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During 
From March 1943, Allied Intelligence had been undertaking research on the whereabouts, bases and travel arrangements of Field Marshal Rommel. Part of the research asked the question of how feasible it would be to kill Rommel. After
''Daring missions of World War II''
pp.131-133, John Wiley & Sons, 2002 . After SAS lieutenant-colonel William Fraser was told the location of Rommel's headquarters, a chateau home of the Dukes de La Rochefoucauld in the village of
On Tuesday 25 July 1944, Lee and his team parachuted into "Le Captain Lee-Couraud & le 'French Squadron' du DU 2nd S.A.S Regiment"
''Association SAS'', retrieved an
25 May 2012 (in French).
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Operation Gaff was the parachuting of a six-man patrol of Special Air Service
The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terro ...
commandos
Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured
A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...
into German-occupied France on Tuesday 25 July 1944, with the aim of killing or kidnapping German field marshal Erwin Rommel
Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...
.
From March 1943, Allied Intelligence had been undertaking research on the whereabouts, bases and travel arrangements of Field Marshal Rommel. Part of the research asked the question of how feasible it would be to kill Rommel. After D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...
, the Allies were meeting fierce resistance, marshalled by Rommel, with Hitler's orders to stand firm at all costs. With losses mounting, Field Marshal Montgomery
Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and ...
agreed to a plan to remove Rommel from the battle plan. William B. Breuer''Daring missions of World War II''
pp.131-133, John Wiley & Sons, 2002 . After SAS lieutenant-colonel William Fraser was told the location of Rommel's headquarters, a chateau home of the Dukes de La Rochefoucauld in the village of
La Roche-Guyon
La Roche-Guyon () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located in the .
The commune grew around the Château de La Roche-Guyon, upon which historically it depended for its existence. The commun ...
, Brigadier R.W. McLeod assigned six specially trained assassins led by French SAS captain Jack William Raymond Lee.
The original Op order, dated 20 July 1944 states:
''"To kill ROMMEL would obviously be easier than to kidnap him and it is preferable to ensure the former rather than to attempt and fail in the latter. Kidnapping would require successful two-way W/T communication and therefore a larger party, while killing could be reported by pigeon"''
On Tuesday 25 July 1944, Lee and his team parachuted into Orléans
Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon is a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems were encountered and i ...
s on 17 July 1944 and he had been replaced by (US) and Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon is a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems were encountered and i ...
Günther von Kluge
Günther Adolf Ferdinand von Kluge (30 October 1882 – 19 August 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II who held commands on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. He commanded the 4th Army of the Wehrmacht during the invasion o ...
. With their plan redundant, they moved toward advancing US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
lines on foot, while ambushing trains and attacking German units along their route, including a German headquarters in Mantes
Mantes-la-Jolie (, often informally called Mantes) is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region of north-central France. It is located to the west of Paris, from the centre of the capital. Mantes-la-Jolie is a subpre ...
. They reached US forces and safety on 12 August.''Association SAS'', retrieved an
25 May 2012 (in French).
See also
*Operation Flipper
Operation Flipper (also called the Rommel Raid) was a British commando raid during the Second World War, mainly by men from No. 11 (Scottish) Commando. The operation included an attack on the headquarters of Erwin Rommel, the commander of in Nort ...
, an earlier attempt to kill Rommel in North Africa.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaff, Operation of 1944 Conflicts in 1944 World War II British Commando raids Special Air Service 1944 in France Erwin Rommel