Editing Operation Biting (section)

== The raid ==
[[File:Bruneval Wurzburg 2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|The Würzburg radar array from another angle, showing the equipment in profile|alt=Aerial view of radar site]]
The raid was postponed for several days after the 23 February rehearsal due to weather conditions, but on 27 February the weather proved to be ideal, with clear skies and good visibility for the aircraft of 51 Squadron, and a full moon which would provide illumination for the evacuation of the raiding force. The naval force under Commander Cook departed from Britain during the afternoon and the [[Armstrong Whitworth Whitley|Whitley]] transport aircraft carrying C Company took off from [[RAF Thruxton]] in Hampshire in the evening.<ref name="Otway67" />

The aircraft crossed the English Channel without incident, but as they reached the French coast they came under heavy anti-aircraft fire; however, none of them were hit, and they successfully delivered C Company to the designated [[drop zone]] (DZ) near the installation.<ref name=Harclerode210 /> The drop was an almost total success, with the majority of the raiding force landing on the edge of the drop zone; however, half of the 'Nelson' detachment landed {{convert|2|mi}} short of the DZ. Once the other detachments had gathered their equipment and oriented themselves, they moved off to undertake their arranged tasks.<ref name=Otway68 />

'Jellicoe', 'Hardy' and 'Drake' encountered no enemy opposition as they moved towards the villa housing the radar installation, and after surrounding the villa Frost gave the order to open fire with grenades and automatic fire. One German guard was killed as he returned fire from an upstairs window, and two more were taken prisoner by the airborne troops; upon interrogation, the prisoners revealed that the majority of the garrison were stationed further inland.<ref name=Harclerode212>Harclerode, p. 212.</ref> There still remained a substantial enemy force in the buildings in the small enclosure near the villa, and this now opened fire on the raiding force after being alerted by the initial firefight, killing one of the airborne troops.<ref name=Harclerode212 />

The volume of fire rapidly increased, when enemy vehicles could be seen moving towards the villa from the nearby woods; this, in particular, worried Frost, as the radio sets the force had been issued failed to work, giving him no means of communication with his other detachments, including 'Nelson' who were tasked with clearing the evacuation beach. Flight Sergeant Cox and several [[sapper]]s arrived at this time and proceeded to dismantle the radar equipment, placing the pieces on specially designed trolleys.<ref>Otway, pp. 68–69.</ref>

Having secured the radar equipment and under heavy enemy fire, Frost gave the order for the three detachments to withdraw to the evacuation beach; it became apparent, however, that the beach had not been secured by the under-strength 'Nelson' detachment when a German machine gun opened fire on the airborne troops, severely wounding the [[company sergeant major]]. Frost ordered 'Rodney' and the available men of 'Nelson' to clear the defences, whilst he led the other three detachments back to the villa, which had been reoccupied by enemy troops.<ref name=Harclerode212 /> (see also chapter in 'Fighting Back' by Martin Sugarman on the role of German Jewish refugee Commando and Paratrooper Peter Nagel aka Newman, on the raid, and reference to the Yorkshire TV 1977 documentary film on the raid which includes interviews with Frost, Cox, Nagel and other survivors, and another film held by the [[Imperial War Museum|IWM]], London made in 1982)

The villa was soon cleared of enemy troops once more, and when Frost returned to the beach, he found that the machine-gun nest had been destroyed by the mis-dropped troops of 'Nelson'; avoiding other enemy positions, they had reached the beach and attacked the machine-gun post from the flank.<ref>Harclerode, pp. 212–213.</ref> By this time it was 02:15 but there was no sign of the naval force that was to evacuate the airborne troops. Frost ordered 'Nelson' to guard the inland approaches to the beach and then fired off an emergency [[signal flare]]; soon after that, the naval force was seen approaching. The original plan for the operation had called for two landing craft at a time to land on the beach, but this had never been satisfactorily achieved during training; instead, all six landing craft landed at the same time, with the covering troops in the landing craft opening fire on German soldiers gathering at the top of the cliff.<ref name=Otway69>Otway, p. 69.</ref>

This deviation from the original evacuation plan and the enemy fire caused considerable confusion on the beach; some of the landing craft left the beach over-crowded, whilst others left half-empty. However, the radar equipment, German prisoners and all but six of the raiding force were embarked and transferred to motor gunboats for transport back to Britain. On the return journey, Frost learned that the naval force had received no signals apart from the signal flare, and had spent much of the time hiding from a German naval patrol that had nearly discovered them. The journey back to Britain was uneventful, with the force being escorted by four [[destroyer]]s and a flight of [[Supermarine Spitfire|Spitfires]].<ref name=Otway69 />

The paratroopers lost two killed, eight wounded and six men who did not return to the boats. They were later taken prisoner by the Germans.<ref>Kronborg, p. 171.</ref> German reports were found after the war, which made the German loss as follows: the army: two killed, one seriously wounded, two missing. {{lang|de|Luftwaffe}}: three killed, one wounded, three missing.<ref>Kronborg, pp. 178–184.</ref> A member of the French resistance movement who had participated in the previous reconnaissance in Bruneval was subsequently captured and executed by the Germans. A Frenchman and his fiancée were deported to concentration camps in Germany for providing help to surviving British paratroopers in their attempt to return to the UK.<ref>Kronborg, p. 183.</ref>