Secrets of World War II episode 5: In 1942 a reconnaissance Spitfire photographed a strange shaped piece of German apparatus in a Normandy field. It turned out to be a sophisticated German radar system whose secrets had to be discovered. On the night of February 27, 1942, British paratroopers dropped into snowcovered fields along the coast of France. Their mission: to capture a top secret German radar installation near the town of Bruneval. Relive the astonishing nighttime attack–and discover how it played a vital role in the Allied bombing offensive against Hitler’s Reich in “The Bruneval Raid.”
Witness the undercover battles of the radar war, where squiggles on an electronic screen meant the difference between life and death in the skies. See how the remarkable British home radar system prevented a full-scale Nazi invasion of England. Investigate the inner workings of the Luftwaffe’s “X System,” which made possible the precision bombing of enemy targets on the darkest night. Follow the elite British paratroops during guerrilla training for their covert attack on Bruneval. Then find out what happened at the Nazi radar station–when the raiders suddenly found themselves pinned down under a firestorm of German bullets.
Secrets of World War II episode 5
You probably know the History, now discover the incredible SECRETS OF WORLD WAR II. Rarely has a war produced such clear cut reasons to fight as World War II. On the one hand were the totalitarian Dictators – Tojo, Hitler and Mussolini. On the other were the great democracies of the Western World which were gradually regaining their feet after the Great War of 1914-18 and the Wall Street Crash. Suddenly, ordinary men and women from all walks of life found themselves thrown into fearsome, nerve-tingling situations worthy of any Hollywood movie. The only difference in this series is that every story is true. Real people emerge as the Heroes of Telemark. Ordinary GIs and US Airforce and Navy personnel suddenly find themselves flying against the Japanese in China, jungle fighting in Burma and being dropped by submarine on enemy coasts at midnight.
These untold stories can now be examined in great detail with the benefit of hindsight, newly-discovered archive film, maps and computer graphics which can complete the picture for today’s viewer. Each fifty-two minute story covers the background to the main action. It will give the viewer a clear view of the historical context, the strategic objective and the tactical effort made by flyers, sailors and foot-soldiers – often in the most oppressive and life-threatening situations – to win victory from the enemy.
This is an inspiring series with a giant canvas including much never before seen colour film. Over 300,000 hours of archive material have been searched for its compilation. Specially orchestrated music and compositions from the great composers all contribute to the excitement and drama of some of the world’s greatest stories of bravery under fire.
It is the largest series of its kind ever produced and with recently released secret footage will give the viewer a new insight into the great untold war stories of World War II. In many cases, this series gives the true stories for the first time this Century.
The Bruneval Raid – Operation Biting
The Bruneval Raid was a British commando operation during World War II. It was carried out on the night of 27-28 February 1942 and involved the capture of a German Würzburg radar installation on a hill overlooking the beach at Bruneval, France. The raid was successful, and the British were able to capture the radar equipment and bring it back to Britain for examination. The operation was important because it allowed the British to gain valuable intelligence on German radar technology and helped them to improve their own radar systems.
Operation Biting, also known as the Bruneval Raid, was a British Combined Operations raid on a German coastal radar installation at Bruneval in northern France, during the Second World War, on the night of 27–28 February 1942. Several of these installations were identified from Royal Air Force (RAF) aerial reconnaissance photographs during 1941, but the purpose and the nature of the equipment was not known. Some British scientists believed that these stations were connected with successful German attacks of RAF bombers conducting bombing raids against targets in Occupied Europe, resulting in severe losses of pilots and bombers. The scientists requested that one of these installations be raided and the technology it possessed be studied and, if possible, extracted and brought back to Britain for further examination.
Due to the extensive coastal defences erected by the Germans to protect the installation from a seaborne raid, the British believed that a commando raid from the sea would suffer heavy losses and give sufficient time for the enemy to destroy the installation. Officials decided that an airborne assault followed by seaborne evacuation would be the most practicable way to surprise the garrison of the installation, seize the technology intact, and minimise casualties to the raiding force.
On the night of 27 February, after a period of intense training and several delays due to poor weather, a company of airborne troops under the command of Major John Frost parachuted into France a few miles from the installation. The main force assaulted the villa in which the radar equipment was kept, killing several members of the German garrison and capturing the installation after a brief firefight.
An RAF technician with the force dismantled a Würzburg radar array and removed several key pieces, after which the force withdrew to the evacuation beach. The detachment assigned to clear the beach had initially failed to do so, but the German force guarding it was soon eliminated with the help of the main force. The raiding troops were picked up by landing craft, and transferred to several motor gunboats, which returned them to Britain.
The raid was entirely successful. The airborne troops suffered relatively few casualties, and the pieces of the radar they brought back, along with a captured German radar technician, allowed British scientists to understand enemy advances in radar and to create countermeasures to neutralise them.