Operation Ambassador was another of the first British Commando operations. In similarity with Opn. Colossus, there were no immediate military gains, but the experience derived from this raid helped subsequent raids.
The Wehrmacht had occupied the islands situated in the English Channel. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill thought that the newly formed British Commandos would be suitable for a raid and subsequent control of these islands. The raiding party consisted of 140 men in total. 100 men from No. 11 Independent Company under Maj. John Slater, and 40 men from No.3 Commando under Maj. Ronnie Todd.
The raid had been scheduled for the night of 12-13 July, but was postponed to 14-15 July. On 1745 hrs, the raiding party boarded two RN Destroyers along with six High-speed motor launches to ferry them to the island.
Like mentioned before, the operation was a failure. Under Maj. John's plan, the Independent companies would attack the airfield while the Commandos would create a diversion. But unfortunately, one launch landed up on entirely the wrong island due to a faulty compass, two launches broke down in the middle of the sea.
The Commandos reached the shore, soaking wet though. They discovered barracks and a few machine gun nests, but they had been abandoned long before. As the Destroyers were scheduled for pickup at 0300 hrs, and had orders to leave the soldiers behind in case of a delay, the commandos returned to the beach. The only inflicted damage was a cut telephone line. They found that they had to swim out to the boats almost 100m from the beach, and it was discovered that 3 of the men couldn't swim, and were left behind with additional French currency. During evacuation, a dinghy ferrying weapons from the beach again crashed into a rock, killing the pilot and two escorts. Slater suggested sending a submarine to get the three men, but they'd surrendered, and the Admiralty declined.
After the conclusion of the operation, it's planning quality and conduct has been called into question. As mentioned earlier, most of the equipment was not serviceable (compass, motor launches) or inadequate for the job. Some tasks assigned were impractical and not been practiced beforehand, eg. the wire intended to be used as a roadblock was too heavy to be carried from the beach.
On the political side, the raid was a disaster. Churchill was furious at the comical progress and outcome of the raid. It was being circulated that the entire commando concept was in Jeopardy.
The Independent Coy.'s were disbanded, and the first 12 Commando Battalions were raised out of them. Almost the full year they spent only in training. The successes of the Commandos in future operations such as Overlord were due to the expertise gained from the first failures.
The Wehrmacht had occupied the islands situated in the English Channel. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill thought that the newly formed British Commandos would be suitable for a raid and subsequent control of these islands. The raiding party consisted of 140 men in total. 100 men from No. 11 Independent Company under Maj. John Slater, and 40 men from No.3 Commando under Maj. Ronnie Todd.
The raid had been scheduled for the night of 12-13 July, but was postponed to 14-15 July. On 1745 hrs, the raiding party boarded two RN Destroyers along with six High-speed motor launches to ferry them to the island.
Like mentioned before, the operation was a failure. Under Maj. John's plan, the Independent companies would attack the airfield while the Commandos would create a diversion. But unfortunately, one launch landed up on entirely the wrong island due to a faulty compass, two launches broke down in the middle of the sea.
The Commandos reached the shore, soaking wet though. They discovered barracks and a few machine gun nests, but they had been abandoned long before. As the Destroyers were scheduled for pickup at 0300 hrs, and had orders to leave the soldiers behind in case of a delay, the commandos returned to the beach. The only inflicted damage was a cut telephone line. They found that they had to swim out to the boats almost 100m from the beach, and it was discovered that 3 of the men couldn't swim, and were left behind with additional French currency. During evacuation, a dinghy ferrying weapons from the beach again crashed into a rock, killing the pilot and two escorts. Slater suggested sending a submarine to get the three men, but they'd surrendered, and the Admiralty declined.
After the conclusion of the operation, it's planning quality and conduct has been called into question. As mentioned earlier, most of the equipment was not serviceable (compass, motor launches) or inadequate for the job. Some tasks assigned were impractical and not been practiced beforehand, eg. the wire intended to be used as a roadblock was too heavy to be carried from the beach.
On the political side, the raid was a disaster. Churchill was furious at the comical progress and outcome of the raid. It was being circulated that the entire commando concept was in Jeopardy.
The Independent Coy.'s were disbanded, and the first 12 Commando Battalions were raised out of them. Almost the full year they spent only in training. The successes of the Commandos in future operations such as Overlord were due to the expertise gained from the first failures.
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