'Wartburg' was a German series of three naval minelaying operations in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea to interfere with any Soviet naval riposte to the advance of the Germ... Read More

'Warthegau' was the German alternative designation for 'Adler' (i) (16/17 June 1940). ... Read More

'Washing' was a British operation by the Special Operations Executive to destroy the Asopos railway viaduct in the area of central Greece to the north-west of Athens (20 June ... Read More

The 'Wasser-Linie' was a German checking position along the line between Lessay and St Germain sur Sèves in western Normandy (July 1944)., It was occupied by General Dietrich... Read More

'Wasserballon' was a German uncompleted programme to develop and deploy floating mines for delivery by aircraft into rivers upstream of major bridges used by the Allies (1944/... Read More

'Wasserkante' was the German bombing of Warsaw, the capital of Poland, as the decisive final element in the German siege of Warsaw in 'Weiss' (i) (25 September 1939)., The sie... Read More

'Wasserschlauch' was a German and Croat undertaking to advance into Gorski Kotar in occupied Yugoslavia (23/27 August 1944)., After the Germans had failed in their first attem... Read More

'Wastage' was an Allied unrealised plan, differing only in detail from 'Tuxedo', for the deployment of Major General R. E. Urquhart’s British 1st Airborne Division to Norman... Read More

'WAT' was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Key West, Florida, via Aruba, Netherlands West Indies, to Trinidad, and as... Read More

'Watchtower' was the US seizure of Guadalcanal island toward the south-eastern end of the Solomon islands group (7 August 1942/9 February 1943). , Part of the British Solomon ... Read More

'Water Lily' was a British special forces undertaking by the Special Air Service in support of 'Husky' (i) (July 1943)., The undertaking was planned by Lieutenant Colonel Will... Read More

'Waterfall' was a British deception, related to 'Barclay', in which large quantities of dummy vehicles and artillery were massed in Cyrenaica to simulate the assembly of force... Read More

'Waterloo' was a British and Canadian exercise in the county of Kent in south-eastern England (summer 1941). ... Read More

'Wavell' was an Allied special forces operation to parachute nine men of No. 1 Special Force into the Vicenza area of German-occupied Italy (31 August 1944 onward). ... Read More

'Waxwing' was a British operation by the Special Operations Executive to aid local resistance attempts to delay German withdrawals from northern Norway by attacking the railwa... Read More

'Waylay' was the Allied original designation of 'Agreement' (September 1942). ... Read More

'WDC' was the designation of Allied military coaster convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from the UK to France in the late aftermath of 'Overlord' (Sep... Read More

'Weary Willy' was a US more-developed version of 'Aphrodite' (ii) (1944/45). ... Read More

'Weather Vane' was a British special forces raid by the Small Scale Raiding Force on the Pointe de Minor on the north coast of German-occupied France (December 1942). ... Read More

'Weber' was a German naval minelaying operation off the south coast of England by the torpedo boats Iltis and Seeadler of Korvettenkapitän Hans Marks’s 5th Torpedoboots-Flo... Read More

'Webfoot' was an Allied training exercise in preparation for 'Shingle' (January 1944). ... Read More

'WEC' was the designation of Allied military convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from the Isle of Wight to France (December 1944/May 1945)., The first ... Read More

'Wechselbalg' was a German and Croat two-part undertaking to clear the partisan forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito from the Prijeboj area of occupied Yugoslavia (20/27 August 1... Read More

'Weddigen' was a U-boat wolfpack operation in the Atlantic against the KMS.30, OS.59, MKS.31, SL.140, KMS.34 and OS.60 convoys (22 November/7 December 1943)., The wolfpack com... Read More

'Wedk' was a US deception operation, based on 'Wedlock', designed to create in Japanese minds the impression that the Allied 'Olympic' invasion of the Japanese home islands wo... Read More

'Wedlock' was a US deception operation to aid the 'Forager' invasion of the Mariana islands group by means of a wholly fictitious threat to the Kurile islands group (9 January... Read More

'Wegweiser' was a German operation to clear the partisan forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito from that part of Syrmia, in German-occupied Yugoslavia, which threatened the railwa... Read More

'Wei' was a German operation against the partisan forces of Josip Broz Tito in the puppet state of Croatia in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia (1942). ... Read More

'Weichsel' was a German operation against partisans in the area to the south-west of Gomel in the Belorussia region of the German-occupied western USSR (27 May/10 June 1943). ... Read More

'Weide' was the German last of a series of four naval minelaying operations in the Mediterranean by two ex-Italian torpedo boats of Korvettenkapitän Wirich von Gartzen’s 10... Read More

'Weihnachtsbaum' was the German alternative designation for the 'Tannenbaum' (i) unrealised plan for the invasion and occupation of Switzerland at some time after the conclusi... Read More

'Weihnachtsmann' was the German third stage of the Axis offensive against the partisan forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito in German-occupied Yugoslavia which had started with '... Read More

'Weiss' (i) was the German invasion and conquest of Poland (1 September/6 October 1939)., The undertaking was of strategic significance in its own right, triggered World War I... Read More

'Weiss' (ii) was a German, Italian and Croat three-stage offensive against the partisan forces of Josip Broz Tito, and known to the Yugoslav forces as the 'Fourth Enemy Offens... Read More

'Weissdorn' was a German intelligence undertaking, by the Abwehr’s Abteilung II sabotage and special purposes department, in which a pro-German South African was sent to wor... Read More

'Weisshorn' was the German initial evacuation of more than 50,000 persons of Memel’s civilian population as well as heavy equipment and other important assets (ships and nav... Read More

The 'Weissrussen-Linie' was the German fourth intermediate defence line for the disengagement of forces from the Rzhev salient in the area of Gordeyenky, Yerchovo and Alt-Rovn... Read More

'Weitsprung' was a German plan to assassinate Premier Iosif Stalin, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the 'Eureka' inter-Allied conferenc... Read More

'WEL' was the designation of Allied landing craft convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from the Isle of Wight to France within the context of 'Neptune' ... Read More

'Welcome' was a British submarine offensive in the Mediterranean (2 May/29 June 1943)., In the western Mediterranean, Safari sank three ships (2,641 tons) and damaged one 3,06... Read More

'Welfare' was a British undertaking to transfer Major General W. H. C. Ramsden’s 50th Division and elements of the RAF to Cyprus (23 April/13 July 1941). ... Read More

'Welga' was a Soviet special forces operation to parachute a nine-man party of the Polish Independent Special Battalion (Assault) into the Bory Tucholskie area of German-occup... Read More

'Wellhit' was Canadian reduction of the German-held Boulogne pocket by Major General D. C. Spry’s 3rd Division (17/22 September 1944)., Boulogne was one of several Channel p... Read More

'WEP' was the designation of Allied military convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from the Isle of Wight to Cherbourg (December 1944)., The first of the... Read More

'Werner' was a German naval minelaying operation in the Strait of Dover (30 September/1 October 1940). , The operation was undertaken by the torpedo boats Falke, Greif, Kondor... Read More

'Werwolf' (i) was a U-boat wolfpack operation in the Norwegian Sea against the JW.56B, JW.57 and RA.56 convoys (27 January/28 February 1944)., The wolfpack comprised U-278, U-... Read More

'Werwolf' (ii) was a German and Croat operation against the bridgehead of Marshal Josip Broz Tito’s Yugoslav forces at Virovitica in the Papuk mountain region of the puppet ... Read More

'Werwolf' (iii) was a German major air effort by 183 Messerschmitt Bf 109G fighter aircraft, stripped largely of armour and armament but flown by pilots ready to ram their tar... Read More

'Werwolf' (iv) was a German plan to create a special forces unit to operate behind Allied lines as the Allies advanced through Germany itself (1944/45)., 'Werwolf' (iv) remain... Read More

'Weserübung' was the German invasion and conquest of Denmark and Norway (9 April/10 June 1940)., During the early morning of 9 April, German forces occupied Denmark and invad... Read More