Operation Colossus - Battle

Battle

On 7 February X Troop boarded the six converted Whitley bombers and were transported 1,600 miles (2,600 km) to Malta without incident despite a significant portion of the journey being over occupied France. There the troop were briefed with aerial reconnaissance photographs of the objective that were provided by the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, which showed that there were actually two aqueducts in the area, one larger than the other; after a brief discussion it was decided that the larger of the two would be targeted. At 18:30 on 10 February the six Whitleys took off from Malta, each carrying one officer and five other ranks of X Troop; the flight to the target area was uneventful, with clear weather and perfect visibility. The lead Whitley reached the drop zone, which was approximately 500 metres (550 yd) from the aqueduct, at 21:42. All six men and their equipment containers landed within 250 metres (270 yd) of the drop zone, as did the men from the next four aircraft; however two of the bombers failed to drop their containers due to the icing up of the release mechanisms, and the sixth aircraft failed to locate the drop zone and eventually dropped its six men and containers two hours later in a valley two miles from the aqueduct. The six men who had not landed in the drop zone were Royal Engineer sappers who were supposed to rig the aqueduct for demolition, and their Whitley had been carrying most of the explosives to be used in the operation. Despite these losses, the troop gathered up the remaining containers and took up positions around the aqueduct. However, on examining the aqueduct it was found the piers supporting it were made of reinforced concrete and not brick as had been expected, leading Pritchard to suspect that the remaining explosives might be insufficient to demolish the aqueduct. After closer inspection, Pritchard ordered that the majority of the explosives be placed around the western pier and the rest against its abutment, in the hope that this would cause enough damage to destroy the aqueduct. A small amount of explosives were also placed under a nearby bridge that bridged the Ginestra river.

At 00:30 on 11 February the explosives were detonated and the western pier destroyed, causing the aqueduct to crumble and effectively break in half, and the Ginestra bridge was also successfully destroyed. Leaving one man who had broken his ankle when he had landed with a nearby farmer, the remainder of the Troop withdrew from the area at 01:00, splitting into three groups and heading towards the coast. The three groups moved as fast as possible towards the coast, but were all captured within a few hours of the aqueduct being demolished. The group commanded by Major Pritchard was spotted by a farmer who raised the alarm at a nearby village, leading to a local carabinieri unit surrounding the group; with little ammunition and heavily outnumbered, Pritchard decided to surrender. The other three groups, including the six sappers who had landed two miles from the objective, fared little better. The two groups from the aqueduct were soon located by Italian soldiers and ambushed, forcing them to surrender after brief firefights. The third group were found by a group of civilians as they moved towards the coast; after attempting to bluff their way past by claiming to be German soldiers on a special field exercise, which failed when the local Mayor demanded identity papers, they were captured by carabinieri. All were stripped of their weapons and equipment and transported to Naples, with the exception of the Italian translator, Picchi; he was handed over to the Blackshirts, a Fascist paramilitary group, who tortured and then executed him. Even if any of the groups had managed to make their way to the coast and the rendezvous point, they would not have been picked up by HMS Triumph. One of the two Whitleys conducting the diversionary raid at Foggia suffered engine trouble after bombing the railway yards. The pilot radioed Malta, informing his airfield that he was ditching in the mouth of the River Sele, coincidentally the area where the rendezvous was to occur. Fearing that the message had been monitored by the Italians and that the submarine might sail into a trap, the decision was made by senior officers not to send it to the rendezvous point.