This later became No 11 Special Air Service and he was posted for duties with the Special Operations Executive (SOE), which specialised in secret actions behind enemy lines. CWGC headstone March-Phillipps". Commando Veterans Association. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011 . Retrieved 3 June 2010. However, Winter was undoubtedly a major inspiration for the Bond character, described by Fleming as having “dark, rather cruel, good looks”. Richards, Brooks; Foot, M R D (2002). Clandestine Sea Operations to Brittany: 1940–1944. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-5316-0.

The story of Operation Postmaster is fascinating but a bit thin for a full length book. It makes for sometimes trite story-telling... even though the risks and the daring involved were truly impressive for that point in the war. But it was, after all, a commando raid to steal a passenger liner and a tugboat from a Spanish island harbor off the coast of West Africa. Thomas William Winter was born on New Year’s Day 1905. Little is known about his early life but, while working as an engineer, he enlisted into the Army on November 4, 1939, shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War. By then, he was 34 and older than most of his fellow soldiers. lighthouse, seven miles west of Alderney, which was being used by the Germans as a radio listening post. Bourne lowered an 18 ft dory from the boat They managed to get about 100 yards off the coast, until their boat was located by other machine-gun posts along the shore, and by a heavy calibre gun emplacement. The raiders left Lagos in their two tugs on the morning of 11 January 1942, and while en route they practised lowering Folbots and boarding ships at sea under the command of Captain Graham Hayes. They approached Santa Isabel harbour and at 23:15 and 23:30 hours on 14 January 1942; both tugs were in position 180 metres (590ft) outside of the harbour. Onshore, Lippett had arranged for the officers from Duchessa d'Aosta to be invited to a dinner party; 12 Italian officers as well as two German officers from Likomba attended. [16]Lassen’s raids on the Aegean islands continued. The enemy never knew where to expect the next lightning swoop. Just before the Germans landed at Samos, Lassen evacuated hundreds of Greek civilians to the mainland. The next raid of any consequence from the United Kingdom was Operation Claymore in March 1941, by No. 3 and No. 4 Commandos. This was the first large scale raid from the United Kingdom during the war. Their objective was the undefended Norwegian Lofoten Islands. They successfully destroyed the fish-oil factories, petrol dumps, and 11 ships, capturing 216 Germans, encryption equipment and codebooks. [11]

Lassen’s force was 20-strong and equipped with a variety of weapons including an old German 20 mm gun. The Germans – a hundred of them – came in caiques (sailing ships), and there was no time to build defences. Although crippled by a badly burned leg and internal trouble, Lassen stalked and killed three Germans at close-range. Graham Hayes was executed (shot) in a Paris prison proving the extreme danger to special forces personnel if caught even in a neutral country. This is a true story of a force of ”licensed to kill" secret agents, commanded by a real war time secret service chief code names M, with whom Ian Fleming worked, and upon whom his James Bond stories were based. Twelve raiders left Portsmouth, again in MTB 344, shortly after 8pm, arriving off the coast at 10pm. Moving slowly towards the shore, the MTB appeared to arrive at its objective of Sainte-Honorine at midnight. But who was Tom Winter and what did he achieve during his career that made him a key model for James Bond?

Object Details

Perhaps it would not be out of place to observe that one of the chief reasons for the creation of SOE was the desirability of an organization whose actions could be disowned by His Majesty’s Government. Throughout the battle he was an inspiration to his men and the few Italian ‘co-operators’ who joined in the fight. The Germans were finally driven from the island at a loss of 16 men killed, 35 wounded and seven taken prisoner. The Allied losses amounted to just one man killed and one wounded. Next day, German stukas dive-bombed Simi. After seven months as a mechanics instructor with the Royal Army Service Corps, Winter volunteered for the Parachute Wing, No 2 Commando, in 1940.

The detailed planning, the timely execution, and the personal fortitude of the men is quite evident. The fact that they received almost no help from their own military only added to the tale. The BritishGeneral Officer Commanding (GOC) West Africa Command refused to support the mission. The only way they could accomplish this mission was to get help from the Governor ofNigeria. Brian Lett´s book is an inspiring and exciting book that should please not just SOE and Fleming/Bond buffs. My respect and admiration for him are immense. Time and again he displayed what I call “cold courage” in that he embarked on a highly dangerous mission knowing there was a strong chance he would be killed, wounded or captured by the enemy. One of the five who had sailed from Poole to Freetown in the Maid Honor was the young Dane Anders Lassen. He had been at sea since the beginning of 1939 and was one of the few professional seamen who took part in the operation. His maritime experience, together with his physical bravery and great energy was of crucial importance to the success of the operation.

The Plan Forms

The raiding force departed Lagos in Nigeria on board its two tugs during the morning of 11 January, and while at sea practised lowering Folbots and boarding ships at sea under the command of Captain Graham Hayes. Eventually, Winter escaped, later recalling: “I used French uniforms to escape, was fired on but was not hit.” The successful operation was a huge morale booster at a time when Nazi Germany still seemed invincible. It also gave Britain a huge advantage in electronic warfare at the time.

Empire U, V W, Y, Z". World Ship Society . http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/EmpireU.html . Retrieved 1 September 2010. The SBS returned to Greece in autumn 1944. Lassen led an improvised group which on 29 October was the first British force to move into Saloniki. The Germans were preparing to destroy the harbour installations and fuel depots, but a daring bluff on the part of Lassen persuaded the Germans that his small, but very mobile and active force was much bigger than it was in fact, so they abandoned the town without carrying out the planned acts of destruction. seriously hazardous work requiring a special breed of men and women. For example ‘F’ section (France) of SOE Like millions of others, I will watch the next Bond film in the cinema over the coming days and, as the credits roll, I will certainly spare a thought for Thomas William Winter who was, in so many ways, the real-life James Bond. This had, of course, to be false since Great Britain could not admit that it had carried out the raid in neutral territory, despite the fact that she ended up in possession of the three enemy ships. It was perhaps Fleming’s earliest piece of creative fiction. He was later described as knowing the early operations of SOE better than anyone else in the Navy.The targets were a large enemy liner carrying valuable cargo and two smaller enemy craft that would be of great use to the Navy. It was proposed to board them at anchor, capture them and bring them to British waters in Lagos. The Spanish government was furious about the raid, which was seen as a breach of the country's neutrality. The foreign minister Serrano Suner described the operation as an: Winter and Hayes then set off the charges. Similar actions took place on the second smaller craft and the larger liner, boarded by a small party led by Major March-Phillipps. After this, the Eleonora Mærsk sailed under the British flag, first to Colombo, Australia and Singapore, and then on a regular route between South Africa and the Persian Gulf. The ship was provided with a gun, and Anders Lassen became a member of the gun crew. He was proud of this exciting responsibility, as he was each time he carried out some particularly difficult or dangerous task “with honour”, as he wrote in his diary. Hastings, Max (27 March 2005). "Shall we have a bash, chaps?". The Daily Telegraph. London . Retrieved 4 May 2010.