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Operation Benedict
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Operation Benedict
Operation Benedict (29 July – 6 December 1941) was the establishment of Force Benedict (Royal Air Force) with units of the Soviet Air Forces (VVS, Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily) in north Russia, during the Second World War. The force comprised 151 Wing, Royal Air Force (RAF), with two squadrons of Hurricane fighters. The wing flew against the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) and the Suomen Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force) from Vaenga airfield in the northern USSR and trained Soviet pilots and ground crews to operate the Hurricanes, after which the British pilots and ground crews returned to Britain.
Twenty-four Hurricane Mk IIB fighters were delivered by Operation Strength, flying direct to Vaenga from the aircraft carrier HMS Argus. Fifteen Hurricanes were delivered in crates by Operation Dervish, the first Arctic convoy. The convoy was unable to dock at Murmansk and was diverted to Arkhangelsk, 400 mi (640 km) further on. The fifteen crated Hurricanes were assembled at Keg Ostrov airstrip in nine days, despite the primitive conditions and flown to Vaenga on 12 September.
In five weeks of operations, 151 Wing claimed 16 victories, four probables and seven aircraft damaged. The winter snows began on 22 September and converting pilots and ground crews of Soviet Naval Aviation (Aviatsiya voyenno-morskogo flota) of the VVS to Hurricanes began in mid-October. The RAF party departed for Britain in late November, less various signals staff, arrived on 7 December and 151 Wing disbanded. The British and Russian governments gave Benedict much publicity and four members of 151 Wing received the Order of Lenin.
On 22 June 1941, the Soviet Union was invaded by Nazi Germany and its allies. That evening, Winston Churchill broadcast a promise of assistance to the USSR against the common enemy. On 7 July, Churchill wrote to Stalin and ordered the British ambassador in Moscow, Stafford Cripps, to begin discussions for a treaty of mutual assistance. On 12 July, an Anglo-Soviet Agreement was signed in Moscow, to fight together and not make a separate peace. On the same day a Soviet commission met the Royal Navy and the RAF in London and it was decided to use the airfield at Vaenga (now Severomorsk-1) as a fighter base to defend ships while unloading at the ports of Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Polyarny. Ivan Maisky, the Soviet ambassador in London since 1932, replied on 18 July that new fronts in northern France and the Arctic would improve the situation in the USSR.
Operations in the Arctic were favoured by Stalin and Churchill but the First Sea Lord, Admiral Dudley Pound considered such proposals unsound, "with the dice loaded against us in every direction". The US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Churchill met at Placentia Bay in Newfoundland on 9 August and on 12 August communicated an assurance to Stalin that the western Allies were going to provide "the very maximum of supplies". A joint supply mission led by W. Averell Harriman and Max Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook) arrived at Arkhangelsk on 27 September and on 6 October, Churchill made a commitment to sail a convoy every ten days from Iceland to north Russia. When Arctic convoys passed by the north of Norway into the Barents Sea, they came well within range of German aircraft, U-boats and ships operating from bases in Norway and Finland. The ports of arrival, especially Murmansk, only about 15 mi (24 km) east of the front line were vulnerable to attack by the Luftwaffe.
The RAF contingent was to consist of two squadrons of Hawker Hurricanes and one squadron each of twin-engined Bristol Blenheims and Bristol Beaufighters. Charles Portal, the Chief of the Air Staff, decided on 25 July to send only No. 151 Wing RAF (Wing Commander Neville Ramsbottom-Isherwood), comprising 81 Squadron (Squadron Leader A. H. "Tony" Rook) and 134 Squadron (Squadron Leader A. G. "Tony" Miller), equipped with Hurricane Mk IIBs. A Flight of 504 Squadron, based in Exeter, formed the nucleus of a new 81 Squadron and were sent on leave, to return to RAF Leconfield in Yorkshire or had just completed their training; two pilots of 615 Squadron who had deliberately failed a night fighter conversion course were also posted to 151 Wing. The wing headquarters comprised about 350 administrative, signals, engineering, maintenance, transport, medical and non-technical staff and each squadron had a commanding officer, two flight commanders, at least thirty pilots and about 100 ground staff. The wing was to be transported to north Russia in the first Arctic convoy and was to operate until the weather in October or November grounded the aircraft. During the winter lull, the fighters were to be handed over to the Soviet Air Forces (VVS, Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily). After several delays, a 151 Wing advance party of two officers and 23 men departed from Leconfield in mid-August.
The Main Party, the majority of the 2,700 men of 151 Wing, including fourteen pilots was embarked on the troopship SS Llanstephan Castle together with 15 Hurricanes packed in crates, at the Scapa Flow anchorage in the Orkney Islands. The ships departed from Scapa Flow on 17 August 1941 with the Dervish Convoy and headed towards the Svalbard archipelago and the midnight sun, to circle as far north around Norway as possible. Also embarked were journalist and MP Vernon Bartlett, an American newspaper reporter, Wallace Carrol, Feliks Topolski, the Polish expressionist painter travelling as an official British and Polish war artist, a Polish Legation, a Czechoslovak commission and Charlotte Haldane a noted feminist and member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, who lectured on Domestic life in Russia as part of an impromptu course laid on by the civilian passengers. The danger of Luftwaffe attacks on Murmansk led to the ships being diverted at Arkhangelsk, another 400 mi (640 km) to the east. As Llanstephan Castle sailed upriver to dock, rifle shots were heard and a member of the crew was hit in the arm, the gunfire coming from people onshore who mistook the British uniforms for German ones.
The ship anchored about 50 ft (15 m) from the dock and workers began to build a wooden quay outwards towards them, a race against time before the waters froze; the passengers were surprised to find that most of the dockworkers were women. Ramsbottom-Isherwood had made a plan in case a British liaison party from Moscow failed to arrive and intended to use the 151 Wing transport to travel to Vaenga, only to be surprised to find that no roads to Murmansk existed. The liaison party led by Air Vice-Marshal Basil Collier did arrive and discussions ensued as to the whereabouts of the Advance Party, which had travelled ahead with equipment and stores. The pilots on Argus were due to arrive at Vaenga in a few days' time and he also needed the fifteen Hurricanes carried in crates by Dervish, to make up the wing complement of 39 Hurricanes. It had been intended to transport the wing by train but the Kandalaksha–Murmansk railway had been bombed by the Luftwaffe. A small party of signallers were sent to Keg Ostrov (island) airfield outside Arkhangelsk and a party of 200 men with the wing commander were to travel by sea in the destroyers HMS Electra and Active in two days' time. Two days later a group was to travel by tramp steamer to Kandalaksha, thence by train to Vaenga and two parties were to follow by rail, once the line had been repaired.
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Operation Benedict
Operation Benedict (29 July – 6 December 1941) was the establishment of Force Benedict (Royal Air Force) with units of the Soviet Air Forces (VVS, Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily) in north Russia, during the Second World War. The force comprised 151 Wing, Royal Air Force (RAF), with two squadrons of Hurricane fighters. The wing flew against the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) and the Suomen Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force) from Vaenga airfield in the northern USSR and trained Soviet pilots and ground crews to operate the Hurricanes, after which the British pilots and ground crews returned to Britain.
Twenty-four Hurricane Mk IIB fighters were delivered by Operation Strength, flying direct to Vaenga from the aircraft carrier HMS Argus. Fifteen Hurricanes were delivered in crates by Operation Dervish, the first Arctic convoy. The convoy was unable to dock at Murmansk and was diverted to Arkhangelsk, 400 mi (640 km) further on. The fifteen crated Hurricanes were assembled at Keg Ostrov airstrip in nine days, despite the primitive conditions and flown to Vaenga on 12 September.
In five weeks of operations, 151 Wing claimed 16 victories, four probables and seven aircraft damaged. The winter snows began on 22 September and converting pilots and ground crews of Soviet Naval Aviation (Aviatsiya voyenno-morskogo flota) of the VVS to Hurricanes began in mid-October. The RAF party departed for Britain in late November, less various signals staff, arrived on 7 December and 151 Wing disbanded. The British and Russian governments gave Benedict much publicity and four members of 151 Wing received the Order of Lenin.
On 22 June 1941, the Soviet Union was invaded by Nazi Germany and its allies. That evening, Winston Churchill broadcast a promise of assistance to the USSR against the common enemy. On 7 July, Churchill wrote to Stalin and ordered the British ambassador in Moscow, Stafford Cripps, to begin discussions for a treaty of mutual assistance. On 12 July, an Anglo-Soviet Agreement was signed in Moscow, to fight together and not make a separate peace. On the same day a Soviet commission met the Royal Navy and the RAF in London and it was decided to use the airfield at Vaenga (now Severomorsk-1) as a fighter base to defend ships while unloading at the ports of Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Polyarny. Ivan Maisky, the Soviet ambassador in London since 1932, replied on 18 July that new fronts in northern France and the Arctic would improve the situation in the USSR.
Operations in the Arctic were favoured by Stalin and Churchill but the First Sea Lord, Admiral Dudley Pound considered such proposals unsound, "with the dice loaded against us in every direction". The US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Churchill met at Placentia Bay in Newfoundland on 9 August and on 12 August communicated an assurance to Stalin that the western Allies were going to provide "the very maximum of supplies". A joint supply mission led by W. Averell Harriman and Max Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook) arrived at Arkhangelsk on 27 September and on 6 October, Churchill made a commitment to sail a convoy every ten days from Iceland to north Russia. When Arctic convoys passed by the north of Norway into the Barents Sea, they came well within range of German aircraft, U-boats and ships operating from bases in Norway and Finland. The ports of arrival, especially Murmansk, only about 15 mi (24 km) east of the front line were vulnerable to attack by the Luftwaffe.
The RAF contingent was to consist of two squadrons of Hawker Hurricanes and one squadron each of twin-engined Bristol Blenheims and Bristol Beaufighters. Charles Portal, the Chief of the Air Staff, decided on 25 July to send only No. 151 Wing RAF (Wing Commander Neville Ramsbottom-Isherwood), comprising 81 Squadron (Squadron Leader A. H. "Tony" Rook) and 134 Squadron (Squadron Leader A. G. "Tony" Miller), equipped with Hurricane Mk IIBs. A Flight of 504 Squadron, based in Exeter, formed the nucleus of a new 81 Squadron and were sent on leave, to return to RAF Leconfield in Yorkshire or had just completed their training; two pilots of 615 Squadron who had deliberately failed a night fighter conversion course were also posted to 151 Wing. The wing headquarters comprised about 350 administrative, signals, engineering, maintenance, transport, medical and non-technical staff and each squadron had a commanding officer, two flight commanders, at least thirty pilots and about 100 ground staff. The wing was to be transported to north Russia in the first Arctic convoy and was to operate until the weather in October or November grounded the aircraft. During the winter lull, the fighters were to be handed over to the Soviet Air Forces (VVS, Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily). After several delays, a 151 Wing advance party of two officers and 23 men departed from Leconfield in mid-August.
The Main Party, the majority of the 2,700 men of 151 Wing, including fourteen pilots was embarked on the troopship SS Llanstephan Castle together with 15 Hurricanes packed in crates, at the Scapa Flow anchorage in the Orkney Islands. The ships departed from Scapa Flow on 17 August 1941 with the Dervish Convoy and headed towards the Svalbard archipelago and the midnight sun, to circle as far north around Norway as possible. Also embarked were journalist and MP Vernon Bartlett, an American newspaper reporter, Wallace Carrol, Feliks Topolski, the Polish expressionist painter travelling as an official British and Polish war artist, a Polish Legation, a Czechoslovak commission and Charlotte Haldane a noted feminist and member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, who lectured on Domestic life in Russia as part of an impromptu course laid on by the civilian passengers. The danger of Luftwaffe attacks on Murmansk led to the ships being diverted at Arkhangelsk, another 400 mi (640 km) to the east. As Llanstephan Castle sailed upriver to dock, rifle shots were heard and a member of the crew was hit in the arm, the gunfire coming from people onshore who mistook the British uniforms for German ones.
The ship anchored about 50 ft (15 m) from the dock and workers began to build a wooden quay outwards towards them, a race against time before the waters froze; the passengers were surprised to find that most of the dockworkers were women. Ramsbottom-Isherwood had made a plan in case a British liaison party from Moscow failed to arrive and intended to use the 151 Wing transport to travel to Vaenga, only to be surprised to find that no roads to Murmansk existed. The liaison party led by Air Vice-Marshal Basil Collier did arrive and discussions ensued as to the whereabouts of the Advance Party, which had travelled ahead with equipment and stores. The pilots on Argus were due to arrive at Vaenga in a few days' time and he also needed the fifteen Hurricanes carried in crates by Dervish, to make up the wing complement of 39 Hurricanes. It had been intended to transport the wing by train but the Kandalaksha–Murmansk railway had been bombed by the Luftwaffe. A small party of signallers were sent to Keg Ostrov (island) airfield outside Arkhangelsk and a party of 200 men with the wing commander were to travel by sea in the destroyers HMS Electra and Active in two days' time. Two days later a group was to travel by tramp steamer to Kandalaksha, thence by train to Vaenga and two parties were to follow by rail, once the line had been repaired.
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