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Operation Claymore was the codename for a British Commandos raid on the Lofoten Islands in Norway during the Second World War. The Lofoten Islands were an important centre for the production of fish oil and glycerine, used in the German war industry. The landings were carried out on 4 March 1941, by the men of No. 3 Commando, No. 4 Commando, a Royal Engineers Section and 52 men from the Royal Norwegian Navy. Supported by the 6th Destroyer Flotilla and two troop transports of the Royal Navy, the force made an unopposed landing and generally continued to meet no opposition. The original plan had been to avoid contact with German forces and inflict the maximum of damage to German-controlled industry. They achieved their objective of destroying fish oil factories and some 3,600 tonnes (800,000 imperial gallons) of oil and glycerine. Through naval gunfire and demolition parties, 18,000 tons of shipping were sunk. Perhaps the most significant outcome of the raid, however, was the capture of a set of rotor wheels for an Enigma cypher machine and its code books from the German armed trawler ''Krebs''. This enabled German naval codes to be read at Bletchley Park, providing the intelligence needed to allow allied convoys to avoid U-boat concentrations. The British experienced only one accidental injury; an officer injuring himself with his own revolver; and returned with some 228 German prisoners, 314 loyal Norwegian volunteers and a number of Quisling regime collaborators. In the aftermath the evaluation of the operation differed, the British and especially Winston Churchill and the Special Operations Executive deeming it a success. In the eyes of the British the value of such actions was mainly to tie up large German forces on occupation duties in Norway. Martin Linge and the other Norwegians involved were more doubtful of the value of such raids against the Norwegian coast. Following Operation Claymore the Norwegian special operations unit Norwegian Independent Company 1 was established for operations in Norway. ==Background== After the British Expeditionary Force had been evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called for a force to be assembled and equipped to inflict casualties on the Germans and bolster British morale. Churchill told the joint Chiefs of Staff to propose measures for an offensive against German-occupied Europe, and stated: "they must be prepared with specially trained troops of the hunter class who can develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast."〔Haskew, pp. 47–48〕 One staff officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Clarke, had already submitted such a proposal to General Sir John Dill, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Dill, aware of Churchill's intentions, approved Clarke's proposal.〔 Three weeks later, the first Commando raid -- Operation Collar—took place. The raiders failed to gather any intelligence or damage any German equipment; their only success was in killing two German sentries.〔 The Commandos came under the operational control of the Combined Operations Headquarters. The man initially selected as the commander was Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, a veteran of the Gallipoli Campaign and the Zeebrugge Raid in the First World War.〔Chappell, p.6〕 In 1940, the call went out for volunteers from among the serving Army soldiers within certain formations still in Britain, and men of the disbanding Divisional Independent Companies originally raised from Territorial Army Divisions who had seen service in Norway. In November 1940 the new army units were organised into a Special Service Brigade under Brigadier J.C. Haydon, with four Special Service Battalions.〔Joslen, p. 454〕 By the autumn of 1940 more than 2,000 men had volunteered for commando training, and the Special Service Brigade now consisted of 12 units which were called Commandos.〔Haskew, p. 48〕 After an inauspicious start the first large scale commando raid was to be on the Lofoten Islands, which are just off the Norwegian coast inside the Arctic Circle and about from Britain. Once at the islands the raiders would be landed at four small ports, to destroy fish oil producing factories. All the oil produced was being shipped to Germany who extracted the glycerine, a vital ingredient in the manufacture of high explosives.〔Chappel, p. 12〕 The commandos would be transported to the islands aboard two new infantry landing ships, escorted by four Tribal class and one L class destroyer of the 6th Destroyer Flotilla.〔 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 Claymore」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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