The Greatest Raid: St. Nazaire, 1942

Whittell (Bridge of Spies) raises intriguing questions about how the success or failure of wartime actions should be evaluated in his impressive study of the March 1942 British naval and commando raid (Operation Chariot) on the German-occupied French port of St Nazaire. Wooden British Navy launches would land commandos on the docks of the port as sailors crashed an explosives-filled old destroyer into a very large drydock before setting off the explosives. Churchill wanted the raid to combat the threat of the German battleship Tirpitz to Allied shipping, to bolster sagging British domestic morale, and to respond to Stalin’s call for a second front against the Nazis. From Churchill’s perspective, the raid was a huge success as it very severely damaged the port’s facilities and gave Britain a victory to tout. The British sailors and commandos experienced extremely heavy causalities. Whittell questions whether Churchill’s goals were worth this very high cost in death and injuries and whether the raid actually fulfilled Churchill’s goals. In the author’s view, the very poor and hasty planning of the raid contributed to the high cost of success in casualties.