Key Facts
- SAS men executed
- 33 (plus 3 in hospital)
- USAAF pilot executed
- 1 (P-51 pilot)
- Maquisards executed
- 7
- Target railway
- Paris to Bordeaux line near Poitiers
- German unit targeted
- 2nd SS Panzer Division – Das Reich
Strategic Narrative Overview
Operating from a hidden base near Verrieres, the SAS team located a petrol supply train destined for Das Reich and directed RAF bombers to destroy it the same night. However, the location of their camp was betrayed to German forces. A subsequent German raid on the camp resulted in the capture of 33 SAS personnel and a USAAF pilot who had joined them after bailing out of his P-51 aircraft.
01 / The Origins
Following the Allied landings in Normandy in June 1944, British planners deployed SAS units behind German lines in occupied France to slow enemy reinforcements. Operation Bulbasket tasked 'B' Squadron, 1st SAS, with interdicting the Paris–Bordeaux railway east of Poitiers in the Vienne department, specifically to hinder the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich from reaching the Normandy beachheads where its armoured strength could threaten the Allied foothold.
03 / The Outcome
The 33 captured SAS men and the American pilot were executed by the Germans, in contravention of the Geneva Conventions. Seven Maquisards captured in the aftermath were also shot in nearby woods. Three additional SAS soldiers who had been wounded and hospitalised were killed by lethal injection. These killings were later investigated as war crimes, though the broader railway interdiction mission had achieved partial success.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Side B
1 belligerent
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.