Which MTB's took part in operation Gradient

Begonnen von Arjan, 31 Mai 2019, 09:12:06

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Arjan

Some general info about operation Gradient :

"Yugoslavia

In August 1944, Operation 'Gradient I' was designed to disrupt enemy shipping in the northern Adriatic by destroying a swing bridge between the islands of Lussino Piccolo and Lussino Grande. This would cause enemy vessels, plying their trade between Istria (Rumania?) and Yugoslavia, to take a longer route and, in the case of ships travelling south, would put them within the range of Allied naval forces at Ancona on the Italian mainland.

109 men from No 9 Commando left Ancona in 3 MTBs and 1 MGB. One party was to seize and destroy the bridge, while a second, using bicycles for transport, was to destroy a local garrison. The operation took place on the night of August 9/10, 1944. There was no opposition at the bridge, which was destroyed and two Italian guards were taken prisoner. When the Commandos failed to locate the local garrison, they destroyed the local telephone exchange and returned with documents and some civilians for questioning. On the way back to Ancona, a grateful American pilot was picked up after spending a week adrift in the Adriatic.

Another account, which may relate to the same operation, states... A raid by 109 Commandos on the bridge joining Cherso and Lussino Island and the Fascist HQ at Nezerine (40 miles NE of Zadar) was successful against no real opposition."

Source : https://www.combinedops.com/No%209%20Commando.htm


One of the three MTB's involved in this operation was MTB 295, my question is which were the other two MTB's ???

Operational history of MTB 295 :

http://cfv.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=751


Arjan









TW

#1
24th MTB flotilla. The three (US-) Vospers were 297 (Woods), 295 (Cassidy) and 371 (Syrett) The force commander was aboard 297, together with Lt. Keyes (S.O. 24th). (Source: Reynolds/Cooper, Mediterranean, p.126).

Die MTBs gehörten eigentlich zur 20th Flottille, aber wurden für die Operation der 24th unterstellt, da die eigenen Boote nicht mehr zuverlässig funktionierten.

Best regards
Thomas

Arjan

Thanks a lot Thomas ! Unfortunately, there do not seem to be any photos of MTB 371 - MTB 374 so I don't know if these Annapolis Vospers had portholes in the hull. MTB 375 - MTB 378 (also built by the Annapolis Yacht Yard) did not have any portholes. I only know a drawing of MTB 363 (also Annapolis), this boat still had the portholes. If MTB 371 didn't have any portholes, the Vosper in the pics must be MTB 295 or MTB 297 because these boats certainly did have portholes.

Gruss,

Arjan

Arjan

Lt. Hugh Cassidy's son sent me some interesting material which seems to prove MTB 297 was the "Mystery" Vosper that took part in operation Gradient :

http://cfv.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=751

Arjan

Darius

Hallo zusammen,

nur rudimentäre Daten aus:
a) Admirality War Diary, 10.08.1944:
ZitatLanding party on Lussino Island.
M.T.Bs. landed a party on Lussino Island (off Dalmatian Coast) on the night of 9/10th. A bridge was destroyed and 4 Germans captured.

b) Weekly Resume No. 259, 10.08.-17.08.1944:
ZitatDuring the night of the 9th/10th an Allied Commando party operating from Italy destroyed the road bridge at Ossero linking the islands  of Cherso and Lussin off the Istria Peninsula. This attack was carried without loss to our troops.


:MG:

Darius

Arjan

Thanks Darius ! I'm very pleased some "new" Vosper pics have surfaced because most British crews didn't take any pics of their boats. This was probably because the British Navy/Army didn't allow private photography (for security reasons). Most of these pics seem to have been made by crews in the Med because regulations were not followed that strictly here. In the German army/navy private photography was even encouraged by the authorities and many German soldiers/sailors had cameras which explains why there are so many German WWII period pics (on ebay  :-D).

Gruss,


Arjan

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