During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Operation Samwest (5–12 June 1944) was a large raid conducted by 116

Free French Free France () was a resistance government claiming to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third French Republic, Third Republic during World War II. Led by General , Free France was established as a gover ...

paratroop A paratrooper or military parachutist is a soldier trained to conduct military operations by parachuting directly into an area of operations, usually as part of a large airborne forces unit. Traditionally paratroopers fight only as light infa ...

s of the 4th Special Air Service Regiment. Their objective was to hinder movement of German troops from west

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

to the

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

beaches via ambush and sabotage attempts. The first phase of the mission was to establish a secure base on the Breton Peninsula, near St. Brieuc in Duault in the Bretagne Region. Their base was heavily attacked by German troops on 12 June and they were forced to disperse.

References

Airborne operations of World War II Special Air Service operations Operation Overlord World War II British Commando raids {{World-War-II-stub

See also

References