Destroying a Nazi Stronghold: The St Nazaire Raid
Dan Snow's History Hit
History Hit
4.7 • 12.9K Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2022
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On 28 March 1942, in the darkest months of World War Two, Churchill approved what seemed to many like a suicide mission. Under orders to attack the St Nazaire U-boat base on the Atlantic seaboard, British commandos undertook “the greatest raid of all”, turning an old destroyer into a live bomb and using it to ram the gates of a Nazi stronghold. Five Victoria Crosses were awarded - more than in any similar operation.
Giles Whittell, author and journalist, has unearthed the untold human stories of Operation Chariot. Giles joins Dan on the podcast to discuss how the most daring British commando raid of World War Two was fundamentally misconceived - its impact and legacy secured only by astonishing bravery.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I've really welcomed Dan Snow's history hit 80 years ago on the 26th of March 1942, a |
| 0:08.5 | small flotilla of boats and ships left Falmouth in Cornwall. Just past midnight on the 28th |
| 0:15.0 | of March, that convoy crossed over the shores of the mouth of the wire, Estry, on the Atlantic |
| 0:20.1 | coast of France. They were about to launch one of the most daring, on the most impossible |
| 0:24.2 | raids of the Second World War, and perhaps because it was so impossible, they achieved a stunning |
| 0:30.1 | success. The target of the British commandos and Royal Naval personnel was the huge dry |
| 0:37.1 | dock in San Jose, the kind of port facilities required for one of the world's biggest battleships, |
| 0:43.1 | the turpits, if it went on a foray in didlantic and needed repairs after meeting Royal Navy |
| 0:48.3 | ships. Hitler was so furious about this raid that he actually sacked the chief of staff |
| 0:53.5 | of the Army of Occupation in the West, and it refocuses attention on strengthening that |
| 1:00.2 | Atlantic wall. This is Operation chariot and the San Jose raid. I'm interviewing Charles |
| 1:06.9 | Whitwell, he's been at the time, he's written Bridge of Spies, Spitfire in the World War |
| 1:11.0 | II and all sorts of things, and so this is the latest of one of his brilliant books. It |
| 1:15.3 | is a truly extraordinary tale. If you wish to listen to other podcasts about remarkable |
| 1:20.5 | episodes from World War II, you'll wish hundreds of documentaries, we've got so many |
| 1:23.9 | documentaries about World War II available on our Netflix of History, our History Hit TV, |
| 1:28.0 | the world's best history channel. You just follow the link in the description of this |
| 1:31.3 | podcast, and you get taken there, get two weeks for free if you sign up today. Make sure |
| 1:36.0 | you join the revolution, folks, tens of thousands of people are now watching History Hit TV |
| 1:40.0 | every single day, go over that and check it out. In the meantime though, here's Charles |
| 1:43.8 | Whitwell talking about Operation chariot. Charles, thanks for coming on the pot. Thank you |
| 1:53.7 | for having me. The San Jose you boatwreck. I mean, you wouldn't want to be given orders |
... |
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