Operation Jericho
Overt Codename: Operation Amen

To Read about the Actual mission, scroll to the bottom of the page.


Mission Briefing:
We will call the four mosquito groups:
Red-
Blue-
Recon-
Yellow-

Volunteers Needed!
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Red........tasked to destroy Target A, which represents the breach in the West wall required by the Actual Mission.
Blue.......tasked to destroy Target B, which represents the breach in the East wall required by the Actual Mission. (It was felt that the Guards could contain one breach, but not two.)
Yellow.....tasked to destroy Main Prison building => IF target A or B are intact. (If there were not 2 breaches in the wall, Pick had to Destroy the Main Prison Building.)
 OR
Yellow....tasked to destroy Target C => IF target A and B are destroyed.(The Guard Barracks were actually a Primary Target, but there were 18 bombers in RL, so we will take it as a target of opportunity.)

Note: Recon element will provide updated info to Yellow element.(This is also per RL, HQ had to be positive that Vivant was Free or Dead, and a photo-recon plane accompanied the mission.)

MISSION CONTIGENCY PLAN
If, because of in flight losses, A and B cannot be destroyed, the main prison building is to become primary target of all remaining planes.
Recon Photos of the Prison Complex (Lille)

As you can see from the Photos, Blue group will have to attack from the East to avoid over flying f11 or damaging the Hospital(Which was damaged in the actual mission, killing many injured German soldiers.) , the Red and Yellow groups can attack from the North.

Rules of engagement:
Bombers: Run till the bombs are dropped, then defend yourself home.

Radios:
 Channel 1: 20 for Bombers, 21 for fighters.
Channel 2: 110

Flight Plan:
Line Astern formation, Red, Blue, Recon, then, with a d30 interval, Yellow, all groups to leave from f5, heading 100 Altitude 1000, long enough to get up full speed. Drop altitude to below 200 and turn to heading 90, due East. You must remain below 300 feet all the way to target, or we will be toast. I will be on auto except in turns, the whole way. When we are due North of Lille, turn to 180. Pop up to about 2000 feet to locate target, about 5 miles out, then dive in and bomb designated targets from low level. Egress in Northerly direction. Recon stick to Red or Blue, but remain over target until Yellow is done, and take close-up F1 pictures of the prison (Lille).
Each group is independent of the others, if it gets ugly quick, take your own course, but Remember, bombing the Main Prison Building is our Primary Target choice. If we have 4 planes remaining, go for the gates, if less, well, sorry, my brothers, but ya gotta look at the Big Picture. TAKE OUT THE MAIN PRISON BUILDING....and kill 6-700 of your imaginary friends.

Comments and Suggestions requested, please do it NOW while it is fresh in your mind.

Background Information

Winter, 1944. Operation Overlord was only months away, and Allied intelligence forces were in high gear. Military Command was relying on the French Underground to provide vital support for the Invasion, destroying rail transport, communication links and supply lines. The German Gestapo was also mobilized, and appeared to be winning the battle. French agents were being arrested at an alarming rate, due mostly to one man, a French Hosier by the name of Lucien Pieri. His network of infiltrators and double agents were destroying the heart of the French Resistance Network, just as it was needed most. Though all information was highly compartmented, there were still some leaders in the Resistance who had to know about the planned invasion, dates, times and locations, so that they could perform their duties.

One of these men, Raymond Vivant, the Sous-Prefecture of the Abbeville region of Northern France, was captured and thrown into the Amiens Prison, in preparation for interrogation by the Gestapo. He was fully briefed on Operation Overlord.

A ground assault to free him was attempted, using local members of the Partisan Forces, but was repelled at the walls. Area Resistance leadership then sent an urgent request for assistance up the chain and the Allied Intelligence leadership, alerted to these events by Allen Dulles of the OSS, assigned the task to Air Vice Marshall Basil Embry of the Royal Air Force.

He developed a plan for the operation, code named: Jericho, that would require demanding bombing precision, perfect timing, and a lot of luck. It was also a terrible decision to have to take, because people in the prison would die, regardless of the accuracy of the bombs. With a prison population of 900 souls crammed into a jail made for 200, casualties were inevitable. Only a very few men knew the actual, terrible truth of the raid: Flight Commander Percy Charles "Pick" Pickard, was to take his flight in last, and if the walls had not been breached, his orders were to destroy the wing that held the political prisoners, including, especially, Vivant. Even more amazing, Vivant and other members of the Resistance inside the prison, knew and approved of Operation Jericho!

For more information about the raid, I recommend an excellent book,"And the Walls came Tumbling Down", written by Jack Fishman, Macmillian publishing.

The Outcome was more than could have been hoped for. Although many persons were killed, more than 700 escaped, 300 for good. Raymond Vivant was among the escapees and relocated to Paris, continuing his intelligence work for the rest of the war. Two planes did not return. Captain Pick turned back to assist another, damaged plane, and was shot down by a FW190 of the "Abbeville Boys"(Richthofen II Gruppen, Luftwaffe, based at Abbeville). The damaged plane's crew managed to ditch and were captured, spending the remainder of the war in prison camps. Lucien Pieri was severely wounded by a young school teacher working for the Underground in an assassination attempt, and was killed by a Sister of Hospice St. Victor, the Hospital he was taken to. (I doubt that last, but that is how it is recorded...)

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