The Greatest Raid of All

[ATAG_Lolsav]

Get some popcorns and sit comfortably, you need some time to watch this one. If you dont have time, just watch it later.

[ATAG_Snapper]

An amazing operation.

[ATAG_Lewis]

How'd I miss this thread......This documentary spurred me to take trip to St. Nazaire.....I bought 3 or 4 books on this...I knew nothing about it until I saw the documentary....The U-boat pens a re still there....Like big concrete bunkers..the French don't seem to know what to do with them...Nice little memorial there...a U-boat to look around...and bullet holes all over the iron bridge that have been painted over since...More Victoria crosses won here than any battle apart from Rorkes Drift...Amazing story..If you don't know it then..YOU SHOULD!!

The U-Boat Pens


The Durrant Victoria cross Grave

The Bridge

The Bullet Hole

The new gate

The Submarine..I think its a French one

[ATAG_Torian]

It's kind of a shame that these sort of really heroic episodes of human history are all but forgotten and certainly unknown by today's generations. We get a steady diet of "Superman", "Avengers" and the like but major productions depicting real "pluck" and true history about real people and events are few and far between. Even when it does make it to the big screen u get nonsense like "Red Tails".

[LuseKofte]

To me it is a well known raid, all tho no Norwegiaan Commando was in this many Norwegians joined the commando and did raid in Norway together with English Commando. It might be why this history is mandatory in Norwegian schools.
But this particular Documentary I have not seen, very interesting and made good. Thx for sharing

[Spicoli]

That was a good watch, I never knew about this.

[Katdog5]

wow that was awesome. incredible thanks

[Hendrix]

Incredible story thanks Lolsav, and Lewis for the pics. I wasn't familiar with that story. It's hard to comprehend watching and listening to these gents tell their stories actually what they would have gone through.

[Katdog5]

ALTHOUGH...if we are talking about the "greatest raid of all time" you HAVE to throw in Operation Jubilee / Raid on Dieppe

Top secret for 25 years after the war...reported as a disastrous failure resulted in Freya radar secrets...so dangerous that Nissenthall's body guards were instructed to kill him lest he fall into enemy hands. Nissenthall also carried suicide pills

At the height of the battle, in which total of 3,623 of the 6,086 men (almost 60%) who made it ashore were either killed, wounded, or captured, Nissenthall climbed a 15 foot pole to cut the freya wire to intercept communications on how it operated!!! WHAT!

Im paraphrasing...INSANE.

Really needs a documentary to be made:

World War II: RAF Flight Sgt. Jack Nissenthall's Secret Role in Operation Jubilee at Dieppe
http://www.historynet.com/world-war-...-at-dieppe.htm

Undercover:Jack Nissenthall - February '98 World War II Feature
http://www.historynet.com/undercover...ii-feature.htm

Nissenthall removed and pocketed two wire clippers from his haversack, and as he subsequently reported, "I wedged myself between the poles and worked my way to the top." There, 15 feet above the ground, he cut the Freya's six outside communications wires. He quickly rejoined his companions, who apparently had been in no condition to weigh Nissenthall's odds of evading death or capture.

[Bowsewr]

Finally got around to watching this. Wow. It's hard to even comprehend and put into words the thoughts you have when trying to imagine being on that mission. The sheer insanity of it and courage is something i cant imagine. what a fantastic documentary. Thanks for the share!


Any books you recommend on the raid?

[ATAG_Lewis]

This book was ok....only 157 pages...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Raid-St-naza.../dp/0345019644

[III./ZG76_Keller]

ALTHOUGH...if we are talking about the "greatest raid of all time" you HAVE to throw in Operation Jubilee / Raid on Dieppe

Though it was not as successful as had been hoped, this is one operation that Canadians should not be allowed to ignore.

Of the 5000 Canadians that participated in this raid; 1946 were captured, 586 were wounded, and 907 were killed.

[Robo.]

I watched that episode a few months back, truly amazing stuff.

[ATAG_Lewis]

Clarksons Video of the Victoria Cross is a well worth watch if you like his intonation...

[ATAG_Lolsav]

Clarksons Video of the Victoria Cross is a well worth watch

Indeed it is. Thanks for sharing Lewis. Great twist at the ending.

[Incog]

Semi irrelevant but the submarine that's in the pen right now is the "Espadon", which is French for Swordfish. I've been to St Nazaire more than once and it's a nice place. Half my ancestors were sailors so sometimes I feel romance brewing when I see the ocean.

ROMANCE


E: watched the documentary. i feel bad having never heard of the raid before. it was really daring and actually accomplished something pretty significant strategically speaking. wow wow

[ATAG_Lewis]

Worth mentioning that....the greatest ever loss of life of a single British ship was at St.Nazaire in June 1940....over 4000 lives lost..RMS Lancastria bombed and sunk by Ju88s

I didn't realise this fact until I saw the memorial there in 2008 which I had thought initially was to commemorate the raid.

Wiki..:

RMS Lancastria (later HMT Lancastria) was a British Cunard liner commandeered by the UK Government for war, sunk on 17 June 1940 during World War II sending 4,000 people to their deaths, possibly many more. It is the greatest ever loss of life in the sinking of a single British ship, claiming more lives than the combined losses of the RMS Titanic (1,523 passengers and crew) and RMS Lusitania (1,200 passengers). It had also the highest death toll for UK forces in a single engagement in the whole of World War II.

[Sherlock221b]

Thank you for posting this Loslav I hadn't heard of this raid. The stoicism these chaps had in the face of fighting a force that size is incredible. I never get tired of reading or watching about the stories from World War 2 some of it very funny ( I remember reading about some British officer dressing up as a chef just before being captured and being told he looked too old to be so by the his captor in North Africa.) some of it incredibly tragic. I do wish more people my age would learn a bit more about them as I think a lot of this history will be lost which will be a tragic shame.