[História+Documentário] St Nazaire - The Greatest Raid Of All

[André]

Estive há uns dias a rever um dos meus documentários favoritos - este The Greatest Raid Of All - e resolvi hoje partilhar o documentário e a história deste ataque a St. Nazaire com o pessoal aqui do fórum que ainda não conheça a história.

Esta operação não mudou o rumo da História; não vitimou milhões de pessoas; não foi levada a cabo por nenhum militar consagrado nas páginas da História; não foi levada a cabo com um sem número de veículos militares e tecnologia de ponta ultra-secreta. O que tem, então, esta operação de tão especial? O facto de que tinha, à partida, tudo para ser apenas mais um "raid" entre os ínumeros ocorridos durante a 2ª Guerra Mundial, que levaria, quase de certeza, todos os que nela estavam envolvidos à morte às mãos dos alemães que guardavam a doca de St Nazaire. Era praticamente uma missão suicida, que quase ninguém acreditava que pudesse ser concluída e que tinha tudo para ser esquecida, fiasco certo que seria. No entanto, acabou por ser tão bem sucedida quanto insólita.

 

Comecemos então pelo princípio:

 

Decorria o ano de 1942 - e a 2ª Guerra Mundial - e o super navio de guerra alemão, o Tirpitz, movia-se no Mar Báltico na costa da Noruega. O perigo de que viesse para o Atlântico e ameaçasse seriamente navios e tropas dos Aliados era real e tornou-se óbvio que seria da máxima importância neutralizar e afundar este navio. Churchill concordava que afundar o Tirpitz era fulcral e, após 4 tentativas de bombardeamento que resultaram apenas na perda de 12 aviões ( :lol: ), chegou-se à conclusão que a abordagem ao problema teria de ser outra.

Para que os alemães pudessem efectivamente usar o Tirpitz contra os Aliados, precisavam de uma doca seca no Atlântico e a única capaz de albergar um navio como o Tirpitz era a de St Nazaire. Era então óbvio, para os Aliados, que urgia destruir a doca de Saint Nazaire. O único senão, era que St Nazaire era um dos locais mais bem guardados em toda a costa atlântica ocupada pela Alemanha e os Aliados enviados nesta "Operation Chariot" estariam em grande desvantagem numérica...

É então que começa a grande aventura!

 

 

Deixo então o documentário - conduzido por Jeremy Clarkson - sobre esta grande aventura. Aconselho vivamente que o vejam*, é um dos meus documentários favoritos.

 

*se calhar não hoje, já que a cara metade pode achar que um documentário sobre a WWII não é programa para o dia dos namorados. Enfim... mulheres.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axHjSxFyfuo&skipcontrinter=1

 

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Para quem quiser complementar a visualização do documentário com algum texto:

 

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OPERATION CHARIOT

 

ST. NAZAIRE - 28th MAR 1942

 

Operation Chariot was an audacious Combined Operation raid on the port of St Nazaire in German occupied France. Packed with tons of high explosives a destroyer was rammed into the gates of the only dry dock capable of servicing the German battleship Tirpitz. Such was the damage that the dry dock was rendered unusable for the remainder of the war. Based on an article by James Paul.

 

Background

 

In the second week of January 1942 the powerful German battleship Tirpitz moved from the Baltic through the Kiel canal and north to Trondheim on the Norwegian coast. There was a very real danger that it would break out into the North Atlantic and wreak havoc on allied Atlantic convoys. C in C Home Fleet, Admiral Tovey, held the view that to sink the Tirpitz would be "of incomparably greater importance to the conduct of the war than the safety of any convoy." Churchill shared this view commenting that "the entire naval situation throughout the world would be altered."

 

Four separate attempts to bomb the Tirpitz failed with the loss of 12 aircraft. Clearly a different strategy was required. The Germans needed dry-dock facilities on the Atlantic coast before the battleship could be deployed effectively against allied convoys. The only port capable of handling it was St. Nazaire on the French coast. There were others world-wide in Germany, Genoa and Singapore but none of operational value to the Germans. St. Nazaire lay on the north bank of the River Loire about 6 miles from the river mouth which itself was about 6 miles wide.

 

From within the Planning Division in the Admiralty the idea emerged to destroy the lock gate at St Nazaire. It was picked up by Captain Charles Lambe (who became First Sea Lord from 1959 to 1960 when he died a few months after resigning on the grounds of ill-health). He took the idea to Mountbatten head of Combined Operations - the first outside client for COHQ.

 

The target area was sandwiched between the River Loire and the waters of the outer harbour and the Basin of St Nazaire - a total area of less than one square mile. But it was arguably the most heavily defended area along the whole of the German occupied Atlantic coast. In this confined space there were power stations, pumping stations, warehouses, lock installations and the old town of St Nazaire. Denying the Germans use of the dry-dock would effectively neutralize the threat the Tirpitz posed... but how?

 

Planning & Preparation

 

 

The estuary was a complex mixture of mud flats and channels and for a frontal assault a shallow draught vessel running on a high tide would be required. Although heavily defended the German planners had not considered the possibility of an attack across the mud flats and shoals. Meticulous planning was undertaken including taking advice on the two important variables of tide and winds and studying French charts and tables up to 100 years old.

 

The outline plan was simple. The selected vessel, packed with high explosives in the bow, with troops and crew in protected areas, would ram the outer lock gate at speed and stick there. They would disembark and take cover behind a nearby air-raid shelter. The ship would then blow up destroying the gate. An MTB would then pass through and fire specially designed torpedoes at the inner gate which would collapse under pressure when the tide went out damaging the submarines berthed in their protected pens. The troops and crew would then destroy as many dockyard targets and withdraw in fast motor launches which had followed them in. All this was to be achieved under cover of an air raid.

 

The planners themselves had doubts about the withdrawal phase. There were likely to be unknown and variable factors that could not be planned for but the risks were less than the potential rewards. However, outside the planning circle there were those, notably the Naval C in C Plymouth, who thought the vessel would bounce off the gate. He held to his view even against the advice of the engineer who built it. He also thought that anyone within half a mile of the explosion would be killed.

 

Mountbatten conceded the point about the destructive power of the explosion and delayed action fuses were to be fitted to allow time for the troops and crew to evacuate the area. However on the question of the use of a boat to ram the lock gate he held firm. A further concession was to spread the raiding force between the main ship and the supporting motor launches simply to avoid total loss of the force in the event of disaster befalling the main ship.

 

The raid was to be led by HMS Campbeltown, an American lend-lease destroyer (USS Buchanan). It was especially refitted for the task. Her interior was stripped, the bridge armour-plated, and additional protection provided for the Commandos she would carry. The accompanying motor launches (MLs) were to carry 150 Commandos. The boats were fitted with two Oerlikon 20mm guns and additional fuel tanks to increase their range. As the needs of the raid were reassessed, the ML fleet was firstly increased to ten and then to 14. Only one motor gun boat (MGB) was available - MGB 314, a C-Class Fairmile, commanded by Lt. Dunstan Curtis. She would lead the attack and in reserve there would be motor torpedo boat (MTB) 74. This was equipped with unproven flying torpedoes to breach the dry dock gates if the Campbeltown failed to reach the target.

 

Action

 

The fleet sailed from Falmouth at 3 pm on the 26th of March with MGB 314 at the head and two escort destroyers flanking the MLs and HMS Campbeltown. South west of Ushant they came across a U-Boat and damaged it. They left the area of action on a false course which the submarine duly reported to their command and control HQ. Five German torpedo boats were sent from St Nazaire to engage the vessels but in entirely the wrong direction. They were still at sea during the period of the raid. Around midnight on the 27/28th March the raiders saw bomb flashes and tracers light the sky. The diversionary bombing air raid had started but low cloud rendered it inaccurate which caused an alert in the town and its approaches rather than the intended effect of keeping the German forces in their bunkers. The bombers had been briefed to target only specific military installations to avoid civilian casualties. Those who failed to acquire their targets did not drop their bombs.

 

Each boat flew the German flag to confuse the enemy and delay identification. HMS Sturgeon, a submarine, provided the exact position for the task force from which to make its run into the estuary. The Campbeltown crept through at 5 knots, touching bottom twice. At 0120 hours search lights illuminated the entire fleet but, for a short time, the Germans were reluctant to open fire possibly because of confusion caused by spoof signals and a general disbelief amongst and the Germans that such an audacious raid could be undertaken. The German flags were replaced with the White Ensign when the fleet was still two miles from its target. The Germans opened fire during the final 15 minutes of the run in during which half the men aboard the MLs were either killed or wounded from the intense shelling.

 

 

The Campbeltown cleared the estuary and increased speed to drive her bows through the torpedo barrier and into the dock gate. The MLs were all but stopped only two succeeded in landing their full complement of Commandos. Other MLs approached the landing zones but were forced to re-embark their Commandos in the face of very heavy fire from 20mm cannons. On shore fighting was ferocious and close quartered. At 0134 hours Campbeltown was successfully driven at speed into the dock gates just 4 minutes behind schedule and was relieved of most of her crew by MGB 314 while MTB 74 deployed her delayed action torpedoes in the foundations of the old entrance dock gate.

 

Captain Ryder, CO of the Naval forces, went ashore and satisfied himself that Campbeltown was both scuttled and embedded in the loch gate. At 0230 hours Ryder decided to withdraw. By this time more than half of his craft had been destroyed and the remainder were riddled.... if he didn't withdraw soon he would lose them all. The MTB then left for her rendezvous with British destroyers in the open sea off the Loire with 26 men on board accompanied by 7 other craft.. It stopped to pick up two more survivors but was hit by accurate shelling from the shore batteries. Only three of the 34 aboard survived. On the way they met the 5 German torpedo boats returning from their fruitless mission. In further enemy fire more craft were destroyed or scuttled and their crews transferred to the remaining craft. Of the 18 coastal craft which set out from Falmouth only four returned.

 

Outcome

 

The delayed action fuses detonated the high explosives in the Campbeltown's hold at noon on the 28th. Forty German officers were aboard at the time and 400 other ranks were nearby on the quay. All were killed in the blast. The dock gates were destroyed and were not repaired until after the war. On the evening of the 29th the delayed torpedoes were activated causing further damage and German casualties. Regrettably many needless French casualties were caused by jittery German soldiers who believed that the raiders were still in their midst.

 

Of the 241 Commandos who took part 59 were posted as killed or missing and 109 captured. 85 Royal Navy personnel were killed or missing and a further 20+ captured. Many others were wounded. 5 other ranks returned to England via Spain. The Tirptitz was never able to leave Norwegian waters for want of a safe haven on the Atlantic coast. The value of the shipping saved in terms of men, armaments and food, can only be guessed at but it was very significant contribution to the Allied cause.

 

The air raid had hindered rather than helped the amphibious raid on St Nazaire. The experience had regrettable consequences 5 months later when a planned bombing raid at Dieppe was dispensed with.

 

Fonte

 

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Se quiserem, têm na Wikipedia mais informação detalhada sobre este Raid a St Nazaire.

 

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OPERATION CHARIOT

 

FROM THIS HARBOUR 622 SAILORS

AND COMMANDOS SET SAIL FOR

THE SUCCESSFUL RAID ON ST. NAZAIRE

28th MARCH 1942  168 WERE KILLED

5 VICTORIA CROSSES WERE AWARDED

———— · ————

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF

THEIR COMRADES BY

THE ST. NAZAIRE SOCIETY

 

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Operation Chariot :prayer:

[Edin Dzeko]

tl;dr

[Black Hawk]

tl;dr

 

Depois do trabalhão que o André deve ter tido a compilar toda esta informação, nada melhor que um comentário destes como recompensa. Se era para isso mais valia não teres postado, não se perdia nada.

 

Irei definitivamente ler e comentar.

[Edin Dzeko]

Depois do trabalhão que o André deve ter tido a compilar toda esta informação, nada melhor que um comentário destes como recompensa. Se era para isso mais valia não teres postado, não se perdia nada.

 

Foi na brincadeira.

[Gaberlunzie]

Epá, é o Jeremy Clarkson que relata o documentário. :lol:

[hugo4]

Fã da II Guerra? Cá dos meus. Tenho que arranjar um tempinho para ver o doc.

[Red]

Epá, é o Jeremy Clarkson que relata o documentário. :lol:

 

E não é o único. Ele faz e sempre fez destes tipos de trabalhos. Já conheço o documentário há alguns anos, vale a pena ver.

[Gaberlunzie]

E não é o único. Ele faz e sempre fez destes tipos de trabalhos. Já conheço o documentário há alguns anos, vale a pena ver.

Sabia que ele já tinha trabalhado noutras áreas sem ser o entretenimento, mas nunca pensei que já tivesse feito este género de trabalhos.

[André]

*1 Depois do trabalhão que o André deve ter tido a compilar toda esta informação, nada melhor que um comentário destes como recompensa. Se era para isso mais valia não teres postado, não se perdia nada.

 

*2 Irei definitivamente ler e comentar.

*1 Já sei o que a casa gasta; sem stress. Fiz o tópico para quem estiver interessado em lê-lo, mas tenho noção que aglomerados de letras e vocábulos separados por pontuação podem ser algo complicado de assimilar por alguns :mrgreen: Don't worry.

 

*2 E se possível vê também o documentário, que vais ver que são 60 minutos bem passados :compinchas: Há partes do raid que são quase surreais :lol:

Epá, é o Jeremy Clarkson que relata o documentário. :lol:

O grande JC :lol:

Acredita que o documentário ganha outra vida, conduzido por ele ;)

 

Fã da II Guerra? Cá dos meus. Tenho que arranjar um tempinho para ver o doc.

Não diria fã... Mas sempre que tenho possibilidade gosto de ler/ver mais algumas coisas sobre isto, sim. Vivemos num tempo em que temos o privilégio de ter todo o material disponível para avaliar, apreciar, analisar e reflectir sobre este e outros acontecimentos marcantes e acho que isso deve ser bem aproveitado.

O documentário vale bem a pena. Vais ver que não te arrependes :compinchas:

[sKyer_xD]

interessante

[Guest Vladimir Ilitch]

Wow grande posta :o não leio nem vejo o doc agora porque não tenho tempo, mas amanhã fá-lo-ei com todo o gosto :)