St Nazaire Raid

[happyclaret17]

and no its not a transfer rumour.
have any of you watched this on nat geo.....what an unbelievable raid that was.....the whole series of reenacments of world war 2 raids well worth watching but this raid was incredible.

[tally]

Yes and it was factually correct and good production and very surreal after all these years

[happyclaret17]

just watching this on you tube which is all about it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXusKM5uX0s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BennyD]

When the Campbeltown went up it took about 50 senior German Officers and civilians touring the ship, most of whom were never found. Some body parts were found on buildings hundreds of yards away. It was one of the outstanding Special Ops missions of the entire war. Sorting Brexit out should be a piece of p!ss compared to sorting that out.

[ElectroClaret]

Very brave lads.

The true meaning of the overused word 'heroes'.

[AlargeClaret]

The Clarkson documentary (the you tube link above)is remarkable,regardless of your views on Clarkson he does a fine job here,this sort of thing should be on the school syllabus.Stirring stuff.And the guy that won a VC while manning a lewis gun and taking over a dozen bullets and STILL firling is virtually beyond belief.

[happyclaret17]

Clarkson not my favourite but he did a good job on this.....the german commander that called for the guy who took all the bullets to get the highest medal possible really says it all....a raid completely against the odds at every stage yet they pulled it off....just an amazing act of bravery from our commandos from beginning to end.

[ClaretEngineer]

A brilliant documentary, made all the better by Jeremy Clarksons genuine enthusiasm.

I've watched it so many times on YouTube. My hairs stand on end at the part where they raise the British Ensign as they sailed right up the estuary to the dock. The absolute sheer cheek and audacity of it is humbling.

There's also a book (on which the documentary is based) is a great read.

[Tw@]

Can't wait for the American big screen version with the US Navy saving the day!

[Clarets4me]

Another one from the same series.....on the Victoria Cross..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpg6h16k8eU

The twist at the end brought a lump to my throat....

[BennyD]

He did another programme about PQ17, an artic convoy to Murmansk, which was quite superb. He's a bit of a d!ck, but he does make fantastic documentaries. Long may he continue to do so.

[Lancasterclaret]

His war documentaries are really good, which is why I can't understand when he does anything else he comes across as a total dick.

[NCClaret]

There is no documentary on it that I know of, but a past Burnley MP also won the VC. Rear Admiral Gordon Campbell. He won the VC as a result of his actions in the North Atlantic in WWI. In fact he was to be awarded another after another action but refused it. He commanded a 'Q' ship - basically ships that were disguised as freighters so as to lure the U Boats into attacking them. They literally placed their ships in the paths of torpedoes. Once hit they feigned abandoning the boats to ensure the U Boats surfaced, then attacked them. Unbelievable heroics. Campbell has a special interest for me (not just the Burnley connection) as I have a connection with his family who have his VC and numerous other medals (Croix de Guerre etc. etc) in their estate. I would love to see a documentary on Campbell. We should be rightly proud of our nations warriors.

[nil_desperandum]

A superb and moving documentary, clearly demonstrating the daring of the raid, and the outstanding bravery of the men.
A rare victory for the British at that stage of the war. What it highlights, once again is how amateurish and ill-equipped we were compared to the Germans, until we consolidated our position and the Americans entered the war.
It was an almost suicidal mission sending small ill-equipped wooden boats over 250 miles into that narrow channel, with no real hope of getting home on the same craft, and potentially a lot of lives could have been lost without the objectives being achieved. It makes you wonder what impact it would have had on the British Govt, and morale at home if this mission had failed, since at that point things looked pretty bleak elsewhere.
Incidentally, on a similar theme, a plaque is being laid tomorrow morning at the Burnley Peace Garden to our own WWI VC - Thomas Whitham - for his bravery at Ypres in single handedly taking out a German machine gun post.

[JohnMac]

Clarkson's Father in Law won the VC for his actions during Operation Market Garden (Arnhem) hence his genuine interest in the subject and excellent presentation.

[BennyD]

A superb and moving documentary, clearly demonstrating the daring of the raid, and the outstanding bravery of the men.
A rare victory for the British at that stage of the war. What it highlights, once again is how amateurish and ill-equipped we were compared to the Germans, until we consolidated our position and the Americans entered the war.
It was an almost suicidal mission sending small ill-equipped wooden boats over 250 miles into that narrow channel, with no real hope of getting home on the same craft, and potentially a lot of lives could have been lost without the objectives being achieved. It makes you wonder what impact it would have had on the British Govt, and morale at home if this mission had failed, since at that point things looked pretty bleak elsewhere.
Incidentally, on a similar theme, a plaque is being laid tomorrow morning at the Burnley Peace Garden to our own WWI VC - Thomas Whitham - for his bravery at Ypres in single handedly taking out a German machine gun post.

Best you don't invite EverSheddyEddy then, he hates anything and everything about the British military; he must have failed to get in or something.

[Lancasterclaret]

Yup, his Arnhem one was really good as well.

[Clarets4me]

Clarkson's Father in Law won the VC for his actions during Operation Market Garden (Arnhem) hence his genuine interest in the subject and excellent presentation.

See Post 10...for link to the above

[mybloodisclaret]

Absolutely brilliant video. Thanks for posting. I have a few friends who are commandos now, very impressive gents, we all appreciate what they are about. I had heard of the greatest raid but never researched it. Glad I watched it.

[Rowls]

It makes you wonder what impact it would have had on the British Govt, and morale at home if this mission had failed, since at that point things looked pretty bleak elsewhere.

Nobody would have been told. Nobody would have known.

They would only have okayed suicide missions like this out of sheer desperation.

[Leon C]

Me and my mates once kicked a wasp nest in £7.38

[mikeS]

Clarksons series was well researched and put together and as others have said, Bob Cain who fought at Arnhem was a real hero.

[ClaretEngineer]

Me and my mates once kicked a wasp nest in £7.38

My dad once walloped a wasp nest with a spade. That was approaching heroic.

[happyclaret17]

1976...the long hot summer
my grandad had a wooden shed next to a steep grass bank which by september was more like straw....me and my mate spotted a wasps nest part way down the bank....we decided to burn them out....to our horror the flames spread up the bank in 2 minutes....engulfed my grandads shed and I got the biggest bollocking ever....the things you do when you are young and stupid eh.