Operation Fahrenheit was a

British Commando The Commandos, also known as the British Commandos, were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from Winston Churchill, for special forces that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe. Initially drawn ...

raid 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 ...

. It was carried out by a small group of men from

No. 12 Commando No. 12 Commando was a battalion-sized commando unit of the British Army during the Second World War. Formed in 1940 in Northern Ireland, they carried out a number of small-scale raids in Norway and France between 1941 and 1943 before being disbande ...

and

No. 62 Commando No. 62 Commando or the Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF) was a British Commando unit of the British Army during the Second World War. The unit was formed around a small group of commandos under the command of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). ...

over the night of 11/12 November 1942.

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

O B 'Micky' Rooney and six Non-commissioned officers from No. 6 Commando, with two men from No. 62 Commando formed the raiding party. The objective of the raid was to capture German servicemen for interrogation by attacking a signals station at Pointe de Plouezec on the north

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

coast. One raiding party left

Dartmouth Dartmouth may refer to: Places * Dartmouth, Devon, England ** Dartmouth Harbour * Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States * Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada * Dartmouth, Victoria, Australia Institutions * Dartmouth College, Ivy League university i ...

on the 11 November in Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB) 344. After reaching their target they discovered that the cliff tops were heavily mined. Rooney and one of his men checked out the signals station and a nearby pillbox. The signals station was protected by

barbed wire A close-up view of a barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is t ...

and sentries and the pillbox was unoccupied. Rooney decided to carry out a frontal assault on the signals station. Splitting the unit into three groups, they made their way to within yards of the barbed wire. While Rooney was preparing a

hand grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...

they were heard by the two sentries. Before they could react they were killed by the hand grenade and

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

fire. The occupants of the signal station were then engaged, killing two who had come into the open. The others returned fire from inside the signals station and it was decided to withdraw before reinforcements arrived. The party successfully re-embarked and returned to Dartmouth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fahrenheit, Operation of 1942 Conflicts in 1942 World War II British Commando raids 1942 in France