A group of Royal Marines in the reserve were called to quell the mutiny. Before the firing orders could be delivered the crew of the cruiser HMS Ceres mutinied, upset by the harsh working conditions imposed in the days leading up to the operation. The sailors were not informed what they would be doing until the arrival near Kiel, though many had speculated they were being sent on an intervention. On the same day, the Royal Navy was intended to bombard the fortifications around the fjord to aid the advance of the ground forces, and were to seize the bay after the capture of the harbor by the ground troops. The majority of those advancing from Eckernförde were tasked with capturing the port, with a small contingent being sent to capture the fortifications on the western side of the fjord. The troops advancing from the northeast had the main focus of capturing the fortifications on the eastern side of the fjord. The British troops were divided between two main goals: capturing the port and securing the fjord defenses. At approximately 23:00, under the cover of night, the fighting began. Another 1,000 troops landed on the beaches northeast of Kiel, out of range of the fjord defences. The marines stopped in the town of Gettorf along the way, seizing food and supplies but otherwise establishing no permanent presence. Though Eckernförde hosted a railway junction leading towards Kiel no trains were present at the time, and without any other means of transportation the marines had to march entirely on foot, leading to exhaustion. 5,000 marines advanced towards Kiel, a trip that lasted approximately ten hours, two hours longer than expected. On the morning of 4 February the order to advance towards Kiel was given. The town was placed under curfew and civilians forbidden from leaving, while the garrison dug trenches to form a defensive perimeter outside the city. Some military analysts later evaluated that the amount of British troops present would have been insufficient to repel a large-scale counterattack, though it's unclear if the Spartacists could have done so without ceding significant ground to the Danes. To the surprise of the British command, no counterattack was launched against Eckernförde, despite it standing on the flank of Spartacist forces in the Schwansen Peninsula. Spartacist forces were forced to give ground in order to reinforce Rendsburg and Kiel. On 3 February an additional 5,000 marines were landed at Eckernförde. It was deemed too risky to land directly at Kiel, which was well defended by fortifications and mines in the narrow fjord. This landing was only lightly opposed, with a small group of reportedly drunken armed sailors being the only forces stationed in the town, who were captured without a struggle. On 2 February 1920, around 1,000 British Royal Marines landed in the small port town of Eckernförde, which was only a few miles north of Kiel and a few miles south of the Spartacist frontline with Denmark. Operation Landing at Eckernförde and assault on Kiel 1.1 Landing at Eckernförde and assault on Kiel.Though the disastrous outcome was censored in the British press it would nonetheless spell the end of direct British involvement in the German Civil War. Over 2,000 Royal Marines were eventually cut off and captured, and later repatriated. The landing proved to be a failure, doomed by insufficient forces, a mutiny in the navy, and a quick reaction from Spartacist forces. The objectives of the landing were to provide support for the advancing Danish army as well as to capture the strategic port of Kiel and the fortifications around the fjord, a major step in the ultimate goal of securing the Kiel Canal and capturing a significant portion of the Spartacist navy. The Kiel Operation was an amphibious landing operation at the cities of Eckernförde and Kiel undertaken by British forces from 2 to 6 February 1920 during the German Civil War.
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