St. Nazaire Raid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

St. Nazaire Raid "Operation Chariot"
Part of World War II
Date 28 March 1942 Location Saint-Nazaire, France Result All British objectives were completed, all targets destroyed.
Combatants
United Kingdom	Nazi Germany
Casualties
169 dead[1][2]	292 dead(overall), 127 wounded

The St. Nazaire Raid (also called Operation Chariot) was a successful British seaborne attack on the heavily defended docks of St. Nazaire in occupied France on the night of March 28, 1942 during World War II. The operation was undertaken by Royal Navy and Army Commando units under the auspices of Louis Mountbatten's Combined Operations.

The obsolete destroyer HMS Campbeltown commanded by Stephen Halden Beattie and accompanied by 18 shallow draft boats, rammed the St. Nazaire lock gates and was blown up, ending use of the dock. Commandos landed on the docks and destroyed other dock structures before attempting to fight their way out. Despite teaming up with a regular soldier unit in the town, the commandos were either killed or captured.

Five Victoria crosses were awarded to men involved in the raid, which has been called The Greatest Raid of All.^[3]

Contents 1 St. Nazaire 2 The British plan 3 The journey 4 The attack 5 Back out to sea 6 The battle at the docks 7 Aftermath 8 See also 9 Further reading 10 Documentaries 11 Anniversaries 12 Films 13 References

[edit] St. Nazaire

Several features of St. Nazaire made it worth attacking. The main target was the Forme Ecluse Louis Joubert, an enormous dry dock capable of holding the largest Kriegsmarine (German Navy) warships and the only dock of that size on the Atlantic coast. The British feared that the Tirpitz would be transferred to St. Nazaire. The dock had been built between 1928 and 1932 to accommodate the SS Normandie liner and is sometimes referred to as the Normandie Dock. It was 1,148 feet (350 m) long and 164 ft (50 m) wide, connecting at one end into the Penhoet basin and entering the estuary at the other. The locks of the dock were caisson-and-camber, each 167 feet (51 m) long and 35 feet (11 m) thick constructed of hollow steel sections.

As well as the dock the harbour included a new submarine base being built by the Organisation Todt with fourteen enormous submarine pens. It was connected to the sea via two entrances both fitted with lock systems, one opening east near the Normandie Dock and one opening south into the new (1907) avant-port.

The German defences at St. Nazaire were considered the second toughest in western France after those of Brest. Both sides of the estuary approach were fortified and were manned by 280 Naval Artillery Battalion (commanded by Edo Dieckmann) and 22 Naval Flak Battalion (commanded by C. C. Mecke). Fortified guns on the northern shore included four 150mm howitzers, four 170mm guns and four 75mm guns at Chémoulin, south-west of St. Nazaire and four 88mm guns and ten 20mm or 40mm guns at Villès Martin closer to St. Nazaire. Further away at La Baule were four 105mm guns and two 240 mm railway guns. Across the estuary from St Nazaire were four 75mm guns at St Gildas, another four at Le Pointeau and ten or so 20mm guns at Mindin. In the harbour area were around 30 single 20mm guns, two quad 20mm guns, around 15 40mm guns and a flakship, the Sperrbrecher 137 just off the new port. Heavy anti-aircraft defences were also in the town. Radar stations were operating at Le Croisic and at St Marc and all the German positions had searchlights. Around 1,000 troops manned these defences and there were a further 5,000 or so military personnel in the town. Excluding submarines the naval power in the town was limited to ten minesweepers, four small Hafenschutzboote and four torpedo boats.

[edit] The British plan

The Combined Operations scheme relied on surprise. A flotilla of shallow-draft boats would speed up the estuary while the German defences were distracted by an air-raid. A destroyer carrying tons of explosives hidden inside it would be rammed into the exposed caisson of the Normandie Dock. Commando raiding parties would then disembark from the destroyer and accompanying vessels to attack and destroy 24 targets in the dock area. The raiding force would then be withdrawn by sea from the edge of the harbour via the "Old Mole". Some hours later delayed-action fuses (a group of pencil detonators were used together in order to guarantee ignition) would trigger the massive explosive charge on the destroyer. Initially, the plan was to have one destroyer as the explosive ship and eight motor launches. The final plan involved the destroyer, sixteen motor launches, one Motor Gun Boat and one Motor Torpedo Boat.

The destroyer was HMS Campbeltown, an obsolete craft. She was previously the USS Buchanan of the United States Navy, transferred to Britain early in the war as part of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement. Campbeltown was given cosmetic modifications so that she would resemble a German Möwe class destroyer. This step of the operation had only 12 days, so changes made were minor, such as cutting the ship's funnels and chamfering the edges to create a more German destroyer look. Other changes included the removal of main guns and other excess weight to reduce her draught to the minimum. Armament was reduced to a single QF 12 pounder (76 mm) gun and eight 20 mm Oerlikon guns. The explosives were placed just behind 'A' gun position, consisting of 24 Mark VII depth charges enclosed in steel tanks and concrete. Each depth charge contained 132 kg of amatol, giving a total explosive charge weight of 3.17 metric tons.

The ship was to ram the caisson and then be scuttled to prevent her removal before she could explode. Campbeltown was commanded by Lieutenant-commander S. H. Beattie and the crew was reduced to 75.

The Motor Launches were Fairmile Marine Company Fairmile B craft, 112 feet (34 m) long and 19.5 feet (5.9 m) in beam. They were powered by two 650 bhp (480 kW) petrol engines. Built of mahogany they had very little armour and were vulnerable to fire and damage of the hydraulic steering system. They were armed with a 20 mm Oerlikon for air defence, four 0.303 inch (7.62 mm) Lewis guns and depth charges. With a normal crew of twelve, on Operation Chariot each carried fifteen commandos and extra fuel tanks.

The motor gun boat MGB 314 was added to act as a headquarters ship for the naval command. She was a Fairmile C type, slightly smaller than the 'B', but powered by three 850 hp (630 kW) engines, each driving a shaft and screw, capable of almost 30 knots (56 km/h). She was armed with one automatic QF 2 pounder (40 mm) forwards, one semi-automatic Rolls-Royce QF 2 pounder amidships and two 0.50 inch (12.7 mm) Vickers machine guns. She was also fitted with radar and an echo sounder.

The motor torpedo boat, MTB 74, was a special craft, a Vosper & Company motor-boat. She was modified to carry delayed-action torpedos weighing 2,200 lb (1,000 kg) each. The torpedo tubes were mounted high enough on the MTB to allow them to be fired over torpedo nets. The craft was also equipped with five Hotchkiss machine guns. With engines generating over 3,500 hp (2,600 kW) she was capable of almost 45 knots (83 km/h) but consumed so much fuel that she would have to be towed most of the way to the target. She and all the other motor boats were painted a special shade of purple, dubbed 'Plymouth Pink', designed to make them less conspicuous to searchlights.

The group was escorted most of the way to the target by two Hunt-class escort destroyers, HMS Atherstone and Tynedale.

The number of men employed in the attack was 611. The naval commander was R. E. D. Ryder and the Commandos were led by Lieutenant-Colonel A. C. Newman. The Commando force was divided into three groups, two on the motor launches and one on Campbeltown. The Commando groups were further divided into demolition squads and protection squads. The demolition squads carried 60 to 90 lb (30 to 40 kg) of demolition equipment each, mainly explosives and cordtex, sledgehammers and axes. With the demolition men carrying so much kit they were only armed with pistols, the protection squads with Thompson guns, hand grenades and Bren guns were there to defend them while they worked.

The bomber support was 35 Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys and 25 Vickers Wellingtons, although this force was greatly reduced before the operation due to the needs of RAF Bomber Command. Its effectiveness was further diminished by the order of Churchill to minimise French casualties.

[edit] The journey

The ships left Falmouth on 26 March 1942 with the goal of ramming the Campbeltown into the caisson at 1:30 on the 28th. The flotilla sailed south-west and then south, adopting the arrow-head formation of an anti-submarine sweep. Apart from a brief clash with a U-boat on the 27th the ships proceeded unseen, turning eastwards on the morning of the 27th and finally north-east in the early evening. One motor launch suffered a mechanical failure and returned to England alone. As they approached St. Nazaire the ships moved into a simple formation, two lines of motor launches with the Campbeltown in-between and the MGB leading the way. Rather than taking the main channel the ships cut across the shallows to the west. In doing so, the Campbeltown narrowly avoided grounding.

[edit] The attack

The diversionary bombing was desultory and did little except to alert the German forces that something odd was happening. Despite this the British ships got very close to the harbour without being fired on. The force was first noticed at 01:15 but searchlights did not go on until 01:22 when the force was little more than 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) from the harbour. The British flew the Kriegsmarine ensign and used a German morse call sign and gained almost five minutes of unimpeded progress. It was not until 01:28 with less than a mile to the harbour that the German guns opened fire and the White Ensign was hoisted. The Campbeltown drew most fire but despite a number of casualties struck the southern caisson at around 20 knots (37 km/h) at 01:34, jamming herself deep into the structure and crumpling almost 40 feet (12 m) of her hull. The delay fuses had been set shortly before the ship came under fire. The seven Commando teams then disembarked and made for their targets, destroying much of the equipment associated with the Normandie Dock and damaging the northern caisson. As these Commando groups withdrew and headed for the pier to embark they discovered how the remainder of the force was faring.

The seventeen smaller vessels, although receiving less fire, were much more vulnerable. In the four minutes around the ramming by the Campbeltown eight of the launches were destroyed in the channel. A few hits were often sufficient to set the motor launches ablaze and the crew and Commandos had to abandon themselves to the water or Carley rafts. Many drowned or were caught in the burning fuel that spread across the water. Most of the eight craft destroyed suffered greater than 80% fatalities, even on the surviving craft barely a man escaped injury. In the dark and dazzled by the searchlights several boats overshot the harbour entrance and had to turn back through heavy fire to try and land their Commandos. MTB 74 survived, fired her special torpedoes into the lock at the old entrance and made it back out to sea after taking on around half the crew of the Campbeltown. Only a few Commando teams on the launches made it ashore, none successfully at the Old Mole where they were hoping to re-embark and escape. The intact motor launches took on what survivors they could find or rescue from the water, made smoke and withdrew, leaving just over a hundred Commandos on the docks. MGB 314 survived and was the last vessel to leave, her decks covered in wounded men rescued from the water. On this vessel the two Able Seamen Savage and Frank Smith distinguished themselves manning the exposed 2-pdr (a 40 mm/39-calibre QF HA Mk.II, the ubiquitous pom-pom) until Savage was killed .

[edit] Back out to sea

The boats that made it back out to sea were heading for a point around 25 nautical miles (46 km) out from St. Nazaire, where they would rendezvous with their destroyer escorts. As the boats moved out into the wider part of the channel they came under fire from heavier guns, although at longer range. Two boats were destroyed in the race down river, one of the motor launches and MTB 74. Both vessels were carrying many wounded and most of the Campbeltown crew; their losses accounted for over half of the naval casualties. A final motor launch, carrying 28, was engaged at around 05.30 by the German destroyer Jaguar commanded by F. K. Paul. Eager to capture the British vessel, Jaguar did not use her main armament and the two vessels exchanged heavy small arms fire. After almost an hour of firing and manoeuvring, with twenty dead or seriously wounded, the British surrendered. Sergeant T. F. Durrant who had manned a Lewis gun during the clash kept firing despite being severely wounded having been shot over 16 times, eventually he passed out from loss of blood and died. He was later posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross,which .

Four British vessels made the rendezvous with the destroyers; two were abandoned at that point due to their condition and the others were abandoned slightly later when the destroyers came under air attack. Upon reaching the destroyers, the occupants of three motor launches were informed that their vessels were to be sunk, but they decided nevertheless to return to Falmouth under their own power. On the way they shot down a Messerschmitt aircraft.

[edit] The battle at the docks

The Commandos left behind were soon heavily pressed. Stosstruppen from Works and Flak companies began to enter the dock area from around 02.00. Also, with the withdrawal of the boats, the German 20 and 40mm guns began to fire into the dock area. The British regrouped amongst the warehouses and declining to surrender, took off on a circuitous route at around 03.00 which they hope would take them across a bridge into the main town and thence into open country.

Leaving a steady trail of dead and wounded the Commandos worked through the docks and charged the bridge, breaking through onto the Place de la Vielle Ville, but with barely one in four of the force uninjured. The Commando breakout coincided with the arrival of regular soldiers and armoured vehicles from 679 MI Brigade. The British were forced southwards into the town and, under increasing fire sought cover. The Germans surrounded the town, posted road-blocks, stopped all traffic and conducted a house-to-house search. Almost all the British were captured or killed by around 10.00. They were assembled at La Baule, numbering roughly 200 and taken to various prisoner of war camps, most to Stalag 133. Five British soldiers avoided capture and made it to Gibraltar. Of the British force 169 had been killed, German casualties from the battle were 42 killed and 127 wounded.

As well as the VC for Sergeant Thomas Frank Durrant a further four VCs were awarded — to Lieutenant-Commander Stephen Halden Beattie, Lieutenant Colonel Augustus Charles Newman, Commander Robert Edward Dudley Ryder and Able Seaman William Alfred Savage.

[edit] Aftermath

The Campbeltown charges were timed to go off at around 09.00 at the latest. A German search had not uncovered the explosive and the appointed time passed and it was not until 10.35 that the Campbeltown exploded, destroying the caisson and killing about 250 German soldiers and civilians in the vicinity. During the delay, senior German officers had arrived to inspect the damage. They were accompanied to the dock by two Commando officers who had been taken prisoner. They knew what was about to happen but remained silent and died in the explosion. The reason for this delay in detonation has not been resolved and never will be. The means used to detonate the explosives was an acid detonator, which was a notoriously unreliable system for triggering explosives, often detonating far earlier or later than expected. It has been proposed that the heat in the ship evaporated some of the acid in the detonators, resulting in a slower reaction. An alternative theory, advanced by some of the soldiers involved in the raid, is that one or more of the Commandos, having realised that the timers had failed, returned to the Campbeltown and manually detonated the charges.

The explosive charges dropped by MTB 74 at the lock gates did not detonate until 30 March 1942, as expected. This late explosion shook the German garrison and led to a night of panic with German forces firing on French civilians and each other. Sixteen French civilians were killed and around thirty wounded. Later 1,500 civilians were arrested and taken to the camp at Savenay.

Despite the raid's very high casualties, it was a great success — the dock was severely damaged and rendered unusable until 1947.

[edit] See also

• Zeebrugge Raid - a similar raid of the First World War

[edit] Further reading

• Saint-Nazaire: Operation Chariot - 1942: Battleground French Coast; James G Dorrian; Pen & Sword Books, 2006: ISBN 1-84415-334-7 (www.jamesgdorrian.com)
• St. Nazaire 1942, The Great Commando Raid; Osprey Campaign Series #92, Ken Ford; Osprey Publishing, 2001; ISBN 1-84176-231-8 .
• Storming St. Nazaire; James G. Dorrian; Leo Cooper, London 1998; ISBN 0-85052-419-9 .
• St. Nazaire Commando; Stuart Chant-Sempill; John Murray, London 1985; ISBN 0-89141-315-4 .
• The Attack on St. Nazaire; Commander R.E.D. Ryder; John Murray, London 1947.
• Forgotten Voices of the Second World War; Max Arthur; Ebury Press, London 2004.
• Turned Towards the Sun;Michael Burn; Michael Russell (Publishing) Ltd, Great Britain 2003; ISBN 0-85955-280-2.

[edit] Documentaries

• In 1973 the BBC made a television documentary of the assault on St Nazaire and some of the survivors took part. It was shown on the 26th March 1974 on the eve of the 32nd anniversary.

• In 2007 Jeremy Clarkson presented a TV-documentary Greatest Raid of All Time.

[edit] Anniversaries

• On March 27/28th 1982 which was the fortieth anniversary of the raid, Queen Elizabeth II invited members of the St Nazaire society to return to St Nazaire on board the Royal Yacht Britannia.

[edit] Films

The 1952 film The Gift Horse was loosely based on the story of HMS Campbeltown.

[edit] References