Operation Bulbasket

Operation Bulbasket
Part of Western Front
Date 6 June–24 July 1944 Location Poitiers, Vienne department France Result Partial British success
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Nazi Germany
Commanders and leaders
Captain John Tonkin	Brigadeführer Heinz Lammerding
Strength
40 men from 'B' Squadron, 1st Special Air Service A small team from the Special Operations Executive 9 French Resistance fighters	Elements of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich Elements of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen
Casualties and losses
34 Special Air Service men captured and executed 1 US Army Air Forces pilot captured and executed 7 French Resistance fighters captured and executed	Unknown

40 men from 'B' Squadron, 1st Special Air Service
A small team from the Special Operations Executive

Elements of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich

34 Special Air Service men captured and executed
1 US Army Air Forces pilot captured and executed

Operation Bulbasket was an operation by 'B' Squadron, 1st Special Air Service (SAS), behind the German lines in German occupied France, between June and August 1944. The operation was located to the east of Poitiers in the Vienne department of south west France; its objective was to block the Paris to Bordeaux railway line near Poitiers and to hamper German reinforcements heading towards the Normandy beachheads, especially the 2nd SS Panzer Division – Das Reich.

During the course of the operation amongst other things, the SAS men discovered the whereabouts of a petrol supply train, which was destined for the 2nd SS Panzer Division. The supply train was destroyed by Royal Air Force bombers the same night.

The Special Air Service team had made their base near Verrieres, the location of which was betrayed to the Germans. In the follow-up attack on their camp, 33 men from the Special Air Service were captured and later executed together with a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) pilot who had fallen in with them, after bailing out of his P-51. Seven captured Maquisards were also executed in the woods after the attack. Three other SAS men, who had been wounded in the fight and taken to hospital, were executed by lethal injections while in their hospital beds.

The men involved in Operation Bulbasket were part of the Special Air Service Brigade. It was a unit of the British Army, formed in July 1941 by David Stirling and originally called 'L' Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade; 'L' being an attempt at deception, implying the existence of numerous such units. It was conceived as a commando type force intending to operate behind enemy lines in the North African Campaign. In 1944 the Special Air Service Brigade was formed and consisted of the British 1st and 2nd Special Air Service, the French 3rd and 4th SAS and the Belgian 5th SAS. They were to undertake parachute operations behind the German lines in France and then carry out operations supporting the Allied advance through Belgium, the Netherlands and eventually into Germany.

...
Wikipedia