Operation Basalt

The original plan was for the raid to take place on the night of 18–19 September 1942, and was postponed by a day, due to bad weather. Leaving Portland at 2200 it took longer than planned to reach Sark and MTB 344 encountered strong currents on the approach, resulting in an arrival time of 0300. The requirement to depart by 0330 in order to be clear of the German occupied islands before dawn resulted in the operation being aborted. MTB 344 returned safely to Portland at 0530. ==Second attempt==

On the night of 3–4 October 1942 12 men from the Special Operations Executive commanded No. 62 Commando (also known as the "Small Scale Raiding Force") and No. 12 Commando, left Portland on MTB 344 at 1900 and landed on Sark with the object of offensive reconnaissance and capturing prisoners. Climbing the cliff at the Hog's Back, between Dixcart Bay and Derrible Bay, the commandos were not spotted by German sentries nor did they encounter any guards. Several of the raiders broke into the house of a local. The occupant of the house, Mrs Frances Noel Pittard, proved very informative and advised that there were about 20 Germans in the annex to the nearby Dixcart Hotel. She also declined an offer to take her to England. Mrs Pittard provided the commandos with documents, including local newspapers from Guernsey. It is also believed that this raid contributed to Hitler's decision to issue his Commando Order on 18 October 1942 instructing all captured commandos or commando-type personnel be executed as a matter of procedure. This order resulted in a number of war crimes being committed. Participants on second attempt Names of the soldiers who are known to have participated in the raid: • Major Geoffrey Appleyard • Captain Philip Pinckney (later of 2nd SAS – see also Operation Speedwell) • Lieut. Anders Lassen (later Major, VC, MC — see also Operation Roast) • Patrick Dudgeon • Colin Ogden Smith • Bruce Ogden Smith • Graham Young • James Edgar • Sergeant Horace 'Brummie' Stokes (later of 2nd SAS – see also Operation Speedwell) • Corporal Flint • Bombardier Eric Forster • Sergeant Joseph "Tim" Robinson (later of 2nd SAS – see also Operation Speedwell) A Private Redborn claimed to have been on the raid; however, no official records of anyone under this name exist. ==Subsequent raids==

The actor David Niven, who participated in the Channel raids, stated in his autobiography ''The Moon's a Balloon'' that the commandos who landed on Sark were taken to the local pub by the locals for a drink. However, Niven also erroneously stated that there were no German troops on Sark at the time. Niven's account is almost certainly a reference to Operation Ambassador in July 1940, when 140 men from No. 3 Commando and No. 11 Independent Company landed on Little Sark by mistake, thinking they had landed on Guernsey as part of a larger force. They found no Germans and eventually returned to their boat, but there are no reports of them meeting with locals or drinking with them. More than a year later, in December 1943, there was a follow-up raid on Sark by a team of British and French commandos, known as Operation Hardtack 7. It was a complete failure, as two of the four men were killed by German mines as they attempted to cross the Hog's Back, following the same route as the commandos had done in 1942 — a known route which was now heavily mined. == Memorial ==

On the 80th anniversary of the raid, in 2022, a memorial was unveiled to the raid, on the cliff top in Sark. ==See also==