The Greatest Raid - Operation Chariot

HMS Campbeltown, an obsolete WW1 destroyer was sent on a one way mission to St Nazaire. A floating time bomb, its intent was to destroy the only dry dock capable of repairing Tirpitz on the North Atlantic coast. An incredibly important mission that was seen by many to be too dangerous. In many circles Operation Chariot has become known as the Greatest Raid of all time. It came at great cost and was achieved only through the extreme bravery of those involved.

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[napoleonibonaparte]

"There we are men, just 4 minutes late."

The British equivalent of "A wizard arrives precisely when he means to."

[clemson]

“Identify yourself”

“Chill, I belong to the Kriegsmarine”

*“Understandable, have a nice day”*

[Big_E_Soul_Fragment]

"It's an older code, but it checks out" while a theme based off Imperial March plays. I see what you did there.

[EnterpriseXI]

Superior officer: "Where is that destroyer going?"
Lower rank officer: "German Destroyer, what is your cargo and destination?"
HMS Campbelltown: "Requesting permission to dock for repairs and resupply."
Superior officer: "Do they have a code clearance?"
Lower rank officer: "It's an older code sir but it checks out. I was about to clear them."
Superior officers staring at the fake German Destroyer
Lower rank officer: "Should I hold them?"
Superior officer: "No leave them to me, I will deal with them myself."
Lower rank officer: "As you wish my Lord."

[rorykellas]

"They call it, the greatest raid of all" - Jeremy Clarkson. Love to see you take on this story, a true favourite of mine

[diegotavel]

You know that you can play this raid in Medal of Honor: European Assault for the PS2, is actually the first mission of the game.

[imteduck]

Idk if anyone else thinks this, but you should do an episode on that Finnish soldier who hyped himself up on drugs after losing his squad and went on a 3 day rampage before getting injured

[joshuam]

One of the gunners (damn me I forget his name) on the one of the motor launches was actually shot 16 times, but still kept operating his weapon until he died from blood loss. After the battle, the German Captain who was shooting at him approached the British prisoners and said: “I don’t know who that man was, but he deserves your Victoria Cross”

[Nikzaw]

Two commandos just sat quietly awaiting their deaths without uttering a word, knowing what was coming and what success of the mission meant. That’s the epitome of courage

[myMotoring]

0:05
US: ok we agree to borrow you this ship please give it back in one piece.
Brits: Yeah, everything's hunky-dory at the office

[Peddependable]

"It's an old code, but it checks out" and i was wondering, why the Star Wars theme was playing. I get it now.

[nitromethsloth]

F for the two brave men who kept shut even tho they knew the ship was about to blow, epic chad lads. Just imagining the situation gives me shivers

[moonroerkr]

“Here we are men, just 4 minutes late”

So simple yet so good

[VKSgtSLaughter]

1:26 "It's an older code but it checks out." -Star Wars

[earthenjadis]

"Say dear chaps, could you loan us a destroyer?"
"Sure mac. As long as we get it back in one piece. Whatya gonna do with it?"
"..."

[pyronuke]

This reminds me of Operation Medium, in which the British Battleship HMS Revenge conducted a nighttime naval bombardment by using an air raid as cover. In late 1940 the English noticed a large number of German landing craft in the port of Charbourg. These had been gathered for Operation Sealion, and although the window for the invasion had already passed, they still constituted an uncomfortable concentration of German forces just across the English Channel.
As RAF precision bombing was still a work in progress at this point of the war the English needed something a little more accurate than "there's the target city, chuck the bomb out the window and hopefully we hit something important." They had the Revenge available, but it was dubious that the old ww1 era battleship could get close enough to the well defended harbor to accurately hit its targets. So they came up with a plan that would require both timing and good luck: an air raid was to be launched against the city, and while all the Germans were looking upwards the warship would tiptoe in and shoot up the landing forces from practically point blank range.
The plan went off without a hitch, and by the time the Germans realized what was happening and returned fire with shore defense batteries, the Revenge had successfully knocked out a large number of invasion craft and retreated back into the darkness of night without a scratch.

Drachinifel has a great video detailing the event, and if you're interested I would highly recommend you check it out.

[DaleBryand]

Anybody else catch the Star Wars references such as "its an old code, but it checks out"

[randommadness]

The Jeremy Clarkson documentary, with the same name. Greatest ever raid, Jeremy Clarkson. Goes into much more detail. Almost an hour long. The most amount of Victoria Crosses ever handed out for a single operation.
Well worth a watch and doesn't seem like it's an hour long cause it's so good. Probably one of the greatest videos on YouTube and that isn't over-selling it at all.
Highly recommend it

[mewuuuu]

"Here we are 4 minutes late"

I just love that part, for no reason.

[Wanderer]

I've heard a lot about this raid but I never knew there were two commandos who had been taken back on to the ship. Christ I can't even imagine it. What courage it must have taken to not say a word even though they knew they were likely going to go up with the ship.

RIP. True heros of the war.