Operation Aquatint Operation Aquatint was the codename for a failed raid by British Commandos on the coast of occupied France during the Second World War . The raid was undertaken in September 1942 on part of what later became Omaha Beach by No . 62 Commando , also known as the Small Scale Raiding Force . Prior to the operation , a raid on the French coastal town of Dieppe had placed the German occupying forces on a high state of alert , and this ultimately contributed to Aquatint ' s failure . The commandos were also unable to identify their correct landing place due to the darkness . Within minutes of landing , the raiding party was ambushed by a German patrol and forced to try to reach their Motor Torpedo Boat ( MTB ) transport . The MTB was located and engaged by the German shore batteries , which damaged one of its engines . It was forced to withdraw , leaving the commandos behind . At the end of the raid those commandos who had not been killed all became prisoners of war . Only five of the raiding force would survive the war ; one was killed in captivity and the fate of the other two is uncertain . Background . Following a request from the Chief of Combined Operations Admiral Louis Mountbatten for probes of German coastal defences , No . 62 Commando , also known as the Small Scale Raiding Force ( SSRF ) , mounted a number of operations in 1942 . The first three missions were complete successes : Operation Barricade ( 14 / 15 August 1942 ) , Operation Dryad , ( 2 / 3 September 1942 ) , and Operation Pound ( 7 / 8 September 1942 ) . Aquatint was planned for a night in mid September 1942 as a reconnaissance mission near Sainte - Honorine - des - Pertes , a small coastal town near Port en Bessin in Normandy . The mission was to collect information about the surrounding area , and take a German guard prisoner . Aerial reconnaissance had identified a small group of houses on the seafront thought to be occupied by Germans . The size of the SSRF landing party was limited to how many could be carried aboard a Motor Torpedo Boat ( MTB ) , and comprised five officers , one warrant officer , one senior non - commissioned officer , three other ranks , and a member of the Free French forces . The commander of the SSRF , Major ' Gus ' March - Phillipps , would lead the raid . His second in command , Captain Geoffrey Appleyard , would remain on board the MTB due to an injury acquired on a previous mission . The other men on the raid were Captain Graham Hayes , Captain John Burton , Captain Lord Francis Howard , Lieutenant Anthony Hall , Company Sergeant Major Thomas Winter , Sergeant Allen Michael Williams , Private Jan Hollings ( Jan Helling ) from the Netherlands , Private Adam Orr ( Abraham Opoczynski ) from Poland , Private Richard Leonard ( Richard Lehniger ) a Jewish Sudeten German from Czechoslovakia , and Maître Andre Desgranges of the Free French Forces . The Dieppe raid in August 1942 had changed the German fortification plans ; the success of the German defences in repelling the raid reinforced the importance of the Atlantic wall . The Organization Todt had now started to reinforce gun emplacements with infantry strong points along the French coastline . The older gun emplacements based on First World War designs were being replaced by stronger designs with overhead cover to offer protection from air attack . The area of Normandy targeted by Operation Aquatint had yet to receive any concrete gun emplacements but there was a network of coastal artillery batteries able to provide interlocking arcs of fire . German infantry carried out foot patrols in the areas between the batteries . Battle . The mission had previously been attempted over the night of 11 / 12 September 1942 , but had to be cancelled after the MTB arrived off the coast of France . The raiding party had been unable to locate their target because of the dark and foggy conditions . On 12 September 1942 , their MTB left Portsmouth at 20 : 12 and reached the coast off Barfleur at about 22 : 00 . Moving at a reduced speed to avoid detection and avoid the offshore mine field s , they reached their intended position offshore just after midnight on 13 September 1942 . Observing the coastline , in the dark they incorrectly identified a valley which they believed was St Honorine , but was actually Saint - Laurent - sur - Mer , about one mile to the right of their intended target . At around 00 : 20 hours the landing party headed toward the beach in a small collapsible flat bottomed boat known as a " Goatley " boat . After reaching the shore they realised they were too close to some houses to leave their boat where it was . They dragged the boat east away from the houses and above the high water mark . Captain Lord Howard guarded the boat while the rest of the SSRF checked to area to ensure it was safe and they had not been observed landing . On their way back to the beach they sighted a German patrol of about seven or eight men coming from the direction of the houses so they took cover . They were discovered by the patrol ' s guard dog at about 00 : 50 . The patrol opened fire on them with machine gun s and hand grenade s . The SSRF managed to disperse the German patrol with return fire and reach the " Goatley " boat . Captain Lord Howard , who had been left to guard the boat , was wounded trying to re - float the boat , and the others managed to get him aboard . The fight lasted for about 30 minutes . When the German patrol moved forward onto the beach , Lieutenant Hall tried to capture one of the Germans but was himself hit over the head and captured . The SSRF left him behind , presuming he was dead . The men in the " Goatley " boat had managed to get about out to sea when it was located and engaged by three machine gun posts above the beach . A gun emplacement to the west also starting firing towards them with heavier calibre guns . The combined fire from four positions damaged the boat , which began to sink . The commandos attempted to swim out to the MTB , which by now had also been discovered and was under fire . Unable to locate it in the darkness , they were forced to swim back to the beach . Winter was fired on again when he reached the beach and was captured . He was taken to the German headquarters where he was put into a room with Captain Lord Howard and Desgranges , who had also been captured . The MTB had withdrawn out of range at about 01 : 30 , but not before it had suffered engine damage ; a bullet had disabled the starboard engine . After 10 minutes it moved back inshore hoping to pick up any survivors . It was again located by the Germans at about 02 : 30 . The MTB was forced to withdraw once again under increasingly heavy mortar and machine gun fire . Unable to locate any survivors , it recrossed the German minefield and arrived back in Portsmouth at 10 : 00 . Aftermath . Later on the morning of 13 September 1942 Winter and Desranges were ordered to collect the bodies of the men who had been killed on the beach . Of the 11 men who went ashore , three were killed : Major March - Phillips , Sergeant Williams , and Private Leonard ; four were captured ( the seriously wounded pair Captain Lord Howard and Lieutenant Hall , with Winter and Desgranges ) ; and four others had escaped . Later on 13 September 1942 Captain Lord Howard and Lieutenant Hall were hospitalised because of their injuries , while Winter and Desgranges were taken to Caen for interrogation . At the time , the Germans were unaware that four commandos — Captain Burton , Privates Hollings and Orr , and Captain Hayes — had managed to evade capture and made it off the beach . On 14 September 1942 , the Germans issued a communiqué : A second communiqué on 15 September 1942 read : The bodies of the dead were buried in the St - Laurent - sur - Mer cemetery on 15 September 1942 . The funeral was only attended by the local German and the French Gendarmarie commanders . To prevent anyone else from attending , the Germans had a machine gun set up covering the cemetery . After 10 days of questioning Winter was taken to Rennes , where he was joined three days later by Captain Burton , Hollings , and Orr . These three had managed to stay together when the boat was sunk , and were captured by a German parachute unit carrying out manoeuvres . Burton was sent to a prisoner of war camp in Germany , Winter , Hollings and Orr were taken to Frankfurt and handed over to the Gestapo for further questioning , after which Winter was sent to a prisoner of war camp at Memmingen . The fate of Hollings and Orr has never been established . Winter and a Special Air Service officer escaped from the camp in April 1945 , disguised as French soldiers . Desgranges was also able to escape from captivity , travelling via Spain to Britain , where he joined the Special Operations Executive ( SOE ) . Captain Hayes , unable to reach the MTB , had started swimming away from the shooting , and came ashore beside Asnieres - en - Bessin . He managed to evade capture and made contact with a local French family who provided him with civilian clothing and contacted the French resistance . Hayes was taken by train to Lisieux and after several weeks reached Paris . Hayes was moved along an escape line to the Spanish border , arriving in October 1942 . After crossing into Spain he was stopped by Spanish border guards who handed him over to the Germans . Hayes was returned to Paris and imprisoned in Fresnes prison . He was kept in solitary confinement for nine months before being executed by firing squad on 13 July 1943 . Hayes had landed in uniform and should have been considered a prisoner of war , but he was executed following the issue of the commando order which called for the execution of all commandos upon capture . It was discovered after the war that Hayes had been betrayed to the Germans , who were aware of all his movements from Normandy to the Spanish border . The persons believed responsible for Hayes ' betrayal were never punished , as they convinced the authorities they were acting as double agents . Despite the results of the operation , the SOE and Combined Operations Headquarters believed that the SSRF could still be of use , and ensured that it was not dissolved . Command of the unit was given to the newly promoted Major Appleyard . At the end of 1942 , most of SSRF were moved to Algeria and absorbed into the 2nd Special Air Service Regiment . Appleyard did not survive the war . He was returning from a Special Air Service mission when his plane was reported missing . It was the same day that Captain Hayes was executed in Paris .