📆 PUBLIC EVENT | Hayling Island Sailing Club (HISC) Saturday 25 October marks 80 years since COPP was disbanded at the end of the war. HISC, which served as COPP Depot, is putting on an event to mark it. 1/2

🗓️ #OTD in 1942 – Party Koodoo (a pre-COPP unit assembled at short notice by eventual COPP founder Nigel Willmott) starts carrying out beach recce near Algiers and Oran ahead of Operation Torch, next month's landings in Vichy French-held north Africa (🗺️ from London Gazette). #NavalHistory 🧵

🗓️ #OTD in 2012 – the COPP memorial on Hayling Island is dedicated by Countess Mountbatten, Patricia Knatchbull, daughter of former Chief of Combined Operations, Louis Mountbatten. Also in attendance are COPP veterans and General Sir David Richards, then Chief of the Defence Staff.

🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – X-craft midget subs from the 12th Submarine Flotilla carry out Operation Source, an attack targeting the German ships Tirpitz (📸 IWM A 19625), Scharnhorst and Lützow, which are anchored in fjords in Norway (🗺️ Adobe Stock). #NavalHistory 🧵

🗓️ #OTD in 1945 – senior NCOs in the Small Operations Group (SOG) host a 'farewell dinner' at their base, Hammenhiel Camp in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). They also stage a variety show. It's dubbed "the final Combined Operation". (📸 RM Museum) #NavalHistory 1/2 ▶️ buff.ly/SSMQqaH

It looks as though Schürch will be covered in tonight's @ww2tv.bsky.social show titled 'Aiding the enemy' www.youtube.com/live/ecFFkqs...

🗓️ #OTD in 1945 – Archie Hart (3rd right, 📸 via 'A History of Third Lanark' Facebook group), an ex-COPP man who was taken POW during beach recce of Sicily in early 1943, gives evidence in London during the court martial of British fascist Theodore Schürch. #NavalHistory 🧵 @footballandwar.bsky.social

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – COPP 10 start a quick-fire sequence of operations on Šolta (📸 canvaspix/ bayexpress/ Adobe Stock), an island off the coast of Yugoslavia (now Croatia). They are part of a concerted effort to force German units to abandon the island. ▶️ buff.ly/bq99l3a

Home from a very tiring but enjoyable WHWF to find a present on my doorstep: SBS founder Roger Courtney's account of his pre-war paddle down the White Nile.

🗓️ #OTD in 1940 – the first steps towards the formation of the Special Boat Section (or SBS) are taken as men from 8 Commando put on a folbot display for Roger Keyes, Director of Combined Operations (📸 IWM HU 139651). #NavalHistory 🧵

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – COPP 2 had little involvement in Operation Dragoon, the landings in southern France in mid-August. But now it's complete, they leave their base at Château de Fornali in northern Corsica (📸 Hemis/Alamy Stock Photo). #NavalHistory 1/2

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – COPP 10's Hugh Maynard, Leslie Parker and George Talbot take part in landings on Brač, an island off Yugoslavia (now off Croatia). Setting out from their base on Vis (🗺️ via McMaster University), they guide in RM Commandos and supporting artillery guns. #NavalHistory 1/2

🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – COPP 2 and COPP 5 take part in Operation Avalanche, the landings at Salerno in Italy (📸 NARA 204910498) #Salerno #Avalanche The southern American beaches, where there's an offshore sandbar, have been causing the planners concern. #NavalHistory 🧵

🗓️ #OTD in 1942 – Nigel Willmott receives orders to assemble Party Koodoo–Inhuman to carry out recce of beaches in Algeria ahead of Operation Torch, the forthcoming landings in Vichy French-held north Africa (📸 NARA 175738957). #NavalHistory 🧵

🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – COPP 5, with additional SBS men, arrive at Salerno Bay in HMS Shakespeare to carry out recce ahead of Operation Avalanche. Air recce has suggested a sand bar off the US beaches that needs examining. (🗺️ from 'Survey by Starlight') #NavalHistory 🧵 ▶️ buff.ly/a6GnjgU

❓What do you think: is this the same person? Left: 📸 Smith Archive/Alamy Stock Photo Right: still from 📽️ IWM ADM 162

🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – a meeting at Cossac HQ Norfolk House, London, discusses recce requirements for Operation Neptune, the Allied landings in Normandy planned for May 1944. COPP boss Nigel Willmott advocates using X-craft midget subs (📸 IWM A 22900). #NavalHistory ▶️ buff.ly/ZVzY8U1

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – a number of men from COPP 10 support Operation Grandfather 1, landing artillery guns on the Pelješac peninsula in Yugoslavia (modern-day Croatia) to bombard German forces on nearby Korčula. (🗺️ via McMaster University; 📸 Adobe Stock) #NavalHistory ▶️ buff.ly/QJOelgw

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – during recce in their canoe in the Adriatic, COPP 10's George Talbot and Nick Carter (📸 from IWM Documents.7063) get stuck under a jetty when a German sentry walks out and takes guard just inches above them. #NavalHistory 🧵 ▶️ buff.ly/RYA8Y9Y

🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – after three days of on–off discussion, the Combined Chiefs of Staff at the Quebec Conference in Canada agree outline plans for Operation Overlord. The landings will take place in Normandy. Within days, COPP starts planning recce operations. (📸 IWM TR 1347) #NavalHistory 1/2

🗓️ #OTD in 1945 – VJ Day is celebrated (📸 in London, IWM D 25636). Within a month, COPP men attached to the Small Operations Group (SOG), based in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), will start to make their way home. ▶️ buff.ly/mMVSboH

🆕 I've been looking into Op Cordite, the planned Allied invasion of Rhodes in 1941. I was hoping to find a hint of which beaches future COPP founder Nigel Willmott recce'd for the landings, but only the beaches for an earlier plan were in the documents. (📸 Adobe Stock) 1/3

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – COPP 10's George Talbot (📸 IWM Docs.7063) starts a solo recce of beaches on the Pelješac peninsula (📸 Adobe Stock) in Yugoslavia (Croatia). Circumstances in the Adriatic mean he'll recce in daylight over 2 days, sleeping rough. #NavalHistory 🧵 ▶️ buff.ly/zBj1j8T

It's always good to visit one of COPP founder Nigel Willmott's former ships, HMS Wellington. They've got a VR experience at the moment, too, which was fun! thewellingtontrust.org

Photos of The Spit at Lake Comacchio are as rare as hen's teeth, in my experience, so I was really pleased to find this one. Field Marshal Alexander is inspecting a German gun position just days after The Spit was taken by Commandos in April 1945's Op Roast. (📸 IWM NA 23718)

🆕 I've added a bit of an audio interview with Vernon Coles (📸 IWM A 26937) to my page about the X-craft crews. (🎤 IWM 13422) #NavalHistory 1/3 ▶️ buff.ly/n2CfmKl

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – COPP 7 leaves the naval base at Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in sub HMS Tudor (📸 IWM A21448) to do recce around north-west Sumatra (now part of Indonesia). It's Tudor's first patrol after arriving in SE Asia from the UK. #NavalHistory 1/2 ▶️ buff.ly/H2A6ine

This was a great WW2TV show the other week – and prompted me to look more closely at what COPP 2 got up to around Lake Comacchio in April 1945. With massive thanks to Thomas Harder for his help, I now understand the "lie of the land" a bit more. #NavalHistory 🧵 ▶️ buff.ly/vyOwrBh

This is a great little article about COPPist Ruari McLean. I used to work in publishing and was known for having 'a bit of a thing' about fonts, so his civilian work has always intrigued me, too. ▶️ www.nmrn.org.uk/news/penguin-books-and-royal-navy-typography-torpedoes

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – COPP 10 contributes to Operation Decomposed 2 off the coast of Yugoslavia. Artillery guns (protected by Partisan forces) land on Korčula island and bombard nearby German positions before withdrawing again. (📸 IWM NA 18092) #NavalHistory 1/2 ▶️ buff.ly/ofcz5lF

🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – COPP 5's Douglas Kent and Alf Thomas carry out their first recce in the Gulf of Gioia, part of planning for Operation Buttress, possible landings on the 'toe' of Italy. They're operating from the submarine HMS Shakespeare (📸 IWM A 16328). #NavalHistory ▶️ buff.ly/FhszrvL

🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – just a couple of weeks on from Operation Husky in Sicily, COPP 6 carries out its first beach recce on ‘the sole' of Italy as they recce near Capo Colonna, Crotone (🗺️ UK Hydrographic Office D/57/E12). #NavalHistory ▶️ buff.ly/NsyCoDM

🆕 I've been looking at two Layforce ops carried out in the Med in Feb 1941 – and it's made me realise that when Nigel Willmott first proposed 'in person' beach recce just weeks later, he was pushing at a door that was already half open. (📸 from 'The Middle East Commandos') #NavalHistory 🧵

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – COPP 2 depart for recce of Port-Cros and Île du Levant (🗺️ UKHO), near Toulon in France, in sub HMS Untiring (📸 IWM FL 22144). It's part of intel gathering for Operation Dragoon, landings that will happen next month. #NavalHistory 🧵 ▶️ buff.ly/cVFlrr2

Am looking forward to this @ww2tv.bsky.social tomorrow (7pm UK time). One of the men in Op Title, Bill Tebb, later joined COPP. On D-Day he was 'on loan' to Force 'S'. His ship, LCH 185, was sunk by a mine. He was ashore at the time, bodyguarding a forward observer. www.youtube.com/live/Eva33iC...

🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – with recce due to commence soon for landings in southern Italy, COPP 5 starts two days of exercises out of Malta with sub HMS Shakespeare, including its skipper Mike Ainslie (right, 📸 IWM A 21262). #NavalHistory 1/2 ▶️ buff.ly/81GJOsi

🗓️ #OTD in 1945 – John Maxwell and Ernest Smith, two Royal Marines from Detachment 385 who were captured four months ago while on recce of Phuket with COPP, are beheaded by officers from the Japanese army's intelligence staff. We will remember them.🕯️ ▶️ buff.ly/5s2YFiw

This is a great pre-war photo of Nick Hastings, who by the end of the war had replaced Nigel Willmott as COPP's senior officer. (📸 Alamy) 1/3 It's from 1932. The original caption says he was on his way to court to make his legal career "debut" in a defamation case.

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – COPP 3 leaves the UK in liner Strathaird (📸 National Library of Australia 1614551), heading for Ceylon (Sri Lanka). In nine days they'll be followed by COPP 6 as focus starts to shift from Europe and the Med to south-east Asia. #NavalHistory ▶️ buff.ly/NCcuxvo

🗓️ #OTD in 2011 – the COPP Heroes Memorial team hold a fundraiser as they aim to erect a memorial to COPP on Hayling Island, where the unit trained. Guest of honour is COPP veteran Jim Booth (📸 Crown copyright). #NavalHistory 🔗 buff.ly/XsIwavk

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – COPP 10 arrives on Vis, an island off the coast of German-occupied Yugoslavia (now Croatia). They go on to be one of two COPP teams active in Yugoslavia. (🗺️ via McMaster University) #NavalHistory 🧵 ▶️ buff.ly/cbW2Y0L

🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – Operation Husky takes place as Allied forces land on Sicily. After months of reconnaissance operations, a number of COPP teams are out providing beach marking. #NavalHistory 🧵 (🗺️ via Library and Archive Canada)

🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – subs HMS Unruffled (men from COPP 5), Unseen (COPP 6) and Unrivalled (also COPP 6) sail from HMS Talbot, the sub base in Malta (📸 Adobe Stock), to act as markers for Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily (🗺️ Govt of Canada). #NavalHistory🧵 ▶️ buff.ly/SUmSX1O

And they did it! Albert and Dorian got in to Għajn Tuffieħa this morning to complete their epic paddle from Gela in Sicily to Malta – good going, lads! There’s still time donate to the charity, Inspire: inspire.org.mt/donate/

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – after having to stay in tents near Porto Vecchio in Corsica, COPP 2 relocates to better accommodation at Château de Fornali on the northern coast (📸 Hemis/Alamy). ▶️ buff.ly/IAAn9GK Allied forces are building up for Operation Dragoon, landings in southern France. #NavalHistory

And they're off!

It's happening! Albert Gambina and Dorian J Vassallo are in Sicily and will tomorrow set off on their epic fundraising paddle from Gela to Malta. Track their progress here: maps.findmespot.com/s/NXS0 (Currently showing their outbound journey from Valletta!)

🗓️ #OTD in 2015 – King Charles III, then the Prince of Wales, meets COPP veterans during an private visit to the COPP memorial on Hayling Island (📸 PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo). Sadly, none of the COPP veterans are still alive. #NavalHistory

🗓️ #OTD in 1992 – COPP founder Nigel Clogstoun-Willmott dies in Cyprus, aged 81. His influence extended beyond COPP: with friends Roger Courtney and Blondie Hasler, he's considered by many to be a 'founding father' of the modern SBS. (📸 Neal Russell) #NavalHistory ▶️ buff.ly/pXeEBLW

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – Caruth Main and Eric Fletcher of COPP 9 – who are 'on loan' to Force 'S' in Normandy – are killed when LCH 185 (📸 IWM A 19166), the landing craft they're in, sets off a mine and sinks.🕯️Their bodies are never recovered. #NavalHistory ▶️ buff.ly/8jLmUre