What is the most badass military operation in the history of humans?

What is the most badass military operation in the history of humans?

Adolf Hitler puts Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in charge of the Atlantic Wall and as the commander of Army Group B, his order's are to defend German occupied Europe from an Allied invasion. Athough the D-day landings were a success in Normandy, the Allies continued to suffer heavy losses; this is in no doubt due to the leadership of Rommel.

On 25th July 1944, an six man SAS team parachuted into France with a mission: To kill or capture Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. The killing option… the most preferred outcome in Operation Gaff…

“Stand-up!” an RAF despatcher instructs six heavily armed SAS paratroopers to do so, they are now approaching their intended Drop-Zone. “Tell off for equipment check!” The RAF despatcher shouts above the noise.

“6, OK!”… “5, OK!”… 4, OK!”… “3, OK!”… “2, OK!”… And finally, Captain Jack William Raymond Lee who's in charge of the six man team of ‘cut-throats' shouts, “1, Portside stick-OK!”

The despatcher leads the stick towards the door, and the red light is indicated to Captain Jack Lee, resting his hand up on the fuselage, he waits for the light to to turn green. His mind goes back to the briefing they had on the 20th July 1944…

“Captain Jack Lee, back in March ’43, feasibility reports were made into how to kill Rommel.” The six man SAS team looked at each other with opened mouths. Brigadier McLeod was the man briefing the SAS team, and he was also the man assigning them for this mission, “Well, because of our continued and the mounting losses after D-day; this is partly, due to the Desert Foxes exceptional leadership and marshalling abilities… Monty has agreed for the plan for him to be removed from the picture.”

“Is that to kidnap him Brigadier?” Jake Lee asks.

“To kill Rommel would obviously be easier than to kidnap him and it's preferable to ensure the former rather than to attempt and fail the latter.”

The team briefing continued, they're told that the HQ of ‘Heeresgruppe ‘B' is at La-Roche-Guyron in the area of Rambouillet and that it'll be the place Rommel is HQ'd. Hiding up for two days, so they can conduct a close-target-recce of their objective until they are ready strike. The SAS team are also tasked with destroying petrol dumps and also target the transportation systems, this would severely damage the nazi war effort.

“OK gentleman, if there's no other questions, you'll be parachuted into La-Roche-Guyron, on Tuesday 25th July.”

“GREEN LIGHT ON!… GO!!!” And with that, the six man SAS team jump out of the aircraft. All six descended to earth like birds of prey, just like the sparrowhawk. Once all six landed safely, they collected their equipment and then they patrol off to find a suitable hide for their OP.

17th July 1944 - As Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was returning to his HQ after visiting a SS Panzer Corps; near Saint-Foy-de-Montgommery, there's two Hawker Typhoons on a sortie.

Fighter pilots Charley Fox of 412 Squadron RAF, along with his wing-man Ed Prizer are the ones at the controls, “Red One… this is Red Two, large black car travelling at high speed, on my left 11 o'clock!” Charley informed his wing-man, “Looks like someone important.” It was, no other than Rommel himself. The Typhoon went in to attack, and started firing at approximately 300 yards strafing the car, causing it to crash.

Rommel thrown from the car and suffered some very bad head injuries, he was immediately hospitalised and in such a critical condition they thought he was not going to make.

28 July 1944 - A young lady from the French Residence has managed to make contact with Captain Jack Lee, the meeting is at a prearranged rendezvous. “Bonjour, Capitine. I've information about Rommel.” she continued, “His car was attacked by the RAF’s fighter planes, he is now in hospital.” So, that plan was over before it even started.

“Set the fuse for a 30 minute delay.” Jack Lee said to one of his men, whom at the very moment was laying an explosive charge on a railway line for a train that'll be arriving in 30 minutes. Jack Lee continued going over the plan, “And once the Germans have all their resources here dealing with this, we'll be attacking their HQ in the town of Mantes.”

As planned the German forces were dealing with the derailed train and the carnage caused by the explosives. 

The SAS team then begins the assult, one of Jack Lee's men acts as fire support he has the Light-Machine-Gun and has started to fire a ‘hailstorm’ of bullets into the Germans HQ. Captain Jack Lee along with the other team members make a right-flanking attack into the back of the building, as soon as they ‘posted' the grenades through the doors and windows they then go in systematically clearing the building. This assult resulted in 12 German soldiers killed.

On the 12th August when they linked up with the advancing American forces and in doing so it ended Operation Gaff. The six man SAS team had (apart from the Germans HQ), had derailed several trains and destroyed a number of trucks.

I've tried to tell this story in a how-I-saw it way, when I'm able to; so… that, in my opinion is the most badass military operation in the history of humans.