'Sparrow' (i) was a Franco-British unrealised plan to occupy the Greek island of Crete in the centre of the eastern Mediterranean (June 1940)., The British ceased work on the ... Read More

'Sparrow' (ii) was a US special forces operation to parachute a three-man Office of Strategic Services team into the Drava area of Hungary to open negotiations about a Hungari... Read More

'Sparrow' (iii) was a British operation by the Special Operations Executive to give additional radio training to Milorg military resistance organisation operators in German-oc... Read More

'Spartan' (i) was a British exercise by General Sir Bernard Paget’s Home Forces, with emphasis on the part of the RAF, to rehearse the liberation of North-West Europe (March... Read More

'Spartan' (ii) was the Allied logistical air support operation for Lieutenant General G. A. P. Scoones’s Indian IV Corps in the Battle of Imphal (18 April/30 June 1944)., Th... Read More

The 'Spas-Demensk Offensive Operation' is otherwise known as the 2nd Battle of Kharkov, and was the Soviet first of the six sub-operations together constituting the 'Smolensk ... Read More

'Spätlese' (i) was a German operation against partisans in the region to the north of Smolensk in the German-occupied western USSR (18/21 September 1942)., The operation was ... Read More

'Spätlese' (ii) was a German unrealised operation planned by the Oberkommando des Heeres for General Hermann Breith’s III Panzerkorps of General Hermann Balck’s 6th Army ... Read More

'Spatz' was a German operation against the partisan forces of Josip Broz Tito in area of Zlarin, Sibenik and Primosten in German-occupied Yugoslavia (14/20 October 1943). , Th... Read More

'Specht' was a U-boat wolfpack operation, in tandem with 'Amsel I', 'Amsel II', 'Fink' and 'Star', in the Atlantic against the SC.127, SC.128 and ONS.5 convoys (22 April/6 May... Read More

'Specimen' was the British use of the pioneering but now wholly obsolete aircraft carrier Pegasus (ex-Ark Royal) to provide a measure of air defence for North Atlantic convoys... Read More

'Speedwell' was a British special forces operation by Lieutenant Colonel W. Stirling’s 2nd Special Air Service to disrupt German rear-area communications in the region of La... Read More

'Spellbinder' was a British naval undertaking, using ships and carrierborne air elements of Admiral Sir Henry Moore’s Home Fleet, to lay mines and attack German shipping off... Read More

'Spelter' was a British special forces intelligence mission in German-occupied Czechoslovakia (4 May 1944/May 1945)., The undertaking was organised by the intelligence departm... Read More

'Spenser' was a British special forces operation by the French 4th Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes (4th Special Air Service) in the region of Bourges in German-occupied F... Read More

'Sperraufgaben' was a German undertaking ordered by Generaloberst Alexander Löhr, the Oberbefehlshaber 'Südost', to reconnoitre and prepare fall-back positions for the forma... Read More

'Sphere' was the British overall designation of air patrols over the Strait of Dover (1941 onward). ... Read More

'Sphinx' (i) was the US programme to develop weapons and tactics specifically suited to operations against Japanese fortifications on Pacific islands (1942/44). ... Read More

'Sphinx' (ii) was an Allied convoy operation to move seven merchant vessels (four British and three US) from Naples in Italy to Bizerte in Tunisia (5/7 September 1944)., The B... Read More

'Spike' was a US special forces operation to parachute a four-man Office of Strategic Services party into German-occupied Yugoslavia to establish liaison with the local resist... Read More

'Spinach' was the British overall designation for the campaign of air mining in the Baltic Sea in the area off Gdynia (1944/May 1945). ... Read More

This was a British unrealised plan for the demolition of an oil pipeline running from Iraq through Syria to Palestine should it come under threat by Axis forces (1941/42). ... Read More

'Spirit' was the British seaborne evacuation of Czechoslovak and Polish troops, as well as civilian refugees, from the south coast of France at the time of that country’s de... Read More

'Spitz' was a U-boat wolfpack operation, in concert with 'Ungestüm', in the Atlantic against the ONS.154 convoy (22/31 December 1942)., The wolfpack comprised U-123, U-203, U... Read More

'Splendid' was a British double operation, including 'Renown' and 'Rodney', carried out by the Secret Intelligence Service, otherwise MI.6, off German-occupied Yugoslavia (23 ... Read More

'Splice' was a British naval undertaking to reinforce the air defences of Malta with Hawker Hurricane fighters (19/22 May 1941)., In its basic concept, 'Splice' was similar to... Read More

'Splint' was an Allied exercise to test and develop medical elements in preparation for 'Neptune' (iii) and 'Overlord' (12 April 1944). ... Read More

'Spokane' was US special forces operation to parachute a party of the Office of Strategic Services' A Company, 261st Reconnaissance Battalion into German-occupied Italy to aid... Read More

'Spoof' was the British overall designation of any diversionary air raid by light bombers, each carrying only a small bomb load to maximise its speed and range, to draw the at... Read More

'Sportpalast' (i) was the German naval movement of the heavy cruiser (ex-pocket battleship) Admiral Scheer and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen from Brunsbüttel in northern Germany ... Read More

'Sportpalast' (ii) was the German naval operation by the battleship Tirpitz and escorting destroyers against the QP.8 homebound and PQ.12 outbound Arctic convoys in the German... Read More

'Sportverein Wiking' was a German operation by elements of Hauptmann Dr Theodor von Hippel’s Lehr-Regiment 'Brandenburg' zbV 800 to ensure the security of the railway route ... Read More

'Spotter I' was the British naval attempt to deliver the first Supermarine Spitfire fighters to Malta (27/28 February 1942)., By the beginning of 1942, the Luftwaffe had retur... Read More

'Spotter II' was a British naval undertaking to deliver Supermarine Spitfire fighters to Malta (6/8 March 1942)., With Malta’s force of Hawker Hurricane single-seat fighters... Read More

'Spouse' was a British undertaking for the engagement of V-1 'flying bombs' only by anti-aircraft guns at times when the visibility was too poor to allow the use of fighters (... Read More

'Sprat' was a British series of sabotage missions by the Special Boat Service against coastal targets on the island of Sumatra in the Japanese-occupied Netherlands East Indies... Read More

'Spray' was a British operation by Brigadier C. R. Hardy’s 3rd Commando Brigade against a coastal target in the Arakan western coastal region of Japanese-occupied Burma (spr... Read More

The 'Spremberg-Torgau Offensive Operation' was one of the last Soviet undertakings on the Eastern Front and part of the 'Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation' (19/25 April 194... Read More

'Spring' was a Canadian offensive in Normandy by Lieutenant General G. G. Simonds’s II Corps of Lieutenant General Sir Miles Dempsey’s British 2nd Army to the north of Fal... Read More

'Springboard' was a British unrealised plan for the occupation of the Madeira islands, a Portuguese possession in the Atlantic, by invitation (spring 1941). , The plan was the... Read More

'Springtime' was a British unsuccessful special forces raid by elements of the Special Air Service on Axis installations in the area of Tobruk (14 November 1941)., In November... Read More

'Sprotte' (i) was the German codeword to signal any Allied landing on the south-west coast of the Adriatic Sea and thus to trigger one of several pre-planned defensive reactio... Read More

'Sprotte' (ii) was a German naval minelaying operation in the Pechora Sea by Oberleutnant Hans Falke’s U-992 (29 August/6 September 1944)., The boat laid 12 TMC mines in the... Read More

'SQ' was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Quebec, Canada, and as such reciprocals of the 'QS'... Read More

'Squab' was a British trio of unrealised plans for the recapture of Jersey ('Squab I'), Guernsey ('Squab II') and Alderney ('Squab III') in the German-occupied Channel Islands... Read More

'Squabble' was a British morale-boosting overflight of Paris by a single Bristol Beaufighter heavy fighter (12 June 1942)., Intelligence gathered by the Special Operations Exe... Read More

'Squadron X' was the Allied codename for the force of French warships under the command of Contre-amiral René Emile Godfroy in Egyptian ports (April/August 1943)., The French... Read More

'Squarepeg' was New Zealand seizure of Nissan island, the largest of the Green islands group between the north-western tip of the Solomon islands group and the south-eastern t... Read More

'Squatter' was a British special forces raid by the Special Air Service against two forward airfields of the Axis forces in North Africa (16/17 November 1941)., The object of ... Read More

'Sqwark' was a British naval radio signal deception operation for the 'Hats' reinforcement of Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham’s Mediterranean Fleet, undertaken by the destroye... Read More