On 28 March 1942, in the St Nazaire Raid, the explosive-packed destroyer HMS Campbeltown rammed the gate of the great lock there, the only dock on the Atlantic coast able to take the Tirpitz, and blew up hours later. Most Commandos who landed were killed or captured. On 28 March 1941 the Royal Navy won at Cape Matapan.
St Nazaire Raid
28 March 1942 · 84 years ago
One dock and one battleship
The great lock at St Nazaire on the Loire, built for the liner Normandie, was the only dry dock on the Atlantic coast of France that could take the German battleship Tirpitz. Without it, a raid by the Tirpitz into the Atlantic would be far riskier, so the British set out to wreck it.1
The plan was to ram the outer gate of the lock with an old destroyer, HMS Campbeltown, formerly an American ship, loaded with explosives timed to go off hours later. Commandos of No. 2 Commando were to land from her and from motor launches and blow up the dock's machinery. Commander Robert Ryder commanded the naval force, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Newman the Commandos and Lieutenant-Commander Stephen Beattie the Campbeltown.2
The run up the Loire
The force sailed from Falmouth on the afternoon of 26 March. With Campbeltown went a motor gun boat, sixteen motor launches and a motor torpedo boat, with two destroyers as escort. On board were 62 naval officers and 291 ratings, and 44 officers and 224 other ranks of the Commandos.3
An air raid on the port at midnight put the defenders on alert. At about 1:30 a.m. searchlights lit up the force, and Ryder won a few precious minutes with false recognition signals before the guns opened fire. At 1:34 a.m. on 28 March, four minutes late, Campbeltown rammed the lock gate and stuck fast in it.4
Fighting ashore and the explosion
Campbeltown's Commandos landed at once and blew up the pumping station and the machinery that worked the lock gates. The motor launches carrying the other parties met point-blank fire; many were sunk or set on fire, and only a few landed their men as planned. At 2:50 a.m., with his boat full of wounded and no way to take off the soldiers, Ryder withdrew.5
Ashore, Newman's men fought their way through the town until, their ammunition gone, they were overpowered and captured. Shortly before noon Campbeltown blew up, with many Germans on board inspecting her, and destroyed the lock gate. In the confused firing of the next days many French workmen were killed.6
The cost and the honors
The lock could not take the Tirpitz for a long time. The cost was heavy: the Navy lost 34 officers and some 150 ratings killed or missing, and the Commandos 34 officers and 178 other ranks, though many of the missing had been taken prisoner.7
Five Victoria Crosses were awarded: to Ryder, to Beattie and, posthumously, to Able Seaman William Savage, the gunlayer of Ryder's motor gun boat, in May 1942, and to Newman and, posthumously, Sergeant Thomas Durrant in June 1945. More of the war is covered in our guide to the greatest battles of World War II.8
Also on 28 March: Cape Matapan, 1941
On 28 March 1941 the British Mediterranean Fleet under Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham found the Italian fleet south of Crete, near the island of Gavdos. Torpedo aircraft from the carrier Formidable hit the battleship Vittorio Veneto, slowing her, and at dusk crippled the heavy cruiser Pola.9
That night Cunningham's battleships came upon the cruisers Zara and Fiume, which had turned back to help the Pola, and destroyed them at close range. Italy lost three heavy cruisers and two destroyers; the British lost one aircraft. The damaged Vittorio Veneto escaped, which Cunningham admitted spoiled the result.10
Battle of Hlobane, 1879: the retreat down Devil's Pass
28 March 1879 · 147 years ago
At Hlobane mountain in northern Zululand, mounted troops of Colonel Evelyn Wood's column attacked abaQulusi Zulus during the Anglo-Zulu War. The arrival of the main Zulu army turned the raid into a costly British retreat down the steep Devil's Pass, a rare Zulu victory.
Read the full story of Battle of Hlobane, 1879: the retreat down Devil's Pass ›
