Interesting operations of the Allied forces with the participation of SaS

Nikita Wrote : Great idea for creating this topic, Sasha.

If i may suggest something, it would be interesting and nice to you to mention your sources.

in fact there are a lot of sources and not all of them are in English, part of the translation from Russian (the last article is completely translated from Russian into Google)

I can provide sources but just tell me which article)

today we will talk about the largest raid in the history of the raid on the dry dock in Saint-Nazaire, as well as a possible prototype of the Brest mission

In what some historians have called the original mission impossible, a small unit of Commandos achieved the unthinkable. On 28 March 1942, the British made a daring raid on the Normandie Dock at St. Nazaire in German-occupied France. The why’s and how’s of the Raid on St. Nazaire make this a heck of a story, but the fact that the plan was ultimately a success is the most incredible part of it all.

Hitler instituted his naval “Plan Z” in early 1939, calling for a massive augmentation of the Kriegsmarine for the sole purpose of being able to challenge the Royal Navy. U-boats were threatening Allied supply lanes from the United States to Britain, routes which if destroyed would render Britain unable to wage war. Since American’s entrance into the fight just several weeks before, U-boats had crept inward toward the Eastern coast, wreaking havoc on merchant ships and sinking millions of tons of supplies.

In addition to the threat on Atlantic supply routes, the Allies had experienced repeated heavy losses in Asia with Japanese victories over Singapore & Malaya, and the evacuation of MacArthur from the Philippines. The United States was still reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor, and hadn’t quite recovered enough to fully join the British in the fight. Churchill was desperate for a success. Aside from the knowledge of Hitler’s cancellation of Operation Sealion—the planned invasion of Great Britain—there had been no good news for the Brits since the end of the Battle of Britain.

And perhaps the greatest naval threat of all, the German battleship Tirpitz forced the Royal Navy on its toes, having to dedicate much of its fleet to the containment of the Tirpitz in Norwegian waters where it was bullying merchant convoys to the Soviet ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. On several occasions, the Brits unsuccessfully tried to lure Tirpitz into a fight in the hopes of knocking her out preemptively. When that strategy failed, there was one alternate course left: to destroy the Normandie Dock at St. Nazaire—the only Atlantic dock large enough to hold the 45,500-ton Tirpitz for repairs and maintenance. In so doing, the kriegsmarine wouldn’t be able risk sending Tirpitz into the Atlantic without the availability of a dock.

In April 1918 the Royal Navy had launched the Zeebrugge Raid when ships packed with explosive had been forced into the Belgium port being used as a U-Boat base. Despite very high casualties on that occasion it was decided that a similar method might be used to disable the French base of St Nazaire, a potential home base for the Tirpitz if she ventured into the Atlantic.

This time it was a joint Royal Navy – Commando raid. On the 23rd March Hitler had himself warned of the probability of ‘English’ raids on the European coast – some said he had an uncanny ability to foresee these things. Nevertheless the raid achieved considerable surprise.

The plan, known as Operation Chariot, was instituted by Lord Louis Mountbatten in late January 1942. He was not the first to suggest targeting St. Nazaire, but the idea had been repeatedly shot down by military brass who believed it impossible and therefore a waste of time and resources. Mountbatten, however, believed that “It’s the fact that it is regarded as impossible that makes it possible; the Germans will never think we’ll attempt it.” The job was given to the Commandos, a unit less than two years old, disliked by much of the regular military who saw their independence as a lack of discipline, and who resented that the best of the regular army units were recruited for Commando units. Nevertheless, Commandos received unique and specialized training meant to give them supreme confidence, the ability to fight independently, and first and foremost to conduct small-scale offensive raids in occupied territory. The group and its tactics were a favorite of Churchill’s.



photo : Mk. 1 Bren light machine gun, a favorite weapon of the Commandos who revolutionized the use of the weapon, firing it from the hip rather than the standard manner of firing from the ground. National WWII Museum, 2005.023

Saint-Nazaire was a port city in the department of Loire-Inférieure in France. Hosting the largest drydock facilities on the French Atlantic coast (350 meters long and 50 meters wide) and a brand new submarine base with 14 large pens, it was a natural target for the British. The Germans understood this well and strongly fortified the defenses there. Both sides of the estuary approach were fortified by men of Edo Dieckmann's 280 Naval Artillery Battalion and C. C. Mecke's 22 Naval Flak Battalion. Weapons used by the defense included four 150-mm howitzers, four 170-mm guns, and four 75-mm guns at Chémoulin to the southwest, and four 88-mm guns and ten 20-mm or 40-mm guns at Villès Martin nearby. Further away at La Baule were four 105-mm guns and two 240-mm railway guns. Across the estuary from Saint-Nazaire were four 75-mm guns at Saint-Gildas, another four at Le Pointeau and about ten 20-mm guns at Mindin. In the harbor area were around 30 single 20-mm guns, two quad 20-mm guns, around 15 40-mm guns, and the flakship Sperrbrecher 137 just off the new port. Heavy anti-aircraft defenses were also installed in the town. Radar stations were operating at Le Croisic and at Saint-Marc, and all the German positions had searchlights. About 1,000 troops manned these defenses, and there were a further 5,000 or so military personnel in the town. Excluding submarines, the German naval power was relatively weak, which included ten minesweepers, four small harbor defense vessels (Hafenschutzboote), and four torpedo boats.

ww2dbaseThe British plan for success was surprise. An air raid was to be launched to draw the attention of German defenses, providing the opportunity for British surface vessels to enter the harbor through the estuary. The British naval task force was to be centered around a destroyer and escorted by eight motor launches. The destroyer was to ram the docks to provide the commandos onboard a way to enter the dock facilities. The commandos would then attack the 24 targets, set off the explosives in the destroyer ramming ship, and make their escape. Additional commandos were to be delivered by the motor boats.



photo : The old lend-lease 1919-built American destroyer, USS Buchanan, renamed HMS Campbeltown was converted for the raid and given the approximate appearance of a German Mowe-class escort vessel in the hope that this would cause the German defenders to hesitate. She also had 4.5 tons of explosive packed into her bows.

Launch of Operation Chariot :

ww2dbaseOn 26 Mar 1942, Operation Chariot was launched under the command of R. E. D. Ryder for the naval forces and Lieutenant Colonel A. C. Newman for the commandos; the total number of personnel involved was 611. Destroyers Atherstone and Tynedale escorted the task force most of the way before the task force reached waters outside of Saint-Nazaire. Escorting the destroyer ramming ship Campbeltown (disguised as a German Möwe-class destroyer) was an enlarged escort fleet of 16 motor launches (although one of them returned for home before reaching Saint-Nazaire due to mechanical failure), one motor gun boat, and one motor torpedo boat. Campbeltown was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Stephen Halden Beattie, and her crew was reduced to the minimum size of 75. Onboard Campbeltown were 24 Mark VII depth charges, totaling 3.17 metric tons of explosives, rigged for the post-operation self-destruction. The motor gun boat MGB 314 was equipped with radar so that she could effectively act as the headquarters ship for the naval command. Motor torpedo boat MTB 74 carried special modifications that allowed her to fire delayed-action torpedo over torpedo nets. All motor boats were painted a special "Plymouth Pink" (actually a shade of purple) for night time camouflage.

British intelligence on the topography and layout of the dock facilities was vast, including aerial reconnaissance photos and even detailed renderings of the interior and underground elements of the dock area. In just nine days, the HMS Campbeltown (previously an American WWI-era destroyer known as the USS Buchanan) was metamorphosed to resemble a German destroyer. The idea was that a task force of a few hundred Royal Navy personnel and British Commandos would slither into the Loire Estuary on the incognito Campbeltown flying the German naval ensign, complete with a captured code book enabling the communication of their supposed friendliness to the Germans. The Campbeltown, stuffed with several tons of the explosive Amatol, was to ram into the 1,500-ton gate of the Normandie dock and blow it to bits. The pump station which controlled the rise and fall of the dry dock’s water, and the winding houses which controlled the opening and closing of the caissons or “doors” of the dock were also targeted for destruction.



photo : A motor launch (ML) of the type which took part in the raid on St Nazaire. Sixteen such MLs were assigned to the force and were to carry commandos and demolition parties into St Nazaire. Their frail wooden hulls offered scant protection and only three of the craft survived the operation.

Despite being well-prepared, the raid didn’t go exactly as planned. The Commandos, however, were prepared for the unexpected. Late on 27 March, Royal Air Forces bombers were supposed to serve as decoys, bombing random but clear targets to the east of the dock in order to detract from the German forces guarding the coast in 80 or so gun emplacements. Since it was a cloudy night, however, the bombers dropped far fewer bombs than intended for fear of harming French civilians. So instead they hovered suspiciously over the area, alerting the Germans that something wasn’t quite right. Though the Campbeltown was initially surprisingly successful at entering the estuary at around 0100 hours on the morning of 28 March, the bizarre behavior of the bombers gave them away. The Campbeltown was now under fire from German coastal and railway guns. Swapping out the German ensign for the White Ensign of the Royal Navy, the Campbeltown rammed the dock gate just a few minutes behind schedule, though her bombs would prove to be several hours tardy.

The Commando Raid :

The Commandoes disembarked from the beached destroyer, heading immediately to the secondary targets. The pump station and winding houses were successfully taken out. The surviving Commandos headed to a predesignated rally point where they were to board several mahogany Motor Launches that would transport the home. These small wooden boats were particularly vulnerable, and many of them were easily destroyed by German gunfire; fuel burned on the surface of the water. This left the remaining 120 or so wounded and exhausted Commandos to face 5,000 well-armed and alert Germans. By dawn, the fighting was over. While the cost was high in terms of loss of manpower, all targets were successfully destroyed—the Campbeltown’s explosives eventually destroying the main gate a few hours later than intended—rendering the Normandie Dock at St. Nazaire useless, and thereby keeping the Tirpitz out of the Battle of the Atlantic. The success was a huge morale boost for the Brits, as well as the French who were finally given a sense of hope.

The commandos delivered by Campbeltown quickly and efficiently infiltrated the entire dock facility region, taking advantage of the German defenders still in relative confusion. The commandos were divided into two types of duties, demolition and protection. Those in charge of demolition carried explosive and otherwise lightly armed. While the demolition team found their targets, the protection teams guarded them with Thompson sub-machine guns and Bren light machine guns. The demolition teams were able to find and destroy all their assigned targets.

The difficult approach of the motor boats prevented them from making it to the shore; most of them simply engaged in rescue operations for those in the water. As a result, the British commandos were now left behind. Refusing to surrender, they attempted to regroup near the warehouses while under fire from the German 20-mm and 40-mm guns. At 03:00, they attempted to cross a bridge into the main town, where they plan to break out into the open country. Just as the Germans reinforced the defenses with soldiers from the 679 MI Brigade, the British commandos made a charge across the bridge into the town, but soon realizing the Germans had already positioned roadblocks to prevent their escape into the country. Surrounded, the British continued fighting through dawn. The 200 survivors finally surrendered at 1000. Only five escaped out of Saint-Nazaire.

The Raid on St. Nazaire resulted in the awarding of five Victoria Crosses, the most VC’s given for a single action during the war. The success of the raid infuriated Hitler, and in response he ordered that any Commandos captured in the future were to be immediately executed as spies and terrorists. The US military, on the other hand, was so impressed with the unique capabilities of Commando units that they soon created similar units in the American military, known as Rangers, who were trained by British Commandos in Scotland. The Tirpitz would be sunk by RAF bombers in 1944.

Epilogue :

ww2dbaseThe boats that made it back out to sea were aiming for a rendezvous point 46-km off Saint-Nazaire, where Atherstone and Tynedale were waiting. En route, two boats were destroyed by heavy German guns, including MTB 74; the loss of the two boats accounted for over half of the naval casualties of this operation. Another motor launch was lost at about 0630 when the German destroyer Jaguar commanded by F. K. Paul captured it after an hour of fighting with small arms. The British commanding officer of the motor launch did not surrender the vessel until 20 out of 28 aboard were wounded or killed. British commando Sergeant T. F. Durrant manned the Lewis gun during the entire battle despite being shot over 16 times; he eventually died of his wounds, and was given a Victoria Cross medal upon the recommendation of the German officer Paul.

ww2dbaseWhen the British task force reached the rendezvous point, there were only four boats remaining. Two were abandoned at that point due to damage, and the other two were abandoned later during an air attack.

ww2dbaseAt 1035, the charges aboard Campbeltown detonated (about 1.5 hours late). The explosion destroyed the caisson and killed 250 German soldiers and civilians in the immediate area. Recall MTB 74 launched several delayed-action torpedoes that were lodged in the old lock. They were fused to explode a few hours after launch, but they did not explode for another two days. When they finally detonated on 30 Mar, they killed 16 French civilians.

ww2dbaseThe raid on Saint-Nazaire cost the British 169 lives, while the Germans suffered 292 killed and 127 wounded. All but 27 of the British commandos were killed or captured, and only 27 escaped (22 of them via the motor boats because they were never delivered, and 5 of them escaped via Gibraltar after traveling through France and Spain). Although the casualty rate for the British was very high, the raid was considered to be a great success because all primary targets were successfully destroyed; in fact, the docks were damaged to such an extent that some remained unusable until 1947. This raid was later said to be the "Greatest Raid of All".

Sources of Article:

The Commando raid on St. Nazaire
World War II Database
Operation Chariot: Commando Raid on St. Nazaire

Thank you, Sasha. Here's a video of the Saint-Nazaire raid, The Greatest Raid
of All, perfectly narrated by Jeremy

Day "D": operation "Overlord"

This was the largest operation of air and sea assault in the history of wars. The "D-day" began on the night of the 5th to the 6th of June 1944. Parachutists and units on the gliders of the British 6th Airborne Division immediately after landing began to land on the eastern flank of the bridgehead in Normandy. Business did not go exactly as planned (during the airborne assault failures always happen), but compared to Sicily it was a masterpiece of military accuracy.

Three airframes from the 6th Airborne Division, inheriting the traditions of German paratroopers in EbenEmael, landed at a distance of 180 meters from the bridges on the Orne River in the areas of Ranoville and Benuville north of Caen. Landing groups under the command of John Howard broke into the bridges and forced the Germans to flee or surrender. A few kilometers to the northeast, the 9th Parachute Battalion of Lieutenant Colonel Terence Owaei landed near Merville near a strong coastal battery, the guns of which covered the beaches with fire - the target of the sea assault that was to begin in the morning. With the support of the glider units, Otway defeated the Germans in a bloody frontal attack, in which he lost 70 of the 150 soldiers.

At the same time, the largest airborne landing took place. 18,000 paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st American airborne divisions were dropped over the Kotenen peninsula. However, this operation did not proceed as smoothly as the attack of the British 6th Division. Scattered aircraft dropped landing on an area of more than 150 square meters. km. Before that, the Germans had flooded large areas of the eastern coast of Kottenan, and many Americans had fallen into the formed swamps. Hundreds of them were drowned under the weight of equipment or unable to free themselves from the tangled lines of parachutes. Soon the divisions as organized formations ceased to exist. The commander of the 82nd division, Major-General Ridgway, said after the battle that there were minutes when he commanded "as many" as eleven soldiers. Despite this, the situation was not as catastrophic as it seemed at first glance. Paratroopers were scattered over a large area and the Germans could not navigate, where the main landing landed. Their counterattacks hit into the void. In the German rear, an indescribable chaos reigned, so that the main goal of the paratroopers, despite everything, was achieved.



Combinations of commandos and rangers were the vanguard of the sea assault, the 2nd Ranger Battalion, organized and trained in England, received an extremely dangerous task when the rest of Derby's forces fought in the Mediterranean. The soldiers had to climb up the steep cliffs of the coast and liquidate the artillery batteries. The target was near Puente de Oc and covered the beach with fire, which was supposed to be the landing site for the Americans. Rangers landed at the foot of the rocks, abandoned hooks with attached to them climbing ropes and began to climb. The operation resembled the storming of a medieval fortress. From the tops of the rocks the Germans threw grenades, and the Rangers, hanging on ropes, responded with automatic fire. They took the batteries, but at a high price. Out of 225 people, 135 were killed or seriously injured.



In the forefront of the British invasion forces, the 1st and 4th brigades commandos landed with the task of seizing and holding the flanks of the landing force and establishing contact with the paratroopers scattered at night. The first brigade led by Lord Lovat came to the depths of the land in the direction of the positions of the 6th Airborne Division, which from the dawn fiercely fought against the German 21st Panzer Division. The people of Lovat reached the parachute troops after 13.00. The left flank, where the strongest connections of the Germans operated, was destroyed.

In contrast to what was happening in Sicily and in the initial phase of the operation in Italy, the partisan units ("French internal forces") were preparing to take away from the Germans vast areas in northern France. Favorable conditions were created for the application of SAS compounds, which in the spring of 1944 grew to the size of a brigade. Unfortunately, during the planning of Operation Lord, there were tensions between the new commander of the SAS, Brigadier General William Stirling (David Stirling's brother), and staff officers who planned specific details of the sea assault. They wanted to dump the forces of SAS near the beaches - the objectives of the landing. As a result, the SAS junctions would be between the enemy's front and its reserves. Stirling believed that this would be an improper use of elite units and resigned. This demarche so shocked the staff officers that common sense came back to them. Although his concept of the operation was accepted, Stirling did not return to his post. He insisted on dropping the SAS landing party far in France and, together with guerrillas, attacking German communications lines and communication centers.



Photo : Pre-invasion bombing of Pointe du Hoc by 9th Air Force A-20 Havoc bombers.

During this period, the SAS brigade included the 1st and 2nd regiments of the CAC, two French battalions of the SAS and the Belgian division, totaling 2,500. June 21, 1944 the first fully staffed division (Division A of the first regiment) was thrown out in France. Until August, SAS established 43 operational bases from Brittany to Belgium, from which sabotage operations were conducted. During the time in France, SAS lost 200 people. This is a small fraction of the loss of one day in the 1st Brigade in Sicily. But the losses inflicted on the enemy were estimated in the thousands, and the chaos caused by the CAC shares among the German forces can not be overestimated. This method of conducting war with the help of special units proved to be unusually effective. It was a guerrilla war like "hit harder and run", but there were enough heroic episodes in it. For example, on August 15, at the moment when the SS soldiers were going to shoot unarmed French citizens in the market in Le Am, in the town appeared jeeps SAS, and their coupled large-caliber machine guns finished with the Germans. Similar episodes quickly became overgrown with legends.



Photo : 101st Airborne Division soldiers holding a captured Nazi flag in Normandy.

below you can read more about the activities of 82nd and 101st Airborne On D-Day :

The amphibious landings of D-Day were hours away when the first combat missions by the US Army started in France. The invasion of Normandy began with a large-scale parachute drop that included 13,100 soldiers of the 82nd and the 101st Airborne Divisions. The attack occurred during the night in the early hours of June 6, 1944, and was the vanguard of the Allied operations in Normandy.

The troops were all part of the US VII Corps assigned to capture Cherbourg, the coastal city in Normandy that would serve as a supply port for the Allied troops after the landing. They were also tasked with a specific mission: to block approaches into the vicinity of the amphibious landing at Utah Beach, to capture causeway exits off the beaches, and to establish crossings over the Douve River at Carentan to assist the U.S. V Corps in joining up the two American beachheads.

Once the paratroopers landed, all hell broke loose. The heavy fighting marked the beginning of the end for the second world war in Europe.

The operation was the subject of careful planning that lasted for over a year. Both the divisions that were trusted with the operation had already earned their fame in Italy, where they served during the Allied invasion, conducting night drops.

The IX Troop Carrier Command was formed in October 1943, as a transport force designated to carry out the invasion of Europe. In February 1944, it became apparent that the landing was going to take place in Normandy and plans were once again drafted and offered to U.S commander Dwight D. Eisenhower. The night jump rehearsals were carried out in May 1944 and the men from the 82nd and 101st were all jacked up to be dropped in France, behind enemy lines.


The paratroopers were to disrupt the German defense lines and use the element of surprise while the main force landed the beaches. The mission proved to be a difficult one, for the landings needed to be carried out precisely so that the troops wouldn’t scatter and fall victim to German patrols.



Photo : General Dwight D. Eisenhower speaking with First lieutenant Wallace C. Strobel and men of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment on June 5, 1944. The placard around Strobel’s neck indicates he is the jumpmaster for chalk 23 of the 438th TCG. Strobel’s battalion was the first to drop into Normandy. By Unknown U.S. Army photographer, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

The airborne assault was divided into two missions, codenamed Albany and Boston. The “Screaming Eagles” of the 101st, part of mission Albany, were the first to jump. Their drop zone was northeast of the town of Carentan. Between 00:48 and 01:40 hours three regiments, each numbering 1800 men, parachuted into France. The pathfinders of the 101st were instructed to set up short-range Rebecca/Eureka navigation systems. These devices were intended to help the pilots in the carrier planes to find the drop zones.

One hour behind the 101st came the men of the 82nd Airborne Division, ready to make history at Sainte-Mère-Église. They began to drop at 01:51 hours in Mission Boston, again dropping in three waves from a fleet of 369 C-47 carrier planes. Another 6,420 men joined the fight that was already raging on the ground.

Even though the operation was well planned, bad weather meant that hundreds of men landed far from their drop zones, forming pockets of resistance that took on the well-organized German defenders everywhere. As well as the bad weather and fog, the accuracy of the drops was hindered by a lack of navigators on many of the aircraft, radio silence that prevented warnings when adverse weather was encountered, German anti-aircraft fire and emergency usage of Rebecca by numerous lost aircraft, jamming the system and causing malfunctions.

Once the troops of the 101st and the 82nd were on the ground, they began organizing and completing their objectives, despite the difficult start and the determination of the Germans to stop them.

The initial casualties were high among the US troops, with a significant loss of commanding officers on the ground, which threatened to leave the soldiers without appropriate leadership.

Once the US troops managed to secure their ground a pre-dawn glider mission was sent with reinforcements and anti-tank equipment. Several other glider missions (codenamed Elmira, Galveston, Hackensack) followed up including a resupply mission (Freeport and Memphis), reinforcing the 82nd and the 101st as the urban combat continued in Carentan and Sainte-Mère-Église.

After the first 24 hours, 2,500 out of 6,000 men of the 101st were under direct command of the division headquarters. Many others were either dead or were fighting for survival deep behind enemy lines. The push for Carentan was at its crucial stage and the men weren’t giving up, despite the chaos that followed their landing. The 82nd had consolidated its forces on Sainte-Mère-Église, but significant pockets of troops were isolated west of the Merderet, some of which had to hold out for several days. The dispersal of the American airborne troops and the nature of the hedgerow terrain had the effect of confusing the Germans and fragmenting their response.

As a defensive tactic, the Germans diverted the Douve river and flooded the area, making the terrain impassable for vehicles. This backfired because the flooded areas protected the American southern flank from counterattack.

The fighting continued for over a week. On June 13th, German forces using assault guns, tanks, and infantry of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division’s 37th SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment, along the elements of the 6th Parachute Regiment, attacked the 101st southwest of Carentan. The Germans pushed back the left of the U.S. line in a morning-long battle until Combat Command A of the 2nd Armored Division was sent forward to repel the attack.


Photo : US Army jeep passes under the French flag as civilians thank the Americans after the liberation of the town. By US Army Signal Corps photographer – Imperial War Museum collection, This is photograph EA 26383 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums, Public Domain.

The 82nd Division also played a significant role in the fighting during those days, gaining control over a bridge at Merderet and several other strategic points along the Douve river, before uniting with the elements of the 101st Divison on June 14 at Baupte.

After the battle, the number of US casualties during the airborne operation was 42 C-47 carrier planes , 1,240 (182 killed, 557 wounded, and 501 missing) members of the 101st and 1,259 (156 killed, 347 wounded, and 756 missing) from the 82nd. The strategic importance of the Airborne landings to the overall success of the invasion of Normandy is huge. Mission Albany and Mission Boston remain two of the most daring operations in the history of modern warfare.

Links

https://history.wikireading.ru/93247 (russian)
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/featured/fusag-army-didntexist.html/2
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/polish-agency-looking-remove-soviet-era-monuments.html