Operation Jericho-Amiens Prison Raid !

Nice to see this topic pop up again

Noted this older post from a few years back…nice to see it resurface. Now that some time has passed , I had a chance to see the Amiens prison for myself a few years ago. Now having read most of the new book out about the raid & seen the BBC 2 Jericho program…so many unanswered questions remain as to who ordered the raid ?

Questions raised that no one with any real knowledege of the upcoming Normandy landings were in the prison at the time. Why bomb a prison that has no military value ? Some vdery good men were lost on this operation for sure. Many unanswered question remains. Time has taken those who may know the answer away.

BlueNoser352!

Nice to see this topic pop up again

Noted this older post from a few years back…nice to see it resurface. Now that some time has passed , I had a chance to see the Amiens prison for myself a few years ago. Now having read most of the new book out about the raid & seen the BBC 2 Jericho program…so many unanswered questions remain as to who ordered the raid ?

Questions raised that no one with any real knowledege of the upcoming Normandy landings were in the prison at the time. Why bomb a prison that has no military value ? Some vdery good men were lost on this operation for sure. Many unanswered question remains. Time has taken those who may know the answer away.

BlueNoser352!

I don’t want to appear to be disparaging about Pickard, but:
‘Bill’ Broadley was my father’s nagigator when he flew special ops in Whitleys. They spent 3 months interned in Portugal following a double engine failure on returning to the UK from Gibraltar.
When there was a TV program about the prison raid I mentioned to my father that I had seen it and he he responded by blaming Pickard for the crash saying that having completed to mission he should have returned to base.

During the course of the war my father flew 67 missions, mostly Special Ops in Whitleys and Halifaxes, before flying Lancs. Post war he stayed in the RAF and ended flying Shacks out of Gib in 1958.

I don’t want to appear to be disparaging about Pickard, but:
‘Bill’ Broadley was my father’s nagigator when he flew special ops in Whitleys. They spent 3 months interned in Portugal following a double engine failure on returning to the UK from Gibraltar.
When there was a TV program about the prison raid I mentioned to my father that I had seen it and he he responded by blaming Pickard for the crash saying that having completed to mission he should have returned to base.

During the course of the war my father flew 67 missions, mostly Special Ops in Whitleys and Halifaxes, before flying Lancs. Post war he stayed in the RAF and ended flying Shacks out of Gib in 1958.

Nice website Denis!

Denis, thanks for the link, lots of information and enjoy looking it over. Will try and locate that book on the raid!

I believe Mosquito Squadron had a similar storyline, with similar wooden acting to accompany the wooden ‘planes…;)

Flood.™

I have not got the ISDN number but one good book to read is “And the walls came tumbling down”
Got a little info on my own website on the RAF Hunsdon pages
http://merlinsroared.tripod.com

Thanks for the info on the Amiens Raid !

Denis& Dave , thanks for the info on the Amiens Prison raid, will try and find
some books on the topic. The FLYPAST article has some great information and listed all the squardons and crews who flew in the mission. I thought it was intresting the mission had one Mosquito camera equiped to record the mission and it made three passes over the prison after the raid to record the prisoners running out the buldings. Wonder why the raid did not have Spitfires flying top cover over the Mosquitos? I noticed the Typhoos were on the raid as well. Wondering if Mosquito’s normally carried mounted cameras like USAAF aircraft did on daily combat operations? This would make for a wonderful film, the story line is outstanding, no if we can only get some air worthy Mosquitos for the film !

It was filmed by a Mossie belonging to the official film section of the RAF.
I have been to Amiens Prison and to Pickard and Broadleys crash site. both are marked for rememberance. This year saw a memorial service held at the old airfield at Hunsdon to mark the anniversary of the raid. Later this year our small group are to erect a permanent memorial to mark the airfield and squadrons of RAF Hunsdon, the Mosquito museum are donating a prop blade for incorporation into the structure.

I have seen the footage that you refer to also at the IWM in London. When i was there in 1996/97ish they had it playing in a simulator type thing so it was on a big screen right in front of you and you moved with the action.

I am sure that from memory the blurb for the simulator claimed that the film was taken from the leader’s aircraft, Group Captain Pickard. But he was shot down and killed so I doubt the film was from his plane unless the Germans recovered it and kept it for posterity. Either way it was extremely dramatic. I am sure I have scene a piece of it in a documentary too but I don’t remember where. I think a video was released of the footage around the 50th Anniversary, but i can’t be certain of that. I know several paintings were done then too, and a lot was in the press. It was one of the glory raids of the RAF like the Dam Busters ilk.

One of Cambridge’s (my home town) airmen was killed on Operation Jericho too. Richard Webb Sampson (NZ401465) was a navigator in a 464 Sqn (RAAF) Mosquito FB.VI MM404/T and after they bombed the target flak hit the aircraft killing **** outright. The pilot was wounded and belly landed in the snow at Freneuville, to be taken prisoner.