Operation Ambassador - Aftermath

Aftermath

The raid was ultimately a failure as none of the objectives were achieved by the British. No casualties were inflicted upon the enemy, no prisoners were taken and the only damage inflicted was a cut telephone line. Additionally, the quality of the planning and conduct of the operation has been called into question. Much of the equipment used was either not servicable—faulty compasses, and motor launches that broke down—or inadequate for the job and launches that were unable to come all the way into the beach due to their draught. Also some of the tasks that had been assigned were impractical or had not been rehearsed—the wire intended for use as a road block was too heavy to carry from the beach—and intelligence relating to enemy dispositions upon the island was at best outdated or completely wrong.

Largely this was the result of the haste with which the operation had been conceived and then put together, but it was also indicative of the embryonic status of the raiding and commandos concept.

On the political side, the raid was also a disaster. Churchill was said to have been furious regarding the "comical" way in which the operation was undertaken, and it has been alleged that for some months the whole Commando concept was "in jeopardy", although this did not eventuate. As a concept, the Commandos went on to perform with considerable success later in the war. Indeed, it has been argued, that their future success in operations such as "Overlord" was in part due to the early failures such as "Ambassador" as many lessons were learned as a result of these failures that proved vital in the planning and conduct of future Commando operations.

Nevertheless there were widespread changes. The independent companies were in turn disbanded and their personnel used to raise the first 12 commando units. Much work went into the training and planning side of raiding also, and for the next eight months the commandos did little except train. To this end formalised training schemes and schools were established and Churchill sought to invigorate the concept by replacing General Bourne, who had previously been the Director of Combined Operations with Admiral Sir Roger Keyes.