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No.4363

£1.45

OPERATION OPERATION

ANVIL

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OPERATION OPERATION

ANVIL Y MARCH 1944 PREPARATIONS FOR THE LIBERATION OF FRANCE WERE IN B FULL SWING BUT, THE FOR THE LANDINGS TO BE SUCCESSFUL, THE ENEMY DEFENCES FIRST NEEDED SOFTENING UP, WHICH COULDN’T BE ACHIEVED BY AIR POWER ALONE. ONE COOL, MOONLESS NIGHT A LONE LANDING CRAFT MADE ITS WAY ACROSS THE WATERS OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL, BOUND FOR A REMOTE STRETCH OF THE NORMANDY COASTLINE.

STORY FERG HANDLEY ART KEITH PAGE COVER IAN KENNEDY

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4 CONDITIONS WERE CRAMPED, FOR THE BOAT CONTAINED ALL SIX MEMBERS OF RAMSEY’S RAIDERS – OF THE BRITISH ARMY’S SPECIAL RAIDING FORCE – PLUS THEIR JEEPS. THE VOYAGE WENT SMOOTHLY AND, SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT, THE PILOT CALLED TO THE OUTFIT’S SCOTTISH COMMANDER, CAPTAIN JIMMY RAMSEY.

ONE MORE MILE TO GO, SIR. HEAR THAT, LADS? MOUNT UP!

FIVE MINUTES LATER THE BOAT DREW UP ON A DESERTED STRETCH OF BEACH. THE RAMP WAS QUICKLY LOWERED AND THE JEEPS – DRIVEN BY PRIVATE BERNARD ‘MONTY’ MONTEITH AND CORPORAL BILL ‘OZ’ ORWELL – WENT ROARING THROUGH THE SURF AND ONTO THE HARD-PACKED SAND.

WATCH OUT FOR THE OBSTACLES, MONTY, THEY’RE EVERYWHERE.

DO STOP FUSSING, OLD CHAP. TALLY HO!

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5 WITH MONTY DRIVING AT HIS USUAL BREAKNECK SPEED, THE RAIDERS MADE IT ONTO A SLIP ROAD. A SQUAD OF GERMAN GUARDS APPEARED, BUT JIMMY’S NUMBER TWO – LIEUTENANT GARETH ‘LUCKY’ EVANS – QUICKLY SNAPPED INTO ACTION. SORRY, BOYOS, CAN’T STOP!

UNGH!

MOVING FAST, THE SERFS – AS THE S.R.F. WERE NICKNAMED – SOON NEARED THEIR OBJECTIVE, A WELL-CONCEALED ANTI-AIRCRAFT BATTERY. AS THEY DREW NEAR, LANCE CORPORAL LIAM ‘FITZ’ FITZPATRICK – THE TEAM’S SNIPER – COULDN’T WAIT TO GET AT THE ENEMY. SURE AND SAY YOUR PRAYERS, NAZIS, THIS’LL BE THE LAST CHANCE YOU GET.

THAT’S WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU, FITZ, YOU’RE ALWAYS SUCH A CHEERY SOUL.

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6 AT FIRST THE SENTRIES ASSUMED THAT THE VEHICLES WERE KUBELWAGENS, PERHAPS BELONGING TO SOME OFFICERS MAKING A SURPRISE INSPECTION TOUR. IT SOON BECAME OBVIOUS THAT WASN’T THE CASE.

ACHTUNG! HALT, OR WE SHOOT!

IT WAS A FUTILE GESTURE. THE JEEPS KEPT ON COMING, AND SUDDENLY A TORRENT OF FIRE ERUPTED FROM THE ONBOARD MACHINE GUNS. HIMMEL...

UNGH!

AAARGH!

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7 MORE SENTRIES CAME RUNNING IN, ALONG WITH THE GUN CREWS – ONLY TO BE MOWN DOWN BY THE RAIDERS’ FIREPOWER.

BOSS, OVER ON THE LEFT!

I SEE THEM, OZ!

AAAAH!

WITH THE SITE SECURED, SERGEANT DEREK ‘JARV’ JARVIS – ANOTHER SCOTSMAN – JUMPED OUT AND HURRIED OVER TO THE NEAREST GUN. HIS SPECIALITY WAS DEMOLITIONS AND HE QUICKLY RAMMED A CHARGE DOWN AN 88’s BARREL BEFORE DUCKING AWAY.

THERE SHE BLOWS!

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8 THE REMAINING THREE GUNS WERE DEALT WITH IN SIMILAR FASHION. AS THE FINAL BLAST RANG OUT, JARV THREW HIMSELF BACK INTO THE JEEP AND OFF THEY RACED.

SORTED, BOSS. THAT OUGHT TO KEEP THE R.A.F. HAPPY.

THERE WASN’T A SINGLE GERMAN TO BE SEEN ON THE RETURN DRIVE AND THE JEEPS MADE IT SAFELY ONTO THE LANDING CRAFT. AS THEY HEADED OUT TO SEA THE NAVY CREWMEN WERE AMAZED AT THE SPEED OF THE RAID. TWENTY MINUTES FROM START TO FINISH. THAT WAS PRETTY GOOD GOING, SIR.

AYE, NOT BAD. NOW, ANY CHANCE YOU CAN GET US BACK BY BREAKFAST TIME?

WE LIVE IN HOPE, JARV.

IT WASN’T THE TEAM’S FIRST TIME ABOARD A BOAT. AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE NORTH AFRICA CAMPAIGN, THEY HAD SPENT SOME TIME OPERATING FROM A CAIQUE IN THE AEGEAN.

IN ADDITION THEY HAD CARRIED OUT A STRING OF MISSIONS IN SICILY AND YUGOSLAVIA, ALONG WITH THE MORE RECENT RAIDS IN NORTHERN FRANCE.

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9 BACK AT BASE JIMMY ALLOWED THE MEN THE REST OF THE DAY OFF. THE FOLLOWING MORNING IT WAS STRAIGHT BACK TO BUSINESS. RIGHT, LADS, WE’VE GOT A LONG SESSION AHEAD, SO LET’S GET MOVING.

A COUPLE OF THE OTHERS MUTTERED IN AGREEMENT BUT, DESPITE THEIR VAST COMBAT EXPERIENCE, JIMMY AND JARV WERE DETERMINED TO KEEP THEM AT IT. THEY SPENT THE DAY CARRYING OUT MOCK ATTACKS AT THE DEPOT’S PRACTICE RANGE. RIGHT, EVERYBODY OUT. DRIVERS, COVERING FIRE!

YES, I’VE HEARD THE RABBITS AROUND HERE CAN BE RATHER FEROCIOUS, BOSS.

STREWTH, BOSS, HAVEN’T WE DONE ENOUGH TRAINING BY NOW?

ASSISTED BY JARV, JIMMY PUSHED THE MEN HARD. EXERCISES RANGED FROM GUNNERY TO TRACKING AND, ON THEIR FIFTH DAY BACK FROM NORMANDY, HE SURPRISED THEM WITH A LONG DISTANCE, CROSS-COUNTRY RUN.

PICK UP THE PACE, LADDIES. COME ON, ONLY TEN MORE MILES TO GO! AND ALL OF IT UPHILL, I BET.

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10 MEANWHILE, A PLATOON OF AMERICAN TROOPS WERE ALSO TRAINING IN THE AREA, PRACTISING AN ATTACK ON SOME UNDEFENDED FOX-HOLES.

FIRST SQUAD ON ME, ADVANCE!

YOU HEARD THE LOOEY, LET’S GO!

AS THE RAIDERS RETURNED TO BASE AFTER THEIR RUN THEY CAUGHT SIGHT OF THE AMERICANS AND PULLED UP TO OBSERVE.

CRIKEY, THEY AIN’T MUCH COP.

I KNOW. IF THEY BUNCH UP LIKE THAT IN COMBAT THEY WON’T LAST TEN SECONDS.

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OPERATION OPERATION

ANVIL Ramsey’s Raiders are in the

bad books after a little fun at the expense of some arrogant American troops during a routine training exercise. There again, Captain Jimmy Ramsey and his Special Raiding Force team were never really ones for sticking to the rules.

Every cloud has a silver lining, though, because it gave them the chance to get back to business with a dangerous mission to Norway — one that would provide an unexpected opportunity to settle a score with an old enemy…

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