On this day 28th February 1942 Operation Biting


On this day 28th February 1942

Operation Biting

A company of the British Parachute Regiment led by Major John Frost and accompanied by a section of engineers led by Lieutenant Denis Vernon and RAF radar mechanic Flight Sergeant Charles Cox made a daring raid on Bruneval in northern France.

 They brought back vital components of the German Würzburg radar for further examination by British engineers.


Chief of Combined Operations, Admiral Lord Mountbatten, proposed a raid against the radar station at Bruneval, near Le Havre, France.

The recently formed ‘C’ Company 2nd Parachute Battalion under the command of Major J D Frost, was selected to be dropped at night by the RAF. 

Its objective was to capture and hold the Bruneval station, while Flight Sergeant CW Cox, an RAF technician, dismantled the radar set. The technician with his liberated radar parts were to be brought safely to a nearby beach for a dawn evacuation by the Royal Navy.


Although the sea rescue was delayed by a German naval patrol operating nearby, the raid went according to plan and was a complete success, capturing not only the radar equipment but two German radar technicians.


The Bruneval Raid later became The Parachute Regiment’s first Battle Honour. It gave the nation a small but exciting taste of success at a time when the war was going badly. Importantly, it reaffirmed Churchill’s belief in the future of Airborne Forces, while muffling its critics.

Major John Frost , (soon to be Colonel Frost) would find fame in the film, A Bridge Too Far, which highlighted his troops impossible situation at Arnhem Bridge in 1944.


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