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The World War II Raid to Break Open Amiens Prison
On February 18, 1944, RAF de Havilland Mosquito bombers attacked Amiens Prison in German-occupied France in one of the most daring and controversial missions of World War II. Operation Jericho aimed to breach the prison walls and open an escape route for Resistance members and political prisoners believed to be facing execution, but the mission carried a terrible risk: the bombs meant to free prisoners could also kill the people inside.
This documentary follows the planning, flight, attack, and aftermath of the Amiens Prison raid. It examines the skill required from the Mosquito crews, the prisoners who escaped, the lives lost in the bombing, and the debate that still surrounds the operation. Operation Jericho remains a powerful example of wartime precision, moral uncertainty, and the difficult choices made when rescue and destruction depended on the same attack.
On February 18, 1944, RAF de Havilland Mosquito bombers attacked Amiens Prison in German-occupied France in one of the most daring and controversial missions of World War II. Operation Jericho aimed to breach the prison walls and open an escape route for Resistance members and political prisoners believed to be facing execution, but the mission carried a terrible risk: the bombs meant to free prisoners could also kill the people inside.
This documentary follows the planning, flight, attack, and aftermath of the Amiens Prison raid. It examines the skill required from the Mosquito crews, the prisoners who escaped, the lives lost in the bombing, and the debate that still surrounds the operation. Operation Jericho remains a powerful example of wartime precision, moral uncertainty, and the difficult choices made when rescue and destruction depended on the same attack.
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LearningTranscript
00:00There are moments in war when every available choice leads toward tragedy.
00:04Some battles are fought to seize a bridge, defend a city, or destroy an enemy position.
00:10But in the winter of 1944, the Royal Air Force was asked to carry out a mission unlike almost any
00:17other.
00:19Their target was not a military headquarters, a railway yard, or an ammunition depot.
00:24It was a prison.
00:26Behind its thick stone walls, hundreds of men waited under German occupation.
00:31Some had been arrested for resisting Nazi rule.
00:34Others were political prisoners, accused of helping underground networks that were quietly preparing for the day Allied forces would return
00:42to France.
00:43Mixed among them were ordinary criminals, held in the same overcrowded cells.
00:49They came from different backgrounds, spoke with different voices, and faced different accusations.
00:54Yet they all shared the same uncertainty.
00:58None of them knew what tomorrow would bring.
01:01Outside those walls, reports were beginning to circulate through resistance channels.
01:06German authorities were believed to be preparing a series of executions.
01:09If those reports were correct, time was running out for many of the prisoners whose knowledge, experience, and leadership would
01:16be desperately needed in the months ahead.
01:18The problem was painfully simple.
01:22No Allied army stood close enough to liberate the prison.
01:25No commando force could realistically fight its way through occupied northern France, storm the prison, and escape before German reinforcements
01:34arrived.
01:35Negotiation was impossible.
01:37Waiting might prove fatal.
01:39Only one option remained, and it sounded almost absurd.
01:42Bomb the prison.
01:44Not to destroy it completely.
01:46Not to kill the men inside.
01:48But to tear open its walls, cripple its guards, and create a narrow window through which prisoners might escape before
01:55German forces regained control.
01:59It was a plan that depended on extraordinary flying, remarkable precision, and more than a little luck.
02:06Every bomb dropped too close to the cells could kill the very people the mission was meant to save.
02:11Every bomb dropped too far away might leave the walls standing, trapping everyone inside as German guards recovered from the
02:18shock.
02:19Success and failure would be measured by only a few yards.
02:23Even today, Operation Jericho remains one of the Second World War's most debated air raids.
02:30Some historians have described it as an extraordinary act of courage and precision.
02:35Others continue to question whether the intelligence behind the mission justified such immense risks.
02:42Even its origins remain the subject of discussion.
02:45Who first requested the operation?
02:47How certain were Allied planners that executions were imminent?
02:51Could another solution have been found?
02:54Those questions have never been answered to everyone's satisfaction.
02:59What can be confirmed is that the crews who accepted the mission understood the danger long before their aircraft left
03:06the runway.
03:07They knew they were flying toward a target unlike any they had attacked before.
03:11There would be no margin for error measured in hundreds of feet.
03:16Accuracy would have to be measured in moments and meters.
03:18To understand why commanders were willing to accept such extraordinary risks,
03:24it is necessary to step back from the airfields of England and travel across the English Channel to a city
03:30living under occupation.
03:32By early 1944, Amiens had spent years under German control.
03:38Military vehicles moved through its streets.
03:41German patrols enforced order.
03:44Curfews restricted movement.
03:45The occupation had become part of everyday life.
03:48But beneath that appearance of control, another struggle continued almost invisibly.
03:54Across northern France, resistance groups gathered intelligence, sabotaged railways, distributed clandestine newspapers, and maintained secret communication with Britain.
04:05Every successful act of resistance increased the danger for those involved.
04:10Arrest could come after a careless conversation, an intercepted message, or a single betrayal.
04:17Many of those captured eventually passed through the gates of Amiens prison.
04:21The prison itself had existed long before the war, but under German occupation, its role changed dramatically.
04:29Its cells filled with people whose greatest crime, in the eyes of the occupying authorities, was opposing Nazi rule.
04:37Resistance organizers, couriers, suspected saboteurs, political detainees, and others accused of assisting Allied efforts found themselves confined alongside ordinary civilian
04:49prisoners.
04:50Each arrest weakened local resistance networks.
04:55Every experienced organizer removed from the field meant fewer people available to gather intelligence, move weapons, or prepare for the
05:03day Allied forces would return to France.
05:05The prison became more than a place of confinement.
05:09It became an obstacle standing directly between the Allies and the underground movement they hoped would support future operations.
05:16As preparations for the invasion of Western Europe gathered momentum across the English Channel,
05:22intelligence flowing into Britain increasingly emphasized the value of those resistance networks.
05:28Bridges, roads, railway lines, and communication systems would all become crucial
05:33when Allied troops eventually landed in France.
05:36Local knowledge could delay German reinforcements, disrupt transport, and provide information that aircraft and reconnaissance photographs could never reveal.
05:46But none of that would matter if experienced resistance members disappeared before the invasion even began.
05:51Reports reaching Allied planners suggested that German authorities intended to execute a number of prisoners held at Amiens.
06:00The exact timing, the numbers involved, and the certainty of those reports have remained subjects of historical debate.
06:07Some records support the belief that executions were approaching,
06:10while others suggest the available intelligence was less conclusive than later accounts implied.
06:15For the commanders forced to make decisions in February 1944, however, uncertainty did not remove responsibility.
06:24If the reports were correct and no action was taken, valuable resistance figures, and many other prisoners, could soon be
06:31dead.
06:31If the reports were wrong, launching an air raid against a prison would expose hundreds of lives to terrible danger
06:38for no compelling reason.
06:40It was an impossible calculation.
06:42Yet every passing day threatened to make the decision for them.
06:46The greatest enemy was no longer the prison's walls.
06:49It was time.
06:50Every military operation begins with a simple question.
06:54What gives us the best chance of succeeding?
06:57For Operation Jericho, that question did not begin with the prison itself.
07:02It began with the aircraft.
07:05The Royal Air Force possessed many bombers capable of carrying far heavier loads than the one eventually chosen for the
07:11mission.
07:12Large four-engine aircraft could devastate factories, rail yards, or industrial complexes with hundreds of bombs delivered in a single
07:20raid.
07:20Against those kinds of targets, sheer destructive power often mattered more than absolute precision.
07:28Amiens prison demanded the exact opposite.
07:31The crews could not flatten the entire complex.
07:33If they did, they would almost certainly kill the prisoners they hoped to save.
07:38Their bombs had to strike specific sections of the outer walls and selected guard buildings while leaving enough of the
07:44prison standing for hundreds of men to survive long enough to escape.
07:48There was only one aircraft in the RAF capable of attempting such a task.
07:54The de Havilland Mosquito.
07:57Built largely from wood rather than metal, the Mosquito had already earned an extraordinary reputation during the war.
08:03It served as a fighter, a reconnaissance aircraft, a night fighter, and a bomber.
08:08Its remarkable speed often allowed it to outrun enemy fighters instead of relying on heavy defensive armament.
08:15Rather than carrying large numbers of guns to protect itself, it depended on performance, skilled crews, and careful planning.
08:23Those qualities made it unlike almost any other aircraft in Allied service.
08:28For Operation Jericho, speed was not simply an advantage.
08:32It was survival.
08:34Flying at very low altitude reduced the amount of time German radar operators had to detect the approaching force.
08:40Once the aircraft crossed the French coastline, every minute mattered.
08:45The longer they remained over occupied territory, the greater the chance that anti-aircraft batteries would be alerted or German
08:52fighters would be directed toward them.
08:54Precision mattered even more.
08:57Unlike strategic bombing campaigns that spread destruction across broad industrial areas,
09:02this mission required individual buildings and stretches of wall to be hit with extraordinary accuracy.
09:09A mistake measured in only a few seconds during the bombing run could shift the impact point far enough to
09:15turn a rescue attempt into a catastrophe.
09:17Even the Mosquito's relatively modest bomb load became an advantage.
09:21The mission did not require overwhelming firepower.
09:25It required carefully controlled destruction.
09:28Enough explosive force to tear open thick masonry.
09:32Enough force to damage guard facilities.
09:36Enough force to shock defenders into confusion.
09:39But not so much that the entire prison collapsed upon the people trapped inside.
09:44Every characteristic of the aircraft matched the unusual demands of the mission.
09:48Its speed reduced exposure.
09:51Its agility allowed experienced crews to fly at exceptionally low level.
09:55Its bomb load encouraged accuracy over devastation.
09:59What might have seemed like limitations during a conventional bombing campaign became strengths when every bomb had to serve a
10:06precise purpose.
10:08Yet, choosing the right aircraft solved only part of the problem.
10:12Planning the attack itself proved even more demanding.
10:15Long before engines started and propellers turned, intelligence officers and planners studied aerial reconnaissance photographs of Amiens prison in extraordinary
10:26detail.
10:27They examined the layout of the walls, the position of guard buildings, nearby roads, surrounding structures, and the direction from
10:35which the attacking aircraft would approach.
10:38Every decision had consequences.
10:40If the outer walls remained intact, prisoners would have little chance of escaping.
10:45If guard facilities remained operational, organized resistance inside the prison could be crushed before escape became possible.
10:53If bombs struck the cell blocks directly, the rescue could end before it had even begun.
11:00The prison therefore became a carefully divided target.
11:03Specific stretches of wall were selected because breaching them offered the greatest opportunity for escape.
11:09Guard buildings were identified as priority targets to reduce the defender's ability to respond immediately.
11:16Every aiming point reflected the same objective.
11:19Create an opening.
11:20Create confusion.
11:22Create just enough time.
11:24Responsibility for leading such a mission naturally fell to some of the RAF's most experienced low-level attack crews.
11:30Flying only a few dozen feet above the ground demanded exceptional judgment even under ideal conditions.
11:37During an operational mission over occupied Europe, where navigation errors, enemy fire, and poor visibility constantly threatened disaster, those demands
11:47became even greater.
11:49The attack itself would unfold in carefully planned waves rather than a single overwhelming strike.
11:56The first aircraft would focus on breaching key sections of the prison walls.
12:01Following formations would attack guard positions and additional targets designed to disrupt any organized German response.
12:08Timing connected every stage of the operation.
12:11If one formation arrived too early or too late, the carefully balanced sequence could begin to unravel.
12:18Bombs intended to support escaping prisoners might instead fall while earlier attacks were still unfolding.
12:24Delays of only moments could leave guards enough time to recover their bearings and seal off escape routes before prisoners
12:31reached the breaches.
12:33Everything depended on coordination, everything depended on accuracy, and everything depended on conditions that no planner could control.
12:41As the day of the mission approached, the weather forecast became increasingly troubling.
12:47Winter over northern France rarely offered ideal flying conditions.
12:51Low cloud covered much of the region.
12:53Visibility varied from one area to another.
12:56Moisture and haze threatened to hide important landmarks that navigators relied upon while flying only a short distance above the
13:03ground.
13:05Unlike high-altitude bombing missions, there would be no opportunity to climb safely above poor weather and search calmly for
13:12the target.
13:13The mosquitoes intended to fly at treetop height.
13:16At that altitude, hills, church towers, factory chimneys, power lines, and even isolated trees became genuine hazards.
13:24Pilots would have only seconds to react while maintaining formation and preparing for an attack that demanded extraordinary precision.
13:32Poor visibility also increased the risk of navigational error.
13:36A town mistaken for another.
13:39A railway line followed too far.
13:41A river crossed at the wrong point.
13:44Any of these mistakes could place the formation behind schedule or bring it over the prison from an unexpected direction,
13:51forcing split-second decisions under combat conditions.
13:55Even if navigation went perfectly, the danger had only begun.
13:59German anti-aircraft batteries protected occupied France, and once the attack commenced, every gun capable of firing at low-flying
14:08aircraft would attempt to do exactly that.
14:10At the altitudes planned for Operation Jericho, there would be little room for violent evasive maneuvers.
14:17The crews had to remain steady long enough to identify their aiming points and release their bombs with precision.
14:23Then, there remained the greatest danger of all.
14:27The prisoners themselves.
14:30Every pilot understood that the people waiting behind those walls were not anonymous figures on a map.
14:36They were the reason the mission existed.
14:38Yet, from a cockpit rushing toward the target at tremendous speed, there would be no way to distinguish one section
14:45of the prison from another beyond the carefully studied photographs committed to memory before takeoff.
14:51If even a handful of bombs landed in the wrong place, innocent prisoners could pay the price.
14:57If the walls failed to break, the survivors might still face execution after the raid ended.
15:02If weather, enemy fire, or simple human error disrupted the carefully constructed plan, the entire operation could collapse within minutes.
15:12The crews had accepted those risks.
15:14Soon, they would have to fly into them.
15:16But if poor weather already threatened the mission before the aircraft had even crossed the channel,
15:21what would happen once they finally reached Amiens?
15:24The morning of February 18, 1944, offered little reassurance.
15:30The weather forecast that had worried planners remained a constant concern as the Mosquito crews prepared for takeoff.
15:37Low cloud hung over much of northern France, reducing visibility and making navigation even more demanding.
15:43For most bombing missions, poor weather could sometimes be avoided by climbing higher above the clouds.
15:49Operation Jericho allowed no such luxury.
15:52The attack depended on flying low, very low.
15:57The aircraft crossed the English Channel at altitudes intended to reduce the chances of early detection by German radar.
16:04The lower they flew, the more difficult they were to track, but the margin for error became almost non-existent.
16:11At that height, the landscape itself became an obstacle.
16:15Church spires, factory chimneys, power lines, rows of trees, and even slight changes in terrain demanded constant attention.
16:24There was little opportunity for distraction.
16:26Every crew had rehearsed the route repeatedly, studying maps, photographs, landmarks, railway lines, rivers, and roads.
16:34Navigation depended on recognizing the countryside as it rushed beneath them at tremendous speed.
16:40A mistake of only a few seconds could place the formation over the wrong town or send it toward the
16:47target from an unexpected direction.
16:49Inside each cockpit, concentration replaced conversation.
16:54Engines provided a constant roar, leaving little room for unnecessary words.
16:59Pilots focused on maintaining altitude and heading.
17:02Navigators compared the landscape below with the route committed to memory.
17:06Bomb aimers prepared for the brief moments that would determine whether the operation succeeded or failed.
17:13Unlike strategic bombing raids that allowed crews time to organize before reaching the target,
17:18everything during Operation Jericho happened rapidly.
17:22The prison would appear with very little warning.
17:25The bombing run would last only moments.
17:28Then, the aircraft would be gone.
17:31As the mosquitoes crossed occupied France, the weather continued to complicate the mission.
17:37Patches of low cloud forced crews to make continual adjustments while remaining close to the ground.
17:43Visibility varied from one stretch of countryside to another, making precise navigation increasingly difficult.
17:50Yet despite these obstacles, the formation pressed on.
17:54Turning back remained an option, but abandoning the mission carried its own consequences.
18:00If intelligence suggesting imminent executions proved correct,
18:04every delay increased the possibility that prisoners would die before another rescue attempt could even be organized.
18:11Eventually, the city of Amiens came into view.
18:15The prison stood exactly where reconnaissance photographs had shown it,
18:19surrounded by walls designed to keep people inside rather than protect them from attack from the air.
18:24There would be no second approach, no opportunity to circle and begin again.
18:30Everything depended on getting it right the first time.
18:33The leading mosquitoes descended into their attack runs.
18:37Flying straight and level during a bombing run often represented the most dangerous phase of any mission.
18:43Pilots became temporarily predictable, making them easier targets for anti-aircraft fire.
18:48Yet, violent maneuvers would ruin the accuracy required for Operation Jericho.
18:55Steadiness became more important than self-preservation.
18:58The first bombs fell.
19:00Their targets were not the prison's main buildings, but carefully selected sections of the outer walls.
19:06The objective remained exactly as planners had intended from the beginning,
19:10create openings through which prisoners might escape.
19:13Moments later, explosions shattered the winter silence.
19:17Massive sections of masonry erupted outward as bombs, struck with remarkable precision.
19:23Dust, smoke, broken stone and debris filled the air around the prison.
19:28Walls that had confined prisoners for years suddenly began to collapse.
19:33Other aircraft attacked designated guard buildings in administrative areas,
19:37seeking to disrupt any organized German response before it could fully develop.
19:41Within seconds, carefully ordered routines inside the prison gave way to confusion.
19:46Telephone lines were interrupted.
19:48Buildings were damaged.
19:50Visibility disappeared behind clouds of dust.
19:53Guards struggled to understand exactly what had happened.
19:56The attack had achieved something essential.
19:58It had replaced order with uncertainty.
20:01Yet, success remained dangerously fragile.
20:04Every bomb released during the attack carried enormous responsibility.
20:08One bomb falling too short could devastate occupied cells instead of striking the walls.
20:14One bomb falling too far beyond the prison might fail to create the openings needed for escape while endangering nearby
20:21civilians.
20:22Even bombs that struck close to their intended targets still generated blast effects,
20:27flying masonry and collapsing structures that threatened everyone nearby.
20:40As additional waves arrived over Amiens, the carefully planned sequence continued.
20:45More strikes reinforced breaches already opened and further disrupted German control inside the prison complex.
20:52Smoke now covered much of the area, making later attack runs even more demanding than the first.
20:57Pilots had to rely on landmarks, instinct, and the planning completed before the mission began.
21:04Every second spent over the target increased exposure to anti-aircraft fire.
21:09German defenders reacted quickly.
21:11Light anti-aircraft weapons opened fire as the mosquitoes swept across the city at low altitude.
21:18Machine gun fire reached upward from positions around the prison and surrounding streets.
21:23Pilots resisted the natural urge to maneuver violently because doing so risked spoiling the accuracy of their bombing runs.
21:31Only after releasing their bombs could they accelerate away, using the mosquitoes' speed to escape the growing storm of defensive
21:38fire.
21:39Inside the prison, no one immediately understood the full scale of what had happened.
21:44The walls that had seemed permanent only moments earlier now contained enormous breaches.
21:50Smoke drifted through shattered courtyards.
21:52Windows disappeared beneath broken stone.
21:55Doors that had remained locked throughout years of occupation no longer separated prisoners from the outside world in the same
22:02way they had before the raid.
22:04For those inside, the attack must have been bewildering.
22:07Many prisoners had no warning.
22:10Some may initially have believed the prison itself had simply become another target in the wider air war over occupied
22:17Europe.
22:18Only gradually did the significance of the damaged walls become clear.
22:23Escape had become possible, not guaranteed.
22:27Possible.
22:29German guards attempted to recover from the shock as quickly as circumstances allowed.
22:33Some organized defensive positions.
22:36Others searched damaged buildings or attempted to restore communication.
22:40Orders competed with noise, smoke, and uncertainty.
22:44The carefully planned confusion that Operation Jericho sought to create had become reality.
22:50Prisoners began moving toward the breaches wherever they could find them.
22:53Some escaped through gaps torn in the outer walls.
22:56Others found damaged doors or weakened barriers created by the bombing.
23:00Still, others remained trapped inside collapsed sections of the prison or hesitated amid the chaos, uncertain whether escape remained possible
23:08or whether further bombing would follow.
23:11No one present could accurately judge what was happening across the entire prison complex.
23:16Not the prisoners.
23:18Not the guards.
23:19Not the RAF crews already speeding away toward England.
23:23Nobody immediately knew how many prisoners had escaped.
23:26Nobody knew how many remained trapped inside.
23:28Nobody knew how many had been killed by the bombing itself.
23:32Those answers would emerge only gradually, and even then they would remain subjects of historical debate.
23:39As dust settled across Amiens, the cost of the operation also became painfully clear.
23:45The raid had never promised a bloodless rescue.
23:48Prisoners lost their lives during the attack.
23:51Some were killed by collapsing masonry.
23:53Others died from the direct effects of the bombing.
23:56Prison staff also suffered casualties as buildings were struck and the carefully planned attack unfolded around them.
24:03German personnel stationed at or near the prison were killed and wounded as guard facilities became primary targets.
24:09The RAF did not escape unharmed either.
24:14Not every Mosquito returned from the mission.
24:16Among those lost was the aircraft of Group Captain Percy Charles Pickard, one of the operation's senior leaders.
24:24After successfully completing the attack, his Mosquito was shot down during the return flight.
24:30Pickard and his navigator, Flight Lieutenant John Broadley, were killed.
24:33Their deaths underscored a reality shared by every crew that morning.
24:38Surviving the bombing run did not guarantee survival.
24:41The journey home remained dangerous until the very end.
24:45Assessing Operation Jericho purely by the number of walls breached or buildings destroyed misses the true complexity of what had
24:53taken place.
24:54This was never a conventional bombing mission, nor was it a clean rescue.
24:59Every success carried an unavoidable human cost.
25:02Every life saved existed alongside lives that had been lost.
25:06Beyond the shattered prison, another struggle had already begun.
25:10Hundreds of prisoners now found themselves outside the walls, but freedom in occupied France remained uncertain.
25:17Some disappeared into nearby streets before German forces fully regained control.
25:22Others received assistance from members of the French Resistance who helped hide them,
25:27move them between safe houses, or guide them toward areas where they were less likely to be captured.
25:32For experienced Resistance members, escape meant more than personal survival.
25:37It offered the possibility of returning to networks that continued preparing for the Allied invasion still months away.
25:44Not everyone reached safety.
25:46German troops quickly organized search operations throughout the surrounding area.
25:50Roads were watched, patrols spread across the countryside.
25:54Many escaped prisoners faced the impossible challenge of avoiding capture while carrying injuries, lacking food, or trying to navigate unfamiliar
26:02territory under occupation.
26:05Some were recaptured within hours.
26:08Others remained free for the rest of the war.
26:10Exactly how many ultimately escaped permanently varies between historical accounts, reflecting the confusion that surrounded the operation almost from the
26:20moment the last aircraft disappeared into the distance.
26:24What remained beyond dispute was that the prison no longer held complete control over those confined within it only hours
26:32earlier.
26:32Whether that outcome justified the cost would become a question debated long after the smoke over Amiens had disappeared.
26:41When the surviving Mosquito crews returned to England, the mission itself was over.
26:47Understanding what it had achieved was only beginning.
26:50Unlike a raid against a factory or railway, success could not be measured by damaged buildings alone.
26:56The true objective had always been the prisoners.
26:59Yet, in the confusion of wartime, nobody immediately knew how many had escaped, how many had been killed, or how
27:06quickly German forces had regained control.
27:09Early reports were incomplete and often contradictory.
27:13That uncertainty has remained part of Operation Jericho's story ever since.
27:18The greatest debate concerns why the raid was launched in the first place.
27:22Allied planners believed that resistance prisoners faced imminent execution, making immediate action necessary.
27:30While several prisoners were indeed under sentence of death, historians continued to disagree over how imminent those executions actually were,
27:39and how reliable the intelligence proved to be.
27:43Questions also remain about who first proposed the operation.
27:46Some accounts credit the French resistance, while others point to British intelligence and allied planners, seeking to preserve experienced resistance
27:54networks before the invasion of France.
27:57The surviving evidence does not provide a definitive answer.
28:00What is beyond dispute is the extraordinary skill displayed by the Mosquito crews.
28:06Flying at extremely low altitude through poor weather, striking selected sections of a prison with remarkable precision, and escaping enemy
28:14defenses.
28:14Demanded exceptional discipline and courage.
28:18But Operation Jericho was never a perfect success.
28:22Prisoners, prison staff, German personnel, and RAF aircrew all lost their lives.
28:29Hundreds escaped, some returning to the resistance, while others were recaptured.
28:34That complexity is why the raid is still remembered today.
28:38It was neither a simple triumph nor a clear failure.
28:42Instead, it remains one of the Second World War's most remarkable examples of precision flying, immense personal risk, and the
28:50difficult moral choices that defined wartime decision-making.
28:54To most military planners, a prison is a place to be avoided, not attacked.
28:59Yet, in February 1944, the only way to open the gates of Amiens prison was to break them apart with
29:07bombs.
29:08That contradiction lies at the heart of Operation Jericho.
29:12The crews who climbed into their Mosquitoes that morning understood they could not promise a perfect outcome.
29:18They knew that even flawless flying could not eliminate every risk.
29:22Innocent prisoners might die, their own aircraft might never return, and even if the walls were breached, there was no
29:29guarantee that those who escaped would remain free.
29:33Still, they flew.
29:35Their mission demanded a level of precision few aircrews had ever attempted.
29:40Flying at treetop height through poor weather, placing bombs within yards of men they were trying to save,
29:45and escaping through enemy fire required extraordinary skill and immense courage.
29:51But courage alone does not explain why the operation is still remembered.
29:56Operation Jericho continues to provoke discussion because it refuses to fit neatly into history's familiar categories.
30:03It was not an unquestioned victory, nor was it a clear failure.
30:08It succeeded in breaking open the prison and allowing many prisoners to escape.
30:13Yet it also claimed innocent lives and left historians debating whether the intelligence justified such an extraordinary gamble.
30:21Perhaps that is why the raid still resonates more than eight decades later.
30:25It can be remembered as one of the finest examples of precision flying during the Second World War.
30:32It can be remembered as an act of desperation carried out against impossible odds.
30:37It can be remembered as a rescue whose cost can never be ignored.
30:41Or perhaps it should be remembered as all three.
30:45Because sometimes history's most remarkable stories are not the ones with simple endings.
30:50They are the ones that continue asking difficult questions long after the guns have fallen silent.
30:55Is that not a ministry?
30:55It is not the ones that continue to pray out-in.
30:55We'll see you next time.
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