Operation Squabble

Here is a story I love!
Operation Squabble

In 1942, a British Major operating with the SOE in Paris reported that each day shortly after noon, the Germans staged a parade down the Champs-Élysées.  The improbably-named RAF Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip Joubert de la Ferté decided to break up that little party.

It was decided that Wing Commander Ken Gatwood and Sergeant Gilbert Fern would fly their Bristol Beaufighter across the English Channel, over the French countryside at rooftop height and down the Champs, strafing the German parade and dropping a Tricolour on the Arc de Triumph.  Purely a propaganda attack to let the people of Paris know they were not forgotten.

Actual photo taken during the raid.
The attack went completely according to plan, but the Germans didn't show up on that particular day.  Nevertheless, the French flag unfurled over the Tomb of the Unknown and the Beaufighter strafed the Ministry of the Marine (now home to the Kriegsmarine).  Gatwood and Fern did take a little light flak, but were never in serious danger and returned home to awards!

There is actual audio from Gatwood describing the raid.

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