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coppsurvey.uk
COPP Survey
@coppsurvey.uk
640 followers 210 following 1.7K posts
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
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COPP Survey @coppsurvey.uk · Nov 11
So many new followers, so a quick intro!

My interest in COPP is from family history research that got out of control – my grandfather Jack Crane joined COPP in August 1944. I'm still 'learning as I go' (and sharing it in public as I go).
Left: Jack Crane at 140 OCTU (Officer Cadet Training Unit), Newark, in 1943. Right: me at Hayling Island Sailing Club (formerly COPP Depot) in 2011.
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1945 – COPP 1 in Burma (Myanmar) has to return to Ruywa two nights after doing an initial recce with COPP 4. Miscommunication during the briefing for the first op meant they didn't cover all the ground they needed to during the first op. #NavalHistory 1/2

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Map of the area around Ruywa. The village is on the edge of ‘solid land’ to the east, with mangrove swamps marked to the west. Two beaches are marked on the map, likely ones used during the eventual assault landings.
February 11, 2026 at 9:02 AM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1945 – a joint team of men from COPP 1 and COPP 4 carries out recce near Ruywa in Burma (Myanmar). The overall team is under the command of COPP 4's Denis Mackay (📸 on Ramree Island, Jack Crane family). #NavalHistory

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Denis Mackay photographed on Ramree Island later in 1945, standing with a pipe in his mouth and shrubs and grasses behind him. Beyond that is water and distant land.
February 9, 2026 at 9:01 AM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – midget sub X-23 arrives at sub base HMS Dolphin in Gosport. [At least it did if the target date was achieved!] #NavalHistory

COPP 9, the team that's earmarked to use it for beach recce work, arrived from Scotland about a week ago. (📸IWM ADM 1260)

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X-23 alongside headquarters ship HMS Largs after completing its beach marking operation on D-Day.
February 8, 2026 at 10:01 AM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – COPP 3, in Malta for Sicily recce, is surprised when two other beach recce teams turn up. They're from HMS Saunders (📸 IWM A 17722), Egypt's Combined Training Centre. Their existence was previously unknown to the COPP men. #NavalHistory 🧵

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Landing Craft Assault (LCA) carrying out exercises at HMS Saunders, the naval part of the Combined Training Centre (CTC) near Kabrit on the Great Bitter Lake in Egypt.
February 8, 2026 at 9:01 AM
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"The ministry of ungentlemanly paddling" 😂 Great to see these guys now have their own website - they do a lot of work throughout the year to raise money for the RM Charity

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Paddle Group
The Paddle Group
paddlegroup.uk
February 7, 2026 at 2:41 PM
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🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – COPP 3 relocates from Algiers to Malta ahead of recce of Sicily. They establish their base in quiet barracks at Għajn Tuffieħa (📸 Peter Palmer via SImon Hatch), on the western coast of the main island. #NavalHistory

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Men from COPP 3 sitting outside one of the barrack buildings at Għajn Tuffieħa.
February 6, 2026 at 9:01 AM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – the White Ensign is raised over COPP Depot on Hayling Island for the first time (📸 from 'Stealthily by Night' and NARA 286960596). COPP was formed at the end of November 1942 but it's taken until now to get fully up and running. #NavalHistory

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View along the approach road to Hayling Island Sailing Club, which became COPP Depot. In the background are temporary buildings erected for accommodation. In front of the building is the quarterdeck, which has the White Ensign flying over it. German air reconnaissance photo of the eastern end of Hayling Island with a circle highlighting the location of COPP Depot.
February 4, 2026 at 9:01 AM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1945 – in Burma (Myanmar), COPP 1 uses three canoes to recce three beaches up Dalet chaung. Planners are considering landings to attack a Japanese strongpoint at nearby Tamandu. (📜 Jack Crane family) #NavalHistory 1/2

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Jack Crane's sketch of this operation from his personal diary. It shows Tamandu in the bottom right, near a road that crosses Dalet Chaung using a ferry. A dashed line shows the route taken by COPP's Landing Craft Assault (LCA), which transported their canoes to the launch point, and a solid line shows the course taken by his canoe towards a recovery position. Towards the right of the sketch, another dashed line comes in down a side chaung and heads towards the ferry crossing; it's marked, "Route of sampan."
February 2, 2026 at 9:02 AM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – COPP 9 arrive at sub base Fort Blockhouse in Gosport (📸 IWM HU 84829) after finishing X-craft mini sub training in Scotland. #NavalHistory

X-23 is due to arrive on 8 Feb, after which they'll continue 'working up' for Normandy D-Day operations.

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Fort Blockhouse (submarine base HMS Dolphin) seen from the air, possibly in the early 1960s.
January 29, 2026 at 9:01 AM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1945 – COPP's Harvey Winship starts a week of lectures on beach reconnaissance to LCOCU officers (Landing Craft Obstacle Clearance Unit) (📸 IWM A 28995). #NavalHistory

It includes practical work on Woolacombe beach. 1/2
LCOCU men in training changing into their shallow-water diving suits before going in to clear explosives from a beach obstruction.
January 28, 2026 at 9:01 AM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1945 – COPP 1's Peter Wild (📸 Jack Crane family) guides assault craft to a beach near Myebon that his team recce'd last night (🗺️ Nat Lib Aus). #NavalHistory

It's the team's third operation in as many nights since arriving in Burma (now Myanmar).

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Peter Wild sitting on the end of a bed in a tent, probably at Hammenhiel Camp in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Map marked to show the location of COPP 1’s reconnaissance the previous night. Kantha is marked on the map to the west, and Daingbon to the east. Myebon is slightly off the map to the south.
January 26, 2026 at 10:01 AM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1943 – COPP's Nigel Willmott is among those attending a 'small boat regatta' at Southsea in Portsmouth. A number of other canoe-based units, including the SBS, also attend. The idea is to share examples and thoughts, and try to establish common requirements. #NavalHistory 🧵
Photograph of the small boat regatta on Southsea beach, with various men in canoes or getting into others. In the background are beach defences. Five different types of canoe laid side-by-side on Southsea beach. Composite image of the Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment's William Pritchard=-Gordon holding a collapsed three-man Mark II** canoe; and Nigel Willmott wearing an early-design COPP swimsuit during the regatta.
January 26, 2026 at 9:02 AM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1945 – COPP 1 does its second recce in as many days near Myebon in Burma (Myanmar). #NavalHistory

Seen as a possible 'sticky one', a platoon of Ox and Bucks Light Infantry lands on the opposite bank to provide support if needed. (Base 🗺️ via Nat. Lib. Australia)

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Map marked to show the location of COPP 1’s reconnaissance on the night of 25–26 January 1945. Kantha is marked on the map to the west, and Daingbon to the east. Landings recently took place on the Daingbon chaung which led to the Battle of Hill 170 on the approaches to Kangaw. Myebon is slightly off the map to the south.
January 25, 2026 at 9:01 AM
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🗓️ #OTD in 1945 – COPP 1 is unpacking stores after arriving at Myebon in Burma (Myanmar) when told they're needed for a recce tonight. They survey two beaches north of Myebon as Allies aim to consolidate. (Base 🗺️ via National Library of Australia) #NavalHistory

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Map marked to show two locations, directly north/south of each other, where COPP 1 did reconnaissance on the night of 24–25 January 1945. Kantha is marked on the map to the west, and Daingbon to the east. Landings recently took place on the Daingbon chaung which led to the Battle of Hill 170 on the approaches to Kangaw. Myebon is slightly off the map to the south.
January 24, 2026 at 10:00 AM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – Paul Clark joins COPP 1 at Fort Blockhouse after finishing X-craft training in Scotland. #NavalHistory

He takes command of the team, with COPP founder Nigel Willmott moving to a role coordinating all three COPP teams doing Normandy D-Day recce.

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'Identity card' photograph of Paul Clark, taken before Normandy D-Day operations in case he had to go ashore and seek help from the French resistance rather than return to his X-craft midget submarine.
January 24, 2026 at 9:01 AM
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🗓️ #OTD in 1945 – Paul Clark, COPP’s senior officer in south-east Asia, helps lead in the assault force for the landings at Kangaw in Burma (now Myanmar) (🗺️ via Alamy). #NavalHistory 1/2
Map showing the landings at Kangaw, up the Daignbon chaung near Myebon. 'Identity card' photograph of Paul Clark, taken before Normandy D-Day operations in case he had to go ashore and seek help from the French resistance rather than return to his X-craft midget submarine.
January 22, 2026 at 10:01 AM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – COPP 10 are involved in Operation Shingle, landings at Anzio in Italy (📸 National Army Museum 240818). #NavalHistory

I've not yet come across more details of this operation from a COPP perspective, but the SBS also seem to have been involved in beach marking.
Port view of cruiser HMS Spartan in the foreground. In the background are several vessels in silhouette, with smoke and/or spouts of water in among them.
January 22, 2026 at 9:02 AM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – #OpPostAble Day 5 – After 4½ days away, at⌚18:30 X-20 is secured alongside at Fort Blockhouse in Gosport, home of submarine base HMS Dolphin – COPP’s first X-craft-based recce of the Normandy coast is at last complete. (📸 from 'Steady as She Goes') #NavalHistory 🧵
A recent view looking past the quay at Fort Blockhouse, the former submarine base HMS Dolphin, with red-brick buildings in the background. One of the X-craft modified for COPP operations – either X-20, X-22 or X-23. (From ‘Steady as She Goes’, published by the National Maritime Museum)
January 21, 2026 at 6:30 PM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – #OpPostAble Day 4 – Off Omaha Beach, X-20 is heading to the Vierville-sur-Mer exit to do periscope observations when at⌚12:20 its men get a shock – they’re in the middle of a fishing fleet! (📸 UKHO)

The sea is glassy calm and some are just 50 yards away. #NavalHistory 🧵
A pre-war photograph of a small fishing boat entering Courseulles-sur-Mer port. The photograph was included in an intelligence pamphlet about small ports on the French coast.
January 20, 2026 at 12:20 PM
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🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – COPP 1's Arthur Briggs and Arthur Prior visit RAF Thorney Island to learn how to pack a J Type aircrew dinghy.

Dinghies may be used as extra marking beacons on D-Day, launched from mini subs X-20 and X-23 then anchored in place. (📸 TNA DEFE 2/2084)
A dinghy (but not a K Type one) set up to show how it can be used for beach marking. As well as a light beacon on a pole, visible are a CQR anchor (right) and a rod sounder ‘bongle’ (left), which made a metallic hammering noise that could be picked up by approaching Asdic sets.
January 20, 2026 at 9:01 AM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – #OpPostAble Night 3 – At⌚20:20 Logan Scott-Bowden and Bruce Ogden Smith slip into the water from X-20's casing and start their second swim towards Omaha Beach. They’re heading in between Le Ruquet and Colleville-sur-Mer exits. #NavalHistory 🧵
Map marked to show X-20's approximate release position (map reference 684903) when Logan Scott-Bowden and Bruce Ogden Smith started their swim ashore.
January 19, 2026 at 8:20 PM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – #OpPostAble Day 3 –⌚14:40 Midget sub X-20 is in 16½ feet of water off Omaha Beach's Colleville-sur-Mer exit, having moved in from their overnight rest position. Now the COPP men in the sub start 2 hours of periscope observations of defences being built. #NavalHistory 🧵
Map of the area around Omaha Beach with a red dot marking the rough position where X-20 beached to carry out periscope observations. Map reference was 68639001. (Base map via McMaster University)
January 19, 2026 at 2:40 PM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – #OpPostAble Night 2 – ⌚19:35❗After a 15-minute swim from midget sub X-20, COPP men Logan Scott-Bowden and Bruce Ogden Smith 'touch down' on Omaha Beach – and as they're exiting the water are immediately caught in the beam of a sentry's torch light. #NavalHistory 🧵
Composite image of Logan Scott-Bowden (left) in Royal Engineers officers' uniform and Bruce Ogden Smith (right) with sergeant's stripes on his battledress.
January 18, 2026 at 7:35 PM
coppsurvey.uk
🗓️ #OTD in 1945 – COPP 3 almost leaves stranded 3 Commando Brigade's senior officer, Campbell Hardy (📸 National Portrait Gallery/CC BY-NC-ND 3.0), after he accompanied them on reconnaissance up the Daingbon chaung in Burma (Myanmar). #NavalHistory 🧵

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Portrait photograph of Campbell Hardy in Royal Marines uniform, photographed by Walter Stoneman in 1956.
January 18, 2026 at 10:01 AM
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🗓️ #OTD in 1944 – men from COPP 10 (📸 via Special Forces Roll of Honour website) carry out reconnaissance of Peter sector ahead of imminent landings at Anzio in Italy (📸 IWM NYP 15807). #NavalHistory

Unfortunately I've not yet come across any more details about this recce.
Group photograph of the men from COPP 10. An illustrative photo of the later Anzio landings shows two American soldiers and a sailor in the foreground looking back at a column of Landing Ships Tank (LSTs).
January 18, 2026 at 9:01 AM