HISTORY

Photo: Karel Beinhauer (Radim Vojta collection)

Operation Starkey

Invasion that wasn´t…

TEXT: MICHAL KRECHOVSKI

Spitfires LF Mk. Vb of No. 313 Squadron are taking off at Hawkinge airport during the operation Starkey on September 9, 1943.

In 1943, after a total failure of the combat reconnaissance in the form of landing at Dieppe a year earlier, it was clear to the Allies that any kind of landing attempt in France will be possible only when

Germany military will collapse which, at that time,

was pretty far off. To overcome any kind of German

military resistance, the military power needed was

not yet available to Allies on the British Isles, even

if enforced by the troops withdrawn from the Mediterranean. Based on pressure from Churchill it was

decided to camouflage this weakness by any possible means. One of them was a mock operation i.e.,

creating the impression that the actual invasion

is being prepared. Another reason was an effort in

the West, where at that time, a relative peace was

maintained except for the air and naval operations,

to tie the large contingent of German troops and

this way weaken them in the Eastern Front.

While the number of American troops was gradually increasing, and British themselves very

busy training, the actual plans were made for

a “mock invasion” which was not to take place.

As its location the area 10 kilometers north of

Boulogne was selected, between the villages of

Audresselles and Ambleteus and further in the

south of Boulogne, almost at the same distan8

eduard

ce, between village of Hardelot and river Brone.

The initial plans were considering the option of

turning the mock operation into the real one

provided the conditions were favorable, however

the plans gradually changed from the option

of another combat reconnaissance by landing

a smaller contingent of special troops to further operation reduction until all the combat

activity boiled down to the air operations. Even

this plan faced the resistance, especially from

the commander of the American 8th Air Force,

Ira C. Eaker as it negatively impacted the other

air force activities, strategic bombing in the first

place. Navy was not excited either since the part

of its fleet was to serve as a bait. The mock invasion preparations continued however since

the operation was adopted as a training and rehearsal for the future, real landing. The air force

increased its activities in the designated area, 1st

Canadian Army moved to the deployment positions in the Portsmouth – Southampton sector,

2nd British Army moved to Dover –Folkestone –

Newhaven area. At the same time the transportation vessels were concentrated there.

Provocation without response

September 8, 1943, was selected as a date to

launch this mock invasion. In the days before this

date variety of ships, military as well as civilian

ones, were concentrated in the ports between

Southampton and Dover. The ground troops moved to the “embarking” area. The air force received the orders is several stages. 11th Group of

the RAF Fighter Command was to increase the

offensive combat activities in the Pas-de-Calais

area between August 16 and 24. Between August 25 and September 7 it was to focus on the

intense reconnaissance and bombardment of

the enemy airports, military, and industrial targets in the designated area and finally, between

September 6 and 8, day and night bombardment

of the long-range coastal batteries was ordered. The idea was to lure the highest number of

Luftwaffe aircraft to fight, same as a year ago at

Dieppe, in order to achieve the air superiority.

The first two stages of the operation did take

INFO Eduard - November 2021