'Leapyear' (i) was an Allied major exercise, including the use of 'funny' (special-purpose) armoured vehicles, in preparation for Neptume (iii) and 'Overlord' (26 March 1944).... Read More

'Leapyear' (ii) was a US unrealised plan by Major General Claire L. Chennault’s US 14th AAF in China to control the volume of high-priority traffic when major combat operati... Read More

'Leatherback' was the US seizure of Kiriwina island within the context of 'Chronicle' (24/30 June 1944)., Kiriwina island is the largest of the Trobriand islands group to the ... Read More

'Leck' was a U-boat wolfpack operation, in tandem with 'Isar' and 'Inn', in the Atlantic against the ONS.7 convoy (10/15 May 1943)., The wolfpack comprised U-91, U-202 and U-6... Read More

The 'Ledo Road' was the Allied supplementary road to the 'Burma Road' (1942/1945)., Named for its starting point at Led in the Indian north-eastern India, the 'Ledo Road' was ... Read More

'Ledo Striptease' was the Chinese advance of Major General Shan Yu-feng’s New 22nd Division and Lieutenant General Sun Li-jen’s New 38th Division of the Chinese Army in In... Read More

'Lee' was an Allied special forces operation to parachute a three-man French and US 'Jedburgh' team into the Haute Vienne area of German-occupied France (9 August 1944 onward)... Read More

'Leeholme' was a British unrealised deception by the London Controlling Section for a Norwegian officer, purportedly a liaison officer in the USSR, to send radio messages, in ... Read More

'Leek' (i) was a British two-part deception undertaking within 'Fortitude North' to simulate amphibious warfare training in preparation for a threatened descent on Narvik in o... Read More

'Leek' (ii) was a British offensive by Lieutenant General B. G. Horrocks’s XXX Corps of Lieutenant General Sir Miles Dempsey’s 2nd Army from the eastern Netherlands to cro... Read More

'Leguminous' was the US scheme for the development of Okinawa, after the completion of its seizure in 'Iceberg', as a major base for the launch and support of the planned 'Oly... Read More

'Lehigh' was a US special forces operation to parachute an Office of Strategic Services operational group into the Devesset area of German-occupied France to aid local resista... Read More

'Lehrgang' was the German evacuation of forces, principally General Hans-Valentin Hube’s XIV Panzerkorps, from the island of Sicily to the Italian mainland in the face of th... Read More

'Lei' was a German diversionary naval operation against the Soviet positions on the Estonian island of Saaremaa (Ösel in German) in support of 'Beowulf II', and thus part of ... Read More

'Lemonade' was a British unrealised contingency plan to send military forces to Portugal for the defence of airfields and of the ports of Lisbon and Oporto in the event that G... Read More

'Lemsford' was a British unrealised deception by the London Controlling Section designed to induce Bulgaria to drop out of the war or bring all her forces back into the homela... Read More

'Lena' was a German intelligence programme to gather information about the UK, through the use of agents, as an aid to the planning of the 'Seelöwe' planned invasion (June/Se... Read More

The 'Leningrad Strategic Defensive Operation' was the Soviet strategic defensive undertaking against that part of 'Barbarossa' directed against Leningrad, at the western end o... Read More

The 'Leningrad-Novgorod Strategic Offensive Operation' was the Soviet strategic offensive 1 against Generalfeldmarschall Georg von Küchler’s (from 1 February Generalfeldmar... Read More

'Lentil' was a British carrierborne air attack on the oil refinery at Pangkalan Brandan on the island of Sumatra in the Japanese-occupied Netherlands East Indies as a second r... Read More

'Lenz-Nord' was a German operation in the Belorussia region of the German-occupied western USSR against so-called partisans (largely Jews and other 'undesirables') (9/12 April... Read More

'Lenz-Süd' was a German operation in the Belorussia region of the German-occupied western USSR against so-called partisans (largely Jews and other 'undesirables') (30 March/7... Read More

'Leopard' (i) was a U-boat wolfpack operation, in tandem with 'Wotan' (ii), in the Atlantic against the ONS.136 and SC.104 convoys (12/19 October 1942)., The wolfpack comprise... Read More

'Leopard' (ii) was an Allied unrealised plan for the delivery of substantial quantities of weapons and other supplies to the French resistance forces in Algeria before the lau... Read More

'Leopard' (iii) was the German seizure of the island of Léros in the Aegean Sea in the immediate aftermath of the Italian armistice with the Allies as the central event of th... Read More

'Lerche' was a U-boat wolfpack operation in the North Atlantic against the HX.232 convoy (10/16 April 1943)., The wolfpack comprised U-168, U-191, U-203, U-260, U-270, U-532, ... Read More

'Lero' was an Italian convoy operation across the Mediterranean (16/18 May 1942)., The undertaking involved three single-ship sailings ('C' escorted by the torpedo boats Perse... Read More

'Lethal' was a British unrealised plan, developed from 'Arabian', for the capture of the U-boat bases in the Brittany peninsula of German-occupied France (summer 1943)., Plann... Read More

'Letterbox' was a British operation by the Special Operations Executive for a two-man Norwegian party to arrange weapons dumps, contact local resistance groups, and begin inst... Read More

'Lettow-Vorbeck' was the German codeword for the start of the 'Litzmann' break-out of General (from 1 April Generaloberst) Hans-Valentin Hube’s 1st Panzerarmee of Generalfel... Read More

'Letzte Ritter' (i) was a U-boat wolfpack operation in the Atlantic (25 November/4 December 1941)., The wolfpack comprised just U-69, U-201 and U-402, and neither lost any of ... Read More

'Letzte Ritter' (ii) was a U-boat wolfpack operation in the Atlantic against the convoys associated with the reinforcement and resupply of the 'Torch' forces (25 November/1 De... Read More

'Leuthen' (i) was a U-boat wolfpack operation in the Atlantic against the ON.202 and ONS.18 convoys (15/24 September 1943)., This wolfpack was formed, probably on 23 August, w... Read More

'Leuthen' (ii) was the German naval plan, formulated at the time when the service was scheming how best to intervene as and when the Allies launched their invasion of North-We... Read More

'Lever' (i) was the British naval air attack on the French battle-cruiser Dunkerque in Mers el Kébir, the naval base near Oran in French Algeria, three days after the 'Catapu... Read More

'Lever' (ii) was the British clearance of General Gerhard Graf von Schwerin-Krosigk’s LXXVI Panzerkorps and, to a lesser extent, Generalleutnant Hellmuth Böhlke’s I Falls... Read More

'Leyburn' was a British deception, in support of 'Barclay' and 'Starkey', using several means to convey to the Germans and Italians that they were taking measures to safeguard... Read More

'LGE' was the designation Allied convoys (together with a numerical and sometimes a literal suffix) from Lagos, Nigeria, to the east along the coast of West Africa, and as suc... Read More

'LGW' was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical and sometimes a literal suffix) from Lagos, Nigeria, to the west along the coast of West Africa to Takor... Read More

The 'Liberation of La Réunion', otherwise known as 'Seal', was the Free French seizure of the Vichy French island of La Réunion in the Indian Ocean (27/30 November 1942). ... Read More

'Liberator' was an Allied series of unrealised plans for the operations which would liberate the Japanese-occupied Netherlands East Indies following the completion of the US l... Read More

'Lichtermeer' was a German programme of air attacks on the airfields used by the squadrons of Air Marshal Sir Charles Portal’s RAF Bomber Command (14/15 August 1940 onward).... Read More

'Lichtschlag' was a German unrealised plan for Generalfeldmarschall Georg von Küchler’s Heeresgruppe 'Nord' to improve the position of its extreme southern flank at the jun... Read More

The 'Lička-Primorska Operacija' was a Yugoslav operation by the forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito to isolate and then liberate the region of Bihać, Lika, Gorski Kotar and th... Read More

'Lifebelt' was an Allied unrealised plan to use military force or, if possible, to occupy the Portuguese possessions in the Atlantic Ocean, namely the Azores, Madeira and Cape... Read More

'Light' was a British naval air attack on Sigli in the northern part of Sumatra island in the Japanese-occupied Netherlands East Indies, and a series of photo-reconnaissance f... Read More

'Lighter' was an amphibious attack by British special forces, in the form of Royal Marine commandos, delivered by the destroyers Kelvin and Kipling, at Kuphorisi on the island... Read More

'Lightfoot' was the British first phase of the 2nd Battle of El Alamein (23/26 October 1942)., As such, this first phase was the 'dogfight' element of a battle which in its en... Read More

'Lightning' was the British seizure of Akyab island in the Arakan western coastal region of Burma by Brigadier C. R. Hardy’s 3rd Commando Brigade within 'Talon' (3/4 January... Read More

The 'Ligne Alpine' was the French southern component, known otherwise as the Petite Ligne Maginot (little Maginot Line), of the 'Ligne Maginot' designed and built to shield th... Read More