The Royal Navy during the Second World Wat A22903

Operation Gambit was a part of

Operation Neptune Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

, the landing phase of the invasion of northern France (

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...

) during the

Second World War 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 ...

. Gambit involved two

X class submarine The X class was a World War II midget submarine class built for the Royal Navy during 1943–44. It was substantially larger than the original Chariot manned torpedo. Known individually as X-Craft, the vessels were designed to be towed to thei ...

s (British midget submarines) marking the ends of the Anglo-Canadian invasion beaches. Using navigation lights and flags, the submarines indicated the western and eastern limits of

Sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

and

Juno Beach Juno or Juno Beach was one of five beaches of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 during the Second World War. The beach spanned from Courseulles, a village just east of the British beach Gold ...

es. ''X20'' and ''X23'' arrived in position on 4 June and due to the delay caused by bad weather, remained in position until on 6 June (D-Day) when they surfaced, erected the navigational aids, an telescopic mast with a light shining to seaward, a radio beacon and echo sounder, tapping out a message for the minelayers approaching Sword and Juno. A similar operation had been offered to the US

landing forces A landing operation is a military action during which a landing force, usually utilizing landing craft, is transferred to land with the purpose of power projection ashore. With the proliferation of aircraft, a landing may refer to amphibious forc ...

to mark their beaches but this was declined. The team of Captain

Logan Scott-Bowden Major general (United Kingdom), Major General Logan Scott-Bowden, (21 February 1920 – 9 February 2014) was a British army officer. A Royal Engineers officer during World War II, he was the first commander of the Ulster Defence Regiment. Reti ...

and Sergeant Bruce Ogden-Smith did investigate

Omaha Beach Omaha Beach was one of five beach landing sectors designated for the amphibious assault component of operation Overlord during the Second World War. On June 6, 1944, the Allies invaded German-occupied France with the Normandy landings. "Omaha" r ...

for General Omar Bradley, returning with a sand sample. The submarines were at some risk of damage due to friendly fire and to avoid this, Lieutenant George Honour the captain of ''X23'' flew a White Ensign of the size more normally used by capital ships.

Footnotes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gambit, Operation Operation Neptune Naval battles and operations of World War II involving the United Kingdom

See also

Footnotes

References