Post by Administrator on Mar 29, 2019 2:07:50 GMT
In the early hours of the 28th of March 1942, the obsolete destroyer HMS Campbeltown (I42) (ex USS Buchanan (DD-131) ) crossed the English Channel to the Atlantic coast of France disguised as a German destroyer, and accompanied by 18 smaller craft, was rammed into the Normandie dock gates (after a short battle under the White Ensign).
The ship had been packed with delayed-action explosives, well hidden within a steel and concrete case within the bow, that detonated later that day. The explosion put the dock out of service for the remainder of the war and up to five years afterward. This prevented any major German Kerigsmarine warship access to dry dock repair facilities on the Atlantic Coast of France, most particularly their largest and most heavily armed asset, the Fast-Battleship KMS Tirpitz.
5 Victoria Crosses were awarded, the most ever awarded in a single raid. All objectives were disabled / destroyed and some Commandos did escape back to Britain while others were captured and spent time in prison camps. The wartime leader Winston Churchill called the raid on St Nazaire "The Greatest Raid of All", a name it is still known by in military circles.
So: 75 years later, let's take a small pause, and remember this, the Greatest Raid of All.
Jeremy Clarkson: War Stories: THE GREATEST RAID OF ALL
THE GREATEST RAID OF ALL "What a story it is, straight out of a Commando comic book." the guardian Jeremy Clarkson tells the story of one of the most daring operations of World War II -- the Commando raid on the German occupied dry dock at St. Nazaire in France on 28th March 1942. It was an operation so successful and so heroic that it resulted in the award of five Victoria Crosses and 80 other decorations for gallantry.
LINK
The ship had been packed with delayed-action explosives, well hidden within a steel and concrete case within the bow, that detonated later that day. The explosion put the dock out of service for the remainder of the war and up to five years afterward. This prevented any major German Kerigsmarine warship access to dry dock repair facilities on the Atlantic Coast of France, most particularly their largest and most heavily armed asset, the Fast-Battleship KMS Tirpitz.
5 Victoria Crosses were awarded, the most ever awarded in a single raid. All objectives were disabled / destroyed and some Commandos did escape back to Britain while others were captured and spent time in prison camps. The wartime leader Winston Churchill called the raid on St Nazaire "The Greatest Raid of All", a name it is still known by in military circles.
So: 75 years later, let's take a small pause, and remember this, the Greatest Raid of All.
Jeremy Clarkson: War Stories: THE GREATEST RAID OF ALL
THE GREATEST RAID OF ALL "What a story it is, straight out of a Commando comic book." the guardian Jeremy Clarkson tells the story of one of the most daring operations of World War II -- the Commando raid on the German occupied dry dock at St. Nazaire in France on 28th March 1942. It was an operation so successful and so heroic that it resulted in the award of five Victoria Crosses and 80 other decorations for gallantry.
LINK