St Nazaire Raid
Operation Chariot, or the St Nazaire Raid, was a surprise attack launched by British Commandos and the Royal Navy on March 28, 1942, against the Normandie dry dock in St Nazaire, on the Atlantic coast of German-occupied France. That dry dock was the only Axis-controlled one on the Atlantic that could accommodate the giant German battleships Bismark and Tirpitz.
Its loss would ensure that should those battleships break into the Atlantic Ocean and suffer damage there, instead of returning for repairs to a convenient haven on the Atlantic, they would be forced to return all the way back to Germany, which could be reached from the Atlantic only by running the gauntlet of British-controlled waters in either the English Channel or the naval chokepoints of the Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) gap to the north of Scotland.
A raiding party of Commandos in a flotilla of 18 small craft, intended to be the raiders’ ride back home after completion of their mission, plus an obsolete destroyer, HMS Cambeltown packed with well-concealed delayed-action high explosives, sailed from British ports down the English Channel and into the Atlantic, and set course for St Nazaire. Upon reaching the target, the Cambeltown rammed the gates of the Normandie dry dock and came to rest above them at an angle.
The Germans, unaware of the destroyer’s deadly cargo, concentrated on fighting the Commandos, who had disembarked to attack and destroy other vital installations, facilities, and machinery around the port. In the ensuing heavy exchanges of fire, the Germans destroyed nearly all the British small craft that were supposed to take the Commandos back home, leaving them stranded. They attempted to make their way inland, but most were killed or captured after their ammunition ran out.
The Raiders suffered heavy losses: 169 were killed, and another 215 were captured, in addition to the loss of 13 motor launches, a torpedo boat, a gunboat, and two airplanes. It was worth it, however, and the mission became a resounding success, literally, later that day. Just when things had quieted down and the Germans began cleanup efforts, swarming aboard the HMS Cambeltown resting at an angle above the dry dock gates, the delayed action explosives within the destroyer detonated.
The massive explosion not only killed hundreds of Germans and wounded hundreds more, but also accomplished the mission’s primary objective: it put the Normandie dry docks out of commission for the remainder of the war, and for five years more beyond that.
