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  The last flight of Lancaster ED559

WW2 Bomber Command Minefield Code Names

9/6/2016

2 Comments

 
Between 1942 and the end of the war in 1945, Bomber Command was tasked with the mining many areas around the coast of Europe - from Norway, to the Baltic Sea coast and all along the Atlantic coast.

ED559's target was the Bordeaux Estuary known as Deodars. Below is a list of the code names for other areas. The term ' Gardening Operation' was used for the 'sowing' of the sea mines but as can be seen below not every location has a theme based on trees and plants. A number were based on fish, there's one called 'Bottle' and the Channel Islands were 'Hostile Air' and 'Hostile Ozone'...

  1. Oslo Harbour – Onions
  2. Oslo fjord approaches Frederikstad) – Tomatoes
  3. Kattegat channel – Silverthorne (seven areas A to G)
  4. Kattegat (Frederikshavn) – Undergrowth
  5. Kattegat (Læsø channel) – Yew Tree
  6. Lim fjord (Aalborg to Hals) – Krauts
  7. Copenhagen Sound (North) – Nasturtiums
  8. Great Belt (North) – Pumpkins
  9. Copenhagen approaches – Verbena
  10. Little Belt – Carrots
  11. Copenhagen Sound (South) – Daffodil (A to D)
  12. Great Belt (Middle) – Broccoli
  13. Great Belt (South) – Asparagus
  14. Little Belt – Endives
  15. Kiel Bay – Quinces
  16. Kiel canal (Eckernförde) – Melon
  17. Kiel canal – Lettuce
  18. Kiel harbour – Wallflowers
  19. Kiel harbour – Forget-me-not
  20. Travemünde – Hollyhock
  21. Fehmarn Belt – Radishes
  22. Rostock & Arcone Light (Baltic Sea) -Sweet Peas
  23. Warnemünde – Jasmine
  24. Sassnitz (Arcone to Dziwna River) – Willow
  25. Bornholm – Pollock
  26. Swinemünde – Geranium
  27. Gdynia – Spinach
  28. Pillau – Tangerine
  29. Danzig - Privet
  30. Haugesund (Norway) – Bottle
  31. Esbjerg approaches – Hawthorns (A to C)
  32. Heligoland Bight – Rosemary (A to D)
  33. Heligoland approaches – Eglantine
  34. Rivers Jade and Weser Estuaries – Yams
    32A Spiekeroog – Young Yams
  35. Friesian Islands – Nectarines (A to D)
  36. River Ems (east) – Xeranthemum
  37. River Ems (west) – Zinnias
  38. Terschelling – Mussels
  39. Skaggerak to Kattegat – Polyanthus
  40. Den Helder and Texel (north) – Limpets
  41. Texel (south) – Trefoils
  42. Ijmuiden / Zuider Zee – Whelks
  43. Rotterdam and Hook of Holland – Oysters
  44. Maas and Scheldt Estuaries – Newt
  45. Mass and Scheldt – Flounder
  46. Antwerp – Juniper
  47. Zeebrugge – Barnacle
  48. Ostend – Turbot
  49. Dunkirk – Cypress
  50. Calais – Prawns
  51. Boulogne – Dewberry
  52. Dieppe – Vine Leaves
  53. Rouen – Scallops
  54. Le Havre – Anemones
  55. Cherbourg – Greengage
  56. Channel Islands
    Guernsey – Hostile Air
    Alderney – Hostile Ozone
  57. Saint-Malo – Hyacinth
  58. Morlaix – Upas Tree
  59. Ushant Island – Sultana
  60. Brest – Jellyfish
  61. Lorient – Artichokes
  62. Quiberon Bay – Gorse
  63. Saint-Nazaire – Beech
  64. La Rochelle – Cinnamon (A and B)
  65. Bordeaux – Deodar
  66. Bayonne – Elderberry
  67. Saint-Jean-de-Luz – Furze
2 Comments
Jay hammond
9/1/2019 06:51:05 am

Have you ever heard of gardening efforts called Operation Pruning and Operation Weeding?

Reply
Craig Smith
9/1/2019 12:20:32 pm

Yes - from info about the formation of No. 6 (RCAF) Group:

No 6 Group mounted 111 Gardening sorties on six nights in March 1943,and 103 on six nights the next month. Most of these were aimed at U-boats operating from the Biscay and Brittany ports, and they culminated in a large operation (Pruning, 160 sorties) on the 27th/28th. The next night the focus shifted to the Heligoland Bight and the Baltic. In Operation Weeding, Bomber Command flew 226 Gardening sorties, of which thirty-seven were by No 6 Group crews. Meant to complement the sustained offensive on the Ruhr as well as the recent heavy bombing raid on Stettin, Pruning and Weeding were tremendously successful, accounting for twenty-four ships sunk and damaged. There were also reports that all ships on the Elbe-Hook of Holland route subsequently sailed with a 'numbered wreck-buoy attached,' to facilitate quick salvage.

Although Pruning occurred almost without incident, Weeding took crews close to intense flak over Heligoland and around the mouth of the Elbe, claiming most, if not all, of the twenty-two aircraft (1O per cent) lost. In No 6 Group three failed to return (8 per cent), two of them from No 428 Squadron. 61 Bomber Command (and No 6 Group) could not afford many nights like 28/29 April. Even special Gardening operations like Weeding were meant to ease freshman crews and new squadrons into operations - and to provide useful, but relatively safe, employment for older aircraft unfit to be risked on deep penetrations. They were not supposed to cost over 10 per cent of sorties dispatched. With the coming of summer and its shorter nights (when the risk of interception was greater), and given all the indications that the German defences in the Baltic had been strengthened, the intensity of mine-laying fell off; much of it was now restricted to operations against less heavily protected French Biscay and Brittany ports. As a result, only three crews from No 6 Group went missing between May and July, 2 per cent of sorties, bringing the overall Gardening loss rate since February to 3.8 per cent.

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    • Letter from Wing Commander J.G. Swain
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