China-Burma-India WWII

In March 1943, a ship full of British commandos steamed into a port in Portuguese Goa (India). The commandos then assaulted and destroyed an interned German freighter that had been using a powerful radio transmitter to let nearby German submarines know the comings and goings of British merchant ships in the Indian Ocean. The operation was never officially acknowledged by the British government. The reason was diplomatic. Portugal, though neutral in World War II, was a hotbed of Allied and Axis spies. Many Portuguese officials were pliant, and their cooperation could often be bought. But a major British military operation on Portuguese territory would cause many Portuguese to be more pro-Axis and this would have harmed Allied espionage efforts. Thus middle-aged members of a paramilitary British social organization (the Calcutta Light Horse) were asked to volunteer for an unofficial mission. The volunteers were told that, for diplomatic reasons, they could receive no official recognition. If captured, they were to be considered free-lancers and acting on their own. The raid was a success, but largely due to some preliminary diplomacy. One volunteer visited the port before the raid and paid off a Portuguese official to throw a lavish party the night of the raid and invite the officers of the German and Italian ships in port. Arrangements were then made to make the town's brothels free for the entire week before the raid. These two tasks ensured that few of the officers and sailors were on the ship the commandos attacked.

Many of the volunteers and their uniformed trainers later spoke freely about it. A film was made about the operation (starring David Niven, himself a graduate of the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, with a distinguished war record). Yet the raid was never officially recognized. But that's how diplomacy works.