Operation Huckaback was a British Commando 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 opposi ...

. The raid was carried out by No. 62 Commando also known as the Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF) over the night of 27/28 February 1943. The raid was originally planned for the night of 9/10 February 1943, as simultaneous raids on Herm, Jethou and

Brecqhou Brecqhou (or Brechou; ) is one of the Channel Islands, located off the west coast of Sark where they are now geographically detached from each other. Brecqhou is politically part of both Sark and the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It has been establishe ...

. The objective was to take prisoners and gain information about the situation in the occupied

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

. It was to be carried out by 42 men from the SSRF and No. 4 Commando, but was cancelled because of bad weather. Huckaback was reinvented as a raid on Herm alone on the night of 27/28 February 1943. Ten men of the SSRF under Captain Patrick Anthony Porteous VC landed to the north-west of Selle Rocque on a shingle beach from MTB 344. After three unsuccessful attempts to scale the cliff, Porteous finally managed to climb up the bed of a stream and pulled the others up using toggle ropes. On reaching Belvoir House, they found it had been broken into and abandoned. Further reconnaissance found that the Old Tower of Herm and the Château were also deserted. The raid did not find any signs of the German occupation troop or the island's population.Messenger, p.15 The caretaker of Belvoir house was aware of people on the island, but locked the door. Leaflets were left for the Germans to find. The commandos departed and returned to England. The few civilians on the island were living near the harbour and were not aware of the raid taking place at the time.

References

*Messenger, Charles (1985). The Commandos: 1940–1946. London: Kimber. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Huckabuck, Operation of 1943 Conflicts in 1943 World War II British Commando raids 1943 in France Military history of the Channel Islands during World War II February 1943 events