Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Operation Title

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


Article promoted by Gog the Mild (talk) via MilHistBot (talk) 16:20, 20 December 2023 (UTC) « Return to A-Class review list[reply]

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Nominator(s): Nick-D (talk)

Operation Title (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

Operation Title was a valiant but failed Allied attack on the German battleship Tirpitz during October 1942. The attack plan was like something out of a thriller, with a Norwegian trawler smuggling two British manned torpedoes through heavily defended waters. While the manned torpedo crews were superbly trained and likely to have crippled Tirpitz, the operation failed at the last moment when shoddy workmanship caused both of the craft to be lost when they separated from the bottom of the trawler during a storm. The Allied personnel attempted to escape overland to Sweden, with one of the British seamen being captured and murdered by the Germans and the others making it across the border.

This is my first ACR in quite a while, and a return to the topic of attacks against Tirpitz I've been working on over quite a few years. I created the article in March and it was assessed as a GA in April. It has since been expanded considerably, and I'm hopeful that the A-class criteria are met. Thank you in advance for your comments. Nick-D (talk) 08:57, 30 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Harrias

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Nice to see you back around. ACR is pretty slow right now; if you're able to help out with reviews on other nominations, that would be greatly appreciated!

Overall, this was a really interesting and well-written article that was a pleasure to review, nice work. Harrias (he/him) • talk 11:18, 8 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Hawkeye7

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Hawkeye7 (discuss) 18:43, 10 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Image review - pass

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Hawkeye7 (discuss) 22:14, 9 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Source review - pass

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  • References are of good quality and neatly formatted
  • Spot checks: 45, 46, 47, 74 - all okay

Hawkeye7 (discuss) 18:43, 10 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

CommentsSupport by PM

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Welcome back Nick. Some comments:

Lead
  • explain in the lead that the team had to scuttle the mothership in the Trondheimsfjord due to mechanical failure. It currently sort of begs the question why they didn't just leave.
Background
  • is it possible to explain why the bomber raids were unsuccessful?
  • Did the British know that a nearby aircraft carrier would avoid an attack by Tirpitz on a convoy? Via Ultra perhaps?
Prelude
Attack
Aftermath
  • do we know what Evans told the German Navy if anything?
  • Keitel personally authorised Evan's execution? Given the Commando Order, couldn't the German commander in Norway have authorised it? Seems overkill (so to speak).
    • Multiple sources state that Keitel was the decision maker for this murder. Even if this could be approved locally, I suspect that commanding officers were kicking this matter upstairs to try to reduce their culpability, especially as this wasn't long after this criminal order had been issued. Nick-D (talk) 10:35, 13 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • you could drop the comma from "Both were found guilty of war crimes, and executed"
  • has the poor serviceability of the boat engine been identified by historians as a lesson learnt? The two breakdowns and half-speed sailing seem to have had a significant impact on the failure given the delay they caused and the fact that an earlier attack would have avoided the poor weather.
    • Yes, this is noted in the assessments section. Perhaps oddly, no historian is critical of the use of the particular boat here - it does seem odd to have trusted an intricately prepared mission to a clapped out boat. Nick-D (talk) 09:41, 17 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

That is all I could find. Nice work. Cheers, Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 01:58, 13 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

All good, supporting. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 07:25, 20 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.