Operation Pike (HM6)

Operation Pike was a Plan of and in to bomb the oil fields of the in the Caucasus.
This could have had a serious impact on the war: In 1940, about 70% of all oil production, 80% of aviation gasoline, 90% of ligroin and kerosene, 96% of automotive and industrial oils in the USSR were produced by enterprises.
On 25 January 1940, Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg warned about a British-French approach in the Caucasus.
Serious preparation by the British began after the end of the Winter War in , in March 1940. By April, plans to attack oil production centres in the Caucasian towns of Baku, Batum and Grozny were complete. Bombers were to be flown from bases in , and in "Western Air Plan 106", as "Operation Pike" was named initially. The French proposed accelerating the planning, but the British were more cautious for fear of a possible German-Soviet alliance if the allies attacked the Soviets.
The Soviet leadership anticipated Allied attacks, and from 25–29 March, the leading staff of the Transcaucasian Military District conducted a map exercise.
Under the Leadership of Sidney Cotton, pictures of the oil fields were shot from the air during March and April. 117 warplanes of the Types Farman F.221, Martin Maryland and Vickers Wellington were supposed to participate. They were equipped with additional tanks and supposed to drop 324 tons of Bombs on Batum, Poti, Grozny and Baku during a timespan of 10 to 45 days. Since the ground of oil fields is completely soaked with oil, it was assumed that it'd be easy to light fires on the fields that the Soviets wouldn't be able to expunge. In April 1940, they started to move six French and three British Bomber squadrons under the command of Air Commodore John Slessor to Syria and in . On 17 April 1940, Maxime Weygand reported to Maurice Gamelin that the preparations for the Bombing of the oil fields had progressed well, and the Operation might start around late June, early July. They considered using ground troops and initiating an Islamist uprising as well.
The unexpected success of the Wehrmacht in France threw all the Plans into confusion, and thus the Operation was never executed.
de:Operation Pike (W6)
Category:Military Operations (HM6)