"Operation Martlet/Operation Dauntless why two names?" Topic

As I'm currently involved in playing The Too Fat Lardies "Operation Martlet" potted campaign, I was intrigued to find GMT Games "Operation Dauntless" boardgame for the same action.

In the game intro it says the British called the operation "Dauntless" at the time, which is confirmed by Internet articles hidden in the usual sea of items trying to sell you the game.

What none of these often very brief entries tell you is why there were two names!

Anyone know how this came about?

A theory:
Dauntless is the name used in the official British History (Ellis "Victory in the West, vol 1" p 275). However, it appears there is a link between the codenames used in the battle and naval aircraft in use at the time, i.e, the operation phaselines/objectives were called Barracuda, Walrus and Albacore, all types of aircraft used by the British Royal Navy in WW2. The British had also been sent 9 Douglas Dauntlesses for evaluation in 1944. Also, until January 1944, the British Navy's name for the Grumman Wildcat was Martlet.
As there was an Operation Dauntless during the Korean War,it's also possible that the name was changed to Martlet to avoid confusion between the two operations.

A couple of possibilities: if a plan was cancelled and restarted, it could pick up a fresh name, and the same was true if there was a substantial change in the plan. That's why you have ANVIL/DRAGOON. There was also one instance at least of Churchill vetoing a randomly-generated plan code name as too wimpish. (I think it was what would become Operation HUSKY.) Presumably MARTLET/DAUNTLESS would be beneath his level, but some other officer might have had a similar objection.

Presumably there is a British official history which can be consulted?

Another theory:

While the war was still ongoing, if operations were written about within a year or so of their occurrence, the censor would require that they were given false names.
For instance, While describing the N. African exploits of the LRDG Shaw changed all the operation names to plant names. So Operation Agreement became Operation Daffodil. Some of these names have been repeated until recently.
Dunno if this is the case here, but it's a possibility.

Good suggestions. I like the aircraft related idea.

Funnily enough I was explaining the Wildcat/Martlet relationship to someone only the other week.

I never made the objective names connection.

Martlet itself is an heraldic term for a small bird.

Well the designer notes in the game offers little clarification. From those notes:

"…This three-phase offensive (the phases of which were code-named "Barracuda," "Walrus," and "Albacore") was named "Operation Dauntless" at the time of the battles but is has become more commonly know as "Operation Martlet" by most historians since. Both Martlet and Epsom were named after English horse racing tracks--the idea being to choose code names that gave the Germans as little clue as possible as to the nature of the operations in the event the British plans were intercepted."

This would tend to support Silurian's theory. The operation was Dauntless and the cover name was Martlet. The cover name being used more, since it was released, became the one most historians referred to it by.

It also makes sense historians wished to prevent confusion with the Korean War operation mentioned as well.

And as intriguing as it might be with Martlet being the British Navy's name for the Wildcat am afraid the designer notes are correct, they are referring to the horse racing track. Not only was Operation Epson a horse racing track but so were Goodwood, Windsor and Charnwood (Forest) all follow on operations.

…That's why you have ANVIL/DRAGOON. There was also one instance at least of Churchill vetoing a randomly-generated plan code name as too wimpish…

I'm pretty sure Churchill was the one who vetoed Anvil as a name, it was not a name that presaged victory!

It's Classified …

Unfortunately, the designer's notes are not totally correct – there is no Martlet racetrack, although Epsom and the others mentioned are correct.

link
Please read Appendix D in the above link – it would appear that Martlet was the name of part 1 of the overall operation, to be followed by part 2 known as Operation Illustrious (which also includes objectives Seafire and Hellcat)

And as intriguing as it might be with Martlet being the British Navy's name for the Wildcat am afraid the designer notes are correct, they are referring to the horse racing track. Not only was Operation Epson a horse racing track but so were Goodwood, Windsor and Charnwood (Forest) all follow on operations.

Wonder if that was a sarcastic reference to the 'Gazala Gallop' and other horse-racing references during North Africa?

Bill, ANVIL was the second part of the two part
name SLEDGEHAMMER/ANVIL for the planned simultaneous
landings in Normandy and Southern France (along the
Mediterranean Coast). The idea was apparently to catch
the German defenders between the hammer and anvil.

The lack of sufficient landing craft to carry off
both landings at the same time forced a delay in the
South France landing, hence OVERLORD and DRAGOON
replaced the earlier names.

Churchill's opinion of ANVIL seems to have had little
to do with the reason for the name change.

I recommend the truly comprehensive information in GMT Games' Operation Dauntless. In addition the rulebook, scenario book, and play book, it includes a 48-page reference book, which contains all of the footnotes for the rulebook, along with OB notes, historical notes, and an explanation of how the game map was made. If that's not enough, each scenario includes at least a half page of historical notes. link

(While Red Winter includes the most comprehensive account of the battle of Tolvajarvi in English, Operation Dauntless is merely the most convenient.

Re Martlet you are correct. The official errata for the game now has changed that section to read: "Epsom was named after an English race course while Martlet was named after a bird."

Given the other names I see no reason why also couldnt be a reference to Royal Navy aircraft.

Well the Fleet Air Arm certainly got a hook into this one didn't they, even managing to work in a carrier.

Were there ever other carrier related names I wonder. If you include all the Escort Carriers they might have run out War before they ran out of names!

Looking at a list of ships I find it pretty amazing that Britain managed to commission 12 full size carriers between May 1944 and November 1948.

I know five carriers were sunk between 1939 and 1942 but to replace them twice over is remarkable.

I know five carriers were sunk between 1939 and 1942 but to replace them twice over is remarkable.

The US navy replaced the four carriers they lost in 1942 more than twice over before the end of the war. And that's just counting the Essex class fleet carriers.

That's what comes of fighting in the Pacific!

Whole lot of Ocean!

The question regarding the British is why did they bother?