"The most audacious attack" Topic

Eben Emael. Small numbers using a new stategy and a new weapon completly blindside their opponents.
It was one of the most audacious attacks in World War Two.
Which other operations qualify? Pearl Harbour? Market Garden?
au·da·cious (ô-dshs)
adj.
1. Fearlessly, often recklessly daring; bold. See Synonyms at adventurous, brave.
2. Unrestrained by convention or propriety; insolent.
3. Spirited and original

Pegasus Bridge
Market Garden
Overlord
Attack by Campbeltown on the U boat pens

St Nazaire! 5 V.C.'s awarded. Insane!

To quote "Boy" Browning as he watched the 82nd's assault crossing of the Mass: "That is the most gallant action that I have ever witnessed."

Doolittle.

Any of several raids by Italian Frogmen/Naval Commandos in the Med, riding human torpedos and high speed attack craft.

Stuart beat me to St. NAzaire.

PT boats in the PTO vs IJN DDs and larger warships.

Torpedo 8 at Midway. Didn't succeed, but there's no denying the sheer audacity of the attack IMHO.

The French tankers manning the Char B1bis "Tunisie" and "Mistral" at Landrecies May 17, 1940. Two (2) tanks against an entire town-full of German panzers. The carnage they wrought would be worth recreating at least in CGI or on the wargames table IMHO…

Lt. Billotte and the crew of Char B1bis "Eure" at Stonne.

Final Score:

Billotte and "Eure:" 15*

Germans: 0

Fleet Air Arm Swordfish at Taranto Harbour.

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

The entire career of the SAS/LRDG in North Africa was daring, brave and audacious. The creation of the Long Range Desert Group itself was audacious too.
The counter-attack of the Red Army at Stalingrad (Operation Uranus), was also amazing, considering the German Army had the Soviets on the ropes until then.

The actions of the 101st Airborne and associated armor, artie units at Bastogne was incredible too.

The German Army's Airborne attack on Crete was costly and daring as well.

Kelly's Heros.

The death-charge of Taffy 3's screen.

The 1944 POW rescue in the Philippines.
Rescue of Musolini off an Italian mountain top by Otto Skorzeny.
The Dam Busters.
X-Craft raid on the Tirpitz.

Michael

gotta broaden this guys,20th cent …the Zebrugge raid makes Alexander Kent Bolitho character proud.

The German attack through the Ardennes in 1940, the Sickle Cut. No one knew the panzers could do that!

you know, they don't necessarily have to be successful.

I'd nominate the Ardennes offensive 1944.

… or do they only count if they worked?

My thoughts exactly Cadwgan!

The most audacious attacks are, in retrospect, also suicidal.

503rd Airborne on Corregidor.
Otto Skorzeny in Italy, Hungary, and the Eastern front.
Mikawa at Savo Island.
Tanaka at Tassafaronga.
The Ploesti raid.
Tarawa, both sides.
Greek cavalry division versus German panzers.
Free French at Bir Hakim.
Australians at Tobruk.
Americans at the Battle of Brisbane.
Brits at Arras.
Finns at Suomusalmi.
U.S. 32nd Division crossing the Owen Stanley Mountain range and attacking Buna-Gona (my son says).
American engineers at Remagen.

St Nazaire does it for me every time.

I suppose I am bound to mention the Swordfish attack on the Channel Dash – it fits all three categories, but whether it is strictly an 'Operation' in its own right is questionable.

I'm curious about the Battle of Brisbane

Do you think it was audacious for the American MPs to persecute and beat up a black American soldier on the streets of Brisbane, or audacious for the Aussie soldiers to try and save him?

Crete.

Werner Elb aka Samurai Elb

The invasion of Norway – if ever an operation hung by a thread it was that one.

Did some research on the battle of Brisbane. Wikipedia has a totally different version to the one Chick gave.

Pegasus Bridge every time. If you visit the site you'd agree with the guide in the museum that it was one of the most amazing feats of flying in the whole of WWII. The gliders were landed so close to the bridge – plus it was so successful. So many things could have gone wrong with that mission.

The Cockleshell heroes
The Krait
The Doolittle Raid

FlyFish – click on the link below the Battle of Brisbane

link

This one does seem to have been initially race related.

The intolerance of (mainly southern) US servicemen for dark skinned people was the subject of much trouble in both world wars. Especially when it involved concerned with white women.

Doesnt this Battle of Bisbane stuff belong on CA?

Well can't believe everything you read on the internet. I remember looking up Battle of Brisbane a year or so ago, and found something as I stated. Seems like that person may have been confused re Brisbane and the Manners street 'battles'

Just about anything the Afrika Korps did,
Brit commando actions,
Mussolini rescue,
Doolittle raid,
Brecourt,
the Dunkirk rescue,
and Pearl Harbor,

…were all pretty audacious.

I think there's a difference between audacious and wreckless. Also, as raducci suggests, "audacious" has to be in the plan. In other words, a plan that defies logic and the odds.

St Nazaire will always get my vote. The men who volunteered knew there was no real chance of getting back, and that the plan (using a converted US ship to represent a German vessel in the hope they could sneak in the front door) was of the 'it's so crazy it just might work' variety.

Many of the low level Mosquito attacks in Europe, such as the one to free French prisoners awaiting execution, called for audacious flying as well.

There were also lots of failed attempts, involving dropping in a handful men to blow something up, trek back and probably have to swim out to a waiting sub on a strict timetable. Most of those I tend to regard as a waste of brave men.

There's a fine line between audacious and downright suicidal, and it's largely down to individual opinion where it's drawn.

Gary

Sorry, I didn't read very carefully. Bir Hakim, Brisbane and Tobruk should be "tenacious defences".

Following definitions 2 & 3, The air landings at Nadzab in New Guinea were a bold stroke. Landing paras and engineers in a jungle clearing, cutting out a runway, airlanding an infantry division, then taking a coastal position by suprise from the landward side. MacArthur and Kenney continued to use vertical envelopments like this all through the New Guinea campaign.

Pearl Harbor and the Doolittle Raid were also very audacious moves that defied normal thinking.

If you believe the "he did it on purpose" theory, then the British attacks on German cities at the height of Battle of Britain would certainly rank up there. Had the Luftwaffe not switched their bombing focus from airfields and aircraft plants to London, the RAF could very well have been in deep.

The US 4th Armored Division's encirclement of Nancy was another audacious attack, starting from a night crossing of the pontoon bridge over the Moselle straight into a counter attack and following on with a drive straight through the German rear areas with the attack column being directed from a L4 liason aircraft overhead and the flanks of the attack secured only by roving flights of P-47's.

Brian

11th Panzer Division (Hermann Balck's) destruction of the Soviet 5th Tank Army, December, 1942. Balck impresses.

Guns of Navarone.

633 Squadron. That was based on a real attack, warn't it?

After those, Swizzle Stick, Dracula, Breckenridge's Scourge, and Petticoat Junction come close.

Where Turkeys – I mean Eagles – Dare?

The Russian landings at Kerch-Feodosiya in December 1941 which surprised Manstein and temporarily relieved Sebastopol. Freezing winter -20deg.C. conditons, no amphibious equipment (wading in that temperature !) and no supplies….quite audacious.

Telemark raid. Lots of preparation, lots of waiting, an incredible night climb and then escape across land full of, well, nothing much really!

Dieppe Raid,

Audacious but Stupid more so. Expected, waste of Canadian forces, gave up the Churchill for inspection by the Germans, not bad for a diversion….

I'm surprise that nobody has mentioned the Japanese airdrops on the refineries in Borneo or the US one on top of Corregidor.

Anytime anynone ever crawled into a VC tunnel.

The ubermensch seem to be a bit over-represented here, so how about Operation Totalise? A massed tank attack at night??

Operation Compass – O'Connors greatest victory.

Operation Uranus and Saturn – whilst the encirclement of Stalingrad was to a degree inevitable, attempting to encircle and destroy the entire southern wing of the Geman Army was certainly audacious…

Operation Biting, the stealing of radar kit by parachutists in the snow at Bruneval.

The Chindit operations, and for that matter the advance to Meiktila by 14th Army, cutting ground supply to the bare minimum and supporting divisions in the field by air as much as possibe.

American servicemen insulted Maoris? They were lucky to get out alive…

Any of the attacks by unsupported destroyers against much bigger fleet units: the USN off Samar, the IJN at Tassafaronga, and the RN at the Barents Sea.

The "death ride" of the German battle-cruisers at Jutland might also qualify.

Audacious? Guadalcanal. Pick any of the early actions, land sea or air.

Oh yes. Not just Torpedo 8 but the action off Midway, again as a whole. Taking what was left of your carrier fleet, including a flattop that was patched together….

Doesnt this Battle of Bisbane stuff belong on CA?

(a) CA doesn't exist any more,

(b) It was a fight…

St Nazaire. The aspect that left the greatest impression on me was when the German commander was incredulously asking the captured raiders how they expected to cause any damage to the hardened docks by crashing an old destroyer into it, when at that moment the charges went off, causing massive damage.

Unfortunately, it was reported that many of the Germas had taken their wives/ girlfriends aboard ( as you do during war time when a team of crack raiders crashes a warship into your place of work… )

'The Campbeltown's charges were timed to go off at around 0900 hrs at the latest. Meanwhile, a German search of the ship failed to discover the hidden explosives. The detonation time came and went. During this delay, senior German officers arrived to inspect the damage and were photographed on deck. They were accompanied to the dock by two Commando officers who had been taken prisoner. The captured officers knew what was about to happen but remained silent, allowing themselves to be killed rather than give the Germans an opportunity to defuse the explosives. It was not until 1035 hrs that the Campbeltown finally exploded, destroying the caisson and killing about 250 German soldiers and civilians in the immediate area. The reason for the delay in detonation was the fact that a group of pencil detonators were used. Though reliable, pencil detonators only give approximate time delays. Additionally, the delay time can be affected by temperature and other factors.'

( link )

Doesnt this Battle of Bisbane stuff belong on CA?

(a) CA doesn't exist any more,

(b) It was a fight…

Your the Editor.
It seems to me this BoB was just an undignified brawl between drunken soldiers. I wonder why someone would say its an audacious attack.

sinking of the Royal Oak

Anytime anynone ever crawled into a VC tunnel.

I don't think anyone crawled into a VC tunnel during WW2 …