TheDigger
20-02-2008, 10:14
Firstly all sorry about the size of the post but this is a most intersesting combined operation of the Royal Navy and British Army ( Commando) early in the war. The result deemed successful but the cost in commandos was horendous and was I believe the highest of any commando raid during WW2
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. All but 27 of the commandos were either killed or captured: 22 escaped back to Britain in the motor torpedo boats and 5 to the Spanish border.
The loss of St. Nazaire as a dry dock would force any large German warship in need of repairs to have to return to home waters.
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,
The German defences at St. Nazaire were considered the second toughest in western France after those of Brest with nearly 100 guns of various calibre the largest being 240mm down to the 20mm for aircraft defence Around 1,000 troops manned these defences and there were a further 5,000 or so military personnel in the town.
The 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" jetty. Some hours later delayed-action would trigger the massive explosive charge on the destroyer.
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. The Campbeltown was given cosmetic modifications so that she would resemble a German Möwe class destroyer. Explosives consisted 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 the Fairmile B craft designed by Fairmile Marine and were 112 feet (34 m) long and 19.5 feet (5.9 m) in beam. 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, 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.
The motor torpedo boat, MTB 74, was a special craft, a Vosper & Company motor-boat. She was modified to carry delayed-action torpedoes weighing 2,200 lb (1,000 kg) each. The fuel consumned would require it 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 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 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.
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. 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.
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.
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 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 upon the personal recommendation of the German officer in command of the Jaguar.
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.
Of the British force 169 had been killed over 200 were captured, 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.
The Campbeltown's charges were timed to go off at around 0900 hrs at the latest. Meanwhile, a German search of the ship failed to discover the hidden explosives. The detonation time came and went. During this delay, senior German officers arrived to inspect the damage and were photographed on deck. They were accompanied to the dock by two Commando officers who had been taken prisoner. The captured officers knew what was about to happen but had to keep the secret. It was not until 1035 hrs that the Campbeltown finally exploded, destroying the caisson.
As intended, the delayed-action torpedoes fired by MTB 74 at the lock gates did not detonate until 30 March 1942.
Despite the heavy casualties suffered by the British raiders, the St. Nazaire raid was judged to be highly successful: the dock was severely damaged and remained unusable until 1947.
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. All but 27 of the commandos were either killed or captured: 22 escaped back to Britain in the motor torpedo boats and 5 to the Spanish border.
The loss of St. Nazaire as a dry dock would force any large German warship in need of repairs to have to return to home waters.
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,
The German defences at St. Nazaire were considered the second toughest in western France after those of Brest with nearly 100 guns of various calibre the largest being 240mm down to the 20mm for aircraft defence Around 1,000 troops manned these defences and there were a further 5,000 or so military personnel in the town.
The 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" jetty. Some hours later delayed-action would trigger the massive explosive charge on the destroyer.
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. The Campbeltown was given cosmetic modifications so that she would resemble a German Möwe class destroyer. Explosives consisted 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 the Fairmile B craft designed by Fairmile Marine and were 112 feet (34 m) long and 19.5 feet (5.9 m) in beam. 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, 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.
The motor torpedo boat, MTB 74, was a special craft, a Vosper & Company motor-boat. She was modified to carry delayed-action torpedoes weighing 2,200 lb (1,000 kg) each. The fuel consumned would require it 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 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 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.
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. 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.
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.
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 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 upon the personal recommendation of the German officer in command of the Jaguar.
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.
Of the British force 169 had been killed over 200 were captured, 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.
The Campbeltown's charges were timed to go off at around 0900 hrs at the latest. Meanwhile, a German search of the ship failed to discover the hidden explosives. The detonation time came and went. During this delay, senior German officers arrived to inspect the damage and were photographed on deck. They were accompanied to the dock by two Commando officers who had been taken prisoner. The captured officers knew what was about to happen but had to keep the secret. It was not until 1035 hrs that the Campbeltown finally exploded, destroying the caisson.
As intended, the delayed-action torpedoes fired by MTB 74 at the lock gates did not detonate until 30 March 1942.
Despite the heavy casualties suffered by the British raiders, the St. Nazaire raid was judged to be highly successful: the dock was severely damaged and remained unusable until 1947.