Another Operation Vengeance?

Could there ever be another action smilar to that of Operation Vengeance that ambushes a convoy carrying a very high-ranking leader? As I'm sure most of you know, Operation Vengeance was an action taken by the USAAF against a convoy of bombers and fighters taking Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto on his way to the Solomon islands for inspection. Four P-38s ambushed the convoy in air while 14 others were kept at high altitude in preparation for any Japanese response. Yamamoto was killed by the raid. So basically, what I'm asking is-could anyone else have pulled off something like this in any combat situation? Perhaps the Soviet or Western Allied Air Forces could have done this to Hitler? Can anyone think of any other possible scenarios?
 

Pangur

Donor
Not sure how Eisenhower got to the UK in 1942 however if he flew there is an option for your Another would be an attack on the Casablanca in 1943. If it happened and worked they kill Churchill and Roosevelt plus a fair number of senor officers
 
Could there ever be another action smilar to that of Operation Vengeance that ambushes a convoy carrying a very high-ranking leader? As I'm sure most of you know, Operation Vengeance was an action taken by the USAAF against a convoy of bombers and fighters taking Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto on his way to the Solomon islands for inspection. Four P-38s ambushed the convoy in air while 14 others were kept at high altitude in preparation for any Japanese response. Yamamoto was killed by the raid. So basically, what I'm asking is-could anyone else have pulled off something like this in any combat situation? Perhaps the Soviet or Western Allied Air Forces could have done this to Hitler? Can anyone think of any other possible scenarios?


http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-12-14-saddam-profile_x.htm



US Efforts to target Saddam Hussein himself in 2003, before his capture in November of that year. Would certainly have qualified in that vein.
 
Nazis against the western powers, IE Churchill/Roosevelt, no. They decided that they were at least "civilized". Against Stalin, IMHO, if they had a chance they would have tried to take him out in a heart beat. Hitler and the rest of his henchmen decided that the Russians were Untermenchen and anything they did to them was ok.
 
Keep in mind, everyone, I'm talking about a mobile attack on important figures. Attacks on convoys and vehicles with other vehicles. No surprise captures while the individual is at base; the leader pretty much has to die.
 

Pangur

Donor
Nazis against the western powers, IE Churchill/Roosevelt, no. They decided that they were at least "civilized". Against Stalin, IMHO, if they had a chance they would have tried to take him out in a heart beat. Hitler and the rest of his henchmen decided that the Russians were Untermenchen and anything they did to them was ok.

There is no denying the racism of Hitler and his henchmen however equally they would not loose out on a chance to kill any major leader of an enemy power.
 
In DESERT STORM, there were at least three F-15E strike missions laid on against a target where it was strongly implied to the aircrews involved that the target was Saddam. Now, the briefers never explicitly said "Saddam," but the crews were told that if the target was hit during the mission window, and this particular individual was taken out, the war would be over in a matter of hours. The missions were flown, the targets hit, but Saddam had either left, never been there in the first place, or was running late. This is told in the book Strike Eagle: Flying the F-15E in the Gulf War, by William Smallwood.

There was also a reported incident where a convoy was hit by F-16s just prior to the Battle of Khafji (30 Jan-2 Feb 91), where the lead vehicles were taken out, as were the trailing vehicles, but two cars and a RV-type vehicle were in the middle, and still intact. The F-16s were out of ordnance, and had to call for backup. Additional aircraft took 20 min. to arrive, but by the time the relief birds were there, the three vehicles had escaped. It's widely believed that Saddam was in the RV, which he used as a mobile command post.
 
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