'Brown' (ii) was the British occupation of the Cocos islands group about mid-way between Australia and Ceylon in the Indian Ocean (February/March 1942)., As in World War I, th... Read More

'Bruce' was an Allied special forces operation to parachute a three-man Office of Strategic Services team into German-occupied France to establish liaison with local resistanc... Read More

'Brücke' was a German and Italian naval minelaying operation off San Giorgio Maggiore, an island off the north-east coast of Italy near Venice (29 March 1944)., The vessels i... Read More

... Read More

'Bruiser' (i) was the British initial designation of 'Battleaxe' (i) (May/June 1941). ... Read More

This was the British total occupation of the Socotra islands group, a protectorate some 220 miles (355 km) to the east-north-east of the Horn of Africa, by forces delivered by... Read More

'Brunette' was a British unrealised naval deception designed to persuade the German navy that the 'Braun' (ii) operation to establish and then to reinforce and maintain the Ax... Read More

'Brunhild' was the German unrealised plan for the evacuation of the Kuban bridgehead in the Caucasus region of the southern USSR by Generaloberst Erwin Jaenecke’s 17th Army ... Read More

'Brunhilde' was a German programme to comb replacement formations in home garrisons as a means of locating personnel for front-line formations (late 1942/middle 1943). , An ex... Read More

The 'Brunhilde-Stellung' was a German defensive position for Generaloberst Ferdinand Schörner’s Heeresgruppe 'Nord' in the Kurland area of Latvia between Tukums and Autz (a... Read More

'Bruno' was a German operation to destroy the important Kruisschans lock gate in Antwerp harbour (16/17 September 1944)., Undertaken as part of the German effort to destroy as... Read More

'Brush' was the US geographical rather than operational codename for Palmyra atoll (1941/45)., The atoll is small and part of the Line islands group of the central Pacific, ly... Read More

'Brushwood' was the US landing of Major General George S. Patton’s Western Task Force at Fédala on the Atlantic coast of French Morocco within 'Torch' (8/9 November 1941).,... Read More

'Brute' was a British pair of raids on targets in Japanese-occupied Burma (March and April 1945). ... Read More

'Bruteforce' was a British simulated beach reconnaissance undertaking in the mouth of the Salween river (29/30 March 1945)., This and other operations in eastern Burma were de... Read More

'Brutmachine' was a German minelaying operation by coastal minecraft in the Morskoi Canal, which had been built during the last quarter of the 19th century in shallow water be... Read More

'Brutus' (i) was a British unrealised naval plan for Vice Admiral Sir James Somerville’s Eastern Fleet to provide Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham’s Mediterranean Fleet with ... Read More

'Brutus' (ii) was a British special forces operation by the Belgian Independent Parachute Company (5th Special Air Service) to generate intelligence and aid a local resistance... Read More

'Brutus' (iii) was a so-called 'special operation' patrol by the German submarine arm in the later stages of World War II., At a time early in January 1945, the U-boat U-245 d... Read More

The 'Bryansk Defensive Operation', otherwise known as the Battle of Bryansk, was a 20-day battle fought in the area of Bryansk as the forces of Heeresgruppe 'Mitte' overcame t... Read More

'BS' (i) was the designation of French convoys (together with a numerical prefix) plying the route from Brest, France, to Casablanca, Morocco (September 1939/June 1940). , A t... Read More

'BS' (ii) was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical and sometimes a literal suffix) plying the route from the Suez Canal toward Aden, often for dispersa... Read More

'BS' (iii) was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Corner Brook, Newfoundland, to Sydney, Nova Scotia, and as such recip... Read More

'BS' (iv) was a British series of naval undertakings to lay the minefields of the East Coast Barrier off the coast of East Anglia (June/July 1940). , The ships involved includ... Read More

'BT' (i) was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Bahia, Brazil, to Trinidad, and as such reciprocals of the 'TB' (ii) se... Read More

'BT' (ii) was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Sydney, Nova Scotia, to ports on the east coast of the USA (January 19... Read More

'BT' (iii) was the designation of Allied troopship convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route between Australia and USA, and as such reciprocals of the 'TB' (... Read More

'BT' (iv) was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Brisbane to Townsville, Australia (August 1942/May 1943)., The first o... Read More

'BT2' was a British naval sweep in the North Sea (21/22 November 1939)., Departing Immingham, the warships involved were the destroyers Jaguar, Janus, Jersey and Juno, which e... Read More

'BTC' was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Milford Haven and the Bristol Channel to the Thames, and as such reciproca... Read More

'Bu' was a Japanese plan by Lieutenant General Renya Mutaguchi’s 15th Army for a limited offensive in north-western Burma to cross the Chindwin river at points to the south ... Read More

'Bubble' was a British unrealised naval plan to lay beach mines on the coast of the UK in the event that a German invasion seemed imminent (June/December 1940). ... Read More

'Buccaneer' was a British unrealised plan for the recapture of the Japanese-occupied Andaman islands group (spring 1944)., The British garrison of these islands, of which ther... Read More

The 'Bucharest-Arad Offensive Operation', also known as the 'Romanian Offensive Operation', was a major Soviet and Romanian undertaking to take northern Romania from German, H... Read More

'Buche' was the German clandestine receipt by the Abwehr of Soviet secret transmissions (1942/43)., The two components of this undertaking were 'Buche-Pascal' and 'Buche-Bob'.... Read More

'Buckenwald' was a German naval attempt to harry Soviet naval forces associated with the southern part of the 'Vyborg-Petrozavodsk Offensive Operation' in the Baltic Sea (16 J... Read More

'Buckland' was a British offensive by Lieutenant General Sir Richard McCreery’s 8th Army against General Traugott Herr’s 10th Army, the eastern component of Generaloberst ... Read More

'Buckle' was a British unrealised plan to take and hold the Italian island of Pantelleria, in the Mediterranean Sea between Sicily and Tunisia, as a base for two RAF fighter s... Read More

'Buckshot' (i) was a British unrealised plan for an offensive to the west in the direction of the Axis installations in the Benghazi area of Cyrenaica by Lieutenant General N.... Read More

'Buckshot' (ii) was a British undertaking to provide air support for the USSR (October 1942). ... Read More

The 'Budapest Strategic Offensive Operation' was the Soviet general offensive designed to expel the Germans and their allies from western Hungary (29 October 1944/13 February ... Read More

'Buffalo' was the Allied break-out of Major General Lucian K. Truscott’s US VI Corps of Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark’s US 5th Army from its 'Shingle' lodgement at Anzi... Read More

Büffel (i) was the German air operation to deliver reinforcements and supplies to the beleaguered units of Generalleutnant Eduard Dietl’s 3rd Gebirgsdivision, involved in a... Read More

'Büffel' (ii) was a U-boat wolfpack operation in the Atlantic against the HX.218 convoy (9/15 December 1942)., The wolfpack comprised U-373, U-445 and U-663, and neither lost... Read More

'Büffel' (iii) was a German series of local withdrawals by Heeresgruppe 'Mitte' from the Rzhev salient on the Eastern Front (1/22 March 1943)., This movement eliminated the R... Read More

'Bugatti' was an Allied special forces operation by the US Office of Strategic Services to parachute a four-man US, British and French team into the Haute Pyrenées area of Ge... Read More

'Bugle' (i) was a British unrealised early plan for the occupation of the Canary islands group, a strategically important Spanish possession in the Atlantic Ocean (June 1940).... Read More

'Bugle' (ii) was an Allied air offensive to interdict communications both within the Ruhr and between the Ruhr and the rest of Germany in preparation for the advance of the Al... Read More

'Buick' was a US mass supply drop by Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers of Lieutenant General James H. Doolittle’s 8th AAF to the French resistance forces in the sout... Read More

'Bulbasket' was a British special forces disruption and intelligence-gathering raid by elements of the 1st Special Air Service near Vienne and Châtellerault in the central pa... Read More