Bellicose means eager to fight or warlike. A British bombing mission during the Second World War was named 'Operation Bellicose'. It was a strategic mission that began on June 20, 1943. It was carried out by Lancaster bombers of the Royal Airforce, which flew towards Friedrichshafen, a city in southwest Germany. Their mission was to bomb a steel construction factory. A Pathfinder aircraft marked the location for the bombers with smoke markers and the raid was successfully carried out. The bombers then headed for North Africa and were refuelled and rearmed in Bilda, Algeria. Their next target was an Italian naval base at La Spezia, Liguria.

The total number of aircraft used for these missions was 60, but eight had to remain in Algeria due to damage.