Operation Postmaster: The most daring mission of the Second World War

Voice over: "In the early stages of the Second World War, Germany had a stranglehold on most of mainland Europe, and had set their sights on Britain. The Luftwaffe attacked in the air in the Battle of Britain, whilst at sea, German U boats posed an ever-increasing threat in The Battle of the Atlantic. A newly appointed Winston Churchill was running out of conventional ways to fight back, and entirely new methods of waging war had to be devised. This would lead to the birth of the modern Special Forces, and one of their very first missions was perhaps the riskiest operation in the Second World War. 

Damien Lewis, author of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: "The chances of it going wrong were very high. The chance of backfiring on Britain were extremely real, but the chance of survival for those who were tasked with that mission were negligible as well."

Voice over: "This was Operation Postmaster, an audacious and complex mission involving layers of secrecy, blackmail and espionage on a level never before seen in 20th century warfare. And whilst the rewards for a successful mission were great, consequences if it failed could have proven catastrophic.

Damien Lewis: "Had the British government been proven to be behind it, had it been proven this was a British operation, then it almost undoubtedly would have provoked Spain to join the war on the side of the Nazis."

Voice over: "We spoke to author and historian Damien Lewis whose book, ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ tells the story of the elite group of individuals that executed this mission."

Damien Lewis: "Most of the commanders who, certainly in the early stages of World War Two, most of the British commanders had cut their eyeteeth in the First World War. Most of them were still stuck in that mindset of trench warfare, gentlemanly warfare, static warfare and the rules of war as dictated by World War One. And at that stage, Churchill and a few senior war leaders in Britain, but not many, took the view that we needed a means to strike back, which was dynamic and unorthodox."

Voice over: "This was the idea behind British Special Operations. Small groups of highly trained soldiers who operate behind enemy lines, sabotaging and disrupting Axis operations without the need for a head on assault."

Damien Lewis: "And Operation Postmaster was their first real operation that actually went down on the ground. So it was proof of concept for those kind of operations. And the idea behind it was audacious and risk laden in the extreme."

Voice over: "Off the coast of West Africa was the island of Fernando Po, now modern day Bioko. The Allies had come to learn that in this port were three enemy ships, a large Italian merchant vessel called the Duchessa d'Aosta and a large German tug and barge, called Likomba and Burundi. It was suspected that these ships were part of a covert U-boat rearming operation, which would allow German Atlantic U-boat fleets to re-arm, resupply and be repaired at Fernando Po, without having to sail to Germany or France.

At this stage in the war, the U-boat battle was a major threat to Britain, and the opportunity to take out one of their supply routes was one Churchill was not going to ignore. But there was a problem. Fernando Po was a neutral Spanish territory, meaning the rules of war forbid any kind of military operations in this area."

Damien Lewis: "And so the Postmaster was a mission put together to sink or steal those ships in such a way that the British government could always deny we had ever been responsible. Now, if you try and imagine the stakes involved in an operation like that, had the British government been proven to be behind it, then it almost undoubtedly that would have provoked Spain to join the war on the side of the Nazis. The fact that Churchill backed Operation Postmaster, backed against many, many of his senior commanders and many, many senior politicians, it almost beggars belief because the stakes were so high."

Voice over: "In order to carry out these special operations, an entirely new and elite arm of the military had to be created. The Commandos were formed in June 1940 at the order of Winston Churchill. He called for a specially trained group of volunteers. Commando recruits were specially trained in navigation, survival skills, silent killing, hand to hand combat, amphibious assault, rock climbing, improvised weapons, explosives and more. They were forged into elite combatants who were capable of surviving behind enemy lines, and undertaking special raids and operations unlike any other units. Around the same time as the Commandos, the Special Operations Executive was also formed. The SOE would undertake sabotage, espionage and reconnaissance within occupied Europe. The No. 62 Commando, or the Small Scale Raiding Force, was made up of a small group of commandos, who reported directly to theSOE. Leading this group was Gustavos Henry March-Phillips, and the success or failure of Operation Postmaster rested firmly on his shoulders. The plan was to steal these three enemy ships from the harbour, and sail them out to international waters, where a Royal Navy ship would happen upon them and seize them as a prize of war."

Damien Lewis: "Which you can do under international law. If you find enemy warships in international waters, you can seize them as prizes. So there are these wonderful files in the SOE archives where you had the political warfare executive, which was part of the SOE set up to do propaganda operations where they had written the press releases to send to the media long before, postmaster even set sail, you know, lauding the fact that they had found these ships in international waters and putting out the cover story. And the cover story was that the German and Italian crews had got dissatisfied with their conditions in pay at Fernando Po, had a mutiny, sailed the ships into international waters, which was where we had found them."

Voice over: "Before March-Phillips and his team could begin the raid, they had to gather as much intelligence as possible about the harbour, and the crews on the ships they were targeting. And their approach to gathering this information could only be described as 'creative'."

Damien Lewis: "They realised that the very pro Nazi governor of Fernando Po, had a local mistress, and so they filmed him one day with her naked in the bath and him pouring a watering can of water over her before whatever they were intending to do. And then they let the governor of Fernando Po know they had those photographs and they said, well, you know, we can keep quiet about this as long as you allow us to use your plane to fly some surveillance missions over the harbour to take photographs, which you can say just sightseeing trips. So that's how they got all their surveillance photographs.

And then one of the SOE agents acted as if he was delivering mail between the British Consulate and another of the British Embassy offices. And to do that, he said, I need to row across the harbour. So he's rowing across the harbour. It was a really hot day in Bioko and he was, you know, acting as if he was tired and he paused by the anchor chain and he grabbed the anchor chain to hold on to whilst he was taking a breather and in doing that, he put his arm hands around and managed to measure the circumference of the anchor chain, which then enabled him to work out what kind of charge was required to blow up the anchor chain."

Voice over: "Everything was falling into place, but there was still one massive obstacle; the German and Italian officers who crewed the ships. The solution to this problem came when SOE agent Richard Lippet, who was working undercover at a shipping company on the island, learned that the crews liked to live an active social life."

Damien Lewis: "So they decided to have a party and the party would involve lots of free drink, lots of free food and lots of very pretty ladies to tent the, you know, the German and Italian crews. They had a first test party on shore, which was organised by the  SOE agents who were in Fernando Po posing as diplomats. And then that went off really well. The German and Italian officers thought we had went to that party. We were a bit suspicious, nothing bad happened. So when the second party was organised for the same night that they were going to steal the ships, all the German and Italian officers left their ships, went ashore and drank the night away."

Voice over: "All of the pieces were now in place. So, on the morning of January 11th 1942, March-Phillips and his force of four SOE Agents and 11 Commandos left their base in Lagos on two tugboats, Vulcan and Nuneaton, operated by an additional 17 local recruits. On the evening of the 14th, they arrived at the harbour. A small crew from the Nuneaton set off in kayaks to capture Burundi and Likomba, whilst March-Phillips and the crew of the Vulcan boarded the Duchessa d'Aosta, they quickly took command of the ships and took the crew prisoners. Whilst the ships’ officers were enjoying their party ashore, the SSRF placed explosive devices on the ships’ anchor chains."

Damien Lewis: "They took out all the electricity supply for the whole of Fernando Po. So the moment the ships were going to be taken, the whole of the harbour area went dark."

Voice over: "At the moment the power went out, the explosives were detonated, releasing the anchor chains. At this point it was clear to the party guests what was going on, but it was too late for them to do anything about it. The Commandos towed the captured boats out to international waters, where they were conveniently discovered - and subsequently captured - by the British HMS Violet two days later. The whole operation, from entering the harbour, to leaving with the captured ships, had taken just half an hour." 

Damien Lewis: "On all levels, Postmaster was a mission that really shouldn't have happened and really shouldn't have succeeded and no-one really should have survived. Postmaster is the most extraordinary story because they pulled it off. And I tell you how they pulled it off. They pulled it off because of that same that same incredible, audacious thinking and doing the unexpected and breaking all the rules of war."

Voice over: "Whilst Operation Postmaster did not single handedly halt the U boat operations in the region, it was still a significant blow to German supply lines in West Africa. But perhaps more importantly, Churchill had sent a very clear message, he would do whatever it takes and employ every possible tactic to ensure victory, even if it means breaking the traditional rules of war. The era of Gentlemanly Warfare was over, and Churchill's secret warriors were just getting started."

Damien Lewis: "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare the book has been filmed as a Guy Ritchie Directed movie. The movie covers Operation Postmaster only. The book covers operation Postmaster through to that same band of individuals following the all the way through the war through to 1945. It's based upon a true story. It's a Guy Ritchie movie, so be ready for some kind of like, you know, stretching of the facts. But it stretches the truth in ways that maybe is necessary. It's drama. It's, it's a movie. The true story is the book, you know, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and that covers, you know, dozens and dozens of equally audacious and incredible missions."