The Netherlands. Allied aircraft bombed Amiens Prison in German-occupied France at very low altitude to blow holes in the prison walls, kill German guards and use shock waves to spring open cell doors. The French Resistance was waiting on the outside to rescue prisoners and spirit them away. Mosquito fighter-bombers breached the walls, prison buildings and destroyed the guards' barracks.
Of the prisoners, were killed by the bombing, 74 were wounded and escaped, including 79 Resistance members and political prisoners; two-thirds of the escapees were recaptured.
Two Mosquitos and a Typhoon fighter escort were shot down and another Typhoon was lost at sea. The raid is notable for the precision and daring of the attack, which was filmed by a camera on one of the Mosquitos. There is debate as to who requested the attack and whether it was necessary.
During Allied and German interest in the Pas de Calais increased; the Allies wanted information about the Atlantic Wall defences against an invasion, to keep as much of the Westheer as possible away from Normandy and operations Bodyline and Crossbow against V-weapons sites appearing in the region. Oberst Hermann Giskes was head of Abwehr German military intelligence in the Low Countries, Belgium and Northern France and controller of the Englandspiel β counter-intelligence operation.
The Gestapo and Abwehr were able to expose many French, British and US espionage and sabotage networks in northern and north-west France. Earlier in the war, Vivant had established an information-gathering system in which people gleaned information on the defences of the Channel coast and passed it to village mayors, who delivered it to Vivant for onward transmission to London by wireless.
