Selected troops from the Special Service Brigade. The Netherlands. St Nazaire was targeted because the loss of its dry dock would force any large German warship in need of repairs, such as Tirpitz , sister ship of Bismarck , to return to home waters by running the gauntlet of the Home Fleet of the Royal Navy and other British forces, via the English Channel or the North Sea.
The obsolete destroyer HMS Campbeltown , accompanied by 18 smaller craft, crossed the English Channel to the Atlantic coast of France and rammed into the Normandie dry dock south gate. The ship had been packed with delayed-action explosives, well hidden within a steel and concrete case, that detonated later that day, putting the dock out of service until A force of commandos landed to destroy machinery and other structures.
German gunfire sank, set ablaze, or immobilized virtually all the small craft intended to transport the commandos back to England. The commandos fought their way through the town to escape overland but many surrendered when they ran out of ammunition or were surrounded by the Wehrmacht defending Saint-Nazaire. Of the men who undertook the raid, returned to Britain, were killed and became prisoners of war. German casualties included over dead, some of whom were killed after the raid when Campbeltown exploded.
To recognise their bravery, 89 members of the raiding party were awarded decorations , including five Victoria Crosses. After the war, St Nazaire was one of 38 battle honours awarded to the commandos. The operation has been called "the greatest raid of all" in British military circles. St Nazaire is on the north bank of the Loire , km mi from the nearest British port.
In , it had a population of 50, The St Nazaire port has an outer harbour known as the Avant Port, formed by two piers jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean.
