Operation Frankton
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Operation Frankton was a commando raid on ships in the German occupied French port of Bordeaux in southwest France during World War II. The raid was carried out by a small unit of Royal Marines known
Tannenfels, a German blockade runner which was sunk in Bordeaux harbour by limpet mines from the Frankton team
"Cockles" MK II
Monument commemorating Operation Frankton in Saint-Georges-de-Didonne, near Royan.
Operation Frankton was described by Louis Mountbatten as "This brilliant little operation carried through with great determinism and courage..."
Commando Order
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The Commando Order was issued by the OKW, the high command of the German Armed Forces, on 18 October 1942. This order stated that all Allied commandos captured in Europe and Africa should be summarily
Operation Frankton
…instead they were mentioned in dispatches. Wallace and Ewart revealed only certain information during their interrogation, and were executed under the Commando Order, on the night of 11 December, in a sandpit in a wood north of Bordeaux, and not at Chateau Magnol, Blanquefort, as is sometimes claimed. A plaque has…
British commandos during Operation Archery on Vågsøy island, Norway, 1941
Canadian prisoners being led away through Dieppe after the failed raid
General Alfred Jodl (between Major Wilhelm Oxenius to the left and Generaladmiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg to the right) signing the German Instrument of Surrender at Reims, France, 7 May 1945
General Anton Dostler was tried and executed for ordering the execution of American prisoners of war in accordance with the Commando Order.