France, to block the Paris to Bordeaux
railway line near Poitiers
and to hamper German reinforcements heading towards the Normandy beachheads especially the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich.
During the course of the operation amongst other things, they discovered the whereabouts of a petrol supply train, which was destined for the 2nd SS Panzer Division. The supply train was destroyed by Royal Air Force
bombers the same night.
The Special Air Service team had made their base near Verrieres
, the location of which was betrayed to the Germans. In the following German attack on their camp, 33 men from the Special Air Service were captured and later murdered along with one American Air Force
pilot
who had fallen in with them, after bailing out of his P-51 Mustang. Three other Special Air Service men, who had been wounded in the fight and taken to hospital were murdered by lethal injections while in their hospital beds.
(SAS) was a unit of the British Army during the Second World War, formed in July 1941 by David Stirling
and originally called "L" Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade"L" being an attempt at deception implying the existence of numerous such units. It was conceived as a commando
type force to operate behind enemy lines in the North African Campaign
In 1944 the Special Air Service Brigade was formed and consisted of the British 1st and 2nd Special Air Service, the French 3rd and 4th Special Air Service and the Belgian 5th Special Air Service
. They were to undertake parachute operations behind the German lines in France and then carry out operations supporting the Allied advance through Belgium, the Netherlands and eventually into Germany.
In May 1944 the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
(SHAEF) had issued order for the Special Air Service Brigade to carry out two operations in France. The two operations were Operation Houndsworth
in the area of Dijon
for 'A' Squadron 1st Special Air Service and Operation Bulbasket in the area of Poitiers
given to 'B' Squadron 1st Special Air Service.
The focus of both operations would be the disruption of German reinforcements from the south of France to the Normandy beachheads. To carry out the operation they would destroy supply dumps, block the Paris to Bordeaux
railway line near Poitiers
, attack railway sidings and fuel trains. One unit they especially wanted to delay was the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich which was based in the area around Toulouse
in the south of France. The intelligence experts at SHAEF responsible for planning the Normandy landings, had estimated it would take three days for the panzer division
to reach Normandy
.
The officer in command of 'B' Squadron, 1st Special Air Service was Captain
John Tonkin with Second Lieutenant
Richard Crisp as the second in command
, both men were briefed on the operation by SHAEF in London 1 June 1944. Over the next two days they spent time at the headquarters of the Special Operations Executive
who had agents
of SOE F section operating in the area under the command of Captain Maingard alias Samuel, who also had links with the two main French Resistance
groups in the area the Francs tireurs et Partisans and the Armée Secrète
. Tonkin was also given a list of rail targets by Headquarters Special Air Service.
belonging to 'B' Flight, No. 161 Squadron RAF
the special duties squadron. Their drop zone
was an area of the Brenne marsh 19 miles (30.6 km) south west of Châteauroux
, which they reached at 01:37 hours 6 June 1944. On the ground to meet them was their Special Operations Executive contact Captain Maingard. Two further groups from 'B' Squadron were parachuted in, one on 7 June 1944 and the second on 11 June 1944. Also dropped at the same time were Vickers K machine gun
armed Jeeps
.
Once on the ground the Special Air Service Squadron set about preventing German reinforcements reaching Normandy. They attacked the rail network, laid mines, conducted vehicle patrols in their Jeeps and trained members of the French Resistance. On 10 June a French railwayman informed Tonkin that a train composed of at least eleven petrol tankers was parked at the rail sidings at Châtellerault
. These were the petrol reserves for the advancing 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich. To confirm their location Tonkin sent Lieutenant
Tomos Stephens on a reconnaissance of the area. Traveling alone by bicycle Stephens made the 74 miles (119.1 km) round trip returning on 11 June 1944, he confirmed the location of the petrol train. He also reported they were too heavily guarded for the Special Air Service squadron to deal with. Tonkin contacted England and requested a bombing attack on the train. That night a force of 12 Royal Air Force
de Havilland Mosquito
bombers of No. 487 Squadron RNZAF
, based at RAF Gravesend
in Kent, attacked the train in its sidings. The bombing mission was a success, destroying the fuel reserves for the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich.
To prevent their camp being located or compromised by informers or German radio direction finding equipment, Tonkin regularly moved its location. The location of new camps had to be close to water and a drop zone for parachute supply. The camp located near to Verrières was near to their drop zone at La Font d'Usson
and had an adequate water supply. The Special Air Service Squadron had been at Verrières between 25 June and 1 July 1944. The local population had also become aware of the camp and Tonkin was warned by Maingard that if the locals knew, informers would soon tell the Germans. Tonkin ordered the squadron to move to a new camp just south in the bois des Cartes. This new camp was also close to their drop zone at La Font d'Usson and they were expecting a supply drop over the night of 3/4 July 1944. On their arrival at the new camp at Bois des Cartes the water supply from a well failed and Tonkin decided to return to Verrières until a more suitable camp site could be found.
had been informed that the Special Air Service camp was located in a forest near to Verrières. On 1 July 1944 they had sent agents into the forest to attempt to locate the camp and assembled an attacking force based on the reserve battalion of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen
which was based at Bonneuil-Matours
. With the arrival of the Special Air Service Squadron back at their old base camp, Tonkin set out on 2 July 1944 to try and locate a new camp. He returned in the early hours of 3 July 1944 and soon after his return the Germans attacked, having managed to surround the camp during the night. The force in the forest camp consisted of 40 Special Air Service men, an United States Army Air Corps
North American P-51 Mustang pilot Second Lieutenant Lincoln Bundy who had been shot down 10 June 1944 and had fallen in with the Special Air Service and nine men from the French Resistance
.
The Germans attacked at dawn and the fight was over by 14:00. As the Germans searched the forest the Special Air Service men tried to break out and escape. A party of 34 were escaping down a forest track when they were ambushed and captured. The leader of the party Lieutenant
Tomos Stephens was beaten to death by a German officer using his rifle butt; seven captured Maquisards were executed in the woods. The Special Air Service men and the American pilot should have been treated as prisoners of war. However their fate was determined by the issue of the Commando Order
by Adolf Hitler
which called for the immediate execution of commandos or parachutists, no matter if they had been captured in uniform. The decision of who was going to execute them was the cause of an argument between the German Army and the SS. The result of the argument was the army would carry out the execution. On 7 July the surviving prisoners of war, 30 Special Air Service men and Second Lieutenant Bundy, were taken into the woods near to St Sauvant, forced to dig their own graves then executed by a German firing squad at dawn under command of SS Major Josef Kieffer. Their bodies were then buried in a mass grave. Three Special Air Service men who had been wounded and hospitalized were killed by the administration of lethal injections. The 34 men executed in the woods were re-interred in the village cemetery of Rom, Deux-Sèvres
. The bodies of the three men executed in the hospital have never been found but they are commemorated by a plaque among their comrades' headstones in Rom.
Squadron escaped, regrouped and carried on with the mission until the order to cease operations was received on 24 July 1944. During the period between 10 June and 23 July the Special Air Service Squadron had attacked railway targets 15 times, the main roads the Route nationale 10
south of Vivonne
and the Route nationale N147 between Angers
– Poitiers–Limoges
were mined. They also had some success attacking targets of opportunity. Over the night of 12/13 June 1944 Lieutenant Crisp, one of those later executed, was in command of a patrol that laid mines on the N147 in the Forêt de Défant, just before the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich arrived in the area.
The 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich during their advance to Normandy were responsible for the Tulle murders
on 9 June 1944 and the massacre at the village of Oradour-sur-Glane
10 June 1944. The operations by the Bulbasket team amongst others delayed the arrival of the division in Normandy until the end of June. The 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich was responsible for the capture of the Special Operations Executive agent Violette Szabo
on 10 June 1944. They handed her over to the Sicherheitsdienst
security police in Limoges.
were informed and on 18 December started excavating the grave. A number of bodies were wearing Allied uniform; most of their identity tags had been removed but two remained which identified them as members of Operation Bulbasket, while another was identified by his name inside the battle dress tunic. A further body in civilian clothing was identified as Second Lieutenant Brundy.
The 31 bodies were taken to Rom
and reburied with full military honours in the village cemetery. The body of Lieutenant Stephens, who had been beaten to death, is in the village cemetery in Verrières. The bodies of the three men murdered in hospital have never been found but a memorial plaque was erected beside the Special Air Service graves in Rom cemetery.
lists the following:
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
, behind German lines in German occupied France, between June and August 1944. The operation to the east of Poitiers
Poitiers
Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...
in the Vienne
Vienne
Vienne is the northernmost département of the Poitou-Charentes region of France, named after the river Vienne.- Viennese history :Vienne is one of the original 83 departments, established on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Poitou,...
department of south west France, to block the Paris to Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
railway line near Poitiers
Poitiers
Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...
and to hamper German reinforcements heading towards the Normandy beachheads especially the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich.
During the course of the operation amongst other things, they discovered the whereabouts of a petrol supply train, which was destined for the 2nd SS Panzer Division. The supply train was destroyed by Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
bombers the same night.
The Special Air Service team had made their base near Verrieres
Verrières, Vienne
Verrières is a commune in the Vienne department in the Poitou-Charentes region in western France.-References:*...
, the location of which was betrayed to the Germans. In the following German attack on their camp, 33 men from the Special Air Service were captured and later murdered along with one American Air Force
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
who had fallen in with them, after bailing out of his P-51 Mustang. Three other Special Air Service men, who had been wounded in the fight and taken to hospital were murdered by lethal injections while in their hospital beds.
Background
The men involved in Operation Bulbasket were part of the Special Air Service Brigade. The Special Air ServiceSpecial Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
(SAS) was a unit of the British Army during the Second World War, formed in July 1941 by David Stirling
David Stirling
Colonel Sir Archibald David Stirling, DSO, DFC, OBE was a Scottish laird, mountaineer, World War II British Army officer, and the founder of the Special Air Service.-Life before the war:...
and originally called "L" Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade"L" being an attempt at deception implying the existence of numerous such units. It was conceived as a commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
type force to operate behind enemy lines in the North African Campaign
North African campaign
During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia .The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had...
In 1944 the Special Air Service Brigade was formed and consisted of the British 1st and 2nd Special Air Service, the French 3rd and 4th Special Air Service and the Belgian 5th Special Air Service
5 SAS
The 5th Special Air Service or 5th SAS was an elite airborne unit during World War II, consisting entirely of Belgian volunteers. It saw action as part of the SAS Brigade in Normandy, Northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Initially trained in sabotage and intelligence gathering,...
. They were to undertake parachute operations behind the German lines in France and then carry out operations supporting the Allied advance through Belgium, the Netherlands and eventually into Germany.
In May 1944 the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force , was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was in command of SHAEF throughout its existence...
(SHAEF) had issued order for the Special Air Service Brigade to carry out two operations in France. The two operations were Operation Houndsworth
Operation Houndsworth
Operation Houndsworth was the codename for a British Special Air Service operation during the Second World War. The operation carried out by 'A' Squadron, 1st Special Air Service between 6 June and 6 September 1944, was centred around Dijon in the Burgundy region of France...
in the area of Dijon
Dijon
Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....
for 'A' Squadron 1st Special Air Service and Operation Bulbasket in the area of Poitiers
Poitiers
Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...
given to 'B' Squadron 1st Special Air Service.
The focus of both operations would be the disruption of German reinforcements from the south of France to the Normandy beachheads. To carry out the operation they would destroy supply dumps, block the Paris to Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
railway line near Poitiers
Poitiers
Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...
, attack railway sidings and fuel trains. One unit they especially wanted to delay was the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich which was based in the area around Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
in the south of France. The intelligence experts at SHAEF responsible for planning the Normandy landings, had estimated it would take three days for the panzer division
Panzer Division
A panzer division was an armored division in the army and air force branches of the Wehrmacht as well as the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II....
to reach Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
.
The officer in command of 'B' Squadron, 1st Special Air Service was Captain
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...
John Tonkin with Second Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
Richard Crisp as the second in command
Second in Command
Second in Command is a 2006 action film directed by Simon Fellows, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. It was released direct-to-video in the United States, Belgium, and Germany on May 2, 2006. It has been rated R by the MPAA for violence and some language. The film was made in Bucharest, Romania.-Plot...
, both men were briefed on the operation by SHAEF in London 1 June 1944. Over the next two days they spent time at the headquarters of the Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
who had agents
Secret Agent
Secret Agent is a British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film starred John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young...
of SOE F section operating in the area under the command of Captain Maingard alias Samuel, who also had links with the two main French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
groups in the area the Francs tireurs et Partisans and the Armée Secrète
Armée secrète
The Armée secrète, created in 1943, was an organisation of French resistance fighters during World War II set up by Jean Moulin. It resulted from an amalgamation of three smaller resistance groups:*Combat*Libération-Sud*Franc-Tireur...
. Tonkin was also given a list of rail targets by Headquarters Special Air Service.
Mission
The advance party for Operation Bulbasket including Tonkin were flown to France by a Handley Page HalifaxHandley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax was one of the British front-line, four-engined heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. A contemporary of the famous Avro Lancaster, the Halifax remained in service until the end of the war, performing a variety of duties in addition to bombing...
belonging to 'B' Flight, No. 161 Squadron RAF
No. 161 Squadron RAF
No. 161 Squadron was a highly secretive unit of the Royal Air Force tasked with missions of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War. Their primary role was to drop and collect secret agents and equipment into and from Nazi-occupied Europe...
the special duties squadron. Their drop zone
Drop zone
A drop zone is a place where parachutists or parachuted supplies land. It can be an area targeted for landing by paratroopers, or a base from which recreational parachutists and skydivers take off in aircraft and land under parachutes...
was an area of the Brenne marsh 19 miles (30.6 km) south west of Châteauroux
Châteauroux
Châteauroux is the capital of the Indre department in central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called Castelroussines or Castelroussins....
, which they reached at 01:37 hours 6 June 1944. On the ground to meet them was their Special Operations Executive contact Captain Maingard. Two further groups from 'B' Squadron were parachuted in, one on 7 June 1944 and the second on 11 June 1944. Also dropped at the same time were Vickers K machine gun
Vickers K machine gun
Not to be confused with the Vickers light machine gunThe Vickers K machine gun, known as the Vickers Gas Operated in British service, was a rapid-firing machine gun developed and manufactured for use in aircraft by Vickers-Armstrongs...
armed Jeeps
Willys MB
The Willys MB US Army Jeep and the Ford GPW, were manufactured from 1941 to 1945. These small four-wheel drive utility vehicles are considered the iconic World War II Jeep, and inspired many similar light utility vehicles. Over the years, the World War II Jeep later evolved into the "CJ" civilian...
.
Once on the ground the Special Air Service Squadron set about preventing German reinforcements reaching Normandy. They attacked the rail network, laid mines, conducted vehicle patrols in their Jeeps and trained members of the French Resistance. On 10 June a French railwayman informed Tonkin that a train composed of at least eleven petrol tankers was parked at the rail sidings at Châtellerault
Châtellerault
Châtellerault is a commune in the Vienne department in the Poitou-Charentes region in France.It is located to the north of Poitou, and the residents are called Châtelleraudais.-Geography:...
. These were the petrol reserves for the advancing 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich. To confirm their location Tonkin sent Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Tomos Stephens on a reconnaissance of the area. Traveling alone by bicycle Stephens made the 74 miles (119.1 km) round trip returning on 11 June 1944, he confirmed the location of the petrol train. He also reported they were too heavily guarded for the Special Air Service squadron to deal with. Tonkin contacted England and requested a bombing attack on the train. That night a force of 12 Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
de Havilland Mosquito
De Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...
bombers of No. 487 Squadron RNZAF
No. 487 Squadron RNZAF
No. 487 Squadron was a Royal New Zealand Air Force bomber squadron, formed under Article XV of the Empire Air Training Scheme. It served in the European theatre during World War II, under the operational command of the Royal Air Force.-History:No...
, based at RAF Gravesend
Gravesend Airport
Gravesend Airport, located to the east of the town of Gravesend, Kent, England operated from 1932 until 1956. It was initially a civil airfield, and became a Royal Air Force station shortly after opening.-Civil operation:...
in Kent, attacked the train in its sidings. The bombing mission was a success, destroying the fuel reserves for the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich.
To prevent their camp being located or compromised by informers or German radio direction finding equipment, Tonkin regularly moved its location. The location of new camps had to be close to water and a drop zone for parachute supply. The camp located near to Verrières was near to their drop zone at La Font d'Usson
Usson-du-Poitou
Usson-du-Poitou is a commune in the Vienne department in the Poitou-Charentes region in western France.-References:*...
and had an adequate water supply. The Special Air Service Squadron had been at Verrières between 25 June and 1 July 1944. The local population had also become aware of the camp and Tonkin was warned by Maingard that if the locals knew, informers would soon tell the Germans. Tonkin ordered the squadron to move to a new camp just south in the bois des Cartes. This new camp was also close to their drop zone at La Font d'Usson and they were expecting a supply drop over the night of 3/4 July 1944. On their arrival at the new camp at Bois des Cartes the water supply from a well failed and Tonkin decided to return to Verrières until a more suitable camp site could be found.
German attack
The German SS Security PoliceSicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
had been informed that the Special Air Service camp was located in a forest near to Verrières. On 1 July 1944 they had sent agents into the forest to attempt to locate the camp and assembled an attacking force based on the reserve battalion of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen
17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen
The 17. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen was a German SS panzergrenadier division which saw action on the Western Front during World War II.-Formation and training:...
which was based at Bonneuil-Matours
Bonneuil-Matours
Bonneuil-Matours is a commune in the Vienne department in the Poitou-Charentes region in western France.-References:*...
. With the arrival of the Special Air Service Squadron back at their old base camp, Tonkin set out on 2 July 1944 to try and locate a new camp. He returned in the early hours of 3 July 1944 and soon after his return the Germans attacked, having managed to surround the camp during the night. The force in the forest camp consisted of 40 Special Air Service men, an United States Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
North American P-51 Mustang pilot Second Lieutenant Lincoln Bundy who had been shot down 10 June 1944 and had fallen in with the Special Air Service and nine men from the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
.
The Germans attacked at dawn and the fight was over by 14:00. As the Germans searched the forest the Special Air Service men tried to break out and escape. A party of 34 were escaping down a forest track when they were ambushed and captured. The leader of the party Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Tomos Stephens was beaten to death by a German officer using his rifle butt; seven captured Maquisards were executed in the woods. The Special Air Service men and the American pilot should have been treated as prisoners of war. However their fate was determined by the issue of the Commando Order
Commando Order
The Commando Order was issued by Adolf Hitler on 18 October 1942 stating that all Allied commandos encountered by German forces in Europe and Africa should be killed immediately, even if in uniform or if they attempted to surrender...
by Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
which called for the immediate execution of commandos or parachutists, no matter if they had been captured in uniform. The decision of who was going to execute them was the cause of an argument between the German Army and the SS. The result of the argument was the army would carry out the execution. On 7 July the surviving prisoners of war, 30 Special Air Service men and Second Lieutenant Bundy, were taken into the woods near to St Sauvant, forced to dig their own graves then executed by a German firing squad at dawn under command of SS Major Josef Kieffer. Their bodies were then buried in a mass grave. Three Special Air Service men who had been wounded and hospitalized were killed by the administration of lethal injections. The 34 men executed in the woods were re-interred in the village cemetery of Rom, Deux-Sèvres
Rom, Deux-Sèvres
Rom is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France.It was the Roman settlement of Rauranum, located at a ford on a little river on the Roman road between Limonum and Santonum , according to the Antonine Itinerary. At this posting stage or relay stage , fresh horses could be found...
. The bodies of the three men executed in the hospital have never been found but they are commemorated by a plaque among their comrades' headstones in Rom.
Withdrawal
Tonkin and the remainder of the Special Air ServiceSpecial Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
Squadron escaped, regrouped and carried on with the mission until the order to cease operations was received on 24 July 1944. During the period between 10 June and 23 July the Special Air Service Squadron had attacked railway targets 15 times, the main roads the Route nationale 10
Route nationale 10
Route nationale 10, or RN 10, is a trunk road in France between Paris and frontier with Spain.-Reclassification:Unlike many other Route nationales the road retains its status along the majority of its route...
south of Vivonne
Vivonne
Vivonne is a commune in the Vienne department in the Poitou-Charentes region in western France.Louis Victor de Rochechouart de Mortemart, brother of Madame de Montespan was the duc de Vivonne....
and the Route nationale N147 between Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....
– Poitiers–Limoges
Limoges
Limoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....
were mined. They also had some success attacking targets of opportunity. Over the night of 12/13 June 1944 Lieutenant Crisp, one of those later executed, was in command of a patrol that laid mines on the N147 in the Forêt de Défant, just before the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich arrived in the area.
The 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich during their advance to Normandy were responsible for the Tulle murders
Tulle murders
The Tulle Murders refer to the actions committed by the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich in June 1944, at the end of World War II. After a successful FTP offensive on 7 and 8 June 1944, the arrival of Das Reich forces forced the guerillas to evacuate the city...
on 9 June 1944 and the massacre at the village of Oradour-sur-Glane
Oradour-sur-Glane
Oradour-sur-Glane is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department in the Limousin region in west-central France.The original village was destroyed on 10 June 1944, when 642 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were massacred by a German Waffen-SS company...
10 June 1944. The operations by the Bulbasket team amongst others delayed the arrival of the division in Normandy until the end of June. The 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich was responsible for the capture of the Special Operations Executive agent Violette Szabo
Violette Szabo
Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell Szabo, GC, was a Second World War French-British secret agent.-Early life and marriage:...
on 10 June 1944. They handed her over to the Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
security police in Limoges.
Aftermath
In December 1944, after the German Army had been driven from the area, men working in the forest near St Sauvant discovered an area of disturbed branches and broken earth. They started to examine the site and discovered what remained of a number of bodies. The local police forceGendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
were informed and on 18 December started excavating the grave. A number of bodies were wearing Allied uniform; most of their identity tags had been removed but two remained which identified them as members of Operation Bulbasket, while another was identified by his name inside the battle dress tunic. A further body in civilian clothing was identified as Second Lieutenant Brundy.
The 31 bodies were taken to Rom
Rom, Deux-Sèvres
Rom is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France.It was the Roman settlement of Rauranum, located at a ford on a little river on the Roman road between Limonum and Santonum , according to the Antonine Itinerary. At this posting stage or relay stage , fresh horses could be found...
and reburied with full military honours in the village cemetery. The body of Lieutenant Stephens, who had been beaten to death, is in the village cemetery in Verrières. The bodies of the three men murdered in hospital have never been found but a memorial plaque was erected beside the Special Air Service graves in Rom cemetery.
Summary of the operation
In an analysis of the achievements of Operation Bulbasket, the author Paul McCuePaul McCue
Paul McCue is a British military historian, writer and author.Born in Wombwell, near Barnsley in South Yorkshire, and educated at: Wath Grammar School, Yorkshire; The County Grammar School, Godalming, Surrey; and the University of Birmingham .Presently works as an Assistant Director in the Local...
lists the following:
- The initiation of four air attacks and a possible fifth, killing upwards of 150 German troops and Milice
- Responsibility for the destruction of crucial petrol stocks, delaying the progress of the 2nd Panzer Division towards the Normandy landing area
- The delay of the 226th Infantry Division from BayonneBayonneBayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
- The delay of the 227th Infantry Division from CarcassonneCarcassonneCarcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc.It is divided into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century,...
- It carried out 23 successful road and rail sabotage operations
Soldiers from Operation Bulbasket executed
| No. | Surname | Given name(s) | Rank | Unit(Sqdn.) | Decorations | Number | Died | Age | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adamson | Edward Young | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 4399392 | 07.07.1944 | 22 | shot |
| 2 | Allan | William Watt | Cpl. | 1 SAS (B) | MM Military Medal The Military Medal was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other services, and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land.... |
2031580 | 07.07.1944 | 29 | shot |
| 3 | Ashley | Alan George | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 5729859 | 07.07.1944 | 24 | shot |
| 4 | Aspin | James | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 10602266 | 07.07.1944 | 21 | shot |
| 5 | Baker | James Henry Malcolm | L/Cpl. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 2615455 | 07.07.1944 | 22 | shot |
| 6 | Bateman | Kenneth | Cpl. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 5572359 | 07.07.1944 | 24 | shot |
| 7 | Brophy | Michael Joseph | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 6353031 | 07.07.1944 | 22 | shot |
| 8 | Budden | Gordon Hubert Frank. | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 7958191 | 07.07.1944 | 21 | shot |
| 9 | Chick | Reginald | Cpl. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 7895914 | 07.07.1944 | 23 | shot |
| 10 | Cogger | George Oliver | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 5729670 | 07.07.1944 | 24 | shot |
| 11 | Crisp | Richard | Lt. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 303259 | 07.07.1944 | 20 | shot |
| 12 | Eades | Leslie Ronald | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 14542517 | 07.07.1944 | 22 | shot |
| 13 | Eccles | Douglas | Sgt. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 2735399 | 07.07.1944 | 24 | shot |
| 14 | Govan | J.C.W. | Cpl. | 1 SAS (B) | MM | 3057065 | 07.07.1944 | 30 | shot |
| 15 | Gray | David | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 320068 | 07.07.1944 | 25 | shot |
| 16 | Guard | Ronald | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 2929492 | 07.07.1944 | 24 | shot |
| 17 | Heavens | Robert Eric | Sgt. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 820065 | 07.07.1944 | 31 | shot |
| 18 | Hill | Harry | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 6298443 | 07.07.1944 | 29 | shot |
| 19 | Jessiman | John Russell | L/Sgt. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 1468628 | 07.07.1944 | 23 | shot |
| 20 | Kinnivane | John | Cpl. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 6094156 | 07.07.1944 | 26 | shot |
| 21 | Livingstone | Donald MacPhail | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 3324838 | 07.07.1944 | 29 | shot |
| 22 | Long | Leslie Charles | Cpl. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 6019123 | 07.07.1944 | 26 | shot |
| 23 | McLeod | Alexander | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 2822451 | 07.07.1944 | 26 | shot |
| 24 | Mullen | Henry | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 2935098 | 07.07.1944 | 29 | shot |
| 25 | Ogg | Joseph | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 11006397 | 08.07.1944 | 21 | Body never found |
| 26 | Pascoe | Henry James | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 5729548 | 08.07.1944 | 26 | Body never found |
| 27 | Phillips | Donald | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 5498990 | 07.07.1944 | 23 | shot |
| 28 | Richardson | William Ernest Liddell | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 92635 | 07.07.1944 | 26 | shot |
| 29 | Ryland | Sidney Jack | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 5729976 | 07.07.1944 | 29 | shot |
| 30 | Simmons | Eric George | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 124047 | 07.07.1944 | 26 | shot |
| 31 | Spooner | Anthony John | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 6216295 | 07.07.1944 | 20 | shot |
| 32 | Stephens | Tomos Mansel | Lt. | 1 SAS (A) | - | 95606 | 03.07.1944 | 24 | Wounded in the woods, he surrendered but was beaten to death with his own rifle butt |
| 33 | White | Victor Owen | Pte. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 6011364 | 07.07.1944 | 26 | shot |
| 34 | Williams | John Reginald Bernard | Cpl. | 1 SAS (B) | - | 2066732 | 08.07.1944 | 23 | Body never found |
| 35 | Bundy | Lincoln Delmar | 2nd. Lt. | USAAF | - | 0-804996 | 07.07.1944 | 26 | shot |