Operation Pike: Anglo-French plan to bomb the Soviet Union

Having some of my trolls do some more digging, found this article called: The Controversies of the Targets for Uncle Joe’s Falcons

On 31 December 1939, British General Butler went to Turkey to discuss military cooperation with the Turks against the USSR; the use of airfields and seaports by the British in Eastern Turkey was considered. On January 15, 1940, French Foreign Affairs Ministry’s general secretary Leger informed the US Ambassador to France W. Bullitt of Prime Minister Daladier’s suggestion to send a naval force to the Black Sea so that to blockade Soviet communication lines and conduct air raids against oil wells in Baku. “France won’t break diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, nor will war be declared. France will destroy the Soviet Union by guns if required,” said Leger. On January 24, 1940, Britain’s Chief of General Staff General Ironside submitted his Memorandum entitled, “The Main Strategy for War” to the War Cabinet. According to his views, the only effective way for Britain to help Finland was attacking Russia from multiple directions; the most important would have been to attack Baku, which was an oil production area so that to cause a national crisis in Russia.

On February 3, 1940, French General Staff issued operational guidelines for General Jenaut, French air force commander in Syria, to start preparations for an aerial attack on Baku, “the outcome of the war will be decided in the Caucasus, not on the Western Front.” On 7 February 1940, the British War Cabinet discussed bombardment of the Soviet oilfields; they opined that “a successful operation could fundamentally disrupt the Soviet economy, inclusive of the agriculture.” The Joint Chiefs of Staff received instructions to draft an appropriate document to that effect. To attack Baku, the British deployed several brand-new Blenheim Mk.IV bomber squadrons to the Middle East.

On March 8, 1940, Britain’s Joint Chiefs of Staff submitted a report to the War Cabinet, “The Consequence of Military Operations Against Russia, in 1940”. The document stipulated for three main areas of operations against the Soviet Union: The North (Petsamo, Murmansk, and Archangelsk); The Far East, and The South, the latter one was given top priority. The report emphasized the most vulnerable targets in the Caucasus (Baku, Grozny, and Batumi). The Royal Navy should have been involved in air operations wherefore aircraft carriers would have been committed to bombing the Soviet oil refineries, oil storage facilities, and port installations in Batumi and Baku, in addition to the main attack on the Caucasus and which would have temporarily destroyed the Russian defenses.

PREPARATIONS FOR COUNTERATTACK

The British Air Force conducted a series of reconnaissance flight missions over the Soviet territory. A brand-new US-made Lockheed 12-A aircraft fitted with three high-resolution aerial photo-cameras covering 18.5-km width from 6-km altitude flew its missions from Habbania airfield near Bagdad. On March 30, 1940, Lockheed 12-A made several circles over Baku and nearby oilfields flying at 7-km altitude. After 4 days, they flew another reconnaissance mission over Poti and Batumi oil refineries where the flak artillery fired 34 76-mm rounds but missed the target. A formal protest was lodged with the Turkish Border Guards Commissar by the Soviet Border Guards. Those missions were flown after 12 March 1940, the date when Peace Agreement between Finland and the USSR had been signed. The Soviet spies informed Moscow from Britain about the Allied plans. A “warm welcome” was being prepared for the Allied Air Force in and around Baku. The air defense corps stationed in Baku consisted of 9 flak regiments, each had 100 85-mm and 76-mm guns, 12 37-mm automatic guns, 25 anti-aircraft machine guns, and 30 motor searchlights. Several hundred defensive air force aircraft were deployed to cover Baku. The Soviet Command began their counterattack preparations, in February 1940.

6 long-range bomber aviation regiments total of 350 DB-3 bomber aircraft were deployed: regiments ## 6, 42, and 83 were stationed to operate from the airfields in the Crimea, and another 3 regiments were committed to operating from the airfields around the Sevan Lake, Armenia. Most pilots (except for regiment # 83) flew their combat missions in Finland. In April 1940, the regiment commanders were ordered to prepare for combat missions accordingly. The navigators plotted their flight plans. The bomber crews flew their training sorties taking off from an airfield near Eupatoria to fly along the Bulgarian coast and further on along the Turkish coast towards hypothetical targets in Abkhazia; and then they would fly back home to Eupatoria along the same route. The first group squadrons were assigned to attack their British targets in Larnaka, Nicosia and Famagusta in Cyprus, and the Haifa base in Palestine. The French targets ordered to attack were in Syria. The second group squadrons were ordered to take off from Armenia to fly over Iran towards Iraq. In the vicinity of Baghdad, they were to split to attack their targets in Turkey and British bases in Iraq and Egypt. The Bomber Regiment # 21 was assigned the main mission: two squadrons were ordered to engage the British Navy stationed in Alexandria and another two squadrons were ordered to attack the Port Said targets. One squadron was ordered to bomb the Suez Canal gates in order to paralyze the British shipping. The French and British bases operated under peace-time-conditions throughout the first five months of 1940, and nobody would have thought about a potential enemy aerial attack.