Robert Lyman - Into the Jaws of Death

The True Story of the Legendary Raid on Saint-Nazaire

Robert Lyman

Into the Jaws of Death

Also by Robert Lyman

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First Victory: Britains Forgotten Struggle in the Middle East, 1941

The Generals: From Defeat to Victory, Leadership in Asia 194145

The Longest Siege: Tobruk The Battle that Saved North Africa

Japans Last Bid for Victory: The Invasion of India, 1944

Operation Suicide: The Remarkable Story of the Cockleshell Raid

First published in Great Britain in 2013 by
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Copyright 2013 Robert Lyman

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

HB ISBN 978 1 78206 444 2
TPB ISBN 978 1 78206 445 9
EBOOK ISBN 978 1 78206 446 6

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The image on the title page is of wounded commandos being placed on a flatbed truck at about 9 a.m. on the morning of 28 March 1942 (German casualties were taken away by French ambulance). HMS Campbeltown has not yet exploded. The kilted Private Thomas McCormack of the 1st (Liverpool Scottish) Battalion, Queens Own Cameron Highlanders and of No. 2 Commando, mortally wounded in the head by a German hand grenade, is being laid on the vehicle. He was to die of his wounds two weeks later on 11 April 1942 in Rennes, after being transferred to hospital there from the makeshift hospital in the Htel lHermitage at La Baule, ten miles west of Saint-Nazaire. His body lies in Rennes Eastern Communal Cemetery.

They that had fought so well

Came thro the jaws of Death,

Back from the mouth of Hell,

All that was left of them,

Left of six hundred.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson,

The Charge of the Light Brigade, 1854

This book is dedicated to my parents, Graham and Beth Lyman, and in memory of the indomitable Charioteers, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice

We prayed that this time, no one had blundered.

Lance Corporal Jack Webb RAMC, No. 2 Commando, ML 341

It was one of those enterprises which could be attempted only because in the eyes of the enemy it was absolutely impossible.

Vice Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations

a deed of glory intimately involved in high strategy.

Sir Winston Churchill

it was a handful of men going into the jaws of death.

Gordon Holman, Evening Standard, 28 March 1943

This brilliant attack was carried out by night under a vicious enemy fire, by a handful of men, who achieved with certainty and precision what the heaviest bombing raid or naval bombardment might well have failed to do.

Vice Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations

brilliant and heroic exploit

Sir Winston Churchill

You were the first to give us hope.

Monsieur Paul Ramadier, Prime Minister of France, to veterans, Saint-Nazaire, 1947

Surely by far the highest number of VCs ever awarded for a single operation; and this is the measure of the heroism of all who took part in that magnificent enterprise.

Vice Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations, 1942

The English attack on Saint-Nazaire on the night of 28 March 1942 is a first-class example of a well planned undertaking thought out to the last detail and executed with great courage.

German report on the raid

We would not wish to deny the gallantry of the British. Every German is moved by a feeling of respect for the men who carried out this action. The crew of the Campbeltown under fierce fire forced their ship through the northern lock gates, and carried out a crazy enterprise as well as it could be done. They fought until death or capture.

German naval spokesman, radio broadcast, 31 March 1942

The telephone rang shrilly. The officer of the watch shook off his sleep, picked it up almost instinctively, awoke in an instant and listened intently to the voice at the other end of the line. But the message was confusing, and hard to comprehend. Attacks? Saint-Nazaire? Kapitnleutnant Herbert Sohler, commanding officer of the Kriegsmarines 7th U-boat Flotilla (7 Unterseebootsflottille), was on the telephone from the Celtic Hotel in La Baule, talking some nonsense about a British raid on the submarine port. He wanted urgently to talk to the submarine chief.

The duty officer noted the time: 1.45 a.m. Vice Admiral Karl Dnitz had only arrived back at his chteau overlooking the River Scorff at Kernvel, near Lorient, a few hours before, following a major tour of inspection of the massive U-boat base at Saint-Nazaire. Now, only a handful of hours later, a British attack seemed to be unfolding in the very place where Germanys submarine chief (Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote, BdU, the Commander of the Submarines) had inspected his nine Type-VII U-boats and their feted and dramatically successful crews. Certainly, the Fhrer had warned only that week of the heightened risk of Commando attacks on Germanys European littoral, but this seemed different, even sinister. The coincidence of the British attacking the same place where Dnitz had been only hours before seemed too remarkable to be true. Was it not probable that this was an attempt on Dnitzs life, as British commandos had attempted to do recently to General Rommel in North Africa? After all, it seemed reasonable to assume that the German U-boat commander was a figure of hate in the Anglo-Saxon world, given that it was his hand on the helm in the Battle of the Atlantic.

He rang the Admirals aide-de-camp, elsewhere in the building, to brief him fully on this momentous news. It would be up to the ADC to awaken Dnitz. Meanwhile the duty officer would warn the guard commander to call out the reserve guard, increasing security around the chteau. With what was almost certain to have been an attempt on the life of Dnitz himself, Germanys most senior naval commander, no precaution seemed excessive. He picked up the telephone and rang the guard commander. Minutes later Sohler was on the telephone to Dnitz.

Admiral, I have received a message from the port commander of Saint-Nazaire that the British are landing in the dockyards at this very moment, and have occupied half the port.

Sohler, what is happening with my submarines? Are they safe? a shocked Dnitz barked out in reply.

Right now I dont know, sir, came Sohlers response. Im going straight to Saint-Nazaire and will call you back as soon as Ive found out whats going on. In the meantime I am evacuating the crews to La Roche-Bernard.