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00:01December 1941 just before dawn British soldiers land on the coast of Nazi
00:06occupied Norway to the sound of bagpipes played by one of their officers
00:15the troops are a part of a new and elite fighting force the commandos raised on
00:21the direct orders of Winston Churchill
00:25their specific role is to mount hit-and-run raids on Hitler's Europe and
00:30keep his troops pinned down far from the main fighting fronts
00:38the commando assault on Vargas was one of a series intended to show the Nazi tyrant
00:43that he can't have the war all his own way
00:49their raids on hitler's northern flanks succeeded brilliantly convincing him
00:54that Norway would become one of the key battlefields of World War two and that
00:58its defenses must be strength
01:04yeah
01:05yeah
01:06yeah
01:06yeah
01:08yeah
01:25Winston Churchill became Prime Minister in Maine 1940 he was immediately confronted with a string of humiliating defeats for Britain
01:36nearly a month early the Germans had invaded Norway the British and French tried to counter this assault
01:44in the far north at Narvik the allied and Norwegian forces had some success
01:52but in the end they were forced to withdraw
01:56at the same time British forces were thrown out of France at Dunkirk
02:08Hitler's war machine stood on the French coast Britain faced the threat of invasion
02:16despite these setbacks Britain's leader was determined to show that the country's forces could still offer resistance to Hitler on
02:23mainland Europe
02:30chief of the imperial general staff sir john do
02:33instructed lieutenant colonel Dudley Clark to draw up a proposal for a raiding force of guerrilla fighters
02:44Clark had grown up in South Africa hearing heroic tales of the boa commandos
02:50these were the guerrilla raiders who had been recruited from Dutch boa farmers to fight the invading British
02:58Clark suggested that the new force be named after them
03:03Churchill had fought in South Africa against these unusual troops and he had learned to admire their skilled marksmanship and
03:10fighting spirit
03:12he immediately agreed the new raiders would be called the commandos after the men who had caused the British army
03:19so much trouble
03:20they would be an elite unit that could launch fast lethal raids on the enemy
03:26British newsreels made the most of this new attacking force
03:36British army is ready for the attack
03:39day and night shock troops rehearse for the time when they will stage the real show
03:44Britain is the bridge head to Western Europe
03:46on whatever coast these men will land
03:48this is the way they will do it
03:52in the summer of 1940 a few days after the Battle of Britain began the commandos mounted their first mission
03:59they were all volunteers who had been assembled from a wide variety of army units
04:08at night they raided the French coast near Boulogne
04:15another raid was mounted against a Nazi airfield on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands
04:25neither raid inflicted much damage
04:27but they were a clear statement of intent
04:30Britain might have its back against the wall
04:32but that wouldn't stop it coming out fighting
04:41on the 17th of July Churchill issued a further directive concerning the conduct of irregular warfare against Nazi occupied Europe
04:49two more organizations were to be set up
04:53one was a special operations executive known as SOE
04:58this would recruit agents to support a network of resistance movements across Europe
05:07the other was a directorate of combined operations
05:11which would take charge of organizing commando raids and other clandestine assaults
05:18World War One naval hero Admiral Sir Roger Keyes was put in charge of combined operations
05:25he had been the leader of the daring raids on the German held ports of Zeebrugge and Ostend in 1918
05:35officially the commandos were called the Special Service Brigade SS for short but they hated this
05:42some refused to wear the SS displayed on their cap badges
05:46it reminded them too much of Hitler's hated troops
05:52a training camp for the new force was established at Achnacarry in the Scottish Highlands
06:02live ammunition was always used
06:07of the 25,000 troops put through commando training during World War II
06:1340 lost their lives
06:15many more were injured
06:21the harsh terrain was typical of the Arctic landscape they would encounter on the northern edge of Hitler's Empire
06:31for the islands off Nazi occupied Norway were thought to be good initial targets for British raids
06:37more lightly defended than the French coast
06:40they would draw troops away from key parts of the Third Reich
06:48Admiral Keyes mounted his first large-scale commando raid on the Lofoten Islands inside the Arctic Circle
06:57on the 3rd of March 1941 the troops set sail
07:05the flotilla of Royal Navy warships and transport vessels carried two commando units
07:11each with approximately 300 of the new force
07:19the next day they piled into their landing craft
07:25expecting hostile Nazis they were confronted instead by delighted Norwegians
07:34the German garrison surrendered without resistance
07:37so the commandos made the most of their easy victory
07:40sending a cheeky message to Hitler complaining about the lack of anyone to fight
07:46and bringing back 225 German prisoners 60 collaborators and 115 volunteers for the free Norwegian force
07:57the second attack followed on the Norwegian Arctic settlement of Spitsbergen on the 18th of August 1941
08:08Operation Gauntlet was carried out by Canadian and Norwegian infantry
08:13accompanied by a small contingent of commandos
08:18again there was no resistance
08:25the main danger came from over enthusiasm
08:28as the troops blew up a few communication masts and military installations
08:44the commandos had yet to be tested in combat
08:47and win a major victory for Churchill
08:50there was also trouble brewing at home
08:54on the 27th of October 1941
08:57the director of combined operations Admiral Keyes resigned
09:01it was a culmination of 15 months of frustration
09:06Keyes felt he'd been let down by the chiefs of staff
09:09who did not share his enthusiasm for what the commandos could achieve
09:18a younger successor to Keyes was chosen
09:24Commodore Lord Louis Mountbatten was promoted to Vice Admiral and took over
09:29cousin of King George VI
09:31he enjoyed great influence and powerful connections within the military establishment
09:36clearly Churchill wanted more action
09:39and believed that Mountbatten was the man to deliver it
09:46the commandos were provided with more weapons and more equipment
09:50especially the all-important landing craft
10:03Norway remained a prime target for the allies
10:06it already absorbed large numbers of German troops as an occupying force
10:11which could otherwise be used on the Russian front
10:13or in North Africa against the British
10:19the commandos now prepared for their largest raid so far
10:23it would be the ultimate test of all their months of training
10:33Varxow Island was the point chosen for Britain to blast back into action
10:39the targets were major fish processing plants guarded by a substantial German garrison
10:44this time the commandos faced real combat troops
10:51the raid would take place just after Christmas 1941
10:57if everything went well it would be the perfect present for Churchill
11:03the man who believed so strongly in the power of the commandos
11:09but if everything went wrong it could be a serious setback to British plans to take the war to German
11:15occupied Europe
11:22boxing day 1941 Britain's new elite force sets off for the Norwegian island of Varxow
11:29codenamed operation archery this would be the largest commando raid of the war so far
11:37the raid is sailed with a powerful naval force from solemn vote in the Shetland Islands
11:46Brigadier JC Hayden was in charge of the commandos
11:52combined operations had used a model to plan the mission
11:56the timings of the assaults on the two main towns on the island of Varxow
12:00and on nearby Morloy would need to be carefully synchronised
12:09the outline plan for this operation is that the forces will sail so as to arrive off the entrance to
12:14the fjord
12:15which is out here just before light
12:18they'll enter the fjord and the cruiser and two destroyers
12:21will proceed to a point where they're hidden from the battery on Morloy Island here
12:26by this point which is known as Halmasvik point
12:29the infantry assault ships will come into the bay beyond Halmasvik point
12:33as soon as the landing craft are lowered they'll proceed around this point
12:36they will then attack this point here by making a landing on these beaches
12:40and half the landing craft will proceed to attack Morloy Island landing here and on this point here
12:48the light cruiser HMS Kenya led the force along with four destroyers a submarine and two infantry assault ships newly
12:56adapted to carry landing craft
13:02on board number three commando reinforced with extra men from number two commando formed the raiding party
13:08a total of 576
13:16it was a truly combined operation
13:20for the Royal Air Force would provide fighter and bomber support
13:24bow fighters acted as long-range fighter cover while bombers were to support the landings
13:37as a diversion while the force was at sea a raid code named operation anklet was mounted on the 26th
13:43of December against the Lofoten islands
13:50on board HMS Kenya the landing force commanders ran through the final details of the assault
13:59there would be simultaneous landings at the towns of South Vaxo and Holovic
14:03it was estimated that these were held by 250 German troops equipped with heavy guns
14:13at the same time a detachment would strike the island of Morloy but a gun battery needed to be silenced
14:20at 08 42 the next morning the raiding force arrived in the wags fjord
14:26a German lookout spotted them as they hoved to
14:29but when he tried to raise the alarm he was accused of being drunk
14:33the two infantry assault ships began to lower their landing craft to the boarding position
14:38then it was time to go
14:40man the boat
14:42man all boats
14:45armed to the teeth the commandos took to their craft
14:48the moment had come to prove their worth
14:56eight minutes later HMS Kenya fired a salvo of starshells to light up the island of Morloy
15:02the most heavily defended position in the wags fjord
15:07these illuminated the primary target for the rest of the naval gunners
15:21bombers of the Royal Air Force added to the mayhem dropping smoke bombs to mask the landings
15:33Royal Navy destroyers joined in the bombardment as the commando landing craft sailed in
15:39500 shells fell on Morloy
15:44as the landing craft near the islands the commandos fired red flares to halt the naval bombardment
15:54then under the smokescreen laid by the RAF two troops from number three commando landed on Morloy
16:10the raiding force was commanded by the larger-than-life major mad Jack Churchill
16:18completely fearless he led his men into battle armed with a highland broadsword and playing the bagpipes
16:24to the strains of the march of the Cameron men they overran Morloy in less than 10 minutes killing or
16:31capturing all the Germans they found
16:39that
16:40at 0920 mad Jack Churchill signaled that Morloy and its gun battery were in British hands
16:48the German barracks ammunition dump and fuel storage tanks were torched and the gun battery destroyed
17:01in South Park so German resistance was stronger the commandos engaged in vicious house-to-house fighting
17:10as more troops were brought ashore tragedy struck the commando landing craft
17:15and one of them was hit by a phosphorus smoke bomb dropped by an RAF aircraft
17:24this killed half the troops on board
17:29on South Park so the commandos suffered further casualties
17:33the shore party signaled for more reinforcements
17:36the landing force commander Colonel John Dernford Slater committed his reserves
17:43spare troops from the fighting in Morloy were also quickly sent across the Ulversund
17:48to join in the action
17:55every building was tenaciously defended the commandos brought in mortars to silence any resistance
18:09meanwhile two Royal Navy destroyers transported commandos of number five troop up the Ulversund to make a landing near North
18:16Farxel
18:17their task was to cut off any threat of a German counter-attack
18:25commandos also crossed to the mainland to blow up another fish processing plant
18:38the destroyers completed the devastation by attacking several German ships sheltering in the waterway
18:48a total of almost 16,000 tons of enemy shipping was sunk or disabled
18:58shortly after midday the naval force was attacked by the Luftwaffe but the low-flying aircraft were beaten off by
19:05anti-aircraft fire
19:10in South Farxel fierce resistance continued the street fighting was savage no quarter given or expected
19:22the Ulversund hotel was one of the principal German strongholds
19:29it was pounded into submission by mortars fired at close range
19:40by 1300 hours the last of the German resistance was overcome as their defended buildings burned to the ground
19:51hand carts carrying explosives were brought forward
19:55demolition charges were set to destroy any remaining German positions and industrial targets
20:08another fish oil processing plant was blown apart
20:15by 1445 hours the fighting was over the building still burning fiercely
20:23in total the commandos suffered 17 dead and 53 wounded many stretchered out as the demolition work continued
20:36the Royal Navy lost two dead and six wounded two Norwegian officers were killed
20:44approximately 120 Germans were killed and 98 taken prisoner
20:49by now the commandos had taken more prisoners than were captured during the whole of the 1940 campaign in France
20:55in some small way they had avenged the British Army's humiliation at Dunkirk
21:11several Norwegian collaborators were pointed out by the locals
21:15they were made to carry the wounded to the boats
21:21almost a hundred Norwegian men women and children took the opportunity to go with the commandos
21:26as they returned to their landing craft
21:35liberated some of the men would go on to serve with the British forces
21:43as the raiders withdrew
21:45South Vargso and Morloy Island were left as flaming ruins
21:50Operation Archery was a total success
21:53both tactically and strategically
21:56immediately at a political level
21:58it served as a superb propaganda tool
22:01raising civilian morale at home
22:03the triumphant troops and sailors had shown that Britain was back in business
22:08the whole mission had been extensively filmed
22:11and the British newsreels made the most of it
22:16cheekily
22:17a cameraman couldn't resist including a shot of a German sign prohibiting photography
22:25but more importantly
22:27the raid had a major effect on Hitler
22:29convincing him that Norway was a zone of destiny in this war
22:36German reinforcements flooded into Norway
22:39just as the British had hoped
22:40and more than 350,000 remained there throughout the war
22:45the cream of the German fleet
22:46the battleship Tirpitz and battlecruiser Scharnhorst
22:50were transferred to northern waters where they remained until destroyed
22:57Operation Archery more than justified the risk taken by the chiefs of combined operations
23:04it was a worthy Christmas present for Winston Churchill
23:09and a fine beginning to a remarkable succession of victories won by Britain's commanders
23:15to be a fairer
23:18the new
23:18the new
23:19the new
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