U-boats were sinking Allied merchantmen faster than they could be replaced, and to this threat was added the lurking menace of German surface raiders. Completely exposed, and under heavy fire, he engaged positions ashore with cool and steady accuracy. In March 1942, as a Captain in command of number 6 Troop, No. Thomas Frank Durrant VC (17 October 1918 - 28 March 1942) was a soldier in the British Army during the Second World War and a posthumous English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. During the St Nazaire raid on 27th March 1942, Lieutenant-Colonel Newman was in charge of the military forces and was one of the first ashore, leading his men and directing operations without regard for his own safety. St. Nazaire, on the west coast of France, had dry docks that the Allies had to put out of action if the Battle of the Atlantic was going to be won. The target of this audacious raid, codenamed Operation Chariot, was the huge dry dock at Saint-Nazaire Campbeltown became one of the most famous of these ships when she was used in the St. Nazaire Raid in 1942. Will is the grandson of Lieutenant-Commander 'Sam' Beattie, VC, RN. PETER LUSH. Raid on St. Nazaire: Operation Chariot During World War II In the dark early days of 1942, Britain’s Atlantic lifeline was stretched to the breaking point. The Greatest raid of all (ww2) and Sunderland is twined with Saint Nazaire the location for this Heroic Action. Then he read the citation for the Victoria Cross that had been awarded to Commander Beattie, skipper of the Campbeltown. The town was one of the most damaged in France during World War II. A drama about the suicidal, daring British raid on heavily defended dry dock Saint Nazaire, in German occupied France, in 1942, by HMS Campbeltown, and 18 smaller craft. Peter has long been associated with the raid and has conducted numerous tours of the Saint-Nazaire battlefield. The photograph was taken in 1947, at the time of the inauguration of the Monument du Commando on the Saint-Nazaire seafront. Operation Jubilee, more commonly referred to as the Dieppe Raid, was an Allied assault on the German-occupied port of Dieppe, France, on 19 August 1942, during the Second World War.The main assault lasted less than six hours until strong German defences and mounting Allied losses forced its commanders to call a retreat. The citation read: For great gallantry, skill and devotion to duty as gunlayer of the pom-pom in a Motor Gun Boat in the St Nazaire Raid. PETER LUSH. His award of the Victoria Cross was unique in that it is the only award given to … The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a successful British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France during the Second World War. Our purpose was to help in the rescue of survivors. Motor Launch 306 came under heavy fire while proceeding up the River Loire towards the port. ROYAL MARINES HISTORY.com. Preserving and protecting the memory of OPERATION CHARIOT, the great Combined Operations raid on the French Atlantic port of St. Nazaire, March 26-9, 1942 The Commando raid on St. Nazaire. Thomas Frank Durrant VC (17 October 1918 – 28 March 1942) was a soldier in the British Army during the Second World War and a posthumous English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy and British Commandos under the auspices of Combined Operations Headquarters on 28 March 1942. IN ACTION: as the most powerfully-armed of the Coastal Forces vessels taking part in the raid, the gunboat was chosen as the Headquarters Ship, and would enter the estuary with both Force Commanders on board, along with their particular Headquarters Parties and a small Intelligence element. Beattie was 33 years old, and a lieutenant-commander in the Royal Navy during the Second World War when the following deed at the St. Nazaire Raid took place whilst in command of HMS Campbeltown for which he was awarded the VC: For great gallantry and determination in the attack on St. Nazaire in command of HMS Campbeltown. Two weeks after the Saint-Nazaire raid, the commandant of a camp in Germany had his British captives formed up in the compound with an honor guard of Wehrmacht soldiers. Saint-Nazaire progressively replaced Nantes as the main haven on the Loire estuary. The raid on Saint-Nazaire of the 28th March 1942, which has since been written into the annals of naval history as The Greatest Raid, remains the pinnacle of those earlier achievements.