Operation Chariot: The St Nazaire Raid, 1942

by Jean-Charles Stasi

Overview

An illustrated history of the World War II British amphibious attack on a dry dock in the German-occupied French town.
 
At the beginning of 1942, the prospect of Germany’s Tirpitz, the heaviest battleship ever built by a European navy, patrolling the Atlantic posed a huge threat to the convoys that were the lifeline for Britain. Bombing raids to destroy the ship failed. A more radical plan was conceived to destroy the dry-dock facility at St Nazaire on the French Atlantic coast. Without the use of the only suitable base for the ship, the threat would be neutralized.
 
The plan was to ram the entrance gates with a ship packed with explosives on a delayed fuse. A motorboat armed with torpedoes would fire at the inner gate causing further damage to submarine pens. The troops and crew would then destroy as many dockyard targets as they could and withdraw in fast motor launches that had followed them in. All this was to be achieved under cover of an air raid. HMS Campbeltown, a U.S. lend-lease destroyer, was chosen for the task.
 
On the night of March 27, the raid commenced. The Campbeltown succeeded in lodging its bows in the outer gates. The fuses detonated the explosives in its hold the following day. The dock gates were destroyed. The cost to the Allies was high, but the Tirpitz was never able to leave Norwegian waters.
 
This volume in the Casemate Illustrated series gives a clear overview of the planning and execution of the raid and its aftermath, accompanied by 125 photographs and images, including color profiles and maps.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612007304
Publisher:	Casemate Publishers
Publication date:	01/08/2021
Series:	Casemate Illustrated
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	59 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Jean-Charles Stasi is the author of twenty books including several devoted to World War II.

Table of Contents

Timeline of Events 6

The British Face the Threat of the Tirpitz 8

The Estuary and the Lock 18

Combining Strike Power and the Element of Surprise 28

Newman and Ryder on All Fronts 43

The Flotilla Sails to Warmer Seas 55

HMS Campbeltown Hits the Bullseye 65

The German Counterattack Traps the Commandos 88

The Price of Success 111

Afterword 124

Sources 125

Index 126

Editorial Reviews

I do not hesitate to recommend this excellent reference work to all with an interest in military history.''

Scale Military Modelling International Magazine

"...a useful addition to any bookshelf, especially for those who ponder how properly conceived and coordinated combined operations can influence overall military success."

Naval Historical Foundation

"The translation is quite good and the prose moves the action along."

Historical Miniatures Gaming Society

"The photographs used, on which the Casemate Illustrated series is focused, is a bonus that can’t be underestimated. An excellent book…"

Old Barbed Wire

"Details all the plans as well as a good selection of archive images from the time [and] there are also some excellent colour profile artworks... An excellent and interesting book."

Military Model Scene

‘’The author uses the Casemate Illustrated format of well-written informative text supported with good sized photos, maps and diagrams to tell the full story. I do not hesitate to recommend this excellent reference work to all with an interest in military history.’’

MAFVA

Handy for naval modellers… plenty of colour profiles and 4 by 4 images … the main feature of the illustrated series [are the] unpublished and completely new images.

Detailscaleview.com