Campbeltown had done her job well. In fact, the dock would not be put back in service until the ’50s. The monster battleship Tirpitz was without a home. She never came out of her Norwegian refuge, and there, in another daring raid, Royal Navy midget submarines found and crippled her in 1944. And in autumn of that year, RAF Avro Lancasters attacked her. Their 12,000-pound bombs ravaged the superbattleship, which turned turtle in Tromso Fiord, becoming a huge steel coffin for many of her crew.

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Operation Chariot had cost Britain 169 killed and about 200 taken prisoner, most of them wounded. Five commandos worked their way through Spain and back to England. Four more were imprisoned but escaped. Those who died in the attack were honored by the Germans, who mounted an honor guard over the coffins of some of the dead and exchanged salutes with captured British officers at the funeral.

The extraordinary courage of the raiders resulted in a total of 74 British decorations, and France contributed four Croix de Guerres. An unprecedented 51 men were mentioned in dispatches, and the operation was dubbed by those who survived it as ‘the greatest raid of all.’ Five Victoria Crosses were awarded to the raiders. One went to Ryder and another to Newman, in recognition not only of their personal valor but of the collective bravery of the men under their command. A third medal went to the imperturbable Beattie, captain of Campbeltown, recognizing his courage as well as, according to British custom, the valor ‘also of the unnamed officers and men of the ship’s company, many of whom did not survive.’

Sergeant Durrant earned the VC for his gallant one-sided fight against the cannons of Jaguar. The fifth VC went to Bill Savage. His citation for the medal summed up the whole, valiant, tragic night at St. Nazaire. The Victoria Cross was awarded not only for individual gallantry, but also for the great valor shown by many others unnamed, in motor launches, motor gunboats and torpedo boats, who carried out their duties in entirely exposed positions against enemy fire at very close range.

This article was written by Robert Barr Smith and originally appeared in the March 2003 issue of World War II magazine. For more great articles subscribe to World War II magazine today!

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