During WW2 British & Commonwealth forces used several marks of kayak (‘cockle’) on operations. These included Operation Frankton of The Cockleshell Heroes fame, and Operation Jaywick by Australian Z Force.
Having been a big fan of The Cockleshell Heroes since I was a lad, and having watched The Heroes in the 80s as a spotty teen, I’d painted up the Airfix commando kayaks many years ago. But now it was time for an upgrade, so I picked up a Britannia Commando Kayak from Grubby last year specially for a small Sword beach commando game.
CLANDESTINE WORK ON LANDING BEACHES
Combined Operations Assault Pilotage Parties (COPPs) risked their lives to gather information about proposed landing beaches and in-shore waters, usually under the noses of enemy coastal defences and patrols. It was hazardous work which proved of great importance to the planners of Overlord and other amphibious landings, from Sicily to the Far East.
On D-Day itself COPP carried out two main roles, beach marking and pilotage. X craft midget submarines were used to guide in the landing forces, but prior to this COPPists were landed via commando kayak for beach reconnaissance.
COPPs landed in late 1943 via kayak, taking samples and measurements of the sand – discovering a large area of soft sand at the top of Sword beach. This is the inspiration behind my take on the commando cockle, for a small game where a commando force will land and recce the beach before my main Sword beach landing. Can they do it without being caught? We’ll find out tomorrow, but for now here’s a quick guide as to how I’ve painted this one.
There we have it, the Britannia Commando Kayak to represent a COPP team. I’d hoped to print an X Craft by now and to have got a couple more of these kayaks, but they’ll have to wait. I’ve got a small game tomorrow and large one on Tuesday to prepare for!
WARGAME DESPATCHES 