St Nazaire - 26th to 28th March, 1942
( The photo shows the survivors, with Charlie Lloyd on the right hand
side )

My father enlisted in the Grenadier Guards on 7th November, 1939
at the age of 20. In 1941 he volunteered to join the Commandos and
began intensive training in Scotland.
In 1942, with Britain critically short of supplies
and depending for survival on the convoys from America, the super-battleship
Tirpitz was a major threat and the only dry dock large enough to
house her, should she ever be damaged in battle, was in the French
port of St Nazaire. Too precise a target for heavy bombers, this
could only be destroyed by landing a force of men and explosives
from the sea. This daunting and dangerous operation was entrusted
to the commandos by Lord Louis Mountbatten and code named Operation
Chariot.
The force consisted of an obsolete and specially
modified destroyer – HMS Campbeltown – whose bows were
packed with explosives, and a fleet of Fairmile motor launches carrying
the commandos. These launches were entirely unsuited to assault,
being flimsy and at risk from fire, but had the advantage of being
cheap to build (and therefore cheap to lose!). Approaching the port
at the head of 2 columns of Fairmiles, the Campbeltown was to ram
the outer gate of the dry dock and then scuttle herself, while the
commandos were to storm ashore and do as much damage as they could
to the rest of the port.
They left Falmouth on 26th March, 1942 and arrived
at the mouth of the Loire estuary just after midnight on 28th March.
When challenged from the shore they pretended to be a German convoy
returning to port and, flashing genuine German call signals provided
by Intelligence, they confused the enemy long enough to penetrate
close to their target. Then all hell let loose.
Swept by fire from dozens of gun positions they
immediately took casualties and several of the Fairmiles blew up
when their petrol tanks were hit, while others took hits to their
flimsy wooden hulls which forced them out of line. The river was
a mass of burning boats and injured and dying men. However, due
to the magnificent efforts of her captain, the Campbeltown hit her
target, the dry dock gate, dead centre, at 01.34 hours and was hurriedly
evacuated – a ticking time bomb.
In the face of the heavy fire from the shore, only
a handful of men were able to land. My father’s launch, number
156 was hit early. Disabled and forced to retire with her steering
shot out, only one engine working fitfully, and with both naval
officers as well as Hooper, their commander, wounded, it would have
been suicide to go on. She was able to limp out to sea and rendezvous
with the Atherstone which was waiting for the survivors, and then
scuttled.
Of the 611 soldiers and sailors who took part in
Operation Chariot, 169 were killed and 200, most of whom were wounded,
were taken prisoner. Only 242 returned immediately to British shores.
When the ‘Campbeltown’ exploded the
following morning, carrying with her the massive outer gate of the
‘Normandie’ dock, the destruction for which so many
young men had sacrificed their lives, was finally complete. So well
had they done their job, the dock could not be used again before
war’s end.
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