St Nazaire Raid (1942): Operation Chariot and HMS Campbeltown

The St Nazaire raid, code-named Operation Chariot, was a British amphibious attack on the German-held port of St Nazaire in western France on the night of 27–28 March 1942. Its centrepiece was the old destroyer HMS Campbeltown, packed with explosives and rammed into the gate of the giant Normandie dock. The raid wrecked the dock for the rest of the war but cost the lives of about 169 of the 611 men who took part.

Background: the Tirpitz problem

In 1942 Britain’s survival depended on its Atlantic convoys. The German battleship Tirpitz, sister ship of the Bismarck, lay in Norway and posed a major threat. If it broke out into the Atlantic, it would need a dry dock for repairs, and the only one large enough on the French coast was the Normandie dock at St Nazaire, built for the liner Normandie. The Bismarck had been heading for St Nazaire when it was sunk in May 1941.

Destroying the dock would make an Atlantic sortie by Tirpitz far more dangerous. Bombing was judged too inaccurate and too likely to kill French civilians, so Combined Operations under Lord Louis Mountbatten planned a raid from the sea.

The plan

HMS Campbeltown was a First World War-era American destroyer, formerly USS Buchanan, transferred to Britain in 1940 under the destroyers-for-bases deal. She was lightened, given raked funnels to resemble a German torpedo boat, and fitted with 24 depth charges, about four and a half tonnes of explosive, encased in concrete in her bow and set with delayed-action fuses.

Campbeltown was to ram the outer gate of the dock. Commandos from No. 2 Commando and other units, carried on board and in a flotilla of wooden motor launches, would then land to blow up pumping machinery, winding gear and lock gates. The naval force was led by Commander Robert Ryder and the commandos by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Newman.

The raid

The force sailed up the Loire estuary in the dark, flying German colours to gain time. When searchlights and guns finally opened fire, Campbeltown ran up the British ensign and drove at full speed into the dock gate at about 1:34 am on 28 March, about four minutes behind schedule.

Commandos from the destroyer destroyed the pumping house and winding houses. Many of the motor launches, however, caught fire under heavy shelling before they could land their men, and most were destroyed. With no way home, Newman’s commandos tried to fight their way out through the town until they ran out of ammunition and surrendered.

Late in the morning of 28 March, Campbeltown’s charges exploded, destroying the dock gate and killing many of the Germans who were aboard or near the ship; estimates run into the low hundreds. Two days later, delayed-action torpedoes fired by motor torpedo boat MTB 74 exploded at the entrance to the old basin, causing further panic in which German troops fired on suspected raiders and a number of French civilians were killed.

Cost and honours

Of about 611 men who sailed, around 169 were killed, roughly 215 were captured, and about 228 returned to Britain, some of them by escaping through France and Spain. Five Victoria Crosses were awarded, among 89 decorations in total. Two of the VCs, to Sergeant Thomas Durrant and Able Seaman William Savage, were posthumous; Commander Ryder, Lieutenant Colonel Newman and Lieutenant Commander Stephen Beattie, Campbeltown’s captain, also received the award.

Key people

• Commander Robert Ryder led the naval force from motor gunboat MGB 314, staying in the estuary under fire to pick up survivors before withdrawing.
• Lieutenant Colonel Augustus Charles Newman of the Essex Regiment commanded the commandos ashore and led the attempt to break out through the town before being captured.
• Lieutenant Commander Stephen Beattie commanded HMS Campbeltown and was captured after the ramming; his Victoria Cross citation was announced while he was a prisoner.
• Lord Louis Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations, sponsored the plan and argued for it at a time when such raids were seen as highly risky.

Myths and facts

• Myth: The raid was a suicide mission. Fact: The planners expected heavy losses and some men called it that, but there was a full plan to bring the commandos home in the motor launches; it failed because so many boats were destroyed.
• Myth: Campbeltown exploded on impact. Fact: The charges were deliberately set with delayed fuses and went off hours later, after German officers had begun inspecting the wreck.

Consequences

The Normandie dock remained out of use until after the war. Tirpitz never entered the Atlantic and was eventually sunk by RAF bombers in Norway in November 1944. The raid also boosted British morale at a low point in the war, and its lessons fed into later combined operations, including the far costlier Dieppe Raid in August 1942.

Timeline

• 1942, 26 March: The raiding force sails from Falmouth, Cornwall.
• 1942, 27 March, night: The flotilla enters the Loire estuary.
• 1942, 28 March, about 1:34 am: HMS Campbeltown rams the Normandie dock gate.
• 1942, 28 March, early morning: Surviving commandos surrender in the town.
• 1942, 28 March, late morning: Campbeltown’s explosives detonate, wrecking the gate.
• 1942, 30 March: Delayed-action torpedoes explode at the old entrance.
• 1944, 12 November: Tirpitz is sunk by RAF bombers off Tromsø, Norway.

Why it matters

Operation Chariot is often called the greatest raid of the Second World War. A small force achieved a strategic aim, keeping Tirpitz out of the Battle of the Atlantic, through careful deception and extraordinary courage, though at a very high price.