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00:00March 1942 Britain's elite commandos go into action assaulting one of Adolf Hitler's key
00:08installations their target is the dry dock at San Nazaire only this could hold Hitler's
00:16biggest battleship the mighty Tirpitz from this safe haven she could join other Nazi surface
00:25raiders and u-boats in their deadly attacks on Britain's Atlantic lifeline destroying the
00:32convoys that sailed from America bringing vital wartime supplies expert seamanship and navigation
00:41were needed to get the commandos to the heavily guarded target aboard an explosive packed warship
00:46with every enemy lighting gun on her and everyone on board gracing himself for the ram she tore through
00:52the torpedo nets and with our white ensign flying while our guns firing her bars smoking she hit
00:58the dock gates dead center with such force that our bars buckled 36 feet back her explosive charge lay
01:06right against the gates now it was up to the commanders to finish the job
01:22by the end of 1940 Nazi troops had occupied most of Western Europe Adolf Hitler controlled the
01:43Atlantic coast of France from its ports German u-boats sailed into the Atlantic to attack Britain's vital
01:52supply line from North America under this relentless assault it looked as though the British might lose the
02:03battle but then they had a major success their fleet intercepted the German battleship
02:13Bismarck which had broken out into the Atlantic damaged she headed for San Nazar the only port on the
02:22Atlantic coast with a dry dock large enough to repair in an epic three-day battle the Bismarck was sunk
02:32the allies celebrated a major victory
02:39but there was still another threat the Bismarck had a sister ship the mighty Tirpitz
02:46British and American naval planners drew up schemes to contain the Tirpitz they identified ports capable of
02:55supporting the huge battleship top of the list was San Nazar its dry dock had been built to hold the French
03:06transatlantic luxury liner the Normandy launched in 1935 she was the largest ship in the world
03:13over a thousand feet long and 164 feet wide San Nazar could accommodate ships up to 85,000 tons in weight it was
03:28the only dry dock outside Germany large enough to take Hitler's giant battleship in early 1941 Allied naval
03:40planners decided that the Normandy dock had to be shut down at first a bombing raid was considered but the
03:48dock was a difficult target to cripple from the air
03:54the giant gates had to be destroyed with precision and that meant a ground attack naval intelligence suggested
04:04using the newly formed British raiding force the commandos
04:08but their involvement was rejected at first they couldn't carry enough explosives
04:15then captain John Hughes Hallett chief naval planner at combined operations HQ came up with an alternative
04:25using a ship packed with explosives to ram the dock gate
04:29the admiralty offered an old destroyer the former USS Buchanan renamed HMS Campbelltown
04:38she was one of 50 escorts which had been transferred to the Royal Navy
04:42vice-admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten the newly appointed director of combined operations authorized further planning for the mission
04:52the crucial question was how to get this floating bomb into one of the most heavily defended ports in Nazi Europe
05:00Lieutenant Colonel Charles Newman was selected to command the ground force
05:08he was invited to combined operations HQ with naval commander Robert Ryder
05:12well Mountbatten was in the chair and he was describing some sort of naval operations to take place
05:19I looked down at the agenda and saw my name down there as they suggested naval force commander
05:29and at that moment Mountbatten looked at me and said is that all right Ryder
05:34I said yes sir I really didn't think as much else I could say in front of all that lot
05:39well when I got together with Charles Newman after the meeting
05:43my first question to him was so where the hell is this bloody place
05:47and he said good heavens heaven is the first you heard of it
05:50so I said yes it is indeed
05:51and he then said well it's uh San Azar as a matter of fact
05:54San Azar was located six miles from the sea
05:59in the estuary of the river Loire
06:01on each side of the river mouth the Germans had placed heavy guns and searchlights
06:07the Royal Navy proposed to sail under cover of night over the treacherous sandbanks to the south
06:12of the estuary
06:15but HMS Campbelltown could only get over these at the height of a spring tide
06:20that gave a mission date of late March 1942 and expert navigation would be required
06:25to be required to be required to be required to be required to be required to be required to be required
06:30HMS Campbelltown was modified
06:32to resemble a German murder class torpedo boat
06:35a type that was stationed at San Nazare
06:39her captain Lieutenant Commander Sam Beattie remembers the process
06:43she had been lightened so much to get over the various sandbanks
06:50that she wouldn't handle like an ordinary destroyer at normal speed
06:55I discovered however that at roughly 17 knots and above she would handle more or less like an ordinary destroyer
07:05and this set the speed at which I was I determined to ram
07:12because if I had to do any maneuvers just before hitting the dock
07:17I didn't want to have to think about the turning circle
07:22beneath her forehead gun the bows of the ship were packed with 24 depth charges
07:27almost six tons of amatol high explosive hidden in concrete
07:32the fuses could be set to explode up to eight hours later
07:36the systems designer Lieutenant Nigel Tibbetts would be aboard Campbelltown
07:42to accompany the destroyer the Royal Navy provided a motor gunboat to act as HQ
07:4812 motor launches and four motor torpedo boats
07:52each of these carried a crew of 10 and a team of around 12 commanders
07:57they would support the main demolition unit of 80 commandos on Campbelltown
08:01each of whom was loaded with up to 90 pounds of explosives
08:06in case HMS Campbelltown was disabled motor torpedo boat 74
08:11was equipped with two special time delay torpedoes to fire at the dock gate
08:18Lieutenant Colonel Newman's commandos were put through a rigorous training program using live ammunition
08:27the demolition parties practiced at the king george the fifth dry dock at southampton
08:40but a final rehearsal at devonport dockyard proved disastrous
08:45a detachment of elderly home guard part-time soldiers proved surprisingly effective at defending their positions
08:51the commanders the commanders failed to achieve any of their objectives
08:59the german commanders at san nazar were confident that their defenses were sufficient
09:03after having welcomed the crews the admiral denis asked me
09:10solar what would you do if the english would enter san nazar
09:17admiral in my opinion and in the opinion of all the other
09:24german local authorities it is absolutely out of question to enter the harbor
09:31despite the shambles of the dress rehearsal the raid on san nazar was given the go ahead
09:38but privately the naval planners doubted that the commandos could achieve their objectives
09:48the ships for the raid on san nazar set sail on the afternoon of the 26th of march 1942
09:53they slipped out of the port of falmouth in southwest england under a veil of secrecy
10:08two hunt class destroyers acted as escorts on the 35-hour 450-mile voyage
10:16the force took a circuitous route to disguise its objective
10:23as it neared the french coast the mission leaders commander rider and lieutenant colonel newman
10:32transferred to the motor gunboat that would lead the force in
10:37at the same time wellington bombers took off from england to conduct a diversionary raid
10:46shortly before midnight the attacking force saw the explosions as they dropped their bombs
10:51but the raid didn't so much distract the german defenders as alert them
11:01the german artillery commander began sweeping the river with his searchlights
11:07one of them caught hms campbelltown in its beam but she was flying the german naval ensign
11:12the gunners the gunners hesitated
11:20this gained precious minutes for hms campbelltown to push past the heaviest of the batteries
11:25but when she was just seven minutes away from her target tracer fire struck the speeding destroyer
11:35the german flag was hauled down and replaced by the battle ensign of the royal navy
11:39she was going in under her true colors
11:46at full steam hms campbelltown struck the dock gate at 20 knots
11:50the impact caused the bows of the ship to be crushed in by 36 feet
12:01it was 01 34 hours just four minutes behind schedule
12:05under heavy german fire commandos scrambled from hms campbelltown onto the quayside
12:14of the ship to be crushed in the ship
12:18among the first to land was major bill copeland
12:23they're right on target and it's our job
12:27and we've got to get out of this so-called ship as quickly as possible
12:30looking at her it looked as though every gun in the world was firing shot of one sort or another
12:38into her poor battered sides in the glare of what seemed to be about six searchlights
12:46and it looked impossible which of course it wasn't and now the germans are going to get a taste
12:54of what they've been giving us
12:55the commandos found out to eliminate the german defenses
13:04captain bob montgomery was in charge of the demolition teams
13:08my demolition parties came off next smalley went to the winding house for the locked gates
13:15chant went to the pumping house a few yards away brett purden and burton shaw to the winding machinery
13:23which was similar to this end at the other end of the log despite being wounded lieutenant stuart
13:30chant led his demolition team to the dock pump house
13:39each of us went to a pump i took this pump here number three which was to have been chamberlain's
13:45and out of our rucksacks we took these specially prepared charges there were eight of them five pounds
13:50in weight specially prepared waterproofed duplicate leads and they were laid as planned into the
13:57sensitive parts of each pump eight charges per pump 40 pounds per pump if you like the shattering effect
14:04when it took place was enough we knew to put these pumps out of action for at least one year
14:11next the commandos had to destroy the winding mechanism a key part of the dockyard installation
14:17that opened the gates at each end of the dry dock
14:26as gunfire ripped through the night outside they secured the explosive charges and ignited the fuses
14:47but the commandos had paid a high price for their success german guns decimated them
14:57most of the motor launches had been hit during the approach and their crews wounded or killed
15:05all attention now focused on the dry dock gate
15:08hms campbelltown was so deeply embedded that there was no way the germans could free her below deck the
15:16time fuses on her concealed explosives were ticking away
15:24it was time for the commandos to withdraw from san nazaire but the destruction of most of their motor
15:29launches made this almost impossible
15:37mickey win commander of mtb 74 had managed to get her within range of the dock
15:48he fired his torpedoes into the old entrance and then turned and raced for the estuary
15:54as he did so the boat was hit by german gun batteries
15:59win was thrown into the sea but rescued by his chief motor mechanic bill lovegrove who was later
16:05awarded the conspicuous gallantry medal
16:12the remaining motor launches came under intense fire few escaping unscathed
16:17on shore the commandos fell back to the old mole where they hoped to board any surviving motor launches
16:30but this looked increasingly unlikely as major bill copeland recalls
16:34at the end of this old mole this jetty was a great pill box that we were unable to quell
16:43all the fire from our weapons and from the german's weapons and from the oil that was ignited and the
16:50petrol that was ignited on the water created a most terrifying scene and to to anybody however
16:59gallant or whatever you may call it it was clearly impossible that we could go home by boat
17:07for over two hours on board motor gunboat 314 able seaman bill savage had done his best to destroy
17:13the pill boxes on the old mole
17:17but he was killed at his gun position
17:22with all hope of rescue from the sea at an end
17:24the commanders were ordered to fight their way out of san nazaire
17:28they were to surrender only when they ran out of ammunition or were wounded
17:38butler still with me and one of my own soldiers brown picked me up carried me with them until we
17:45got alongside the u-boat basin behind me and i said look you better leave me i'm slowing you down and
17:52they dropped me about here and there i lay watching them run off into the darkness while i lay here i
17:58was a bit worried because i knew the campbell town wasn't far away in fact she was only just over there
18:04i didn't know when she was going to go up but i thought if i stay here too long i'm going to
18:08probably get in the way of the blast while i was thinking this suddenly a young soldier appeared
18:15i didn't know him he wasn't from my commando he obviously got lost he was a bit dazed and he
18:19laid on beside me uh i remember asking him to go and find a boat see if we could hide in it but
18:24he didn't have much success he then came back and whilst we were lying there two germans appeared
18:31they had uh machine pistols i remember and they shouted out to get up he immediately stood up they
18:37shot him point blank dead made a little squeak i remember rather sad and uh they then shouted me
18:44well of course i couldn't move and while they were sort of looking at me they suddenly started
18:48saying officer officer presumably thinking i might be useful for questioning
18:57at sea only three motor launches and the motor gunboat made it back to the waiting royal navy
19:02destroyers bringing their wounded with them
19:10four more motor launches made their own way home after beating off german air attacks on route
19:18a ninth vessel ml 306 became involved in a desperate battle when she was intercepted by a german torpedo
19:34her commander lieutenant ian henderson refused to surrender sergeant tom durrant of number one
19:41commander was badly injured but kept firing the commander of the more powerful german craft asked the
19:49british to surrender but again they refused and the germans used their main guns when at last the british guns
19:58had been silenced the german boat came alongside only one man remained alive and unwounded lieutenant swain of number
20:06one commander he stood among his dead and wounded comrades on the blood-drenched decks and called out i'm afraid we can't go off
20:19after this heroic last stand the wounded were brought ashore
20:23hms campbell town remained embedded in the dock gates
20:35german officers and souvenir hunters were swarming over the ship oblivious that they were on a time bomb
20:45the captain lieutenant commander sam beatty was among the survivors
20:49soon after that i was interrogated by a german who spoke very good english
20:56he discovered that i'd been in campbell town and he was remarking that it was no good
21:04ramming a stout cassoon like that with a flimsy ship
21:11at that moment there was a bang a very large bang
21:15and a ring of cheers went through this restaurant when we heard this terrific explosion which could be
21:22none other than six tons of amatol in campbell town going up the gate was demolished the remains
21:30of hms campbell town were swept into the dry dock by the rush of seawater over a hundred germans died in
21:37the massive explosion
21:44aerial reconnaissance photographs later showed the germans desperately trying to repair the dry dock
21:49but it remained out of action for the rest of the war
21:51the turpits was finally sunk in norway by royal air force lancaster bombers in november 1944
22:06after the raid on san nazaire she never ventured into the atlantic
22:10but the cost of the operation was high 169 raiders and sailors were killed 215 became prisoners of war
22:22only six commandos evaded capture and got back to england via spain
22:31tom durant on ml 306 was posthumously awarded the victoria cross
22:36as was able seaman bill savage and britain's highest award for gallantry also went to the
22:41three senior commanders all of whom survived the battle captain beattie
22:47colonel newman and commander rider
22:5450 other medals were awarded for gallantry
22:58and in 1947 survivors of the san nazaire raid returned to the town
23:03there newman ryder and beattie received the quadraga from the french prime minister
23:12it was worthy remembrance of a most remarkable raid
23:32so
23:42so
23:44so
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