Halifax Bombers dropped Jeeps to SAS behind enemy lines?

Military Channel's series "Secret War"
Episode "The Defiant Duo" is all about the SAS behind enemy lines up to and including after D-Day
See Military Channel :: TV Listings :: Daily Schedule for 13/ 28/2012

Halifax Bombers dropped Jeeps to SAS behind enemy lines?
This is the first I have ever heard about this!

What an awesome good series.

 

They cartainly did. Near my home a Jeep was dropped to a local maquis that had welcome an SAS team. The Major was shot shot by the Wehrmacht while driving it.

CWGC - Casualty Details

 

How did they do this? Surely the jeep would not have fitted in the bomb doors

 

Good pictures on this Keypublishing thread.
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?101083-Air-drop-jeeps-in-1945&p=1595089#post1595089

 

Thanks for the information and pictures, as I said at first I could not belive that this was possible but a picture as they say is worth a thousand words.

 

Here is Major Ian Fenwick driving his Jeep in the Maquis . He was killed two weeks before the 3rd Army liberated the area. it is a well known fact that he was with the Maquis with his Jeep .



http://loiret3945.forumgratuit.org/t653-major-ian-fenwick-special-air-service

 

Great pictures! Poor little jeep

 

Tnx!

It would be interesting to find out what, besides the ornamental part of the bumby, the front grill and some headlights, were stripped off presumably to reduce weight.

From http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net/sas.htm



Any other pics out there?

 

I note that their is only one headlight. Was this specific?

 

Most pics show the Right front headlight area was blocked by 5 gallon water tanks. = No use.

 

here you could find some pictures, but take care, the site it's rather poorly designed

http://www.combatreform.org/groundvehiclephotos.htm

regards

 

Excellent. Twin Lewis Machineguns. Somewhere, a biplane is crying.

 

Also, the front grill bars on radiator have been sawed off? Did they need that much cooling in the tropics- that removing the front 6 grill bars would give added performance?

 

Old thread with expired pictures so I thought I should post a few. L Detachment, Special Air Service was the first to get US jeeps in the Middle East in May 1942. They cut slats from the grill because the Long Range Desert Group reconnaissance unit that they first partnered with to take SAS troopers on sabotage raids of German and Italian airfields set up their Chevy and Ford trucks that way. I believe the LRDG founder, Ralph Bagnold, recommended that for cooling after many desert explorations in the 1930s.

Here are officers Carol Mather (L) and Gordon Alston embarking on a LONG drive around the front lines.

The SAS were parachuted far behind the lines in France from June 6, 1944 to September to many locations. Their mission was to interdict German units heading for Normandy. Gun jeeps were dropped to them starting in late June. They used them to ambush German columns and more quickly get to railroads which they would blow up, often derailing trains via pressure switches on or under the rails. The jeeps usually had four petrol tanks, not jerry cans like they used in North Africa. They cut the grills partially due to unit tradition, and partly because bullet holes in the radiator could more easily be patched with plastic explosives they always carried. Besides that and the extra tanks and guns, the jeeps were set up like conventional British airborne jeeps. Short bumper, no side steps or grab handles for fitting into Horsa gliders, and quick detach steering wheel.


Armor panels started to appear in August 44 when SAS units in France were being relieved by troops driving jeeps through the lines which were fluid during the German retreat. In late 1944-45 the armored jeeps were used by 1 SAS in Northern Germany supporting the Canadian Reconnaissance, employed much like armored car squadrons. "Misused" is probably a better term, because the troopers were still quite exposed when ambushed. This colorized photo is a typical example. One out of three had a Browning .50 heavy barrel MG on the cowl. Most had steel bustle baskets at the rear for supplies, and a crew of three.

Back to the Summer and Fall.... the special service bomber units tasked with dropping supplies and troops to the SAS, SOE, OSS, and Jedburgh Teams in France set up a number of airplanes to carry and drop jeeps. A shock absorbing skid went under each axle and a framework in the back carried large parachutes. Drops were usually at night, along with troops and supply containers. This was the first time vehicles had been parachuted.

 

I believe those are Vickers K guns; I also thought of Lewis guns when I first saw them:

Vickers K machine gun - Wikipedia

 

Right. K was it's commercial model name and the British government called it Vickers G.O. which stood for gas operated. It was designed as an air-to-air defensive gun with a high rate of fire which is important when time-on-target is short. I read it's adjustable from 950 to 1,200 rpm. Air cooled with no fins or radiator. OK when cold air was blowing over it at 150 mph but on the ground they would overheat quickly. Quick change 99 round magazines.

The RAF obsoleted them when belt fed Brownings came out, so they were available in quantity for ground use for things like RAF base and ship defense, and in the Middle East, for the special army units LRDG and SAS who wanted defensive guns for vehicles. This turned into offensive use in summer 1942 when SAS CO David Stirling and second in command Blair "Paddy" Maine and two troopers used two of their new jeeps for transportation to an airfield they were to attack. They parked outside the perimeter with one watching the jeeps. Three snuck in and placed their time bombs on airplanes as usual. When they returned they decided to wait to watch the show. They counted 18 explosions but knew they placed 40 bombs. It was decided the bombs were not assembled properly. So one decided that since they have machine guns, they could drive in and shoot up the remaining airplanes. The enemy would not expect this. So this was a success and as they were racing into the desert to hide before the sun came up they were yelling at each other about changing tactics. Gun attacks with jeeps looked more efficient than several men walking around on foot with bombs and knifing sleeping sentries. So they ordered new jeeps with more guns and future attacks with crews of three per jeep were very successful.

The hit-and-run nature of these night raids allowed the use of high rate-of-fire guns but the troops were trained to shoot in short bursts. Later in France during convoy ambushes and firefights, barrel heat led to jamming. They had Brens and M1 carbines to fall back on but the usual solution was to bug out.

The Army and Royal Marine Commandos had a Vickers G.O. model that had a short stock, pistol grip, and bi-pod. These were used during the Normandy operation but for heat, weight, and ammo consumption reasons they decided this weapon was not good for infantry use.