St Nazaire, France

On 28th March 1942 625 commando and naval personnel, aboard HMS Campbeltown (converted to resemble a German vessel and into a floating bomb), 16 wooden motor launches (MLs), one motor gunboat (MGB) and one motor torpedo boat MTB), sailed up the heavily defended Loire estuary to ram (at 01.34 hours, just 4 minutes later than planned) and destroy the dock’s outer caisson. The success of the raid depended on extreme secrecy and surprise, on deceiving the enemy until the last possible moment.

Every year on the 28th March in St Nazaire, France there is a service of commemoration held at the Commando Memorial on the Place du Commando. Organised by the Mairie, there is usually a contingent from both the British and French armed forces and the British Ambassador to France or their representative.

 

For many years, during the afternoon of 27th March, the St Nazaire Society has visited the cemetery at La-Baule Escoublac, which is the final resting place of so many Charioteers. There is a short service of remembrance along with laying wreaths and small crosses on the graves of the Charioteers.

The Cemetery at La Baule-Escoublac

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