St Nazaire
The Atlantic convoys were vital to Britain’s survival during World War II and we heavily targeted by the Germans. In addition to the U-Boats, Hitler also planned to use massive battleships to attack the convoys. One of the largest battleships was the Tirpitz. The risk was, however, that if the Tirpitz or any other large battleship was damaged, they would be unlikely to limp past Britain to get back to Germany for repairs. This meant, they would need a facility in the Atlantic and the dry dock at St Nazaire was the only possible place. The task of destroying the massive lock gate of the St Nazaire dry dock was given to Lord Louis Mountbatten’s Combined Operations using Royal Navy and Army Commandos.
The Greatest Raid of All
Mountbatten’s plan to attack St Nazaire was bold to say the least. An obsolete destroyer (HMS Campbeltown) was to be packed with explosives and would ram the dry dock gates and blow them up. After that, Commandos would land and destroy as many other secondary targets as possible before retreating to motor launches and heading home.
The mini armada left Falmouth on 26th March 1942 and headed south towards St Nazaire. The journey took 33 hours. Amazingly, the got within 2000yds of the dry dock gates before being unmasked as a British raiding party at with point, the HMS Campbeltown came under tremendous fire. Two men died at the helm before the demolitions expert Lt Nigel Tibbets took over and succeeded in ramming the dry dock gates. The charges were due to go off around 0900 and as the navy had completed their tasks, the commandos sprang into action destroying various targets.
Unfortunately, the many of the boats to take commandos back home were destroyed so they decided to try to fight their way out the St Nazaire and make for the Spanish border over 300 miles away. In the end, just 27 men made it to safety out of a force of over 600. 214 were taken prisoner and 168 were killed. The charges on the Campbeltown didn’t explode until 1030 and around 250 Germans and civilians in the immediate area were killed. As a result of their actions in the raid, 5 men were awarded the Victoria Cross and the raid was, in military terms, a success. The dry dock was so badly damaged that it was not repaired until 2 years after the end of the war. This meant the Tirpitz had no Atlantic base so stayed anchored in Norway until November 1944 when it was sunk by the Royal Air Force. The pride of the German Navy had not sunk a single ship.
Tours for 2010
There are a handful of dates for escorted tours to St Nazaire throughout 2010. The tour also includes a look at the failed Dieppe raid plus the British Commando / US Rangers part in the D-Day landings.
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