March 28th, 1942 (SATURDAY)
FRANCE: The Resistance unit Francs-tireurs et partisans is created.
St. Nazaire: OPERATION CHARIOT: The "Normandie" dry-dock, the biggest in occupied Europe, vital to enemy warships such as the TIRPITZ, is a flooded ruin after an extraordinary night in which the destroyer HMS CAMPBELTOWN (ex USS Buchanan DD-191) was converted into a delayed action bomb and rammed onto the dock gates at 20 knots.
Commandos then swarmed on shore to sabotage other key parts of the dock. One demolition party had just 90 seconds' start on its own charges, placed 40 feet below ground. At 11.30 this morning, about 12 hours after the start of the operation, when over half of the Combined Operations raiders were dead or captive, the destroyer blew up, killing more than 380 Germans exploring the ship. The base is now only usable by submarines, whose facilities remain untouched.
The operation was precisely planned and well-executed. But its success was due in a large part to the heroism of the men involved. Some 611 men went into action (345 Royal Navy; 257 Commando; four doctors; three liaison officers and two journalists) of whom 169 were killed - 104 from the navy and 200 captured.
The naval forces were commanded by Cdr. Robert Edward Dudley "RED" Ryder, RN, while the Army commandoes were led by Lt-Col. Augustus Charles Newman, the Officer Commanding Number 2 Commando, both on board MGB-314.
The plan called the RN force to boldly sail up the Loire estuary at night and penetrate into St. Nazaire harbour, at which point HMS Campbeltown, modified to carry 9,600 pounds of delayed action high explosives (24 x 400 pound depth charges encased in concrete), and under command of Lt.Cdr. Stephen Halden “Sam” Beattie, RN, would ram the forward caisson of the Normandie dock at high-speed, and scuttle herself. Immediately thereafter the commandos carried on board Campbeltown, the MGB, and 12 of the the motor launches, would land at three separate locations, push ashore, and destroy the various harbour installations used in operating the dock. After this was accomplished, the commandoes would re-embark on the small craft and run for home.
A flotilla of 17 motor launches and two other small craft joined the trip up the Loire estuary. Only four would return. Surprise was lost and only one launch would put its men ashore. Some local residents thinking it was a full-scale invasion, joined in the fighting against the Germans.
In the event, the wooden hulled, petrol engined motor launches proved to be too entirely too vulnerable to German defensive fire - ten being sunk. Of the 12 troop carrying MLs, only three were able to land their commandoes - of the remainder, four were sunk and the other five forced to retire with their commandoes still aboard. Regardless, not of the craft that remained were able to remain in the harbour long enough to embark the commandoes that did get ashore. Amazingly, however, the commando parties that did get ashore managed to destroy all of the key objectives, the Normandie pump house, and both caisson winding houses. Realizing that there was to be no return to the UK, the commandoes then attempted, in large, unsuccessfully, to fight their way inland and escape into the French countryside. However, it was not until next morning when the delayed action charges on HMS Campbeltown belatedly exploded, totally destroying seaward facing caisson and opening the dock to the sea that the raid could be judged a resounding success.
Admiral Mountbatten, commanding Combined Operations, sought a second destroyer to retrieve the raiders but was overruled.
The force was one destroyer [HMS Campbeltown, ex. USS Buchanan (DD-191)] , one Fairmile "C" motor gun boat [MGB-314], one motor torpedo boat [MTB-74], five torpedo equipped and eleven non-torpedo equipped Fairmile "B" motor launches [MLs 156, 160, 177, 192, 262, 267, 268, 270, 298, 306, 307, 341 (aborted), 443, 446, 447, 457] carrying 624 personnel (356 RN, 263 Army, 3 foreign, and 2 civilian). This was supported by one submarine beacon ship [HMS Sturgeon], and a support force of two Hunt class destroyers [HMS Atherstone and HMS Tynedale].
Besides the ten MLs and MTB lost in the harbour during the attack, on the return voyage one further ML was, after an epic but one-sided fight, sunk in action with the German torpedo boat Jaguar, and subsequently three more, as well as the MGB, were scuttled after having their crews removed to the British covering force destroyers. Casualties included 169 killed (103 RN, 66 Army and 212 prisoners of war (79 RN, 133 Army). Five of the Army commandoes did manage to evade German forces and eventually returned to the UK via Spain. The epic nature of the raid can be easily seen in the awards granted to the participants, which totalled:
5 Victoria Crosses: Ryder; Beattie; AB William Alfred Savage, RN (MGB-314); Newman; Sgt. Thomas Frank Durrant, RE (1 Commando) [fight with Jaguar]
4 Distinguished Service Orders
17 Distinguished Service Crosses
11 Military Crosses
4 Conspicuous Gallantry Medals
5 Distinguished Conduct Medals [DCM viz DSM above]
24 Distinguished Service Medals [DSM correct above]
15 Military Medals
51 Mentioned in Dispatches
The French also awarded 6 Croix de Guerre's (CdeG) and 2 Chevaliers of the Legion d' Honour.
(Mark E. Horan)
St. Nazaire: Lt-Cdr Stephen Halden Beattie (1908-75) steamed HMS CAMPBELTOWN into the port gates under withering close-range fire and scuttled her as planned; many crew died. (Victoria Cross)
St. Nazaire: Cdr. Robert Edward Dudley Ryder (1908-86), commanding the naval force, led HMS CAMPBELTOWN in, and helped to take off her crew before escaping under an intense German barrage. (Victoria Cross)
St. Nazaire: AB William Alfred Savage (b.1912) fired his unshielded pom-pom gun aboard Cdr Ryder's motor gun boat with great coolness until he was killed. (Victoria Cross)
St. Nazaire: Sgt. Thomas Frank Durrant (b.1918),Royal Engineers, fired his Lewis gun aboard a launch in spite of wounds from which, in captivity, he died. (Victoria Cross)
St. Nazaire: Lt-Col. Augustus Charles Newman (1904-72), Essex Regt, led the troops on the raid. Ignoring his own safety, he inspired his men until they were surrounded and captured. (Victoria Cross)
During the night of the 28th/29th, 14 RAF Bomber Command aircraft fly leaflet missions, nine over Paris and five over Lens.
NETHERLANDS: During the night of the 28th/29th, individual RAF Bomber Command Blenheims bomb Schipol and Soesterburg Airfields.
GERMANY: Foreign Minister Joachim
von Ribbentrop asks Japanese Ambassador to Germany Count Oshima to secure a
Japanese attack on Russia simultaneously with Germany's "crushing blow." The
Japanese would attack at Vladivostok and Lake Baikal but the Japanese take no
action.
During the night of the 28th/29th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 234
aircraft,
146 Wellingtons, 41 Hampdens, 26
Stirlings and 21 Manchesters to attack Lübeck; 204 attack the city. This raid
was the first major success for Bomber Command against a German target. The
attack was carried out in good visibility, with the help of an almost full moon
and, because of the light defenses of this target, from a low level, many crews
coming down to 2,000 feet (610 meters). The force is split into three waves, the
leading one being composed of experienced crews with Gee-fitted aircraft;
although Lübeck was beyond the range of Gee, the device helped with preliminary
navigation. More than 400 tons (363 metric tonnes) of bombs are dropped; two
thirds of this tonnage was incendiary; 191 crews claimed successful attacks.
German sources show that 1,425 buildings in Lübeck are destroyed, 1,976 are
seriously damaged and 8,411 are lightly damaged; these represented 62 per cent
of all buildings in Lübeck. The casualties in Lübeck were 312 or 320 people
killed (accounts conflict), 136 seriously and 648 slightly injured. The
attacking force loses 12 aircraft, seven Wellingtons, three Stirlings, a Hampden
and a Manchester. Other targets hit during the night include individual attacks
on Emden, Heligoland, Husum and Sylt and two aircraft bomb Kiel.
INDIA: New Delhi: India is to be the first non-white country in the British Empire to have Dominion status - after the war. The announcement was made by Sir Stafford Cripps, the lord privy seal, who is visiting India. he warned that the offer is conditional on "wide acceptance", and, by implication, on support for the war.
Yesterday Cripps spent over two hours with the Congress leader, Mahatma Gandhi, an uncompromising pacifist. The meeting was hardly the dialogue that Cripps expected. The exasperating Gandhi has taken a vow of silence and spoke not a word.
Tomorrow Cripps will talk to Mohammed Jinnah, the pro-Allied leader of the Moslem League. No-one wants Cripps to fail more than Winston Churchill, who only sanctioned Cripps' offer under pressure from the US and often states that he is not fighting the war to preside over the dismemberment of the British Empire.
BURMA: General Harold Alexander,
General Officer Commanding Burma Army, at the request of Lieutenant General
Joseph Stilwell, Commanding General American Army Forces, China, Burma and India
and Chief of Staff of the Chinese Army, agrees to attack on the Irrawaddy River
front. Reconnaissance elements of the Burma I Corps clash with the Japanese at
Paungde, southeast of Prome.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The Japanese,
moving into position for all-out offensive against Bataan, feint against I Corps
and push in the outpost line of Sector D on the II Corps front. Increasingly
heavy air and arty bombardment of Bataan is lowering efficiency of defence force
as well as destroying badly needed materiel. Efforts to run the blockade and
supply the garrison with necessary items have virtually failed, and supply
situation is growing steadily worse.
AUSTRALIA: P-40 pilots of the
USAAF 9th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) based at Darwin, Northern Territory,
shoot down three Japanese twin-engine bombers over Darwin at 1310 hours.
The air echelon of the USAAF 28th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) transfers
from Melbourne, Victoria, to Cloncurry, Queensland, with B-17 Flying Fortresses;
a detachment begins operating from Perth, Western Australia; the ground echelon
is in the Philippine Islands.
TERRITORY OF HAWAII: U. S. Navy codebreakers
at Pearl Harbor decipher a message that reveals the Japanese plan a major
offensive north of Australia in early May.
U.S.A.: Elements of the USAAF's I
Bomber Command that are engaged in antisubmarine operations are placed under
operational control of the U.S. Navy's Eastern Sea Frontier.
Frank Sinatra's record of "Night And Day" makes it to the Billboard Pop Singles chart. The song is from the motion picture "The Gay Divorcee" starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. This is his first single to make the charts and it stays there for 3 weeks and rises to Number 17.
Units of the USAAF I Bomber Command engaged in antisubmarine warfare patrols off the East Coast are placed under operational control of Commander, Eastern Sea Frontier, USN.