Page 18 - Falcon Issue 1 2024

18
BATTLEFIELD STUDY
In October 2023, seventeen members of the Battalion and a historian from the ‘Secret WW2 Society’ travelled by ferry to Brittany, for a long-awaited Battlefield Study. The aim was to understand the actions of the Op JEDBURGH Teams, that parachuted into territory occupied by Nazi Germany, to assist local resistance forces and to carry out military operations. Unlike SOE agents who worked clandestinely in occupied Europe, the Jedburgh teams would be uniformed military personnel.
These Special Operations forces faced numerous challenges in their formation and endorsement in the correct offices, before eventually achieving great success in their operations. Their ability to Train, Advise, Assist, Equip and Accompany local French resistance forces,
under the nose of the occupying forces caused great disharmony and distraction in the lead up to, and following the allied invasion of Normandy.
The challenges faced by the
The risks that come with working so close to the civilian populations are immense
Jedburgh Teams throughout the moral, physical and conceptual components, are all applicable to the operations that we train for now. The risks that come with working so close to the civilian populations are immense, as the Teams often found out.
This Battlefield study was the first that had occurred since the Battalion’s formation, and it has reminded us how important it is to take a step back and ensure that we look at those that have gone before us and learn from their successes and failures.
Learning about the Jedburgh Teams
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