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Operation Anglo was a British Commando raid on the island of Rhodes during the Second World War. The raid was carried out by eight men of the Special Boat Section (SBS) assisted by four Greeks. In September 1942 their mission was to attack two airfields on the island of Rhodes. The German and Italian bombers based there were being used to attack Royal Navy convoys. After their attack, the raiding force were to return to their landing beach to be picked up by submarine. Only two surviving SBS men made it to the beach after hiding in the countryside for four days. After the Rhodes raid the depleted SBS was absorbed into the Special Air Service, due to the casualties they had suffered. In 1954 the events of the raid were portrayed in the movie ''They Who Dare''. ==Background== The Special Boat Section was founded in July 1940 by a Commando officer, Roger Courtney. Courtney became a commando recruit in mid-1940, and was sent to the Combined Training Centre in Scotland. He was unsuccessful in his initial attempts to convince Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes and later Admiral Theodore Hallett, commander of the Combined Training Centre, that his idea of a folding kayak brigade would be effective. He decided to infiltrate the , a Landing Ship, Infantry anchored in the River Clyde. Courtney paddled to the ship, climbed aboard undetected, wrote his initials on the door to the captain's cabin, and stole a deck gun cover. He presented the soaking cover to a group of high ranking Royal Navy officers meeting at a nearby Inveraray hotel. He was promoted to captain, and given command of twelve men, the first Special Boat Service/Special Boat Section.〔Breuer, pp.46–47〕 It was initially named the Folboat Troop, after the type of folding canoe employed in raiding operations, and then renamed No1 Special Boat Section in early 1941.〔Richards, p.240〕 Attached to Layforce they moved to the Middle East,〔Chappell, p.15〕 they later worked with the 1st Submarine Flotilla based at Alexandria and carried out beach reconnaissance of Rhodes, evacuated troops left behind on Crete and a number of small-scale raids and other operations.〔 In December 1941 Courtney returned to the United Kingdom where he formed No2 SBS,〔 and No1 SBS became attached to the Special Air Service (SAS) as the Folboat Section.〔Molinari, p.25〕 In June 1942 they took part in the Crete airfield raids. In September 1942 they carried out Operation Anglo, a raid on two airfields on the island of Rhodes.〔Haskew, p.54〕 Rhodes is the largest of the Greek islands in the Dodecanese, approximately from Turkey. It consisted of of coastline, with a mountainous interior. The largest mountain Mount Ataviros rising to .〔Davis, p.6〕 The island was controlled by the Ottoman Empire until after the First World War, when it came under Italian control as part of the treaty of Lausanne.〔Davis, p.15〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Operation Anglo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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