OPERATION CHARIOT
28th March 1942

During this dark period of WW2, Britain's very survival was at stake, the continued success of German U-Boat raids on allied shipping, and the added threat that the newly commissioned German battleship Tirpitz could break out in to the Atlantic at any moment and cause havoc amongst the lightly escorted convoys, it was clear something had to be done.

 

A feasibility plan was therefore carried out with the intention of attacking and destroying the Normandie dock in the heavily fortified town of Saint Nazaire France.

 

 If successful this would deprive the Germans of the only repair facility on the Atlantic coast big enough to cater for the 50,000 ton Battleship Tirpitz.

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In the early hours of the 28th of March 1942 a small ramshackle flotilla set sail from Falmouth to carry out what would be known in the annals of history as

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" Greatest Raid of All" 

 

HMS Campbelltown accompanied by 18 small PB boats boldly steamed up the Loire estuary to the point of no return. Under intense German fire, she rammed the caisson of the Normandie dry dock at 0134 hrs.

 

The Commandos rapidly disembarked from the bows of HMS Campbelltown and the supporting PB boats and set about destroying the dock and the various pumping installations.

 

Of the 622 who set out from Falmouth 169 died, 200 became prisoners and only 242 returned home. Five Victoria Crosses, four DSOs, seventeen DSCs and eleven MCs were awarded as a result of this daring raid.​