Fishy WW2 code-names

A view down from above the WW2 Starfish Decoy Command Bunker on Hutton Moor down Codhill Slack, or Rivelingdale to use its medieval name¹Guisborough Before 1900″. Edited by B.J.D. Harrison and G. Dixon. ISBN 0 9507827 0 X 1982.

Starfish seems a strange name to have used for decoys created to simulate burning British cities. I guess a secret code-name should be completely unrelated to the operation or else it might give the game away. Marine life were a popular choice for military strategists on both sides of the conflict.

We have Operation Perch, an offensive during the early stages of D-Day to encircle and seize the German occupied city of Caen²Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Operation Perch’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Perch> [accessed 27 August 2022]. D-Day itself was Operation Neptune, not really fish related though³Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Normandy Landings’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings> [accessed 27 August 2022].

Whales was the name given to the floating piers used on D-day itself⁴Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Mulberry Harbour’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulberry_harbour#Whales> [accessed 27 August 2022].

Operation Sardine was an unrealised Allied plan for an amphibious attack and landing in the Adriatic Sea⁵‘Sardine (Ii) | Operations & Codenames of WWII’. 2020. Codenames.info <https://codenames.info/operation/sardine-ii/> [accessed 27 August 2022].

Squid was the codename for a British anti-submarine mortar weapon⁶Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Squid (Weapon)’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squid_(weapon)> [accessed 27 August 2022].

The German strategists were particularly found of fishes and sea mammals:

• • “Unternehmen Walfisch” was an aborted plan to land a seaplane on a lake in Ireland.  “Unternehmen Wal” was an aborted plan devised in November 1940 to establish contacts with Welsh and Scottish nationalist groups. Both Walfisch and Wal translate as ‘whale’⁷Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Operation Whale’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Whale> [accessed 27 August 2022].
  • Sealion (Seelöwe) — the plan for the invasion of the UK during the Battle of Britain⁸Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Operation Sea Lion’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea_Lion> [accessed 27 August 2022].
  • Stickleback (Stichling) — a German codeword for an Allied attack in the Aegean⁹‘Stichling | Operations & Codenames of WWII’. 2020. Codenames.info <https://codenames.info/operation/stichling/> [accessed 27 August 2022].
  • Sprat (Sprotie) — another German codeword, this time for an attack in the Adriatic¹⁰‘The Encyclopedia of Codenames of World War II (Routledge Revivals)’. 2013. Google Books <https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eTaMAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA258&lpg=PA258&dq=%22Sprotie%22+operation+ww2&source=bl&ots=jjXURcIqAZ&sig=ACfU3U3MdZuDzttWApL_TzcIbdqXtPj34w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiTzManzef5AhV8REEAHVxgC0QQ6AF6BAgGEAM#v=onepage&q=%22Sprotie%22%20operation%20ww2&f=false> [accessed 27 August 2022].
  • Salmon Trap (Lachsfang) — German attack on Murmansk¹¹Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘List of World War II Military Operations’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_military_operations#Axis> [accessed 27 August 2022].
  • Sturgeon Trap (Storfang) — German code for attack on Sebastopol¹²Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sevastopol_(1941%E2%80%931942)> [accessed 27 August 2022].
  • Trout (Forelle) — German plan to disrupt Soviet supply lines on the Danube¹³Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘List of Axis Operational Codenames in the European Theatre’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Axis_operational_codenames_in_the_European_Theatre#1944> [accessed 27 August 2022].

And I am sure there are many, many more. There is plenty of fish in the sea.

• 1
  Guisborough Before 1900″. Edited by B.J.D. Harrison and G. Dixon. ISBN 0 9507827 0 X 1982
• 2
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Operation Perch’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Perch> [accessed 27 August 2022]
• 3
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Normandy Landings’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings> [accessed 27 August 2022]
• 4
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Mulberry Harbour’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulberry_harbour#Whales> [accessed 27 August 2022]
• 5
  ‘Sardine (Ii) | Operations & Codenames of WWII’. 2020. Codenames.info <https://codenames.info/operation/sardine-ii/> [accessed 27 August 2022]
• 6
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Squid (Weapon)’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squid_(weapon)> [accessed 27 August 2022]
• 7
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Operation Whale’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Whale> [accessed 27 August 2022]
• 8
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Operation Sea Lion’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea_Lion> [accessed 27 August 2022]
• 9
  ‘Stichling | Operations & Codenames of WWII’. 2020. Codenames.info <https://codenames.info/operation/stichling/> [accessed 27 August 2022]
• 10
  ‘The Encyclopedia of Codenames of World War II (Routledge Revivals)’. 2013. Google Books <https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eTaMAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA258&lpg=PA258&dq=%22Sprotie%22+operation+ww2&source=bl&ots=jjXURcIqAZ&sig=ACfU3U3MdZuDzttWApL_TzcIbdqXtPj34w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiTzManzef5AhV8REEAHVxgC0QQ6AF6BAgGEAM#v=onepage&q=%22Sprotie%22%20operation%20ww2&f=false> [accessed 27 August 2022]
• 11
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘List of World War II Military Operations’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_military_operations#Axis> [accessed 27 August 2022]
• 12
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sevastopol_(1941%E2%80%931942)> [accessed 27 August 2022]
• 13
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘List of Axis Operational Codenames in the European Theatre’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Axis_operational_codenames_in_the_European_Theatre#1944> [accessed 27 August 2022]