Evening star., 1942-03-28
Suicide DESTROYER,
Is Other Vessels
Sunk, Nozis Soy

LONDON, March 2o.-British
commandos invaded st. Nazalre,
the great Nazi submarine base on
the French Brittany coast, early
today in what appeared to have
been an attempt to duplicate the
World War coup of Zeebrugge
and destroy the harbor locks by
blowing up an old warShlp
crammed with explosives.
The German high command.
which released a detailed and OBJ
viously one-sided account OF the ac-
tion claimed IAN old American
DESTROYER" loaded with explosives
which was to have rammed the gates
of the lock blew up under fire pc
fore it reached its goal and that, IN
addition, nine British motor torpeoo
boats and four other torpedo boats
of the raiders were destroyed.
The German account also SAID tile
raiders suffered severe casualties ana
left over 100 prisoners IN NaA
hands.
By contrast, the first British COM
munioue said only, "A combined
operation was carried out IN the
early hours of this morning by units
of the three services in small RAID
on St. Nazaire. A further COM
munique will be issued as soon as
our forces return
Audacious Raid.
From the German preoccupatlon
with the raid-there were regular
and special Nazi communlques-lt
seemed certain, however, that 1t was
the most audacious British RAID
since France fell.
The regular German high COM
mand communique said the landing
forces were routed when they trled
to attack shipyard and to pene-
trate into the town of St. Nazalre
itself, that no damage whatsoever
occurred in the submarine base and
that no German warshlps were lost
An earlier. special Nazi communl-
Que had claimed that all those troops
who landed had been "encircled and
destroyed
After dawn this morning. the Ger
mans said, their torpedo boats en-
countered "a superior British de-
stroyer formation which broke OH
the engagement after having re-
ceived several hits
Parallel to 1918 Invasion.
The German accounts of the night
of battle in the Loire estuary drew
q close parallel with the Zeebrugge
invasion of April %, 1918, by British
naval units under Admiral Sir Roger
Keves-who for Is months in this
new war headed the commando IN
vasion units.
Like st. Nazaire. Zeebrugge. on the
Belgian coast. was used as a sub
marine base by the Germans, and,
like St. Nazaire. it was bombed re-
peatedly and also bombarded by
cruisers and monitors. This failed
to check its use by the U-boats and
a large fleet under Admiral Keyes
attacked Zeebrugge in the Jog.
A submarine full of explosive was
blown up beneath viaduct con-
meeting the harbor mole to land,
while three old cruisers filled with
cement steamed into the harbor
and headed for the Zeebrugge Canal.
Two of them were sunk across the
channel. Meanwhile, the old cruiser
Vindictive was held outside the mole
by two ferryboats to enable landing
parties to attack the German de-
tenders.
Admiral Keyes lost destroyer
and four smaller craft and had 1873
dead. 384 wounded and 16 missing.
$50 Miles From British Bases.
St. Nazaire is so placed that the
submarines which have been taking
an increasing toll of Atlantic ship
ping can make a straight run into
the Atlantic.
1t is approximately $50 miles from
the nearest British bases on the
Cornish Coast.
St. Nazaire also is the site of
one of the largest French shipyards,
where many warships and passenger
liners. including the Normandie,
were built.
Just a month ago, British para
ehutistS and seaborne troops COM
bined in a swift raid on a radio
detector post at Bruneval in Ger
man-occupied France.
In this previous assault, the Brit
ish swooped down under cover of
darkness, surprised the German gar
rison, demolished the radio station
used to spot the British planes on
their way across the channel and
returned successfully with number
of German prisoners.
The British timed their first raid
to the minute, with naval units de-
barking troops at the same time
parachutists landed on the main
land. The two forces combined to
attack the Nazi garrison.
Actual fighting was brief and the
invaders we're off to England almost
before the Germans realized what
had happened.