'Snowshoe' (i) was an Allied invasion training exercise in Scotland (?). ... Read More

'Snowshoe II' was a British radio deception designed to boost the apparent strength and capabilities of the Allied forces in Italy by suggesting that there were two divisions,... Read More

'Spasuds' was the US intermediate designation of the 'Tidal Wave' bombing of the Ploieşti oilfields in Romania after the initial 'Statesman' (1 August 1943). ... Read More

'Sob' was the British nickname ('sea or bust') rather than formal designation of the advance of Lieutenant General Sir William Slim’s British 14th Army in Burma from the are... Read More

'Society' was a British operation to cover the movement of Major General H. P. M. Berney-Ficklin’s British 5th Division from India to Iran (September 1942). ... Read More

'Socrates' was a British unrealised plan for a build-up of forces in Turkey should the latter join the Allies or be invaded by German or Bulgarian forces (February 1942). ... Read More

'Sodium' was a British intelligence mission by the Special Operations Executive to establish links with the local resistance forces in German-occupied Czechoslovakia (?). ... Read More

'Soldatensender Calais' was a British and US radio propaganda operation undertaken by the British Political Warfare Executive with support by the Morale Operations branch of t... Read More

'Solo I' was a British deception plan to support 'Torch' by persuading the Germans that the Allies were about to make landings at Narvik and/or and Trondheim on the west coast... Read More

'Solo II' was a British deception plan to support 'Torch' by persuading the Germans that the troopship convoys departing the UK late in October and early in November indicated... Read More

The 'Soltsy-Dno Offensive Operation' was the Soviet third of the seven sub-operations constituting the 'Leningrad Strategic Defensive Operation' in the area to the south of Le... Read More

The 'Someri Landing Operation' was the general designation of a Soviet combined undertaking to take the island of Someri in the Gulf of Finland during the earlier part of the ... Read More

'Sommernachtstraum' was a German small-scale reconnaissance operation by elements of the 3rd Aufklärungsabteilung of Generalleutnant Johann von Ravenstein’s 21st Panzerdivi... Read More

'Sommerreise' was the German movement of the heavy cruiser Lützow (ex-pocket battleship Deutschland) from Gotenhafen in the Baltic Sea to Norwegian waters (10/13 June 1941).,... Read More

The 'Sonderaktion 'Hess'' was the German seizure and incarceration of practitioners of what were perceived as the 'dark arts', and especially astrologers (June 1941)., Organis... Read More

The 'Sonderaktion 'Krakau'' was a German operation to seize members of the Polish intelligentsia teaching at universities in the city of Kraków (6 November 1939)., The undert... Read More

The 'Sonderkommando 'Elbe'' was the German air task force trained for the task of bringing down heavy bombers by ramming fighters into them in the air (spring 1945)., The tact... Read More

'Sonderstab F' (i) was the German plan to aid Iraq during the revolt of Rashid Ali al-Gaylani against British rule (10/30 May 1941)., More fully authorised by the Führerweisu... Read More

'Sonderstab F' (ii) was a German air surveillance and reconnaissance programme by the aircraft of General Hellmuth Felmy’s Generalkommando zbV 'Felmy' to provide information... Read More

'Sonnenaufgang' was the German third and last major counterattack by Generaloberst Eberhard von Mackensen’s 14th Army against Major General John P. Lucas’s US VI Corps of ... Read More

'Sonnenblume' was the Axis movement of Generalleutnant Erwin Rommel’s Befehlshaber der deutschen Truppen in Libyen and Sperrverband 'Libyen' (the Deutsches Afrikakorps from ... Read More

'Sonnenschein' was the German withdrawal, in the face of continued Soviet pressure, of part of the forces of Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner’s Heeresgruppe 'Nord' f... Read More

'Sonnenstich' was a German and Croat operation against the brigades of the 29th 'Herzegovina' Division of the partisan forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito in the Nevesinge area ... Read More

'Sonnenwende' (i) was a German operation against the partisan forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito in the area of Delnice and Lokve in German-occupied Yugoslavia (10/14 June 1944... Read More

'Sonnenwende' (ii) was a German operation by General Kurt von Tippelskirch’s 4th Army within Generalfeldmarschall Ernst Busch’s (from 28 June Generalfeldmarschall Walter M... Read More

'Sonnenwende' (iii) was a German unsuccessful attempt within 'Nordwind' (iii) to recross the Rhine river near Drusenheim and advance to the south-west in order to retake Stras... Read More

'Sonnenwende' (iv) was the German offensive from the area of Stettin and Arnswalde in northern Germany to the south-east in the direction of Pyritz in an effort to throw back ... Read More

This was an Allied 'civil' air operation linking the UK and neutral Sweden (1943/May 1945)., The eastern terminus for this undertaking was Bromma airport outside the Swedish c... Read More

'Sono-Cooke' was a British naval anti-submarine operation off the Kola inlet (25/26 April 1945)., The escort carriers Premier and Vindex, together with the light anti-aircraft... Read More

'Sophia' was a British programme of preliminary air reconnaissance for 'Tungsten', the attack on the German battleship Tirpitz by carrierborne aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm, u... Read More

'Sörö' was the German occupation of the island of Sjælland (Zealand), one of whose towns is Sorø (Sörö in German), within German-occupied Denmark (7 March 1945). ... Read More

'Sosa 101' was a Japanese air offensive in China against the Chinese Nationalist air bases around Chungking and in the province of Sichuan (May 1940)., The operation involved ... Read More

The 'Souda Bay Raid' was an Italian attack with explosive-laden motor boats on British ships in Souda Bay on the north coast of the Greek island of Crete (26 March 1941)., The... Read More

'Soulbury' was a British naval undertaking in which Lieutenant R. M. Young’s ML-361 landed two agents of the Special Operations Executive, one MI.9 evasion specialist and a ... Read More

'Source' (i) was a British naval attack on the German battleship Tirpitz and, it was hoped, other targets such as the battle-cruiser Scharnhorst and heavy cruiser (ex-pocket b... Read More

'Source' (ii) was the Allied naval response to the German 'Sizilien' (17/23 October 1943)., On this date the US heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa, escorted by the US destroyer Fitch an... Read More

The 'South Sakhalin Offensive Operation' was the Soviet invasion and seizure of the Japanese-controlled southern half of Sakhalin island (11/25 August 1945)., Sakhalin is the ... Read More

'Soviet Alsos' or 'Russian Alsos' was the Western codename for a Soviet operation in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia in order to seize and exploit German atomic related fa... Read More

'SPAB' was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Chanel-Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, to Sydney, Nova Scotia (August 194... Read More

'Spaghetti' was German attack toward the Tepelenë region of southern Albania, both to secure the area against Albanian partisans and to pave way for the disarmament of the It... Read More

'Spalstick' was a US naval undertaking to use the light cruiser Boise, withdrawn temporarily from the naval gunfire force being assembled for 'Avalanche', to carry British tro... Read More

'Spam' (i) was a British unrealised deception in which a body, carrying a notebook suggesting that 'Neptune' (iii) was to be only an exercise, would have been dropped in the E... Read More

'Spam' (ii) was an Allied diversion, in support of 'Nunton' and thus 'Diadem', taking the form of a naval demonstration off Civitavecchia in western central Italy, in an attem... Read More

'Span' was an Allied feint by forces in Corsica against the Italian, or left, flank of the German forces in the whole of south-western Europe in support of 'Dragoon' (i) (14 A... Read More

'Spandu' was an Allied exercise for communications elements in preparation for 'Neptune' (iii) and 'Overlord' (4 April 1944). ... Read More

'Spanner' was a British unrealised plan, suggested to the London Controlling Section at a time when strong British protests to neutral Spain about the activities of Axis agent... Read More

'Spark' (i) was a British naval signals deception undertaking to support 'Hurry' (i) (1/2 August 1940)., As the main part of Vice Admiral Sir James Somerville’s Gibraltar-ba... Read More

'Spark' (ii) was a British naval radio deception undertaking within 'Stab' (i) in the Indian Ocean in an effort to persuade the Japanese that Admiral Sir James Somerville’s ... Read More

'Spark' (iii) was the British designation of a small programme of air raids by Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris’s RAF Bomber Command on electrical transformer stations in... Read More

This was a British unrealised plan for the occupation of the Azores islands group, a Portuguese possession in the Atlantic Ocean, in the event of a German invasion of Portugal... Read More