Operation Gaff

During World War II, Operation Gaff was the parachuting of a six-man patrol of Special Air Service commandos into German-occupied France on Tuesday 25 July 1944, with the aim of killing or kidnapping German field marshal Erwin Rommel.{{cite book |title=Discovering the Rommel Murder: The Life and Death of the Desert Fox |last=Marshall |first=Charles F. |year=2002 |authorlink= Charles F. Marshall|publisher=Stackpole Books |page=122 |isbn=978-0-8117-2472-2 }}{{cite book |title=Bodyguard of lies, Volume 2 |last=Brown |first=Anthony Cave |authorlink=Anthony Cave Brown |year=1975 |publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=978-0-06-010551-8 |page=717 }}

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From March 1943, Allied Intelligence had been undertaking research on the whereabouts, bases and travel arrangements of Field Marshal Rommel. Part of the research asked the question of how feasible it would be to kill Rommel. After D-Day, the Allies were meeting fierce resistance, marshalled by Marshal Rommel, with Hitler's orders to stand firm at all costs. With losses mounting, Field Marshal Montgomery agreed to a plan to remove Rommel from the battle plan.William B. Breuer, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SSEVoNy35LgC&pg=PA132 Daring missions of World War II], pp.131-133, John Wiley & Sons, 2002 {{ISBN|0471150878}}.

After SAS lieutenant-colonel William Fraser was told the location of Rommel's headquarters, a chateau home of the Dukes de La Rochefoucauld in the village of La Roche-Guyon, Brigadier R.W. McLeod assigned six specially trained assassins led by French SAS captain Jack William Raymond Lee.[https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/42850 "Couraud, Raymond"], TracesOfWar.com. Retrieved and [https://archive.today/20130210030956/http://www.ww2awards.com/person/42850 archived] 25 May 2012.

The original Op order, dated 20 July 1944 states:

"To kill ROMMEL would obviously be easier than to kidnap him and it is preferable to ensure the former rather than to attempt and fail in the latter. Kidnapping would require successful two-way W/T communication and therefore a larger party, while killing could be reported by pigeon"

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File:19440000-Op GAFF J5 POR2-LEE.jpg

On Tuesday 25 July 1944, Lee and his team parachuted into Orléans. On Friday 28 July 1944 the party found that Rommel had been severely injured, stating in the post-action report - 'learned Rommel had been got.' Rommel's staff car had been overturned in an attack by RAF Hawker Typhoons on 17 July 1944 and he had been replaced by Günther von Kluge. With their plan redundant, they moved toward advancing US Army lines on foot, while ambushing trains and attacking German units along their route, including a German headquarters in Mantes. They reached US forces and safety on 12 August.[http://association-sas.chez-alice.fr/PgeLEE&F.htm "Le Captain Lee-Couraud & le 'French Squadron' du DU 2nd S.A.S Regiment"], Association SAS, retrieved and [https://web.archive.org/web/20141216220219/http://association-sas.chez-alice.fr/PgeLEE&F.htm archived] 25 May 2012 (in French).