WW2 Bomber Command Minefield Code Names

9/6/2016

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'...

Oslo Harbour – Onions
Oslo fjord approaches Frederikstad) – Tomatoes
Kattegat channel – Silverthorne (seven areas A to G)
Kattegat (Frederikshavn) – Undergrowth
Kattegat (Læsø channel) – Yew Tree
Lim fjord (Aalborg to Hals) – Krauts
Copenhagen Sound (North) – Nasturtiums
Great Belt (North) – Pumpkins
Copenhagen approaches – Verbena
Little Belt – Carrots
Copenhagen Sound (South) – Daffodil (A to D)
Great Belt (Middle) – Broccoli
Great Belt (South) – Asparagus
Little Belt – Endives
Kiel Bay – Quinces
Kiel canal (Eckernförde) – Melon
Kiel canal – Lettuce
Kiel harbour – Wallflowers
Kiel harbour – Forget-me-not
Travemünde – Hollyhock
Fehmarn Belt – Radishes
Rostock & Arcone Light (Baltic Sea) -Sweet Peas
Warnemünde – Jasmine
Sassnitz (Arcone to Dziwna River) – Willow
Bornholm – Pollock
Swinemünde – Geranium
Gdynia – Spinach
Pillau – Tangerine
Danzig - Privet
Haugesund (Norway) – Bottle
Esbjerg approaches – Hawthorns (A to C)
Heligoland Bight – Rosemary (A to D)
Heligoland approaches – Eglantine
Rivers Jade and Weser Estuaries – Yams
32A Spiekeroog – Young Yams
Friesian Islands – Nectarines (A to D)
River Ems (east) – Xeranthemum
River Ems (west) – Zinnias
Terschelling – Mussels
Skaggerak to Kattegat – Polyanthus
Den Helder and Texel (north) – Limpets
Texel (south) – Trefoils
Ijmuiden / Zuider Zee – Whelks
Rotterdam and Hook of Holland – Oysters
Maas and Scheldt Estuaries – Newt
Mass and Scheldt – Flounder
Antwerp – Juniper
Zeebrugge – Barnacle
Ostend – Turbot
Dunkirk – Cypress
Calais – Prawns
Boulogne – Dewberry
Dieppe – Vine Leaves
Rouen – Scallops
Le Havre – Anemones
Cherbourg – Greengage
Channel Islands
Guernsey – Hostile Air
Alderney – Hostile Ozone
Saint-Malo – Hyacinth
Morlaix – Upas Tree
Ushant Island – Sultana
Brest – Jellyfish
Lorient – Artichokes
Quiberon Bay – Gorse
Saint-Nazaire – Beech
La Rochelle – Cinnamon (A and B)
Bordeaux – Deodar
Bayonne – Elderberry
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?

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.

WW2 Bomber Command Minefield Code Names

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