PD, I've no doubt that what you say is right, but hindsight is not really the point is it? This mission was incredibly dangerous and by rights should have ended in disaster, not for the Kriegsmarine, but for the Royal Air Force. That it didn't can be easily forgotten in the rightful pride that IX and 617 Sqns feel for the amazing feat that they pulled off (in equal measure!).
Perhaps though it is time to confront that mystery and ask why it was that the raid confronted no resistance save from the Tirpitz itself. Now, one could take the view that it is the opinion of one man in Andoya and of the Walt that used to employ him in his radar installation. I'm not sure if that is what you were implying, CR, as your last sentence was a little too obtuse for me to comprehend.
There was a dilemma though for the likes of Lt Vesna (sp?). He was seemingly a Norgephile, speaking the language fluently and writing post war to the local paper in explanation of his actions, and perhaps even an Anglophile. Yet the war had bypassed Norway which was under the command of a Reichskommissar bent on making Norway a centre of Nazi resistance, thanks to the considerable number of SS troops stationed there. For less fanatical Germans like the good Lt and his like minded comrades this was a disastrous prospect, and the sooner that the war was lost the better could have been their conclusion.
At any rate, if there be any truth in Patrick Bishop's contention then we must surely owe it to Lt Vesna to consider it, for if it be true then he was a very brave man, especially given the dreadful revenge wrought by Hitler after the June 1944 attempt on his life.
Last edited by Chugalug2; 31st Mar 2014 at 20:47.