Yes. Guy Ritchie’s 2024 film draws on a real British raid: Operation Postmaster, carried out in January 1942 in Santa Isabel, on Fernando Po (now Bioko), then a Spanish colony. A small team seized three Axis ships from the neutral port. The film keeps that basic premise but turns a covert operation built around deception and towing ships away into a much more violent, elaborate action story.
What was Operation Postmaster?
Operation Postmaster was a British operation to remove three Axis ships from Santa Isabel, the port on Fernando Po in the Gulf of Guinea. At the time, Fernando Po was under Spanish colonial rule, and Spain was neutral. The ships were used to support the German submarine fleet operating in the Atlantic, making them a target for British efforts to disrupt Axis activity.
The mission took place in January 1942. A small team infiltrated the port, cut the ships’ anchor chains with plastic explosives, and used two ocean-going tugboats to tow the vessels out to a Royal Navy squadron nearby. The operation’s practical aim was to capture and remove the ships, preferably intact—not to destroy them in a firefight.
The Special Operations Executive (SOE), the British wartime organization established for sabotage and subversion, was central to the operation. The CIA-hosted Studies in Intelligence review by J. R. Seeger describes the SOE as separate from the War Office and Admiralty and placed under the Ministry of Economic Warfare. Seeger’s account says Admiralty support for Postmaster came only after direct orders from Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who had instructed the SOE to “set Europe ablaze.”
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- The British military recruits a small group of highly-skilled soldiers to strike against Nazi forces behind enemy lines during World War II.
The operation relied on deception as well as physical access to the harbor. National Geographic reports that Italian and German merchants were invited to a party while the raiders prepared to take the ships. Findmypast says the raid began and ended within 30 minutes, with no losses to the raiding party; that precise duration is Findmypast’s account, rather than a figure established here as an official operational statistic.
Who took part in the real raid?
The operation involved the Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF), also known as No. 62 Commando, alongside SOE personnel. Seeger names Gus March-Phillipps, Geoffrey Appleyard, Graham Hayes, and Anders Lassen among the participants. March-Phillipps, Appleyard, and Hayes were British officers; Lassen was a Danish refugee who joined the British military and SOE.
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- The British military recruits a small group of highly-skilled soldiers to strike against Nazi forces behind enemy lines during World War II.
The film also draws on the broader wartime world of British intelligence and special operations. The Associated Press notes Ian Fleming’s presence in that larger story: he later became the author of the James Bond novels. That connection does not, by itself, establish that Operation Postmaster directly inspired the Bond books.
How accurate is the film?
The film is best described as inspired by, or loosely based on, Operation Postmaster. Its historical foundation is real, but its action sequences and character arcs are not a reliable reconstruction of the raid. HistoryExtra says the movie adds violence and bombast, depicts Marjorie Stewart fighting despite her not being physically present on the raid, and shows ship-destruction action where the real objective was to capture the vessels if possible. It also notes that the commandos were not court-martialled as the film depicts.
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| Aspect | Operation Postmaster | The film |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Seize and remove three Axis ships supporting German submarine activity. | Uses the ship-seizure premise as the basis for a heightened action-comedy. |
| Method | Covert infiltration, cutting anchor chains, and towing the ships away. | Expands the mission into much more extensive combat and destruction. |
| Setting | Santa Isabel on Fernando Po, then a Spanish colony; Spain was neutral. | Retains the broad historical setting, while dramatizing the events there. |
| People and roles | Included real SOE and SSRF participants such as March-Phillipps, Appleyard, Hayes, and Lassen. | Changes roles and depicts Marjorie Stewart in combat, although she was not physically present on the raid, according to HistoryExtra. |
| Aftermath | The ships were taken, prompting objections from neutral Spain and strong reactions among British leaders who had not been told about the operation. | Depicts the commandos being court-martialled, which HistoryExtra says did not happen. |
That distinction matters: the real operation’s significance lies in its covert planning, diplomatic risk, and successful removal of ships from a neutral port. The movie’s major combat set pieces should be understood as dramatic inventions or alterations, not documented events from the raid.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why did the raid cause controversy?
Taking ships from a Spanish-controlled port created a diplomatic problem even though the targets were Axis vessels. National Geographic describes the operation as a success that caused an international incident: neutral Spain objected to the ships’ removal from its territory. There was also friction within Britain, because political and military leaders who had not been informed about the plan reacted strongly.
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The incident illustrates the tension at the heart of covert wartime operations: a mission could serve British military aims while risking a diplomatic confrontation with a country that had not joined the war. Postmaster was not simply a commando raid against enemy territory; it was an operation conducted inside a neutral colonial port.
What inspired the movie?
HistoryExtra identifies Damien Lewis’s nonfiction book Churchill’s Secret Warriors as a basis for the film. It is a relevant further read for viewers who want a fuller account of the SOE and the raid, though the film should not be treated as a substitute for a historical account.
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