Operation Jericho: Freeing the French Resistance from Gestapo jail, Amiens 1944 (Raid)

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The weather over RAF Westhampnett was slightly better than at Manston and eight Typhoons of 174 Squadron took off, followed by eight from 245 Squadron. The rendezvous at Littlehampton failed in the severe weather but over the Channel, 174 Squadron met four Mosquitos of the second wave, which were joined by another four half way across the Channel. The Typhoons of 245 Squadron found another three Mosquitos, the last of the third wave, two Mosquitoes each from 464 and 21 squadrons having flown into snow clouds and returned to base. [26] Zamawia, another ZORO member, said he strongly believed that the Mizos right to self-determination was unquestionably attached to Zo nationalism.

The rebels besieged the headquarters of 1 Assam Rifles, released prisoners, looted arms and funds, and declared independence. Ducellier, J. P. (2011). The Amiens Raid Secrets Revealed. Walton-on-Thames: Red Kite. ISBN 978-0-9554735-2-4. Bowman, M. W. (2005). The Reich Intruders: RAF Light Bomber Raids in World War II (1sted.). Barnsley: Pen & Sword Aviation. ISBN 1-84415-333-9. Actual air missions commenced on March 5, contributing significantly to regaining control over previously independent territories. Remarkably, Operation Jericho was executed with remarkable precision. It was characterized by meticulous military preparation and strategy, described by military experts as a “masterstroke.” This level of readiness and execution had not been witnessed before in the Indian subcontinent. As a result, the MNF swiftly overran Aizawl, achieving their objectives in just a matter of days. Operation Jericho & Government’s ResponseActing Wing Commander, 51 Squadron, Royal Air Force. Citation reads: This officer has made his squadron an extremely efficient bombing force. He has extracted the maximum effort from all, at the same time promoting and fostering an excellent comradeship between flying personnel and ground staff thus instilling the team spirit so necessary to achieve success. He has instituted a fine spirit among his flying crews for accurate bombing and in obtaining photographs. The great escape went on, prisoners by the hundreds running to nearby streets where they piled into the Gazogene fleet and vanished. Some—as many as 100—changed clothes in commercial vans thoughtfully parked for the purpose. Prisoners helped each other without distinction as to which side of the prison they came from. There were no criminals running from the building, no political prisoners, only Frenchmen. Some stripped guards’ bodies of their uniforms, becoming instant Germans. One, equipped with a white cane, tapped his way to freedom as a “blind man.” A team of nine resistance members, including at least one prostitute, raided several stores, led by a professional thief called Violette Lambert … at least that was one of her names. Many of her team were also professional criminals, the women with bags carried under their clothing to receive their loot. The men carried overcoats over their arms, the sleeves sewed closed for their booty. The stolen attire was meant to clothe the escapers, and the team of thieves stole so many articles that some had to return to their cars to unload and return for more. At last Violette saw one of her team being closely observed and shouted, “My bag’s been stolen,” and the man slipped away in the confusion. Two days after the raid, a low-level reconnaissance photo reveals extensive damage to Amiens Prison. The Operation Jericho raid to free prisoners from the Germans blasted a breach in the north wall of the facility, which is visible at the center of the image. The operation against Amiens Prison, codenamed Jericho, had been prepared in the deepest secrecy. Until a scale model of the Amiens Prison was unveiled on a table in the briefing room, none of the crews had any idea they were scheduled for the most audacious raid of the war, rivaled only by the Doolittle strike at Tokyo. Matter-of-factly their leader, Air Vice Marshal Basil Embry, told the aircrew that they were on their way to blow holes in prison walls deep in France so that prisoners inside could run to safety.

April 29, 1966: The MNFF transformed into the Mizo National Front (MNF) under Laldenga’s leadership. Its objective shifted from famine relief to achieving Mizo self-determination and secession from India. Bowman, Martin (2012a) [2008]. Mosquito: menacing the Reich. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Aviation. ISBN 9781844684359.

Credits

Bowman, M. W. (2012). Mosquito Missions: RAF and Commonwealth De Havilland Mosquitos. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Aviation. ISBN 978-1-78383-005-3. Brigadier Rustom Zal Kabraji led ground operations to clear rebel-held positions. He commanded the 61 Mountain Brigade based in Agartala. Initially, the IAF focused on re-supplying army installations using Dakotas and Caribou transport aircraft from Guwahati and Jorhat. Franks, Norman L (2000). RAF Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War - Volume 3. Midland Publishing. pp. 20. ISBN 1-85780-093-1.

Under the leadership of Brigadier Rustom Zal Kabraji, ground operations were initiated to reclaim rebel-held positions. Kabraji commanded the 61 Mountain Brigade, stationed in Agartala, and spearheaded these efforts. Despite attempts to resupply the Assam Rifles battalion through helicopter missions, the tenacious rebel opposition resulted in the downing of several supply flights. The ground operations encountered substantial resistance, necessitating several days of intense engagement before reaching the city of Aizawl. Operation Jericho and Indian Air Force Smith was appointed commanding officer of 151 squadron in February 1942 and acting wing commander in April, when 151 squadron began converting to the potent Mosquito-II night-fighter. On the night of June 24/25, he shot down two German bombers and damaged a third off Yarmouth. He was awarded a bar to his DFC in July, having scored eight aerial kills and four damaged. Having spent more than 2 years flying operationally with 151 squadron, he was rested from operations in March 1943.

In late October 1943, the capture of the résistant Roland Farjon, a senior figure in Organisation civile et militaire (OCM), began a period of mass arrests of résistants from OCM, which claimed a membership of 100,000 men and women, including about 12,000 in A region (Amiens), Alliance, Sosies and other groups ready for an expected Allied invasion. Prisoners of the Gestapo winter offensive of 1943–1944, taken around Amiens were imprisoned at the local prison where, in December 1943, twelve résistants were shot. [3] On 14 February 1944, Raymond Vivant, the sous-préfet of Abbeville and the last OCM leader to remain at liberty was arrested. Earlier in the war, Vivant had established an information-gathering system in which people gleaned information on the defences of the Channel coast and passed it to village mayors, who delivered it to Vivant for onward transmission to London by wireless. With the loss of so many resistance leaders, Vivant had come to know far too much about the invasion and how the resistance was expected to support it, which included a plan to reorganise the resistance and to expand it tenfold. The loss of Vivant brought OCM and other networks to the brink of collapse. [4] The IAF’s involvement extended beyond just airstrikes. It facilitated the rapid movement of troops and supplies to remote areas of Mizoram, where the rebellion was most active. This not only bolstered the government’s presence but also demonstrated the reach and flexibility of air power in counterinsurgency operations. Operation Jericho: Aftermath and Resolution Operation Jericho had been described by a military writer as an expression of confidence and clinical planning not witnessed hitherto fore in the Indian subcontinent. The Mizoram Peace Accord of 1986, between the government and MNF, paved the way for constitutional changes. Whatever the supine French press said, the French Resistance and most of the French people knew better. And 15 weeks after the strike at Amiens, the Allies came ashore in Normandy. It was the beginning of the end.

French historian Jean-Pierre Ducellier who spent years studying the raid reached the conclusion that the whole official motivation for it was “sheer lies”. This was based on several facts: Shores, C.; Thomas, C. (2004). 2nd Tactical Air Force: Spartan to Normandy June 1943 to June 1944. Vol.I. Hersham: Classic Publications (Ian Allan). ISBN 1-903223-40-7. The weather was very poor in mid-February, with snow fall and low cloud making take-offs and landings treacherous. On 16 February the base was sealed, with no one permitted to enter or leave. However the mission was scrubbed that first day and then the next, due to the poor weather. Snow flurries and very poor visibility on 18 February made completing the mission that day unlikely as well, but it was their last chance. New Zealand Pilot Officer Maxwell Sparks recalled: Grehan, John (1988). RAF and the SOE: Special Duty Operations in Europe. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Frontline Books. ISBN 9781473894136. Lax, Mark; Kane-Maguire, Leon (2005) [1999]. The Gestapo Hunters: 464 Squadron, RAAF, 1942–1945. Maryborough, QLD: Banner Books. ISBN 1-875593-19-5.Bowman, Martin (2014) [2011]. The Mosquito Story. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. ISBN 9780752485294. He retired from the RAF as a group captain in 1966, and took up farming in south Devon. His wife Joan, whom he married in 1942 when she was a WAAF officer, died in 1994. They had two daughters, one of whom died in a car accident, and a son, who is now deputy supreme allied commander, Europe, General Sir Rupert Smith. This is the story of Operation Jericho, the spectacular prison break staged by an elite group of British, Australian and New Zealand bomber pilots, who flew a daring low-level mission to blow holes in the walls of Amiens jail and free French Resistance prisoners under the sentence of death during World War II.