Bernd Horn - The Wrecking Crew

Copyright Bernd Horn, 2019

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Cover image: Library and Archives Canada, PA 205025
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Horn, Bernd, 1959-, author
The wrecking crew : Operation Colossus, 10 February 1941 / Colonel
(retired) Bernd Horn.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4597-4338-0 (softcover).--ISBN 978-1-4597-4339-7 (PDF).-
ISBN 978-1-4597-4340-3 (EPUB)

1. Operation Colossus, 1941. 2. Great Britain. Army. X Troop, Commando, No. 2. 3. World War, 1939-1945--Regimental histories--Great Britain. 4. World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Italy. I. Title.

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In the darkest days of the Second World War, when Britain stood seemingly alone and was faced with the imminent threat of invasion, Winston Churchill, the newly installed prime minister, refused to accept a purely defensive stance. Rather, he insisted on fighting back. Within this context, The Wrecking Crew focuses on one specific military event in the Second World War, namely Operation Colossus, the first British airborne raid that was conducted on February 10, 1941, in southeastern Italy with the objective of destroying the Tragino Aqueduct. Operation Colossus is important because it opens a window into so much of military art and science, as well as military culture.

The operation was born, shaped, and executed in those dramatic days following the German conquest of western Europe. With Britains back against the wall, its conservative, traditional-minded military commanders were completely fixated on the defence. They were adamant that every effort and resource be sunk into preparing the island to withstand a Nazi invasion. Arguably, this approach was totally understandable as their heavy equipment and weapons, as well as their doctrine, was still smouldering on the beaches of Dunkirk, from where they were miraculously able to withdraw 338,000 Allied soldiers from the jaws of the advancing German juggernaut.

It was within this backdrop of recent defeat and impending invasion, as well as a general feeling of despair and despondency, that Prime Minister Churchill railed against the defensive mindset and demanded an offensive capability. This demand took the form of commandos and paratroops, establishments that did not exist, and concepts that were disturbing to the military hierarchy of the day. Nonetheless, due to his powerful and dominating personality, he pushed his agenda and achieved his wish.

However, not surprisingly, starting up new capability, particularly during wartime, in a less than permissive organizational environment, is fraught with challenges. As such, this book captures the early resistance to the concept of commandos and airborne forces, the discord between planning, which is arguably a relatively simple process, and actual operations, when the plan meets the acid test of reality.

The plan, seemingly simple enough in creation, faced a litany of challenges from the beginning right to the end. Issues from training problems, inclement weather, and a lack of intelligence, to a bad parachute drop all created turmoil for the daring commandos who found themselves deep behind enemy lines in Italy. Forced to adapt the plan to the realities on the ground the commandos created havoc and then had to make a desperate attempt to escape and return to England.

Of great interest is the aftermath of the raid. How is success actually measured? As such, this operation provides great insight into the difficulty of measuring operational success and the inevitable fall-out and scramble when failure is presumed. In the end, The Wrecking Crew recounts one great war story.

The loud drone of the two Armstrong Siddeley Tiger IX radial engines, pumping 795 horsepower each, filled the dark interior of the Armstrong Whitley medium bomber. In its cold, narrow fuselage dark shadows could be seen seemingly stacked against each other. These intrepid British paratroopers were part of the first Allied airborne operation of the war.

Caught flat-footed on a number of fronts at the outset of the Second World War, the Allies were particularly late into airborne warfare. The British dismissed airborne operations in the interwar years as a circus stunt. However, the German application of airborne warfare at the start of the conflict, specifically, capturing key bridges, aerodromes, impregnable fortresses, as well as creating rear area paralyzation due to the mere fear of potential impending airborne attacks, proved otherwise. Quite clearly, the German Fallschirmjgers had a devastating effect that caught the Allied political and military leadership by surprise.

The initial shock aside, Prime Minister Winston Churchill immediately seized on the concept of paratroopers and ordered the formation of a robust British airborne capability. However, new ideas in a conservative military institution that was already reeling from the defeat in France did not find fertile ground, and the creation of airborne forces took time and effort. Concomitant with the directive to establish paratroops was another missive to create commandos. Churchill was not content with a defensive war and wanted to strike back at the Germans and deny them all the initiative. As such, military commanders were now faced with rebuilding their army; retraining and re-equipping it, as well as creating new forces and capability that they did not fully believe in.