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Osprey Campaign #92
St. Nazaire 1942: The Great Commando Raid
The raid on the port of St. Nazaire in March 1942 by a sea-borne task force from British Combined Operations remains one of the most daring actions of World War II. The port lies at the mouth of the River Loire and in 1942, as well as a U-Boat base, contained the massive Normandie dock, the only facility on the Atlantic coast large enough to accommodate the feared German battleship Tirpitz. This book tells the story of the raid on St. Nazaire that denied the use of the dock to the sister ship of the Bismarck, and constituted a crucial victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. The raid on the port of St. Nazaire in March 1942 by a sea-borne task force from British Combined Operations remains one of the most daring actions of World War II. The port lies at the mouth of the River Loire and in 1942, as well as a U-Boat base, contained the massive Normandie dock, the only facility on the Atlantic coast large enough to accommodate the feared German battleship Tirpitz. This book tells the story of the raid on St. Nazaire that denied the use of the dock to the sister ship of the Bismarck, and constituted a crucial victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. Out of a force of just 611 soldiers and sailors, 169 were killed. But the Tirpitz never ventured into the Atlantic.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published October 25, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 25, 2018
Sometimes you got to let a man do his own thing. He puts you in the thick of it, even in a slim book.
Ken Ford breaks out of Osprey's "opposing plans, opposing commanders" mold to put the contemporary importance of disabling the Normandie dry dock into perspective: it was the only refuge outside Norway for the battleship Tirpitz, Germany's sharpest knife against the lifeline of Britain's shipping lanes.
2 Commando trained intensively on dry dock installations at home until they could place 60 pounds of demolition charges in the right spots blindfolded with half their team dead. It's the kind of friction movies never show: save a few heroic deaths, one bundle of dynamite is all it takes to create explosions akin to a Dresden raid. In reality, the dry dock's pumps without which it would be a ...wet dock? were a meticulously synchronized group target.
One disguised destroyer to blow it all, two boats to shield him. One submarine to guide many smaller boats and over the Loire's shallows guide them.
So far, so good. Even the German submarine on its way home from its first patrol was chased off. Then the reality for which they trained so vigorously kicked in, in the form of frantic German field artillery and small arms fire. Why?
RAF planes circling instead of turning back after some bombing made the sharpest German officer in command suspect "devilry afoot", putting every able-bodied man on alert in old school Kampfgruppen style, even if the sight of screaming Brens put the squeamish on the run. Not every Landser had an appetite for urban night fighting.
Still, dashing across a bridge with guns blazing and bullets richocheting near your boots is as Hollywood action as the real WWII gets. So is giving fire support by Oerlikon until you're full of holes..as Able Seaman, not Commando. Either takes the kind of determination that was justly rewarded with a handful of VC's and 50 other decorations.
But despite heavy casualties they reached most of their objectives, damaging the harbour installations disproportionally to their numbers. a tapestry of riddled boats, wrecked buildings and floating bodies in white webbing (for night identification) greeted the dawn. And St. Nazaire would never house the Tirpitz. The vintage WWI destroyer stayed behind, stuck in the middle of the dock cassion, to blow up on shedule (9 a.m.) - unfortunately after some dignitaries had visited it.
Great maps, great then-and-now photos. The aftermath (1 page) and the bibliography (6 books ?) are very skinny: most of Goodreads' own St. Nazaire search results don't figure next to Saunders' venerable Green Beret and more troubling, Charles Messenger's opus Commandos from the 80's is missing.
Ken Ford breaks out of Osprey's "opposing plans, opposing commanders" mold to put the contemporary importance of disabling the Normandie dry dock into perspective: it was the only refuge outside Norway for the battleship Tirpitz, Germany's sharpest knife against the lifeline of Britain's shipping lanes.
2 Commando trained intensively on dry dock installations at home until they could place 60 pounds of demolition charges in the right spots blindfolded with half their team dead. It's the kind of friction movies never show: save a few heroic deaths, one bundle of dynamite is all it takes to create explosions akin to a Dresden raid. In reality, the dry dock's pumps without which it would be a ...wet dock? were a meticulously synchronized group target.
One disguised destroyer to blow it all, two boats to shield him. One submarine to guide many smaller boats and over the Loire's shallows guide them.
So far, so good. Even the German submarine on its way home from its first patrol was chased off. Then the reality for which they trained so vigorously kicked in, in the form of frantic German field artillery and small arms fire. Why?
RAF planes circling instead of turning back after some bombing made the sharpest German officer in command suspect "devilry afoot", putting every able-bodied man on alert in old school Kampfgruppen style, even if the sight of screaming Brens put the squeamish on the run. Not every Landser had an appetite for urban night fighting.
Still, dashing across a bridge with guns blazing and bullets richocheting near your boots is as Hollywood action as the real WWII gets. So is giving fire support by Oerlikon until you're full of holes..as Able Seaman, not Commando. Either takes the kind of determination that was justly rewarded with a handful of VC's and 50 other decorations.
But despite heavy casualties they reached most of their objectives, damaging the harbour installations disproportionally to their numbers. a tapestry of riddled boats, wrecked buildings and floating bodies in white webbing (for night identification) greeted the dawn. And St. Nazaire would never house the Tirpitz. The vintage WWI destroyer stayed behind, stuck in the middle of the dock cassion, to blow up on shedule (9 a.m.) - unfortunately after some dignitaries had visited it.
Great maps, great then-and-now photos. The aftermath (1 page) and the bibliography (6 books ?) are very skinny: most of Goodreads' own St. Nazaire search results don't figure next to Saunders' venerable Green Beret and more troubling, Charles Messenger's opus Commandos from the 80's is missing.
March 15, 2019
About 10 years ago, RBA published all the WWII Campaign books in Spanish at a rather tempting price for a hardback. This might not be my absolute favorite of them, but it is certainly at the very top. Certainly, a lot has to do with the action itself. I had not heard about St. Nazaire before, and it really changed my idea about commandos, so far based mostly on the eponymous video-game.
That should not diminish the value of the work done here, which is a fantastic account of the mission. Because it is a relatively small action (if you compare it with, say, the fall of France, which also has one volume), the level of detail is excellent. It is easy to follow the action of a given boat, or group of commandos, not only in the very clear maps, but also through the text. Really worth your money.
PS: For 10 Euros once should not complain too much, but at least in the Spanish version I think there there are a few typos (some on the numbering of the boats), and there might be a moment where I think bow and stern get mixed.
That should not diminish the value of the work done here, which is a fantastic account of the mission. Because it is a relatively small action (if you compare it with, say, the fall of France, which also has one volume), the level of detail is excellent. It is easy to follow the action of a given boat, or group of commandos, not only in the very clear maps, but also through the text. Really worth your money.
PS: For 10 Euros once should not complain too much, but at least in the Spanish version I think there there are a few typos (some on the numbering of the boats), and there might be a moment where I think bow and stern get mixed.
April 3, 2019
Great short read for those who know little of the subject.
November 16, 2020
Excellent read!
September 4, 2012
Clear and concise, if potted, account of the raid on St Nazaire, aka Operation Chariot. Lots of good pictures and diagrams and an easy read make this a good addition in the Osprey range.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews