WWII's Most Daring Raids

The code name is Operation Biting, a planned British raid on Bruneval, in Nazi-occupied Northern France. The mission is to drop paratroopers behind enemy lines and capture a powerful German radar system, but there is an even greater goal to be achieved: show Hitler that they still have plenty of fight in them. But what the brave men of C Company are about to do has never been attempted before, and pulling it off will require sneaking past the very radar they are trying to capture.

Hours before the most ambitious amphibious invasion in history, Douglas C-47s drop a small group of American paratroopers from Easy Company, the 101st Airborne Division, behind enemy lines. The mission: to take out four German howitzers about to assault Utah Beach. Witness the moments before the D-Day invasion through the perspective of the men carrying out this daring raid, including commanding officer Lieutenant Winters, whose remarkable improvised assault against a much larger force would make history.

December 1941: under cover of a fierce naval bombardment, a taskforce of elite British commandos sail towards the Norwegian town of South Vaagso. Their objectives are the town’s factories: a vital part of the German war machine. The commandos are desperate to avenge Dunkirk and strike a blow against Hitler’s ‘Fortress Europe’. They are expecting fierce resistance. They land under a smoke screen, eliminate German resistance, and block counterattacks long enough to allow the factories and other targets to be destroyed. Even with reinforcements from other units, the commandos are over-stretched as they execute ambitious orders to get in, do the job and retreat before the Nazi’s know what’s hit them.

Just off the coast of Sicily, the men of the 1st and 4th Ranger Battalions are aboard landing craft preparing to spearhead a mass allied assault. Behind them are 150,000 troops, 3,000 ships, and 4,000 aircraft who depend on this operation to be a success. The Rangers must storm the beach at night in advance of the assault, take the town, and destroy enemy strongholds and coastal defenses. It’s a suicidal mission and the men are told that retreat is not an option. If they don’t succeed and the enemy is able to hold Gela, Patton’s army would be prevented from landing vital weapons and supplies, and could be pushed back out to sea.

On the outskirts of Bouerat Harbor in Libya, a small group of British special forces prepare to destroy a crucial German fuel depot. The men are far behind enemy lines and success will rely on their training, courage, and luck. Major David Stirling will lead his men on a 6-day drive across German-controlled desert. At midnight the raiders will enter the harbor on foot, evading sentries, and fan across the area to plant explosives at the fuel dump and a wireless installation. The British must be quick: their explosives are primed to detonate at 2.30am and they must make their escape before the enemy is alerted.

February 17, 1943. Six Norwegian agents parachute into occupied Norway. Their objective is the Norsk Hydro Plant, where the Germans are stockpiling a chemical needed for nuclear weapons research. If anything goes wrong, the men are on their own, but it’s absolutely vital the Nazi’s nuclear program is stopped. Despite being lightly armed and few in number, they must infiltrate the plant, locate the heavy water cells, and destroy them. If they want to get back to Britain, they’ll have to evade capture and make their way overland to Sweden, avoiding German patrols and overcoming the challenges of the brutal Norwegian winter.