Operation Postmaster: Difference between revisions

Out at sea on 15 January 1942, March-Phillipps established a routine of watches and placed guards on the 29 prisoners they had taken. During the evening they started to have trouble with the tugs' engines and the tow ropes to the captured vessels. The next day ''Vulcan'' reached the location for the rendezvous and was "captured" at sea by HMS ''Violet''.<ref>Binney, p.143</ref> ''Nuneaton'', suffering from engine trouble, managed to contact the Nigerian [[Collier (ship)|collier]] ''Ilorin'' by [[Flag semaphore|semaphore]], which in turn contacted Lagos, and a ship was dispatched to tow them into port.<ref>Binney, p.144</ref>

 

The Special Operations Executive had now demonstrated their ability to undertake operations, no matter the political consequences. [[Hugh Dalton]], the government [[Minister (government)|minister]] in charge of SOE, informed the British [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Winston Churchill]] of the outcome of the raid. He also stated his belief that "other neutral governments would be impressed that Britain would if needed disregard the legal formalities of war in their efforts to succeed."<ref>Binney, p.147</ref> The agent in charge of SOE Africa station submitted a report to the head of SOE [[Colin Gubbins]] reflecting on the success of Postmaster: "perhaps next time it will not be necessary for prolonged negotiations before undertaking a 30-minute operation."<ref name=bi149/>