Episode

The Commando Raids That Shook Hitler - Operations Claymore and Archery

Podcast
The War Office
Published
Jun 30, 2026
Duration seconds
3539
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://shows.acast.com/history-stories/episodes/6a42f5c381f451b9051d2fd8
Audio
https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68909a8df3a75290d49db79b/e/6a42f5c381f451b9051d2fd8/media.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/the-war-office-7856798/episodes/the-commando-raids-that-shook-hitler-operations-claymore-and-archery
Markdown
/podcast/the-war-office-7856798/the-commando-raids-that-shook-hitler-operations-claymore-and-archery.md

Actions

  • POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-war-office-7856798/episodes/the-commando-raids-that-shook-hitler-operations-claymore-and-archery/transcription-requests
    Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
  • GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-war-office-7856798/the-commando-raids-that-shook-hitler-operations-claymore-and-archery.md
    Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

Summary

In March 1941, Operation Claymore, the first large-scale commando raid on Nazi occupied-Europe, was launched against the Lofoten Islands in Norway. The raid was successful and led to further raids, Operation Archery and Operation Anklet, in Norway in December 1941.  The raids convinced Adolf Hitler that the Allies would try a large scale landing in Norway and he sends more German troops to defend the Norwegian coastline. This reinforcement left 300,000 German troops in Norway, doing nothing, at the end of the war in May 1945. Thanks to:  William Hakvaag, the founder of the Lofoten War Remembrance Museum in Svolvær, Norway  Jane Gulliford-Lowes, author, military historian, producer and co-host of the Bomber Command podcast, @nevermind the dambusters Never Mind The Dambusters and who is currently writing a book on the 1941 Lofoten raids.  You can listen to The War Office on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , Amazon Music , or The War Office Podcast YouTube Channel .  New episodes will be released every Tuesday morning. If you enjoy the episodes, please help us grow the podcast by subscribing, liking, sharing, commenting, and listening to future releases. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.