Operation Frankton

Operation Frankton
Part of Western Front
Tannenfels, a German blockade runner which was sunk in Bordeaux harbour by limpet mines from the Frankton team
Date 7–12 December 1942 Location Bordeaux, France Result Pyrrhic British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Herbert Hasler	Julius Bachmann
Strength
13 men 6 kayaks ('Cockle' mark 2)	2 Naval trawlers 12 E Boats 12 Patrol boats 6 M-class minesweepers
Casualties and losses
6 men captured & executed 2 died from hypothermia[1]	2 ships sunk 2 ships severely damaged 2 ships minor damaged

Operation Frankton was a commando raid on ships in the German occupied French port of Bordeaux in southwest France during World War II. The raid was carried out by a small unit of Royal Marines known as the Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment (RMBPD), part of Combined Operations inserted by HMS Tuna captained by Lieutenant-Commander Dick Raikes who, earlier, had been awarded the DSO for operations while in command of the submarine HMS Seawolf (47S). (The RMBPD would later form the Special Boat Service.)

The plan was for six folding kayaks to be taken to the area of the Gironde estuary by submarine. Twelve men would then paddle by night to Bordeaux. On arrival they would attack the docked cargo ships with limpet mines and then escape overland to Spain. Men from no.1 section were selected for the raid; including the commanding officer, Herbert 'Blondie' Hasler, and with the reserve Marine Colley the team numbered thirteen in total. One kayak was damaged while being deployed from the submarine, and it and its crew therefore could not take part in the mission. Only two of the 10 men who launched from the submarine survived the raid: Hasler, and his number two in the kayak, Bill Sparks. Of the other eight, six were executed by the Germans and two died from hypothermia. Two German vessels were sunk with another four suffering varying degrees of damage.