Operation Glimmer - Impact

Impact

The extent to which Taxable and Glimmer were successful has been debated. All three operations were complicated in execution, requiring the coordination of air and naval forces in poor conditions. Poor weather conditions meant that Taxable did not appear to have the desired effect and failed to elicit any response from the Germans. The reaction to Glimmer was more encouraging. The attacks on the bomber squadrons indicated, at least to the satisfaction of RAF Bomber Command, that the Germans believed a genuine threat existed. There is no evidence that Big Drum elicited any specific response from the shore. All of these factors contributed to making the operations less effective than the planners might have envisioned.

Although disappointed not to have seen any "action" during the night of D-Day, and still unclear what impact they had had, the bomber crews felt proud of the operations. Squadron Leader Les Munro, of No. 617 Squadron, wrote, "I have always considered the operation in one sense to be the most important the squadron carried out in my time – not because bad weather, nor because of any threat of enemy action and not measured by any visible results, but because of the very exacting requirements to which we had to fly and navigate".

From intelligence intercepts it appears that German forces in the Pas de Calais region reported an invasion fleet, and there are reports of the decoys being fired on by shore batteries. In an 11 June report on the operations, Lieutenant Commander Ian Cox (who was in charge of deception units) indicated that German forces had been convinced by the fake radio traffic. Intercepted dispatches from Hiroshi Ōshima, the Japanese ambassador to Germany, made reference to the naval deceptions. An 8 June report referred to the Calais region and stated "an enemy squadron that had been operating there has now withdrawn".