List of Military Engagements of World War II - Operations - Raids

Raids

Small to medium-sized raiding operations were carried out by both Allied and Axis armies during World War II. The modus operandi used included guerrilla attacks by partisans in occupied territory and/or combined operations involving the landing and removal of specialised light infantry, such as commandos, by means of small boats.

• Allied
  • Operation Colossus
    • 10 February 1941
    • Experimental raid by 38 British Commandos on a fresh water aqueduct near Calitri in southern Italy.
  • Operation Claymore
    • 4 March 1941
    • 1000 Men from the British Commandos and belonging to the Norwegian Independent Company 1 destroy fish oil factories on the remote islands off the coast of Norway.
  • Operation Archery
    • 27 December 1941
    • 570 men from the British Commandos and belonging to the Norwegian Independent Company 1 raid and attack German positions on Vågsøy Island in Norway.
  • Battle of Timor
    • 19 February 1942 – 10 February 1943
    • Continuous raids from Australian commandos against the occupying Japanese.
  • Operation Chariot
    • 28 March 1942
    • 196 Royal Navy and Army Commando units raid and destroy the heavily defended docks of St. Nazaire in occupied France.
  • Dieppe Raid
    • 19 August 1942
    • Over 6,000 infantrymen, mostly Canadian attempted to seize and hold the port of Dieppe.
  • Makin Island raid, 17–18 August 1942
  • Operation Jaywick, September 1943
  • Operation Jedburgh, 1944
  • Operation Roast, April 1945
• Axis
  • Operation Greif, December 1944

Raiding units

• Allied
  • Multinational
    • Chindits
    • Devil's Brigade
    • Z Special Unit
    • Popski's Private Army
    • Gideon Force
  • Australia
    • Australian Army Independent Companies
  • France
    • Far East French Expeditionary Forces
    • Intervention Light Corps
  • Greece
    • Sacred Band
  • United Kingdom
    • Long Range Desert Group
    • Special Air Service
    • Royal Marines
    • Special Operations Executive
    • British Army Commandos
      • Layforce
    • British Paratroopers
  • United States
    • Marine Raiders
    • US Army Rangers
    • Alamo Scouts
    • Merrill's Marauders
• Axis
  • Nazi Germany
    • Brandenburger Regiment
    • Waffen-SS (commando force led by Otto Skorzeny).
  • Fascist Italy
    • Decima Flottiglia MAS
  • Empire of Japan
    • Special Naval Landing Forces