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there were many famous prisoner escapes during world war ii, most of which involved escaping by digging tunnels. however, the amiens prison break on february 18, 1944, was carried out with the help of the british royal air force and was considered the most hardcore prison break.

after the fall of france, many french people joined the resistance movement to fight against the nazi forces. in october 1943, a senior leader of the resistance movement named roland farchon was captured by the german army, and a large number of resistance members were arrested by the german army and imprisoned in amiens prison.

in february 1944, raymond vivant, another senior leader of the resistance movement, was arrested and imprisoned in amiens prison. the intelligence team he had previously established was responsible for collecting intelligence on coastal defenses in preparation for the subsequent normandy landings.

▲the german army executed members of the french resistance, causing considerable damage to the allied intelligence system.

the news of raymond vivant's arrest shocked the allied high-level officials. the intelligence network in the amiens area was destroyed, causing considerable losses. the german army was likely to obtain important intelligence from them.

the us office of strategic services (the predecessor of the central intelligence agency) made a rescue request to the british mi6, hoping to rescue raymond vivant and others at all costs, or kill them if that failed.

it was obviously unrealistic to send agents into a heavily guarded german prison. after discussion, the british decided to start from the air. the specific plan was to send planes to blow up the prison wall and let the prisoners escape in the chaos.

▲the british army built a model of the amiens prison to study how to use air strikes to help the people inside escape.

let me first introduce the situation of amiens prison. the prison is on the north side of the albert-amiens highway. it is a cross-shaped building, about 250 meters from south to north and about 200 meters from east to west. the surrounding walls are more than 7 meters high, but the surrounding buildings are relatively short and do not hinder air raids.

every day at noon, the german guards would start eating at 12 noon, and the prisoners would also gather in the central hall to eat. at this time, blasting open the prison walls and cells could minimize casualties.

the operation was named "operation jericho" and it was decided to use mosquito fighters to carry out this mission. the person in charge was colonel charles pickard and the executing unit was the 140th wing of the royal air force.

the wing consisted of the 487th, 464th and 21st squadrons, each of which sent out six mosquitoes. there were three waves of attacks, with each squadron responsible for one wave. each wave was completed by two attack groups, each with three aircraft, and each mosquito carried four 227 kg bombs.

▲a photo of amiens prison, which is in the shape of a cross, with the albert-amiens road above and tall walls around it.

▲the "mosquito" of the 487th squadron flew in formation, with 227 kg of bombs mounted under the wings.

with no experience in low-altitude precision raids, the pilots underwent 10 hours of special training, with each crew flying back and forth to attack a target in southern england similar to amiens prison.

the original date of the attack was february 10, but it was postponed due to weather conditions. after receiving the news that the german army would execute a group of prisoners on february 19, the british army set the date of the operation on february 18.

at 6 o'clock that morning, the ground crew began testing the engine, and the crew briefing began at 8 o'clock. colonel piccard made the final pre-war mobilization and familiarized himself with the mission process again.

at 10:50, 19 mosquito fighters took off from the hanston air force base (one of which was a camera). the fleet first flew to brighton on the south coast of england and joined up with three escorting typhoon fighter squadrons.

amiens prison was within the combat range of jg 26, and its fw-190 fighters could easily intercept the mosquito. for this reason, the british army dispatched 22 typhoon fighters to escort the mosquito.

▲colonel picard (left) and navigator lieutenant john broadly took a photo before the operation.

on the way to the rendezvous, one mosquito from the 464th squadron and two mosquitoes from the 21st squadron malfunctioned and were forced to return. three typhoons also withdrew from the operation due to malfunctions.

after the mosquito and typhoon merged, the fleet flew over the english channel at a very low altitude to avoid german radar and maintained radio silence. they soon arrived at the french port of le treport, then climbed to 1,500 meters and turned northeast.

after arriving at durand, the fleet flew southeast, and then turned southwest after arriving at albert, lowering its altitude and heading straight for amiens prison along the straight albert-amiens road. the reason why the route was so tortuous was to confuse the german army and make them unaware of the real target.

▲the "mosquito" of the 464th squadron is flying over the english channel at an ultra-low altitude of only 15 meters.

▲the flight routes of the mosquito and typhoon. the fleet kept changing direction to confuse the german army.

during the final stage of the flight to amiens prison, lieutenant hanafin of the 464th squadron was hit by german anti-aircraft fire and one of the engines caught fire. he feathered the propeller and put out the fire.

in order to catch up with the formation, lieutenant hanafin tried to restart the faulty engine, but the engine caught fire again, and he had to abandon the bomb and turn around and return about 19 kilometers from the prison.

on the way back to the uk, lieutenant hanafin's plane was hit by anti-aircraft guns again, injuring his neck and right hand. the navigator injected him with morphine. lieutenant hanafin managed to make an emergency landing at an airport in sussex in southeast england in the snowstorm.

in the end, there were only 15 mosquitoes left to carry out the mission. many pilots saw a number of fw-190s taxiing and taking off at gleich airport not far from amiens, and hoped that the enemy was not coming for them.

▲a german fw-190 stationed in france, which can easily intercept the mosquito.

flying in the front was the 487th squadron commanded by lieutenant colonel owen smith. lieutenant colonel smith recalled: "i finally found the straight road with tall poplar trees on both sides. we flew over the treetops. the prison soon appeared in front of us, and the attack began..."

at 12:01, the mosquito fleet arrived over amiens prison on time. the mosquitoes of the 1st attack group of the 487th squadron approached from east to west along a 250-degree route, entered at an altitude of 30 meters, and dropped bombs on the eastern wall of the prison.

however, no bombs hit the east wall, but one bomb fell into the prison courtyard and bounced off the west wall and exploded. at the same time, the second attack group approached from north to south along a 150-degree route, and the bombs dropped destroyed the north wall, and some bombs hit the prison building.

▲from the cockpit view of the 487th squadron's "mosquito", three aircraft of the first attack group raided amiens prison at an ultra-low altitude along the highway.

▲the first attack group of the 487th squadron attacked the wall from east to west. note the straight albert-amiens road on one side, which is an important reference.

the 464th squadron following behind originally planned to attack right after the 487th squadron, but as the distance was too close and they were worried about accidental bombings, they had to circle around and wait for the opportunity.

at 12:06, the attack of the 464th squadron began. since the east side wall was not destroyed, two mosquitoes of the first attack group entered from the east and dropped 8 bombs at a height of 15 meters, but still failed to hit.

the second attack group entered from north to south and dropped bombs at a height of 30 meters, hitting the guard house on the west side of the prison and killing and wounding many german soldiers.

the surviving german soldiers were busy saving their own men and had no time to care about the prisoners. when they saw the prison wall blown open, the prisoners rushed out of the gap and ran away.

▲the mosquito dropped all four 227 kg bombs, hitting the wall and the building. note the escorting typhoon on the left.

▲the escorting typhoon fighter jets were also an important factor in the success of the operation, ensuring that the mosquito attack was not interfered with.

the two squadrons attacked in less than 10 minutes and dropped a total of 40 bombs, 23 of which hit the prison, 13 fell nearby, and 4 fell farther away, creating multiple gaps. the hit rate was quite good.

the team leader, colonel picard, hovered and observed at an altitude of 150 meters and found that a large number of prisoners were escaping from the gap. continuing the attack would cause heavy casualties, so the 21st squadron on standby did not need to attack and returned directly.

in fact, the mission of the 21st squadron was even more sinister: if the first two squadrons failed to blow up the wall, the 21st squadron would completely blow up the prison and kill all the german guards and prisoners.

in order to cover the evacuation of the prisoners, the mosquitoes kept flying over the prison at low altitudes, so that the german guards would lie on the ground to hide, while the prisoners would run out desperately.

▲a real photo of the 464th squadron's second wave attack on amiens prison. the explosion raised huge smoke and dust, and the wall was blown open.

▲the south wall of amiens prison was blown up, next to the main entrance of the prison. the building was also affected, and a large number of prisoners escaped from here.

at 12:20, the "mosquito" formation completed its mission and returned one after another, but the german counterattack also began. mcritchie's plane of the 464th squadron was damaged by anti-aircraft guns and forced to land in albert. mcritchie was captured and the navigator sampson was killed.

the aircraft of spakos of the 487th squadron was also damaged by anti-aircraft guns, and the left engine caught fire. spakos turned off the engine and managed to return to england.

the last to leave amiens was the leader, colonel picard, who was spotted by two fw-190s from jg 26. colonel picard immediately turned to meet the enemy and drove away one of the german planes.

another fw-190 was piloted by sergeant william meyer, who took the opportunity to bite colonel piccard and fired at the latter's tail. the mosquito crashed in saint-gratien, 13 kilometers north of amiens, and colonel piccard and navigator lieutenant john brodry were killed.

▲colonel picard's last moments: being tailed by an fw-190 and finally shot down. note the marks of shooting on the ground.

▲the crash site of colonel picard's plane. he and navigator lieutenant broadly were killed.

▲sergeant william meyer, who shot down colonel picard's plane.

in operation jericho, the british lost a total of three mosquitoes and two typhoons. it was later found that of the 832 prisoners held in the prison, 255 escaped, but 182 were later recaptured, and a large number of people were killed or injured in the operation.

this was a bold and precise bombing that achieved the intended objective. although it caused some casualties, its merits outweighed its flaws and reflected the excellent quality of the british crew members.