Mutli Media
The Greatest Raid of All
Lt Col R.K. Montgomery: The St. Nazaire Raid
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In the darkest months of the Second World War, Churchill approved
what seemed to many like a suicide mission. Under orders to attack
the St Nazaire U-boat base on the Atlantic seaboard, British
commandos undertook "the greatest raid of all", turning an old
destroyer into a live bomb and using it to ram the gates of a Nazi
stronghold. Five Victoria Crosses were awarded -- more than in any
similar operation. Drawing on official documents, interviews,
unknown accounts and the astonished reactions of French civilians
and German forces, The Greatest Raid recreates in cinematic detail
the hours in which the "Charioteers" fought and died, from Lt
Gerard Brett, the curator at the V & A, to "Bertie" Burtinshaw,
who went into battle humming There'll Always be an England, and
from Lt Stuart Chant, who set the fuses with 90 seconds to escape,
to the epic solo reconnaissance of the legendary Times journalist
Capt Micky Burn. Unearthing the untold human stories of Operation
Chariot, Bridge of Spies author Giles Whittell reveals it to be a
fundamentally misconceived raid whose impact and legacy was
secured by astonishing bravery.
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It is the night of 28 March 1942. Royal Navy and British commandos
are poised to assault the German-held port of Saint-Nazaire in
what will be one of the most audacious and daring raids of the
Second World War. The plan is simple: to drive an old destroyer,
packed with three tons of explosive, at full speed into the outer
gate of the Normandie dock. The aim is to destroy the base from
which the formidable battleship Tirpitz would be able to devastate
the convoys supplying Britain from the United States. 'Operation
Chariot' was to be dramatically successful, but at a great cost.
Fewer than half the men who went on the mission returned. In
recognition of their valour, eighty-nine decorations were awarded,
including five Victoria Crosses. Into the Jaws of Death is the
true story of how the decisive courage of a small group of men
changed the course of the war.
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