The operation, carried out by "A" Squadron, 1st Special Air Service between 6 June and 6 September 1944, was centred on Dijon in the Burgundy region of France.

[4] In May 1944 the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) had issued an order for the Special Air Service Brigade to carry out two operations in France.

[7] One unit they especially wanted to delay was the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich which was based in the area around Toulouse in the south of France.

[10] The squadron was established in a patrol base in the mountainous wooded countryside southwest of Dijon near Chalaux, in the Morvan which is in the Nièvre department.

Unknown to them, members of the French resistance knew about the attack, and Corporal David Danger of the SAS got through the cordon the Germans had put around the camp and was able to warn the squadron.

[12][13] Houndsworth had been extremely successful: six trains had been derailed, 22 railway lines cut, 70 vehicles destroyed, and about 3,000 members of the French resistance provided with arms.

Danger was awarded the Military Medal on 29 March 1945 for his part in foiling the attack on the camp, and his skill in maintaining radio communication from behind enemy lines for four months.