British Commandos Wreck Hitler’s Naval Strategy
After the Germans conquered France in 1940, they controlled France’s Atlantic coast and ports, with great consequences for the war at sea. In WWI, the German navy had been confined to the Baltic and North Sea. To break out into the Atlantic, it would have had to run the gauntlet of British-controlled waters in either the English Channel, or the naval chokepoints of the Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) gap north of Scotland. In WWII, by contrast, with the capture of France’s Atlantic ports, the German navy could now operate directly on the Atlantic.
One of the most important facilities for German naval operations in the Atlantic was the Normandie drydock in St Nazaire. It was the only Axis-controlled drydock on the Atlantic that could accommodate the giant German battleships Bismark and Tirpitz. Its loss would ensure that should those battleships break into the Atlantic Ocean and suffer damage there, instead of returning for repairs to a convenient haven on the Atlantic, they would be forced to return all the way back to Germany, through chokepoints controlled by the superior British navy.
So on March 28th, 1942, a surprise attack by British Commandos was launched against the Normandie drydock in St Nazaire. The raiders were carried in a flotilla of 18 small craft, intended to be their ride back home after the mission. They were accompanied by an obsolete destroyer, HMS Cambeltown, packed with well-concealed delayed-action high explosives. Upon reaching St Nazaire, the Cambeltown rammed the gates of the Normandie drydock, and came to rest above them at an angle.
The Germans were unaware of the destroyer’s deadly cargo, so they concentrated on fighting the Commandos, who were attacking other vital targets in St Nazaire. In heavy exchanges of fire, the Germans destroyed nearly all the British small craft that were supposed to take the Commandos back home. Stranded, the Commandos tried making their way inland, but most were killed or captured after their ammunition ran out.
The raiders suffered heavy losses: 169 were killed, and another 215 were captured. They also lost 13 motor launches, a torpedo boat, a gun boat, and two airplanes. It was worth it, however. Later that day, after things had quieted down and the Germans began cleanup efforts, swarming aboard the HMS Cambeltown resting above the dry dock gates, the destroyer’s hidden cargo of delayed action explosives detonated. The massive explosion killed hundreds of Germans, and wounded hundreds more. It also put the Normandie drydock out of commission for the rest of the war.