How 19 RAF Mosquitos Breached Amiens Prison Walls in 4 Minutes | Operation Jericho

Описание: On 18 February 1944, nineteen RAF de Havilland Mosquitos flew at rooftop height into occupied France and carried out one of the most daring precision strikes of World War II. Operation Jericho was a four-minute, low-level assault on Amiens Prison, intended to breach its reinforced walls and free French Resistance fighters scheduled for execution.

Flying at 240 mph and just 30–50 feet above the ground, the crews had seconds to drop 500-pound bombs at the exact base of the prison walls. The objective was precise: collapse the masonry outward without destroying the cell blocks. Miss by yards and the prisoners would die. Stay too long and German flak or Fw 190 fighters would intercept.

258 prisoners escaped. 79 were confirmed Resistance operatives who later supported preparations for D-Day. 102 prisoners were killed. Group Captain Percy Pickard, who led the raid, was shot down shortly after the attack.

This documentary examines Operation Jericho in full: the planning flaw, the Mosquito vs Lancaster comparison, the German interception, and the moral cost behind one of the RAF’s most controversial WWII raids.

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