Tessera
Folgen

COPP Survey

@coppsurvey.uk

Dedicated to Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (COPP), a top-secret unit that carried out covert reconnaissance of enemy-held beaches during the Second World War. Website: coppsurvey.uk

2034 Posts682 Follower217 Folgt
COPP Survey@coppsurvey.uk · 21h ago

🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – COPP 5, with additional SBS men, arrive at Salerno Bay in HMS Shakespeare to carry out recce ahead of Operation Avalanche. Air recce has suggested a sand bar off the US beaches that needs examining. (🗺️ from 'Survey by Starlight') #NavalHistory 🧵 ▶️ buff.ly/qtN15Mh

Map showing the reconnaissance operations carried out in Salerno Bay from HMS Shakespeare, taken from Ralph Stanbury’s post-war book ‘Survey by Starlight’.
COPP Survey@coppsurvey.uk · 2d ago

I'm looking forward to this at the Royal Engineers Museum! I'll be there with a few items on display to tell how COPP's sappers contributed to winning the war. Link ⬇️ It'll also be a sneak preview of a new COPP project I've been woking on over the past few months with a few others – more soon!

Royal Engineers Museum poster: WWII War Winning Engineering Weekend, 19 to 20 September 2026 Featuring Spitfire replica, re-enactors, meet the curators, MG42 and Browning blank firing, an interactive mural, expert historians, WWII vehicles and live misuc from Miss Holliday Swing (Sunday only)QR code link to the Royal Engineers Museum's event page.
COPP Survey@coppsurvey.uk · 4d ago

👂Want to hear about COPP's pre-D-Day recces? If you're near Lymington, I recommend this talk by Robbie Scott-Bowden, whose dad Logan was one of the COPP men who did it. It includes family video footage of Logan revisiting the beaches in the 1990s. 🎟️ tinyurl.com/59ufrp8d

Flyer for the event which takes place on 10 September
COPP Survey@coppsurvey.uk · 6d ago

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – a number of men from COPP 10 support Operation Grandfather 1, landing artillery guns on the Pelješac peninsula in Yugoslavia (modern-day Croatia) to bombard German forces on nearby Korčula. (🗺️ via McMaster University; 📸 Adobe Stock) #NavalHistory ▶️ buff.ly/t4y3nRB

Map of the western tip of the Pelješac peninsula around Lovište with the location of the three landing beaches used during Operation Grandfather 1 marked.Modern view of the area around Lovište with the location of the three landing beaches indicated (although Peter Beach is just out of shot in the foreground).
COPP Survey@coppsurvey.uk · 2w ago

🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – after three days of on–off discussion, the Combined Chiefs of Staff at the Quebec Conference in Canada agree outline plans for Operation Overlord. The landings will take place in Normandy. (📸 IWM TR 1347) Within days, COPP will start planning recce operations. #NavalHistory 1/2

William Mackenzie King (Prime Minister of Canada), Franklin D. Roosevelt (President of the United States), Winston Churchill (Prime Minister of the UK) and the Earl of Athlone (Governor General of Canada) during the Quebec Conference.
COPP Survey@coppsurvey.uk · 2w ago

🗓️ #OTD in 1945 – VJ Day is celebrated (📸 in London, IWM D 25636). Within a month, COPP men attached to the Small Operations Group (SOG), based in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), will start to make their way home. ▶️ buff.ly/f7BfZJs

A row of people link arms to celebrate VJ Day in London's Piccadilly Circus.
COPP Survey@coppsurvey.uk · 3w ago

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – COPP 10's George Talbot (📸 IWM Docs.7063) starts a solo recce of beaches on the Pelješac peninsula (📸 Adobe Stock) in Yugoslavia (now part of Croatia). Circumstances in the Adriatic mean he'll recce in daylight over two days. #NavalHistory 🧵 ▶️ buff.ly/VgeyfBV

George Talbot.Modern-day view of part of the Pelješac peninsula.
COPP Survey@coppsurvey.uk · 4w ago

I finally visited the Combined Military Services Museum last Friday, after years of not getting around to it. It’s a classic museum, rammed with weapons, uniforms – and military canoes! The aluminium Mark VII (bottom) was used in south-east Asia while my grandfather was there with COPP. 1/3

The Combined Military Services Museum in Maldon, Essex.Three military canoes on display at the Combined Military Services Museum.
COPP Survey@coppsurvey.uk · last mo.

🗓️ #OTD in 1945 – John Maxwell and Ernest Smith, two Royal Marines from Detachment 385 who were captured four months ago while on recce of Phuket with COPP, are beheaded by officers from the Japanese army's intelligence staff. We remember them.🕯️ ▶️ buff.ly/boDxhAr

The gravestones of John Maxwell (inscribed “To his dear memory. Unforgotten. Unforgettable.”) and Ernest Smith (“Not just today but every day, in silence we remember.”) Images from the War Graves Photographic Project.
COPP Survey@coppsurvey.uk · last mo.

🆕 I love chance discoveries. I was searching the IWM phto collection for something else when I came across this photo of Reg Atkinson with other POWs who'd been released from Thai captivity at the end of the war. (📸 IWM A 30479) 1/3

Reg Atkinson (circled) with other freed POWs on a ship in Colombi, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in September 1945 while awaiting transit home.
COPP Survey@coppsurvey.uk · 2mo ago

🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – Operation Husky takes place as Allied forces land on Sicily. After months of reconnaissance operations, a number of COPP teams are out providing beach marking. (🗺️ via Library and Archive Canada) #NavalHistory 🧵

Map showing dispositions ahead of Operation Husky, landings on Sicily.
COPP Survey@coppsurvey.uk · 2mo ago

Last week I went to York for the Kohima memorial service, organised by the inspirational Kohima Educational Trust. After a talk by the always-engaging Rob Lyman the night before, it was humbling to meet so many relatives of men who took part in arguably the turning point of the Burma campaign.

People listen to the service outside York Minster.People gather at the Kohima memorial after the service.A bagpiper plays.Wreaths laid at the memorial during the service.
COPP Survey@coppsurvey.uk · 2mo ago

🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – subs HMS Unruffled (men from COPP 5), Unseen (COPP 6) and Unrivalled (also COPP 6) sail from HMS Talbot, the sub base in Malta (📸 Adobe Stock), to act as markers for Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily (🗺️ Govt of Canada). #NavalHistory 🧵 ▶️ buff.ly/sWVNdlV

Modern day view of the buildings that during the Second World War formed the submarine base HMS Talbot on Manoel Island, Valletta, Malta.Map showing dispositions for Operation Husky, the landings on Sicily.
COPP Survey@coppsurvey.uk · 2mo ago

🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – after staying under canvas near Porto Vecchio in Corsica, COPP 2 relocates to accommodation at Château de Fornali on its northern coast (📸 Hemis/Alamy). ▶️ buff.ly/MngMnpN Allied forces are building up for Operation Dragoon, landings in southern France. #NavalHistory

Modern-day aerial view of Château de Fornali. In the background on the other side of a headland is a lighthouse. The château is situated on the banks of a small rocky bay.
COPP Survey@coppsurvey.uk · 2mo ago

🗓️ #OTD in 2015 – King Charles III, then the Prince of Wales, meets COPP veterans during an event at the COPP memorial on Hayling Island (📸 PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo). Sadly, none of the COPP veterans are still alive. #NavalHistory

Attendees at the memorial service held on 1 July 2015 at the COPP memorial. From left to right: Rear Admiral John Laing, King Charles III (then Prince of Wales), Timothy Knatchbull, John Ashford, Jim Booth, Roger Gilbert, Stanley Pond, Ian Piper (memorial stonemason).