A small team from the Special Operations Executive. American Sector. Normandy landings American Sector. The operation was located to the east of Poitiers in the Vienne department of south west France; its objective was to block the Paris to Bordeaux railway line near Poitiers and to hamper German reinforcements heading towards the Normandy beachheads , especially the 2nd SS Panzer Division β Das Reich.
During the course of the operation amongst other things, the SAS men discovered the whereabouts of a petrol supply train, which was destined for the 2nd SS Panzer Division. The supply train was destroyed by Royal Air Force bombers the same night.
The Special Air Service team had made their base near Verrieres , the location of which was betrayed to the Germans. Seven captured Maquisards were also executed in the woods after the attack. Three other SAS men, who had been wounded in the fight and taken to hospital, were executed by lethal injections while in their hospital beds.
This was a unit of the British Army , formed in July by David Stirling and originally called 'L' Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade; 'L' being an attempt at deception, implying the existence of numerous such units. The focus of both operations would be the disruption of German reinforcements from the south of France to the Normandy beachheads. To carry out the operation the men were to destroy supply dumps, block the Paris to Bordeaux railway line near Poitiers and attack railway sidings and fuel trains.
One formation they especially wanted to delay was the 2nd SS Panzer Division - Das Reich which was based in the area around Toulouse in the south of France. The intelligence experts at SHAEF responsible for planning the Normandy landings, had estimated it would take three days for the panzer division to reach Normandy. Tonkin was also given a list of rail targets by Headquarters Special Air Service.
