Operation Bulbasket - Summary of The Operation

Summary of The Operation

In an analysis of the achievements of Operation Bulbasket, the author Paul McCue lists the following:

1. The initiation of four air attacks and a possible fifth, killing upwards of 150 German troops and an unknown number of Milice
2. Responsibility for the destruction of crucial petrol stocks, delaying the progress of the 2nd Panzer Division towards the Normandy landing area
3. The delay of the 226th Infantry Division from Bayonne
4. The delay of the 227th Infantry Division from Carcassonne
5. It carried out 23 successful road and rail sabotage operations

Operation Bulbasket: Timeline

• 1 June 1944; Two officers of 'B' Squadron, 1st Special Air Service, Captain John Tonkin and Second Lieutenant Richard Crisp, were briefed on the operation by SHAEF in London

• 6 June; Their drop zone was an area of the Brenne marsh 19 miles (31 km) south west of Châteauroux, which they reached at 01:37 hours

• 7 June; further group from 'B' Squadron were parachuted in

• 9/10 June; move to 'Sazas' farm south of Montmorillon

• 11 June; further group from 'B' Squadron were parachuted in

• 11 June; location of petrol train confirmed. Tonkin contacted England and requested an air attack. That night a force of 12 Royal Air Force de Havilland Mosquito bombers of No. 487 Squadron RNZAF, based at RAF Gravesend in Kent, attacked the train in its sidings. The mission was a success, destroying the fuel reserves for the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich.

• 12/13 June; Lieutenant Crisp, one of those later executed, was in command of a patrol that laid mines on the N147 in the Forêt de Défant, just before the 2nd SS Panzer Division arrived in the area.

• 13 June; move to Nerignac

• 19 June; move to Pouillac

• 21 June; move to Persac

• 25 June 1944; The SAS Squadron move to Verrières.

• 1 July; move to a new camp just south in the Bois des Cartes.

• 2 July; return to Verrieres. The force in the forest camp consisted of 40 SAS men, a P-51 Mustang pilot, Second Lieutenant Lincoln Bundy and nine men from the French Resistance.

• 3/4 July: attack on Verrieres

• 5 July; survivors move top Foret de Plessac

• 6/7 July; men executed at St Sauvant

• 9 July; move to Charroux

• 14 July; move to Asnieres sur Blour or Forêt de Défant

• Subsequently near Luchapt, Tonkin and the remainder of the Squadron (altogether eight survivors of the attack and three others), regrouped and carried on with the mission

• 24 July 1944; order to cease operations was received

• 28 July; move to north of Montmorillon

• 6/7 August; survivors extracted