'Abel' was a British special forces operation by the French 3rd Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes (3rd Special Air Service) to harass the German retreat through France (27 ... Read More

'Abercrombie' was a British special forces and Canadian raid on Neufchâtel-Hardelot in German-occupied northern France (21/22 April 1942)., Initially known as 'Amble' and sch... Read More

'Aberdeen' was a British attack by Lieutenant General N. M. Ritchie’s 8th Army on the forces of General Ludwig Crüwell’s (from 29 May Generalleutnant Walther Nehring’s)... Read More

'Aberlour' was a British unrealised plan for an attack on the German salient to the north of Caen in Normandy for implementation in the event that 'Epsom' proved successful (l... Read More

This was the designation of Allied fast troopship convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route across the Indian Ocean from Aden to Bombay, India (early 1944/Fe... Read More

'Abigail' was a British naval operation for the delivery of relief stores and personnel to the Norwegian garrison on Spitsbergen island to the north of German-occupied Norway ... Read More

'Abigail Rachel' was the British first bombing raid on a German urban area rather than a specific industrial target (16/17 December 1940). , The operation was planned as the f... Read More

This was one of several British plans for the destruction of important ports if and when the British forces were forced to withdraw from them in the face of any German invasio... Read More

'Ablaze' was the Allied geographical codename rather than operational designation for Fort Hertz in the Kachin area of northern Burma (March 1942/1944)., Up to 1942 Fort Hertz... Read More

'Abnormal' was an Allied unrealised plan for a large-scale advance from south-western China to the south toward Yeu in northern Burma by the Chinese and associated US forces (... Read More

'ABS' was an Allied single convoy between Algiers and Bougie in French North Africa (10/11 November 1942)., Undertaken in the immediate aftermath of 'Torch', the convoy compri... Read More

'Abstention' was a British attack on Kastelorizo in the Italian-held Dodecanese islands group (24/28 February 1941)., The undertaking was part of the British desire to destabi... Read More

'Abusive' was the Allied designation for the retirement from operational service of war-weary and therefore expendable aircraft, which were thus made available to be stripped ... Read More

'Abwehrschlacht' (i) was the German redeployment of elements of General Hellmuth Felmy’s Luftflotte II and General Hugo Sperrle’s Luftflotte III from Poland toward the Wes... Read More

'Abwehrschlacht' (ii) was a German alternative designation for 'Wacht am Rhein' (16 December 1944/15 January 1945). ... Read More

'AC' (i) was the designation for British convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Alexandria to Benghazi or Tobruk on the coast of North Africa (14 Feb... Read More

'AC' (ii) was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Aden to Colombo (?). ... Read More

'AC1' was a British naval undertaking by Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham’s Mediterranean Fleet in support of British operations by Lieutenant General R. O’Connor’s Western... Read More

'Accolade' was a British unrealised plan developed in a number of forms for the capture of Rhodes as a first step in the seizure of the entire Italian-held Dodecanese islands ... Read More

'Accomplish' (i) was a British offensive by General Sir Bernard Montgomery’s 8th Army in the final stages of the Tunisian campaign (28/29 April 1943)., After the failure of ... Read More

'Accomplish' (ii) was the Allied designation of the advanced landing field at Zadar, on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia in Yugoslavia, for use in 'Bingham' (February 1945)., To... Read More

'Accordion' (i) was a British maritime deployment of troops to Freetown, Sierra Leone (August 1940). ... Read More

'Accordion' (ii) was an Allied deception plan suggesting an offensive by Lieutenant General Jacob L. Devers’s Allied 6th Army Group to break through the German defences of t... Read More

'Accumulator' was a British diversionary naval undertaking off the German-occupied Channel Islands and the coast of northern France, simulating an amphibious assault on the ar... Read More

'Achse' (i) was a German unrealised plan to support the Italian offensive by the forces of Maresciallo d’Italia Rodolfo Graziani’s 10a Armata from eastern Libya toward the... Read More

'Achse' (ii) was the German reuse of the 'Achse' codename for their seizure of key points and installations in Italy (and of Italian positions in southern France, the Balkans ... Read More

'Acid Drop' was a British special forces raid by elements of Lieutenant Colonel W. S. S. Sanguinetti’s No. 5 Commando on Hardelot, Neufchâtel-Hardelot and Merlimont on the ... Read More

'Aconite' was a British operation in the Middle East (February 1941). ... Read More

'Acquaint' was a British undertaking to intercept, record and later decrypt the radio traffic to and from an S-boot operating off the coast of German-occupied Belgium (1944).,... Read More

'Acquisition' was the British occupation of the area containing the Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s facilities at Abadan at the extreme north of Iran’s Persian Gulf coast in t... Read More

'Acrobat' was a British unrealised plan for an advance by Lieutenant General Sir Alan Cunningham’s 8th Army from Cyrenaica into Tripolitania after the successful conclusion ... Read More

'Acrostic' was a British unrealised plan for a special forces raid by a commando unit against Knaben on the coast of German-occupied Belgium (July 1942)., The plan was termina... Read More

'Action' was the British preliminary movement of forces from Egypt to Crete (late 1940/early 1941)., After the Italian forces had launched their 'Emergenza G' campaign against... Read More

The 'Action at Kaiapit' was fought between Australian and Japanese forces between Australian and Japanese forces in New Guinea during the Markham and the Ramu valley and Finis... Read More

The 'Action of the Ligurian Sea' was a British undertaking against Germans warships in the Gulf of Genoa of the Ligurian Sea off the north-west coast of Italy (18 March 1945).... Read More

The 'Action in the Strait of Bonifacio' was the German sinking of the modern Italian battleship Roma with air-launched missiles in the immediate aftermath of Italy’s signatu... Read More

The 'Action of La Ciotat' was a US and British naval engagement against two German vessels off the south coast of Vichy France as part of 'Dragoon' (i) (17 August 1944)., The ... Read More

The 'Action of Port Cros' was the US seizure of the island of Port Cros, off the southern coast of France, from the Germans within 'Dragoon' (i) (15 August 1944)., The action ... Read More

The 'Action of the Strait of Otranto' was a British minor naval skirmish against the Italians in the Strait of Otranto, in the Adriatic Sea between south-eastern Italy and Ita... Read More

The 'Action off Bastia' was an Italian naval attack off Bastia, the principal port of Corsica in the Tyrrhenian Sea, on German vessels (9 September 1943)., This was one of the... Read More

The 'Action off Cape Bougaroun', otherwise known as the 'Attack on Convoy KMF.25A', was a German air attack on an Allied naval convoy off the coast of Algeria (6 November 1943... Read More

The 'Action off Ist' was a French naval engagement against German ships in Adriatic Sea, between the islands of Skarda and Molat off the island of Ist (29 February 1944)., The... Read More

'Active' was a British naval undertaking based on the use of a light warship force created specifically to tackle the depredations of S-boot flotillas attacking targets in Bri... Read More

'Acumen' was a British naval undertaking against U-boats passing through Norwegian coastal waters with the object of facilitating the 'Golden' passage of the JW.62 outbound Ar... Read More

'Acute' was a British undertaking in which the cross-Channel telephone communications cable linking France and the UK was cut (1941). ... Read More

'AD' was a British naval minelaying operation in the Humber estuary (24/25 October 1939)., The operation was undertaken by the cruiser minelayer Adventure, which departed Shee... Read More

'Adairville' was a US special forces reconnaissance operation by the Office of Strategic Services in German-occupied Yugoslavia (August/22 September 1944)., The objective of t... Read More

'Adamstown' was a British operation to effect a partial relief of the ground and air forces garrisoning Cyprus (April 1942)., After the success of the 'Merkur' airborne operat... Read More

'Addict' was a British series of 19 operations by Lieutenant Colonel D. L. Lloyd Owen’s Long Range Desert Group, supported by British light naval forces, against German targ... Read More

'Addition' was a British special forces raid on the port of Bardia in Cyrenaica (19/20 April 1941)., On 12 April Lieutenant General P. Neame’s Cyrenaica Command had lost Bar... Read More