Mackay - Overture to Overlord: The Preparations for D-day: Special Operations of World War Two, Northwest Europe

First published in Great Britain in 2005 by
Pen & Sword Military
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright Francis Mackay 2005

ISBN 085 052 8925
eISBN 9781844683277

The right of Francis Mackay to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

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This book would not have come about if, in days long gone, Major John Farrell TD had not talked about the Hopkinson Mission, and the late Squadron Sergeant Major Bob Bennett MM , BEM , one of David Stirlings originals, had not mentioned 6 SAS. Nor would it have come about if I hadnt read an old notebook found in my ancient bergen. I was lucky to have known some of the originals, so this book is really theirs.

Contents

1. Hitler and the Armistice railway carriage in the Fret de Compigne, 1940.

Private Collection

2. Fort la Turra.

Private Collection

3. The Tandura Mission; the agent parachute rig.

Luigi Cortelleti

4. British troops in Norway being looked after by a farmer (extreme left) and his wife during the Norwegian campaign.

Private Collection

5. Inverailort Castle, late 1990s.

Highland Photos

6. The Western Highlands. One of the railway viaducts used for sabotage training in the Loch Ailort area.

Highland Photos

7. Loch Ailort station in the late 1990s, showing Ambush Bend and the remains of the cattle dock (ramp and white gate on right).

Highland Photos

8. The Cairngorm Mountains; a wartime training area for Allied mountain troops and the NORSOG

SCOTAVIA Images

9. OSS Area H; container packing station and agent holding zone at Holmewood Hall near Peterborough.

Tom Ensminger

10. Area T, Harrington air station. Lieutenant Colonel Serge Obolensky, hatless, centre, with RAF dispatchers and parachute riggers prior to a mission.

Tom Ensminger

11. Eureka Beacon demonstration layout, possibly at Somersham practice field.

Louis Meulstee

12. Rebecca fitted on C47 aircraft. 1 receiving aerial, 2 transmitting aerials.

Louis Meulstee

13. US C47 aircraft about to snatch a CG4 Hadrian glider.

Tom Ensminger

14. Armed jeeps of a French SAS squadron.

Tom Ensminger

15. Stuart-Turner Pumps Ltd. solidfuel steam boiler and spare hearth ring which used anything from coal to wood chips and dried cow-dung.

Stuart-Turner Ltd.

16. German troops loading a Nebelwerfer rocket launcher.

Private Collection

17. Arthur Lyon & Co. Ltd., steam driven battery charging set.

Stuart-Turner Ltd.

18. Brockhall Manor and parkland near Weedon, Northamptonshire in the 1990s.

Captain P. B. Smith

19. Jedburgh wireless set.

Louis Meulstee

20. An SOE suitcase wireless and hand generator.

Louis Meulstee

21. Jedburgh wireless set carrying rig.

Louis Meulstee