St Nazaire Raid

St Nazaire Raid
Part of the North West Europe Campaign of World War II
St Nazaire on the Loire estuary
Date 28 March 1942 Location St Nazaire, France 47°16′30″N 2°11′48″W / 47.27500°N 2.19667°W / 47.27500; -2.19667 Result British victory Normandie dry dock rendered inoperable for the rest of the war
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Robert Ryder Stephen Beattie (POW) Augustus Newman (POW)	Karl-Conrad Mecke Herbert Sohler Georg Schulz
Units involved
Royal Navy HMS Campbeltown HMS Tynedale HMS Atherstone HMS Sturgeon Motor Gun Boat 314 Motor Torpedo Boat 74 28th Motor Launch flotilla (Eight Fairmile Motor Launch gunboats) 7th Motor Launch flotilla (Three Motor Launch gunboats) 20th Motor Launch flotilla (Four Motor Launch gunboats)  British Army No. 2 Commando Selected troops from the Special Service Brigade  Royal Air Force No. 51 Squadron RAF No. 58 Squadron RAF No. 77 Squadron RAF No. 103 Squadron RAF No. 150 Squadron RAF[1]	Kriegsmarine 22nd Naval Flak Brigade 280th Naval Artillery Battalion 6th U-boat flotilla 7th U-boat flotilla 16th Minesweeper flotilla 42nd Minesweeper flotilla German torpedo boat Jaguar Sperrbrecher 137 1 armed trawler Harbour Defence Companies  German Army 333rd Infantry Division
Strength
346 Royal Navy 265 Commandos[nb 1]	5,000 troops
Casualties and losses
HMS Campbeltown 169 dead [i] 215 prisoners of war [i] 1 Motor Gun Boat 1 Motor Torpedo Boat 13 Motor Launches 1 Armstrong Whitworth Whitley 1 Bristol Beaufighter	Normandie dock 360 dead [ii] 2 Junkers Ju 88 2 tankers 2 tugs
^ a b Does not include aircraft crews ^ Includes civilians on board HMS Campbeltown when she exploded. The numbers of German troops killed during the raid are not known.

The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy (RN) and British Commandos under the auspices of Combined Operations Headquarters on 28 March 1942. St Nazaire was targeted because the loss of its dry dock would force any large German warship in need of repairs, such as Tirpitz, sister ship of Bismarck, to return to home waters by running the gauntlet of the Home Fleet of the Royal Navy and other British forces, via the English Channel or the North Sea.

The obsolete destroyer HMS Campbeltown, accompanied by 18 smaller craft, crossed the English Channel to the Atlantic coast of France and rammed into the Normandie dry dock south gate. The ship had been packed with delayed-action explosives, well hidden within a steel and concrete case, that detonated later that day, putting the dock out of service until 1948.^[3]

A force of commandos landed to destroy machinery and other structures. German gunfire sank, set ablaze, or immobilized virtually all the small craft intended to transport the commandos back to England. The commandos fought their way through the town to escape overland but many surrendered when they ran out of ammunition or were surrounded by the Wehrmacht defending Saint-Nazaire.

Of the 612 men who undertook the raid, 228 returned to Britain, 169 were killed and 215 became prisoners of war. German casualties included over 360 dead, some of whom were killed after the raid when Campbeltown exploded. To recognise their bravery, 89 members of the raiding party were awarded decorations, including five Victoria Crosses. After the war, St Nazaire was one of 38 battle honours awarded to the commandos. The operation has been called "the greatest raid of all" in British military circles.

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