'BC' (iv) was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Beira, Portuguese East Africa, to Durban, South Africa, and as such re... Read More

'BC' (v) was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from the Clyde river to the Bristol Channel (?). ... Read More

'BC' (vi) was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Bombay, India, to Colombo, Ceylon (September 1943/August 1945). ... Read More

'BCS' was the designation of a British convoy (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route between Capetown, South Africa, and Freetown, Sierra Leone (June/July 1940). ... Read More

'BD' was the designation of Allied convoys (together with an alphabetical and numerical suffix) plying the route from the White Sea to Dikson island in the Kara Sea, and as su... Read More

'Bearskin' was the Allied release to the partisan forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito in German-occupied Yugoslavia of intelligence that would facilitate the launch of an interd... Read More

'Beaver' was an Allied series of anti-invasion and then invasion exercises in the UK (1944)., 'Beaver I' and 'Beaver II' were headquarters exercises of a basically anti-invasi... Read More

'BEC' was the designation of Allied military convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from ports of the Bristol Channel to northern France, and as such reci... Read More

'Beck' was British special forces operation by elements of the Special Air Service to sabotage the rail transport facilities around Grenoble in France, and thereby prevent the... Read More

'Bedlam' was a British sub-operation of 'Ration' (January 1941). ... Read More

'Bedlam Green' was a British carrierborne air attack by Vice Admiral Sir Arthur Power’s East Indies Fleet on the Japanese positions and facilities at Medan on the north-east... Read More

'Beefeater' was a British and Free Norwegian undertaking to train and prepare Norwegian police battalions in neutral Sweden for deployment when the German forces in Norway sur... Read More

'Beefsteak' was the US occupation of Emirau island in the St Matthias islands group of the Admiralty archipelago to the north-west of Kavieng on New Ireland island (20 March 1... Read More

'Beethoven' was the German programme to develop and use 'Mistel' (mistletoe) composite aircraft for the destruction of point targets (1941/45)., The scheme was based on the us... Read More

'Beetle' was a British plan for the use of radio rather than land-line communications to issue certain instructions in the event of a German invasion of the UK (1940/41). ... Read More

'Befreiungsfeier' was the German withdrawal of Generalleutnant August Krakau’s 7th Gebirgsdivision from the combat zone round Ylimaa in the Taipale defensive zone about 18.5... Read More

'Beggar' (i) was the British designation for the RAF’s involvement in the 'Turkey Buzzard' operation to ferry Airspeed Horsa assault gliders and their Handley Page Halifax t... Read More

'Beggar' (ii) was a US special forces operation to parachute a three-man Office of Strategic Services team into the Paris area of German-occupied France to establish an intell... Read More

'Begonia' (i) was a British special forces operation to locate, gather and evacuate prisoners of war who had escaped from Italian camps after the Italian armistice of 8 Septem... Read More

'Begonia' (ii) was a British carrierborne minelaying operation to the south of Voksa island and attack on shipping off the Åramsund Canal near Stadlandet in German-occupied N... Read More

'Beguile' was the US overall designation of air operations against targets on the island of Hokkaido in the Japanese home islands (1945). ... Read More

'Begum' was a British naval gunfire bombardment of Italian positions at Kismayu and Mogadishu on the Indian Ocean coast of Italian Somaliland before the launch of 'Canvas' (30... Read More

'Behemoth' was the Allied overall designation of a contingency operation to delay any Axis advance in Tunisia (spring 1943). ... Read More

'Bekassine' was a German operation, occasioned by the Soviet success in the 'Nevel Offensive Operation', by Generalfeldmarschall Georg von Küchler’s Heeresgruppe 'Nord', us... Read More

'Belgien' was a German unrequired plan to meet and defeat any large-scale French and British offensive from the border area of Belgium and the Netherlands into Germany as a me... Read More

The 'Belgorod-Bogodukhov Offensive Operation' was the Soviet southern component of the 'Polkovodets Rumyantsev' strategic offensive to retake the area to the south of Kursk fr... Read More

The 'Belgorod-Kharkov Strategic Offensive Operation' was the Soviet undertaking, more generally known as 'Polkovodets Rumyantsev', against the German positions in the Belgorod... Read More

The 'Belgorod-Kursk Defensive Operation' was the half of the Soviet 'Kursk Strategic Defensive Operation' to hold the 'Zitadelle' offensive of the German 4th Panzerarmee on th... Read More

The 'Belgrade Strategic Offensive Operation' was a Soviet and Yugoslav undertaking to liberate Belgrade, the capital of German-occupied Yugoslavia (14 September/24 November 19... Read More

'Bellicose' was a British air attack by Avro Lancaster bombers of RAF Bomber Command on a German radar factory in the former Zeppelin Works at Friedrichshafen and the Italian ... Read More

'Bellows' (i) was a British naval undertaking to reinforce the air defences of Trincomalee in Ceylon, the main British naval base in the Indian Ocean (6/7 March 1942)., At a ... Read More

'Bellows' (ii) was the British naval delivery of Supermarine Spitfire fighters to Malta within the overall context of 'Pedestal' (4/12 August 1942). , Also associated with two... Read More

'Bellpush Charlie' was a British beach reconnaissance operation within the wide-ranging 'Bellpush' programme to assess possible landing beaches for an amphibious invasion alon... Read More

'Bellringer' was a British naval sub-operation within 'Ration' to intercept a lightly escorted Vichy French convoy in the Atlantic Ocean to the south of the Cape of Good Hope ... Read More

'Bellwether' was the British movement of RAF squadrons from Old Sarum in the south of England to airfields in the Allies' Normandy lodgement after the start of 'Overlord' (Jun... Read More

The 'Belorussian Strategic Defensive Operation', which followed straight on from the 'Smolensk Strategic Defensive Operation', was a series of border battles and counterattac... Read More

The 'Belorussian Strategic Offensive Operation (i) was the Soviet major undertaking on the north sector of the Eastern Front in Belorussia during the autumn and early winter p... Read More

The 'Belorussian Strategic Offensive Operation' (ii) was the Soviet strategic offensive, more generally known as 'Bagration', of the summer of 1944 by the forces in Belorussia... Read More

'Beneath' was a British operation to occupy the island of Kos in the Dodecanese islands group of the south-eastern Aegean Sea (13/15 September 1943). , With the capitulation o... Read More

'Benecke' was a U-boat wolfpack operation in the Atlantic Ocean against OG series of convoys on the route between the UK and Gibraltar (19 November/2 December 1941)., The wol... Read More

'Benedict' was a British operation to deliver 48 Hawker Hurricane fighters to the USSR via the Arctic route to northern Russian ports at the same time as 'Dervish' (i) and 'Ga... Read More

'Beneficiary' was an Allied unrealised plan for a break-out from the Normandy lodgement area after 'Overlord' by means of a combined airborne and amphibious descent on St Malo... Read More

'Benello' was a British naval undertaking to land Allied agents on the north-west coast of the Ligurian Sea near Portofino in Italy (February 1944). ... Read More

The 'Bengtskär Landing Operation' was a Soviet amphibious assault on a Finnish lighthouse installation early in the 'Jatkosota' (continuation war) (26 July 1941)., Soviet tro... Read More

'Benjamin' was the German arrest by the Abwehr intelligence service of 11 British and French agents in the area of Paris (late August 1940). ... Read More

'Benjoin' was an Allied special forces operation to parachute a party into the Massif Central region of German-occupied France to aid in the provision of weapons for the local... Read More

'Benson' was a British special forces operation by the Belgian Independent Parachute Company (5th Special Air Service) near Estrée St Denis in France (28 August/1 September 1... Read More

'Benzine' was the Allied overall designation of the programme for general sabotage operations in German-occupied France and Vichy France (1941/42). ... Read More

The 'Beogradska Operacija' was the Yugoslav element of the joint Soviet and Yugoslav 'Belgrade Strategic Offensive Operation' by the forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito for the ... Read More

'Beowulf' was a German pair of operations ('Beowulf I' and 'Beowulf II') to occupy the islands of Saaremaa, Hiiumaa, Muhu and Vormsi (Ösel, Dagö, Moon and Wurms in German) o... Read More