Combined Operations Pilotage Parties

The Oxford Companion to World War II | 2001 | 700+ words | Copyright

Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (COPP), British Navy and Army personnel who, aided by infra-red equipment, canoes, and conventional and midget submarines, reconnoitred beaches before a landing took place and then helped guide the landing force ashore. The North African campaign landings in November 1942 (TORCH) were guided ashore with techniques which had been pioneered by Lt-Commander Nigel Clogstoun-Willmott while raiding in the Aegean Islands, and the formation of COPP, an independent unit within Combined Operations, followed. However, Clogstoun-Willmott and his team had been banned from going ashore before TORCH and the lack of knowledge about the beaches resulted in some landing craft beaching at unsuitable points with resultant heavy losses of vehicles and equipment. This mistake was not repeated and COPP teams later went ashore to reconnoitre the beaches for the Sicilian campaign landings (where they lost several men), Salerno, and Normandy (see OVERLORD). They also operated before the Rhine crossings and the crossing of the River Elbe during the battle for Germany, and in the Far East.

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I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Combined Operations Pilotage Parties." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Combined Operations Pilotage Parties." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-CombinedOperatinsPltgPrts.html

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Combined Operations Pilotage Parties." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-CombinedOperatinsPltgPrts.html

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