Summary of The Operation
In an analysis of the achievements of Operation Bulbasket, the author Paul McCue lists the following:
- The initiation of four air attacks and a possible fifth, killing upwards of 150 German troops and an unknown number of Milice
- Responsibility for the destruction of crucial petrol stocks, delaying the progress of the 2nd Panzer Division towards the Normandy landing area
- The delay of the 226th Infantry Division from Bayonne
- The delay of the 227th Infantry Division from Carcassonne
- 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
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