'Blackcock' (ii) was a British operation by Lieutenant General N. M. Ritchie’s XII Corps of Lieutenant General Sir Miles Dempsey’s 2nd Army to clear the Roermond triangle ... Read More

'Blackstone' was the US landing of Major General George S. Patton’s Western Task Force at Safi on French Morocco’s Atlantic coast within 'Torch', and part of the US attemp... Read More

'Blackthorn' was a British unrealised scheme within 'Backbone' to support Gibraltar and aid neutral Spain in the event that Germans started military operations against that co... Read More

'Blackwater' was the British establishment of a bridgehead across the Noireau river near Condé sur Noireau in the Calvados region of northern France (1/6 August 1944)., A suc... Read More

'Blandings' was a British tactical/operational-level deception undertaking designed to prevent the Japanese from reinforcing those parts of Burma in which Lieutenant General S... Read More

'Blanket' was a small-scale British exercise by Major H. G. Hasler’s Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment on the Swale river, between the Isle of Sheppey and the coast of ma... Read More

'Blarneystone' (i) was a British special forces raid on the Iles St Marcouf off the Normandy coast of German-occupied France (August 1942)., The islands became the first Frenc... Read More

'Blarneystone' (ii) was a British unrealised deception operation conceived by the London Controlling Section for a 'turned' German prisoner of war to 'escape' and make his way... Read More

'Blast' (i) was British small-scale naval operation, using motor launches and associated with 'Bandoola', off the Arakan coast of Japanese-occupied western Burma, by Admiral S... Read More

'Blast' (ii) was the British first version of the deception operation off the north-west coast of German-occupied France later developed into 'Wadham' (1943). ... Read More

'Blau' (iii) was a German unrealised plan for a January 1944 retreat by Generalfeldmarschall George von Küchler’s Heeresgruppe 'Nord' from its investment line outside Lenin... Read More

'Blau' (iv) was the German northern portion of the summer offensive of 1942 against the Soviet forces on the Eastern Front later redesignated as 'Braunschweig' (28 June/24 Jul... Read More

'Blau II' was the German central portion of the 'Blau' (iv) triple summer offensive of 1942 on the Eastern Front, later redesignated as 'Clausewitz' (30 June/31 July 1942)., T... Read More

'Blau III' was the German southern component of the summer offensive of 1942 in the USSR, later redesignated as 'Dampfhammer', and undertaken by Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm L... Read More

The 'Blaue-Bewegung' was the German unrealised plan within 'Seelöwe' for the easternmost part of the invasion of the UK, between Dover and Beachy Head, by the six divisions o... Read More

The 'Blaue-Linie' (i) was the German defensive line on the eastern side of the 'Gotenkopf' lodgement in the Taman peninsula opposite the eastern tip of Crimea (January/9 Octob... Read More

The 'Blaue-Linie' (ii) was a German largely unbuilt defence line in the lower Alps of northern Italy (1944/45)., Resulting from an order of 27 October 1944, the line extended ... Read More

'Blaufuchs' was a German two-part undertaking to move troops, weapons, equipment and supplies into north Finland in preparation for 'Silberfuchs' (spring/June 1941)., A joint ... Read More

'Blaupunkt' was a German undertaking to create so-called Feuer-Einheiten (fire brigade units), combining air transport units and airborne formations, for use as rapid delivery... Read More

'Blazing' was a British unrealised plan by Commodore the Lord Louis Mountbatten’s Combined Operations Headquarters to recapture the island of Alderney in the German-occupied... Read More

'Bleacher' was the US geographical rather than operational codename for Tongatabu, largest of the islands constituting the Tonga archipelago (1941/45)., Tonga is a large islan... Read More

'Blei' was the German alternative designation for 'Antimon' and, more specifically, the delivery of military supplies to equip General de brigadâ Dumitru Petrescu’s Romania... Read More

'Blimey' was a British special forces operation to parachute a party of the 2nd Special Air Service into the Rossano area of German-occupied northern Italy on a raid (5 April ... Read More

'Blissful' was the US landing and subsequent operations on Choiseul island in the central section of the Solomon islands group by Lieutenant Colonel Victor H. Krulak’s 2nd M... Read More

'Blitz' (i) was a U-boat wolfpack operation in the Atlantic against the SC.100, ON.131 and RB.1 convoys (22/26 September 1942)., The wolfpack comprised U-216, U-221, U-258, U-... Read More

'Blitz' (ii) was a German operation against partisans in the Polotsk and Vitebsk areas of the Belorussia region of the German-occupied western USSR (23 September/3 October 194... Read More

'Blitz' (iii) was a German unsuccessful plan by an element of the anti-Nazi movement to kill Adolf Hitler in an aeroplane crash (13 March 1943)., Late in 1942 Oberst Henning v... Read More

'Blitz' (iv) was a U-boat wolfpack operation, in tandem with 'Hammer' (iv) and 'Thor', in the Arctic Ocean against the JW.58 convoy during its 'FY' passage to the northern USS... Read More

'Blitz' (v) was a German operation against the partisan forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito in the puppet state of Croatia within German-occupied Yugoslavia (27/30 June 1944)., ... Read More

'Blitz' (vi) was a German unrealised plan for an offensive by elements of Generaloberst Ferdinand Schörner’s Heeresgruppe 'Nord' from the area of Raseiniai in Lithuania aga... Read More

'Blitz Week' was the US semi-official designation of the most intensive bombing campaign undertaken up to that time by Brigadier General Frederick L. Anderson’s 8th AAF (24/... Read More

'Blitzableiter' was a German study into the ways in which an Allied bacteriological warfare attack could be defeated (February 1943)., Biological warfare was a field in which ... Read More

'Blitzlicht' was a German operation against the partisan forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito in the Livno and Sujica area of the puppet state of Croatia within German-occupied Y... Read More

'Blitzpfeil Transport' was a German undertaking for the high-priority movement of the 184th Artillerieregiment of Oberst Heinz Fiebig’s 84th Division in General Alfred Schle... Read More

'Blitztransport' was a German programme of special train services throughout the war for the movement of personnel and equipment directly to their destinations even if this me... Read More

'Block' was a British amphibious undertaking to destroy the last remnants of the Japanese forces on Ramree island off the Arakan western coastal region of Burma after the land... Read More

'Blockbuster' was the Canadian drive to the Rhine river at Xanten by Lieutenant General G. G. Simonds’s II Corps of General H. D. G. Crerar’s 1st Army as the final phase o... Read More

'Blood Orange' was a British unrealised plan for an amphibious landing on the Mediterranean coast of Tripolitania, behind the Italian lines in the Western Desert, in Italian-h... Read More

'Bloodstock' was a British unrealised plan to take the Kerkennah islands group, in the Gulf of Gabès off the east coast of Tunisia, in the belief that these islands accommoda... Read More

'Blot' was the British tactical air operation complementary to 'Circus' and 'Rhubarb' sweeps, and designed to tackle peripheral targets in German-occupied north-west Europe (1... Read More

'Blowpipe' was a British unrealised plan for naval operations against Vichy French forces in the Middle East (November 1942/May 1943). ... Read More

'Blücher' (i) was a U-boat wolfpack operation off the west coast of German-occupied Norway (11/18 March 1942)., The wolfpack comprised U-377, U-403 and U-589, and neither los... Read More

'Blücher' (ii) was a German unrealised plan for a five-division major amphibious assault from Crimea across the Strait of Kerch into the Kuban area of the Caucasus as part of... Read More

'Blücher' (iii) was an unrealised German plan for the use of Generaloberst Hans-Georg Reinhardt’s 3rd Panzerarmee in a counter-offensive to halt a Soviet breakthrough in th... Read More

'Blücher' (iv) was a U-boat wolfpack operation in the Atlantic (14/28 August 1942). , The wolfpack comprised U-107, U-214, U-333, U-406, U-566, U-590, U-594 and U-653, and fo... Read More

'Blücher' (v) was a German undertaking to deploy Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein’s (from 8 June Generalmajor Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz von Gross-Zauche und Camminetz’s) Pa... Read More

'Blücher II' was the German scaled-down landing on the Taman peninsula first posited as 'Blücher' (ii) (2 September 1942)., In this undertaking, which was the responsibility... Read More

'Blücher' (vii) was the German operation, in what is sometimes known as the 2nd Battle of Dunkirk, whereby the Germans attempted to lift the Allied siege of the port of Dunki... Read More

'Bludgeon' was a British unrealised special forces raid on Noordwijk-an-See on the coast of the German-occupied Netherlands to seize prisoners for interrogation (February 1942... Read More

'BLUE' was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Port Said, Egypt, to Gibraltar (September/November 1939)., The first of t... Read More