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Haddock Force was a Royal Air Force group of bombers dispatched to airfields in southern France, with the mission of bombing northern Italian industrial sites, following the Italian entry into the Second World War. When Italy declared war on 10 June, the plan was put into effect but at first, the local authorities prevented the RAF Vickers Wellington bombers from taking off. Whitleys flying from England via the Channel Islands, made the first raid on the night of 11/12 June 1940.
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After negotiations between the French and British governments and directives from Paris to the authorities in the south of France, the Wellingtons flew back. Operations commenced on the night of 14/15 June but all but one of the eight bombers returned without bombing due to bad weather. Eight Wellington crews tried again the next night and six claimed to have bombed Milan; the raid was the last by RAF Bomber Command from French bases until 1944.
Background
Wireless decrypts by the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park gave the Allies about a month's notice of an Italian declaration of war. The Battle of France was nearing its final phase when intelligence reports suggested that Italy was on the brink of entering the war on the side of her Axis partner, Germany. There were few resources available to Britain which could be used to support France against the Italians, with the exception of Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command. The Supreme War Council resolved on 31 May that if war was declared, industrial targets and oil plants in the northern Italian cities of Turin and Genoa, were to be attacked as soon as possible. Armstrong Whitworth Whitley bombers could reach their targets from the Channel Islands, while the shorter-ranged Vickers Wellingtons would have to refuel in the south of France and the French Air Command made available the airfield outside Marseilles at Salon-de-Provence and another one nearby. The headquarters of 71 Wing was sent to the Marseilles area on 3 June to prepare reception and refuelling facilities for the British bombers, which were ready on the outbreak of war on 10 June.
11–17 June
Italy declared war at midnight on 10 June 1940 and a detachment of Wellingtons from 99 Squadron, part of 3 Group, Bomber Command, left England for France and arrived at Salon at 15:30 hours on 11 June. French fighters based near the Italian border had been sent north against the Luftwaffe and despite the agreement to attack Italy, the French civilian authorities decided that bombing Italy would provoke attacks on the huge petrol dumps on the Étang de Berre 25 km (16 mi) north-west of Marseille; retaliation against civilians which could only fall on French cities and was to be avoided.
General Jean-Baptiste-Benjamin Laurens, the commander of Zone d'opérations aériennes des Alps (ZOAA) asserted that the French government opposed the raid and refused to allow the attack from bases under his command. While the bombers were refuelling, the force commander, Group Captain R. M. Field, received a telephone call from the commander of the local French bomber group. The commander told him that Italian targets were not to be attacked but shortly afterwards, Field received orders from the Air Ministry in London that the aircraft should take off as planned. There was a flurry of telephone calls from various French authorities, culminating in a call at 21:45 hours from the Chief of the Air Staff, General Joseph Vuillemin to the headquarters of British Air Forces in France (BAAF, Air Marshal Arthur Barratt).
Field followed the orders from the Air Ministry in Britain and Barratt in the evening. Around 00:30 hours as the first Wellington taxied into position for take-off, French troops blocked the runway with a line of lorries and carts; Field had no choice but to abort the mission and most of the Wellingtons returned to England the next day. On the evening of 11 June, the British diplomatic representatives in France heard that the French had stopped the British bombers from taking off from Salon and after strong protests Paul Reynaud, the French prime minister, agreed to order the French authorities to co-operate.
Another 36 Whitleys from 10 Squadron, 51 Squadron, 58 Squadron, 77 Squadron and 102 Squadron had refuelled at the advanced bases on Jersey and Guernsey and were on their way to Italy. Severe storms and icing caused the majority of the aircraft to turn back and only 13 reached their targets at Turin and Genoa; two aircraft failed to return. After representations at the highest levels, the French authorities finally consented to raids on Italy and six Wellingtons each from 99 Squadron and 149 Squadrons returned to the south of France. Eight aircraft left on the evening of 15 June to bomb the Ansaldo works at Genoa. Thunderstorms made navigation difficult; only one aircraft arrived over the target and the rest returned with their bombs. The following night, another attempt was made by nine Wellingtons but only five reached their objective. The French armistice negotiations prevented further operations. The Allies were defeated and British bombers did not fly from France again until 1944, when they participated in the defeat of Germany.