St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot

28th March, 2022

This took place on the 28 March 1942, 80 years ago. A most daring raid, and one of the Royal Navy’s finest it is believed. Its intention was to put out of action the only dry dock capable of repairing the remaining battleship of Germany, the Tirpitz, or indeed any other large warship.

The operation involved ramming the gates of the dry dock and blowing the up with explosives hidden in the old destroyer used.

I have done an anagram analysis of the words St Nazaire Raid. This contains 13 letters in total and 9 individual letters.

Aries drat Nazi – Aries the ram, and ramming the gates, how fascinating!

aid arrest Nazi – helping to stop the Nazis, Mmm…

a arse dirt Nazi – enough said.

AI retard Nazis – interesting.

at raider Nazis – in relation the Nazi raider ships which were using the facility, Mmm…

arid Nazi tares – the wheat and the tares, Mmm…

Sanitizer – is a part anagram which is interesting given how useless such products are against a virus despite what we are told.

Zaire – is a part anagram and given its totalitarian regime and issue previous under Belgium and the atrocities committed against its peoples, the significance can be seen clearly I hope.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaire

Anyway, having said that, I am going to proceed to offer my take on the proceedings in my usual wacky approach. You know, ‘Let him who has an ear to hear, let him hear.’ I hope it will make you laugh and think. I have used the Wikipedia links as a basis.

Please note I do not intend any disrespect to those who died or fought, merely to show the absurdity of war, how mad things can be, even if it is only how one can use language. After all, it is propaganda and morale that count most to win battles and wars, especially wars of words.

As usual quote in italics are from here unless otherwise indicated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nazaire_Raid

1          Background

Now Santa Zaire was originally from Zaire as his name might suggest. He was minding his own business on the north bank of the Loire, carving ‘Leroi wuz ‘ere’ on a tree. In English we would know this as ‘Leroy was here’, as opposed to ‘Kilroy was here’.

Sadly for Santa Zaire who had come out of Darkest Africa on the good ship D’Ark after a Great Flood, some nazi Nasties came along and were nasty to him.

There was a dry duck in the place where Santa Zaire resided which the Nasties were rather keen on. This was kept in a box with a lock on it.

This had two Gates, one called Bill, the other called Melinda, and destroying these seemed an excellent idea as the dry duck would then be out of action and any Nasty plan thwarted.

Anyway, as the Nasties were being rather nazi to the Bright-ish as well as Santa Zaire, it was the Bright-ish who came up with the bright idea to destroy the lock gates with a destroyer.

This seems rather obvious as it’s in the name destroyer, but sometimes people forget the obvious way to do something.

Like using vitamin D to cure Covid 19/the ‘flu as opposed to vaccines which will give you the ‘flu (or kill you, whichever you prefer).

But then that’s the Nasties for you, they are a bit dim.

The Bright-ish decide to call the operation to destroy the Gates, Operation C.Harriett after an ancient Briton called Clarissa Harriett who rode a chariot and duffed up some Romans who were roamin’ the countryside.

A song was later penned by a Mr Wall Is Will Is, called ‘Swing low sweet Harriett’ in her memory.

Apparently

In 1939, Nazi Germany’s Reich Music Examination Office added the song to a listing of “undesired and harmful” musical works.

From

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_Low%2C_Sweet_Chariot

So singing this song as the operation was underway, was a great way of harming, let alone annoying the Nasties.

The land fight was undertaken by some commandos. They often preferred to fight hand to hand and thus said ‘sod ammo NC’. They painted their faces black so could be said to be ‘coon MS mad’, both anagrams of the word commandos.

2          Plan

The purpose of the raid was to destroy the Normandie dock, the old gates into the Bassin de St Nazaire with the water pumping machinery and other installations and any U-boats or other shipping in the area.

The purpose of the raid was as previously mentioned to destroy the dry duck called Norman Dee and the old Gates (however as Bill Gates parents are now dead, we can consider the old Gates gone).

The old Gates guarded the basin where the Nasties washed their Hans etc.

The You Boats were also to be got rid of. They had torpedo tubes which were known as YouTubes, something of a problem today as no doubt you are aware.

The initial Combined Operations plan required one specially lightened destroyer to carry out the raid. It would be packed with explosives and rammed into the dock gates.

Commandos on board would then disembark and use demolition charges to destroy nearby dock installations, searchlights and gun emplacements. The destroyer would then be blown up. At the same time the RAF would undertake diversionary air raids in the area.

Some people thought they were going to Ramsgate in Kent, England, but there are those whose geography is not very good.

The intention was again to use a light end destroyer, as opposed to the dark end one. Command-doughs would use a form of plastic dough (as bit like Semtex nowadays) to blow up the duck installations, search lights (used for research) and gun in placements.

Why they did not use pumps like everyone else to blow things up is not clear. But it seems they were going to destroy the pumping installations of the Nasties, presumably to stop them inflating their dry ducks, rubber ducks, etc.

The RAF was to be asked to provide Di Version as a distraction. She was a well-developed lady rather like the girls at the beer festivals in Germany where the Nasties came from, so this seemed like a good idea.

When the plan was presented to the Admiralty they refused to support it. The certain loss of one or both destroyers to eliminate the dry dock was out of the question. They suggested they could provide an old Free French destroyer, Ouragan, and a flotilla of small motor launches to transport the commandos and evacuate them afterwards.  Approval for the mission, codenamed Operation Chariot, was given on 3 March 1942. Using a French ship would involve using the Free French forces and increase the number of people aware of the raid. Consequently, it was decided the navy would have to provide a ship of their own. The RAF complained that the raid would draw heavily on their resources and the number of aircraft assigned by RAF Bomber Command dwindled during the planning of the raid. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill further complicated matters when he ordered that bombing should only take place if targets were clearly identified.

The initial Combined Operations plan, or COP for short was not considered much cop by the Admirable tea as they didn’t want to lose two perfectly good destroyers just to get rid of a duck.

The powers that be often don’t realise the importance of removing ducks, especially when protected by two Gates like those who are causing some difficulties to the world at the moment.

However, they suggested using an old Free Frenchman call Our á Gain. Unfortunately this would mean using three French Farces and increase those aware of the raid.

It has been observed elsewhere that the French Farces were not very good at keeping quiet and might have given the game away, so one does sympathise.

Editor’s note: It is observed that the anagram of the Frenchman’s real name, Ouragan, is ‘Aug Rona’.

As Rona is short for Coronavirus it would have been risky indeed to have used this Frenchman as he might have caught a cold/the ‘flu (as Covid 19 was once called), sneezed, and given the game away on the approach to the harbour.

3          Composition of the raiding force

This included an old fighter, a destroyer, called Campbell from the town. He had a habit of running into things, so it seemed like a good idea to run him  into the dry dock gates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Campbeltown_(I42)

It is noted that in a previous incarnation with that well-known car nation, the U.S.A., it was of the Wickes Class. This was part of the Wickes D.I.Y. store chain which might explain the problems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickes

As you can see Wickes is from Michigan state. JB Pritzker comes from Illinois bordering Lake Michigan, so frankly the whole thing is hardly surprising.

Other naval units involved were two Hunt-class destroyers, HMS Tynedale and Atherstone,

Please note this is related to William Tyndale who ‘…is credited with being the first Bible translation in the English language to work directly from Hebrew and Greek texts. Furthermore, it was the first English biblical translation that was mass-produced as a result of new advances in the art of printing.’

From

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyndale_Bible

It is very fitting that a ship of this name, a destroyer, should have been involved against the evil practices of the Nazis who were supported by the Roman Catholic Church as an institution. See

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_Nazi_Germany

Fairmile C type MGB 314)

a 70 ft Vosper, MTB 74

The latter was a type of scooter, and related to the Vespa which Mods used to ride around on in the 1960’s. Whether Mods working for the MoD or Ministry of Defence went to work on their Vespas I don’t know.

12 Fairmile B Motor Launches (ML)

Please note that it was a Fairmile, not a Fairkilometre, as we were not in the EU at that time (ok it didn’t exist then, but you get the point) and we are not in it now either. How long the EU will exist is another matter.

These were essentially ‘a motor lunch’, lunches plural, as when you are going to Ramsgate even if it is in France you will need a bite to eat.

The S-class submarine HMS Sturgeon

Whilst this may sound rather fishy, apparently the S-class were rather small. They were probably made in Scotland where a sub-species of sturgeon live. I am told one is running that country at the moment.

As she is female and small, and the S-class were small and ships are female to the Royal Navy, this all makes sense.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_S-class_submarine_(1931)

I thought I would quote in full the poem from the link above.

Twelve little S-boats “go to it” like Bevin,

Starfish goes a bit too far — then there were eleven.

Eleven watchful S-boats doing fine and then

Seahorse fails to answer — so there are ten.

Ten stocky S-boats in a ragged line,

Sterlet drops and stops out — leaving us nine.

Nine plucky S-boats, all pursuing Fate,

Shark is overtaken — now we are eight.

Eight sturdy S-boats, men from Hants and Devon,

Salmon now is overdue — and so the number’s seven.

Seven gallant S-boats, trying all their tricks,

Spearfish tries a newer one — down we come to six.

Six tireless S-boats fighting to survive,

No reply from Swordfish — so we tally five.

Five scrubby S-boats, patrolling close inshore,

Snapper takes a short cut — now we are four.

Four fearless S-boats, too far out to sea,

Sunfish bombed and scrap-heaped — we are only three.

Three threadbare S-boats patrolling o’er the blue,

…

Two ice-bound S-boats…

…

One lonely S-boat…

4          German forces

The Germans had around 5,000 troops in the immediate area of St Nazaire. The port was defended by the 280th Naval Artillery Battalion under the command of Kapitän zur See Edo Dieckmann. The battalion was composed of 28 guns of various calibres from 75 mm to 280 mm railway guns, all positioned to guard the coastal approaches. The heavy guns were supplemented by the guns and searchlights of the 22nd Naval Flak Brigade under the command of Kapitän zur See Karl-Konrad Mecke.

Kapitän zur See Edo Dieckmann – he was  a dickman, a deck man  or a complete dick, it is not clear.

Kapitän zur See Karl-Konrad Mecke – It has been said the Mecke (sic) will inherit the earth. What happened to him we don’t know.

There were Guns on top of the submarine pens although this stopped the submarines writing with them.

Harbour Commander Korvettenkapitän Kellerman. He was Corvid eating Captain killer man the inspiration for Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, ‘Mama, I kill a man.’ Or something like that.

The 333rd Infantry Division was the German Army unit responsible for the defence of the coast. This was half of 666 so only half of the Number of the Beast. Where the other half was is uncertain.

The Kriegsmarine (German navy) had at least three surface ships in the Loire estuary: a destroyer, an armed trawler and a Sperrbrecher (‘minesweeper’), the last being the guard ship for the port. On the night of the raid there were also four harbour defence boats and ten ships from the 16th and 42nd

42 the ultimate answer to the ultimate question, ‘What was one of the two minesweeper flotillas based at St Nazaire at the time of the St Nazaire Raid?’

Minesweeper flotillas berthed in the basin, while two tankers were berthed inside the Normandie dock. The 6th and 7th U-boat flotillas, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Georg-Wilhelm Schulz and Korvettenkapitän Herbert Sohler respectively, were permanently based in the port. It is not known how many submarines were present on the day of the raid. The submarine base had been inspected by the U-boat Commander in Chief, Vizeadmiral Karl Dönitz, the day before the raid. He asked what would they do if the base was subjected to an attack by British Commandos. Sohler replied that “an attack on the base would be hazardous and highly improbable.”

Got that wrong then.

5          The raid

5.1      Outward journey

The three destroyers and 16 small boats

So a total of 19, hence Covid 19 today of course.

left Falmouth, Cornwall, at 14:00 on 26 March 1942. They formed into a convoy of three lanes, with the destroyers in the middle. On arrival at St Nazaire the portside MLs were to head for the Old Mole

I was called ‘Mole’ at school sometimes but I wasn’t that old then.

to disembark their commandos, while the starboard lane would make for the old entrance to the basin to disembark theirs. Not having the range to reach St Nazaire unaided, the MTB and MGB were taken under tow by Campbeltown and Atherstone.

The convoy next encountered two French fishing trawlers. Both crews were taken off and the ships sunk for fear they might report the composition and location of the convoy. At 17:00 the convoy received a signal from Commander-in-Chief Plymouth that five German torpedo boats

NB These were in a column or file. A tor-pedo boat was a type of pedo so there were a group of pedofiles (sic). Or sick paedophiles, one or the other.

were in the area. Two hours later another signal informed them that another two Hunt-class destroyers, HMS Cleveland and HMS Brocklesby, had been dispatched at full speed to join the convoy.

It should be noted that a ‘brock’ is a badger so presumably the ship was badgered to join the convoy.

The convoy reached a position 65 nautical miles (120 km; 75 mi) off St Nazaire at 21:00 and changed course toward the estuary, leaving Atherstone and Tynedale as a sea patrol. The convoy adopted a new formation with the MGB and two torpedo MLs in the lead, followed by Campbeltown. The rest of the MLs formed two columns on either side and astern of the destroyer, with the MTB bringing up the rear. The first casualty of the raid was ML 341, which had developed engine trouble and was abandoned. At 22:00 the submarine Sturgeon directed her navigation beacon out to sea to guide the convoy in.

Which just goes to show Sturgeons do have their uses after all.

At about the same time Campbeltown raised the German naval ensign in an attempt to deceive any German lookouts into thinking she was a German destroyer.

At 23:30 on 27 March, five RAF squadrons (comprising 35 Whitleys and 27 Wellingtons) started their bombing runs.

Here we have an example of British ingenuity; take 27 wellingtons and drop them on the Germans. Give them the boot as it were.

However, it is not clear what the Whitleys were. It is believed they may have been actually 35 Whitty’s, relations of Chris ‘My only emotion is dead’ Whitty, England’s Chief Medical Officer.

Dropping them on the Gates would have been an excellent idea as that would have meant Chris might not have been born and saved us all a lot of trouble.

As Chris gets money from the Gates for research you will understand what I mean.

The bombers had to stay above 6,000 feet (1,800 m) and were supposed to remain over the port for 60 minutes to divert attention toward themselves and away from the sea. They had orders to only bomb clearly identified military targets and to drop only one bomb at a time. As it turned out, poor weather with full cloud cover over the port meant that only four aircraft bombed targets in St Nazaire. Six aircraft managed to bomb other nearby targets.

At around 02:00, the convoy was sighted by the German submarine U-593, which dived and later reported the British ships as moving westward, further complicating the German understanding of the raid.

The unusual behaviour of the bombers concerned Kapitän zur See Mecke. At 00:00 on 28 March, he issued a warning that there might be a parachute landing in progress. At 01:00 on 28 March, he followed up by ordering all guns to cease firing and searchlights to be extinguished in case the bombers were using them to locate the port. Everyone was placed on a heightened state of alert. The harbour defence companies and ships’ crews were ordered out of the air raid shelters. During all this a lookout reported seeing some activity out at sea, so Mecke began suspecting some type of landing and ordered extra attention to be paid to the approaches to the harbour.

All of which shows how confusing things are when you think a raid is highly improbable as Mecke did. In war as in peace you do have to be meek or humble, and Mecke wasn’t meeker or humbler enough.

5.2      Ramming the dry dock

At 00:30 hours on 28 March the convoy crossed over the shoals at the mouth of the Loire estuary, with Campbeltown scraping the bottom twice.

Shoals is a type of foot powder, so having it on your bottom is not a good idea and scraping it off very sensible. Doing it twice of course just to make sure you have got it all off.

Each time she pulled free, and the group proceeded toward the harbour in darkness. They had come within about eight minutes’ passage from the dock gates when, at 01:22, the entire convoy was illuminated by searchlights on both banks of the estuary. A naval signal light demanded their identification.

MGB 314 replied in a coded response obtained from a German trawler boarded during the Vågsøy raid in 1941. A few bursts were fired from a shore battery and both Campbeltown and MGB 314 replied: “Ship being fired upon by friendly forces”. The deception gave them a little more time before every German gun in the bay opened fire. At 01:28, with the convoy 1 mile (1.6 km) from the dock gates, Beattie ordered the German flag lowered and the White Ensign raised. The intensity of the German fire seemed to increase. The guard ship opened fire and was quickly silenced when the ships in the convoy responded, shooting into her as they passed.

By now all the ships in the convoy were within range to engage targets ashore and were firing at the gun emplacements and searchlights. Campbeltown was hit several times and increased her speed to 19 kn (35 km/h). The helmsman on her bridge was killed, and his replacement was wounded and replaced as well. Blinded by the searchlights, Beattie knew they were close to their objective. Still under heavy fire, the MGB turned into the estuary as Campbeltown cleared the end of the Old Mole, cut through anti-torpedo netting strung across the entrance and rammed the dock gates, striking home at 01:34, three minutes later than scheduled.

Three minutes later, Three minutes later! What was the Royal Navy coming to, very poor show, no attention to time keeping.

The force of the impact drove the ship 33 feet (10 m) onto the gates.

Let’s stick with feet shall we, after all the UK has left the EU.

Still, a good old fashioned ramming tactic worked well. As the Lord God was with the raid against the Nazis in St Nazaire, the Campbeltown was ‘Ramming in the name of the Lord’ as Bob Marley might have sung.

5.3      Disembarkation from Campbeltown and the MLs

The commandos on Campbeltown now disembarked. These comprised two assault teams,

Note the use of assault. This is an anagram of ‘us a salt’, which is why Jesus says let your speech be seasoned with salt as this is perfect for ‘a salting’ the enemy.

five demolition teams with their protectors and a mortar group.

It is not quite clear why they needed a mortar group as mortar is a type of bonding material to join bricks or stone together, and they were trying to destroy the Gates, not repair them. I dare say there is mor-tar this than meets the eye.

Of course a tar is a sailor as in jack tar, so perhaps this explains things

Three demolition teams were tasked with destroying the dock pumping machinery and other installations associated with the dry dock. The Captain Donald William Roy

It is alleged he wrote ‘Will Roy was here’ on a wall during the raid, but this seems unlikely.

In should be noted that Donald means in essence ‘old lord’. Attacking the duck defences meant he was a type of Donald Duck.

– ‘The Laird’ – and his 14-man kilted assault troop were tasked with knocking out two pump-house roof-top gun emplacements high above the quayside and securing a bridge to provide a route for the raiding parties to exit the dock area. Roy and Sgt Don Randall used scaling ladders

Scaling ladders to help descale the duck. Although as a duck has feathers this seems rather odd.

and grenades to accomplish the former, and a head-on rush

As opposed to a rush on a head which would be rather rash. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

If you have a rash on your head this may be a symptom of Covid 19/the ‘flu.

to secure the bridge and form a bridgehead that enabled Captain Bob Montgomery and Lt Corran Purdon and their demolition teams to exit the area.

They lost four men in this action. The fifth team also succeeded in completing all their objectives, but almost half their men were killed. The other two commando groups were not as successful. The MLs transporting Groups One and Two had almost all been destroyed on their approach. ML 457 was the only boat to land its commandos on the Old Mole and only ML 177 had managed to reach the gates at the old entrance to the basin. That team succeeded in planting charges on two tugboats moored in the basin.

It must be noted in damaging the basin the Nasties would have nowhere to wash their Hans, let alone their Kurts or Adolfs etc, thus increasing the likelihood of them catching covid19/the ‘flu after the raid (this is of course not true as you can’t catch the ‘flu/Covid19 as I explain elsewhere).

But the Nasties were not that bright and would be very concerned. Rather like today of course.

There were only two other MLs in the vicinity: ML 160 had continued past the dock and was engaging targets upriver, ML 269 appeared to be out of control and was running in circles.

Running good exercise and helps keep Covid19/the ‘flu at bay.

5.4      Small ships

Most of the MLs had been destroyed on the run in and were burning. The first ML in the starboard column was the first boat to catch fire. Her captain managed to beach her at the end of the Old Mole. Some starboard boats managed to reach their objective and disembark their commandos. ML 443, the leading boat in the port column, got to within 10 feet (3 m) of the mole

Just outside the current guidance for how far you should keep away from moles who may be the latest victims of Covid 19/the ‘flu.

in the face of heavy direct fire and hand grenades before being set on fire. The crew were rescued by ML 160, one of the torpedo MLs which had been looking for targets of opportunity such as the two large tankers reported to be in the harbour. The commanders of ML 160 and ML 443, Lieutenants T Boyd and T D L Platt, were awarded the Distinguished Service Order for their bravery.

But not the Extinguished Service Order as the fire had not been put out.

The rest of the port column had been destroyed or disabled before reaching the mole. ML 192 and ML 262 were set on fire, and all but six of their men were killed. ML 268 was blown up, with one survivor.

The loss of the motor lunches was disheartening to the troops as they would have little to eat. However, as so many died sadly, this did not matter.

Thomas O’Leary, the wireless operator for ML 446, said:

“One commando was remarking how pretty the tracer fire, red and green, was. A moment later one blew the back of his head out.

Having your mind blown by narcotic drugs will do the same thing. At the moment it seems much of the world is still admiring the pretty pictures on the MSM and getting their minds blown out as it is clear they are not thinking straight, let alone thinking.

I was down below with my tin hat because by now the bullets were going through (the boat) and out the other side. If I wanted to get about I had to crawl on my hands and knees and I was lucky nothing came through at my level. We couldn’t get in (to the objective) and all of a sudden the wounded started coming down. By then all our guns had jammed and most of the other ships were on fire.”

Why the guns had jam beats me. Tastes lovely, but not in a gun.

ML 177, the launch that had successfully taken off some of the crew from Campbeltown, was sunk on her way out of the estuary. ML 269, another torpedo-armed boat, moved up and down the river at high speed to draw German fire away from the landings. Soon after passing Campbeltown it was hit and its steering damaged. It took ten minutes to repair the steering. The boat turned and started in the other direction, opening fire on an armed trawler in passing. Return fire from the trawler set the boat’s engine on fire.

Ship at sea moving from left to right, with the identifying letters JR on the bow

This was a guest appearance by JR Ewing of Dallas fame.

5.5      Return journey

At 06:30 the five German torpedo boats that the convoy had evaded the previous day were sighted by HMS Atherstone and Tynedale. The destroyers turned toward them and opened fire at a range of 7 nmi (8.1 mi; 13 km). After ten minutes the German boats turned away, making smoke. The destroyers sighted the MGB and two accompanying MLs soon after and transferred their casualties to Atherstone. Not expecting any more boats to arrive, they headed for home. Just after 09:00 the Hunt-class escort destroyers Brocklesby and Cleveland arrived, sent by Commander-in-Chief Plymouth. Shortly after this the ships were spotted by a Heinkel 115 floatplane of the Luftwaffe.

He ink el is a type of angel with ink for the submarine pens mentioned earlier. It also refers to ‘he inkle’, a phoenetic spelling of ‘He uncle’.

The next German aircraft on the scene, a Junkers 88, was engaged by a RAF Bristol Beaufighter

This was a lady beau-fighter, that is, a beautiful fighter from Bristol. Bristol’s are beautiful of course. Why she wanted to get engaged to a German uncle is not clear

which had appeared in the area earlier. Both machines crashed into the sea.

Which is what happens if you get engaged sometimes.

Other German planes arrived but were driven off by Beaufighters and Hudsons

Possible relations of Hudson Taylor of the China Inland Mission fame.

from Coastal Command. The Atlantic weather conditions deteriorated. Amid concerns about the growing German threat and the realisation that the damaged small ships would not be able to keep up, Commander Sayer ordered the crews off the smaller boats and had them sunk.

If Commander Sayer says something, then of course you must do it. I believe it was the boats that were to be sunk, not the crews. Thought I’d make that clear, just in case you thought otherwise.

ML 160, ML 307 and ML 443 reached the rendezvous and waited until 10:00 for the destroyers to appear. Having already been attacked once, they moved further out into the Atlantic to try to avoid the Luftwaffe but a Junkers 88

There are rumours that this was a clawed Junker, a relation of one Jean- Clawed Juncker who served as the 21st Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and 12th President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019.

appeared overhead at 07:30 and approached them at low level for a closer look. The ships opened fire, hit the Junkers in the cockpit and the aircraft crashed into the sea.

The best place for Junkers of any kind.

The next aircraft to appear was a Blohm & Voss seaplane which attempted to bomb the ships but left after being damaged by machine-gun fire. The MLs eventually reached England unaided the following day.

5.6      Campbeltown explodes

The explosive charges in HMS Campbeltown detonated at noon on 28 March 1942, and the dry dock was destroyed. Reports vary on the fate of the two tankers that were in the dock; they were either swept away by the wall of water and sunk, or swept to the far end of the dock, but not sunk. A party of 40 senior German officers and civilians who were on a tour of Campbeltown were killed. In total, the explosion killed about 360 men. The wreck of Campbeltown could still be seen inside the dry dock months later when RAF photo reconnaissance planes were sent to photograph the port,

The ‘death’ of the Campbeltown reminds me of Samson of old Testament fame, bringing the house down as it were on the Philistines, only with rather less deaths. Nowadays there are other ‘stines’, such as Ep-stines (sic) and Wein-stines (sic).Very sick they are too.

According to Captain Robert Montgomery (Royal Engineers, attached to No. 2 Commando), Campbeltown was meant to have detonated at 04:30, the delay caused, he believes, by some of the acid in the pencil detonators being distilled away. As the morning progressed, more and more captured comrades joined him in the German HQ.

So the problem was not so much lead in the pencil but acid. Sounds like somebody was trying to make some sort of liquor out of the acid. Doesn’t seem a good idea to me.

Still, perhaps the Most High was trying the acid and caused the delay. All things work together for God (sic) you know. And for His children of course.

Just before the Campbeltown exploded, Sam Beattie was being interrogated by a German naval officer who was saying that it wouldn’t take very long to repair the damage the Campbeltown has caused. Just at that moment, she went up. Beattie smiled at the officer and said, ‘We’re not quite as foolish as you think!’

So yah, boo, sucks Nasties!

The day after the explosion, Organisation Todt workers were assigned to clean up the debris and wreckage. On 30 March at 16:30 the torpedoes from MTB 74, which were on a delayed fuse setting, exploded at the old entrance into the basin. This raised alarms among the Germans. The Organisation Todt workers ran away from the dock area. German guards, mistaking their khaki uniforms for British uniforms, opened fire, killing some of them. The Germans also thought that some commandos were still hiding in the town, and made a street by street search, during which some townspeople were also killed.

Which just goes to show that the Nasties were not that bright. The poor Todt workers and townspeople were out on their tod as we can say in the UK.

And were shot for the privilege.

Sounds like the governments round the world shooting people indiscriminately with poisonous vaccines, and then saying in effect ‘Oops, sorry about that, didn’t meant to. Still plenty more people were they came from, so not to worry’.

Well, that’s the Nasties for your, up to their old tricks again. They never did care for the children of God.

6          Aftermath

The explosion put the dry dock out of commission for the remainder of the war. The St Nazaire raid had been a success, but at a cost – of the 612 men of the Royal Navy and commandos who took part in the raid, only 228 men returned to England. Five commandos escaped via neutral Spain and Gibraltar with the help of French citizens and took a ship to England; 169 men were killed (105 RN and 64 commandos) and another 215 became prisoners of war (106 RN and 109 commandos). They were first taken to La Baule and then sent to Stalag 133 at Rennes. The fallen British raiders were buried at the La Baule-Escoublac cemetery, 13 km (8.1 mi) west of St Nazaire, with military honours.

89 decorations were awarded for the raid including

5 Victoria Crosses (VC’s)

4 Distinguished Service Orders (DSO’S)

4 Conspicuous Gallantry Medals (CGM’s)

5 Distinguished Conduct Medals (DCM’s)

17 Distinguished Service Crosses

11 Military Crosses (MC’s)

24 Distinguished Service Medals (DSM’S)

15 Military Medals (MM’s)

4 Croix de guerre by France

51 were also mentioned in dispatches

The battleship Tirpitz never entered the Atlantic. She remained in Norwegian fjords to threaten Allied shipping until she was destroyed by the RAF in Operation Catechism on 12 November 1944.

The raid seriously pissed off Adolf Hitler who then authorised the construction of 15,000 bunkers along the coast from Norway to the border with Spain. A lot of time and effort was spent on this, much of it ultimately wasted.

Like governments today spending taxpayers’ money, our money, on pointless so-called defences like masks, sanitiser, plastic visors, ad-visors on SAGE, ads on the BBC and other MSM, etc etc.

And don’t forget the vaccines of course.

Say what you like about Hitler, at least a bunker was of some use if the enemy came from the sea.

7          Legacy

A memorial to the raid erected in Falmouth bears the following inscription:

OPERATION CHARIOT

FROM THIS HARBOUR 622 SAILORS

AND COMMANDOS SET SAIL FOR

THE SUCCESSFUL RAID ON ST. NAZAIRE

28th MARCH 1942  168 WERE KILLED

5 VICTORIA CROSSES WERE AWARDED

———— · ————

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF

THEIR COMRADES BY

THE ST. NAZAIRE SOCIETY

There are currently plans for a new Type 31 HMS Campbeltown as part of the new “Inspiration class” of frigates for the Royal Navy.

As frig means something, I can’t remember what at the moment, and Gates are still around in the USA, hopefully Campbeltown will be able to ‘frig’ the Gates again.

Or maybe someone else will. Any takers?

P.S. If you are interested in more battles see World menu and scroll down for NAFF CAFF

If you want to know more about Covid 19 see COVID 19 SUMMARY!!!