When a Nazi Officer Recommended a Victoria Cross for an Allied Commando
By: Karthick Nambi
Tags: Humanity, War, World War II, History, World

When a Nazi Officer Recommended a Victoria Cross for an Allied Commando

During the St Nazaire raid (Operation Chariot), British commando Thomas Frank Durrant was recommended for the Victoria Cross by a German officer

HMS Campbeltown on the dock gates. Source-https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101II-MW-3722-03%2C_St._Nazaire%2C_Zerst%C3%B6rer_%27HMS_Campbeltown%27.jpg

It was an estuary on the French coast. A special British expeditionary force has launched the most daring covert operation in World War II.

As the British ships in disguise made their way to the harbor, the German defense position opened heavy fire on the incoming enemy fleet. A German destroyer attacked one of the ships among the fleet and riddled it with bullets.

The German ship captain asked the British boat to surrender, but what happened next was a unique event in the history of World War II.

THe German Navy In WWII:

A model of Tirpitz: Source-https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Tirpitz-2.jpg

After the fall of France, the second-largest fleet in Europe was under the direct control of Nazi Germany, which boosted the German Navy.

The German fleet had only one competitor for its dominance in European waters - Britain’s Royal Navy. However, the largest navy in the world the United States Navy had entered the war by 1942. The British and American navies outnumbered the German Fleet in 1942.

However, most British and American warships were busy outside Europe. The Allied navies had to protect the shipping convoys in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Moreover most of the Allies were busying fighting the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific and Indian oceans.

After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles restricted the size of capital ships the Germans could build. After the Nazi Party came to power, the German navy went on an expansion spree.

The first in line was the battleship Bismarck, for which the British navy had no match. The second ship which stunted the entire world was the Tirpitz.

With these two battleships, it first appeared that the Royal Navy was really in for trouble. The Royal Navy tracked down Bismarck which was sunk by British planes and ships in the Atlantic in 1941.

The only other surface ship that threatened the Atlantic convoys was the Tirpitz. Hitler positioned the Tirpitz in Norway away from Royal Air Force radar and bombers.

Hitler wanted to keep American war materials from reaching Britain and Russia and decided to send the Tirpitz to disrupt the Atlantic convoys. As Tirpitz was Germany’s biggest warship of the time, it could not return to Germany for repair without attracting RAF attention.

The Plan — Operation Chariot:

The Wooden boats.Source-https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Royal_Navy_MTB74.jpg

The only port outside Germany that can service the Tirpitz was the St Nazaire port in France. The French had constructed the deep port to service large passenger liners before the war.

The British decided to attack the port of St Nazaire to deny the Tirpitz a home port on the Atlantic Coast. An attack by air was not feasible as the bombing of the period was not accurate.

An attack via land is also impossible as the port was in a French-occupied zone with a panzer division guarding the town’s entrance. The only possibility was an attack by sea, but it needs to be a secret operation.

Britain’s Combined Operations (Special Forces) had a newly formed commando division, and this operation was the perfect litmus test for it. Combined Operations asked for the help of the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy.

HMS Campbeltown undergoing modification. Source-https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Campeltown_being_converting.jpg

Royal Navy commanders decided to lend a World War I destroyer, HMS Campbeltown, for the mission. The Royal Navy modified the ship to look like a German destroyer.

The Royal Navy’s admirals were skeptical of the mission and provided only a few Wooden boats for the rest of the assault force. The Wooden boats had no armor and were vulnerable to enemy fire.

The commandos were ready to risk their lives for the mission. Royal Navy engineers fitted charges to HMS Campbeltown, which will explode on impact. The idea was to ram the destroyer into the gates of the harbor and blow it up. The Royal Air Force will bomb the port to create a distraction.

The Combined Operations planned the mission for 28th March 1942. As the party entered into the estuary, HMS Campbeltown met with fire from German defenses.

Brave last man stand:

Thomas Frank Durrant.Source-http://www.vconline.org.uk/communities/9/004/012/782/259//images/4628448913_253x328.jpg

The Royal Air Force attacked at the wrong time and alerted the German defenses.

The HMS Campbeltown rushed towards its target while the Wooden boats defended it. Thomas Frank Durrant piloted one of them and faced a hail of fire from a German destroyer.

The German destroyer captain Kapitänleutnant F. K. Paul asked the Durrant to surrender two times with a cease-fire. But Durrant didn’t back off. He continued his firing and fainted as he lost a lot of blood.

The HMS Campbeltown hit the dock gates but didn’t explode instantly. The commandos got off the HMS Campbeltown and destroyed the water pumping stations and other major installations in the harbor.

Combined Operations planned the return journey back to Britain via the Wooden boats, but the Germans had destroyed all of them. For the commandos, it was a fight from building to building to escape from the town. Only a few Commandos escaped from the city as many were either captured or killed.

The Victoria Cross recommendation:

The German destroyer captain, Kapitänleutnant F. K. Paul, searched for the British forces’ highest-ranking officer. He met Lieutenant-Colonel Newman.

The German captain recommended Durrant receive the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest military honor, for his bravery. The recommendation was the first and only time in World War II that an Axis officer recommended an Allied fighting man for the Victoria Cross.

Durrant succumbed to his wounds and died the next day. Durrant received his Victoria Cross posthumously.

The French did not repair the dock in St Nazaire for four years after the war blocking the Tirpitz’s entry into the Atlantic. Instead, the Tirpitz never left Norway. Royal Air Force bombers eventually located and sank the Tirpitz in 1944.

Thanks to Operation Chariot and Durrant’s bravery, the Tirpitz never threatened the Atlantic convoys.

Source-http://www.vconline.org.uk/thomas-f-durrant-vc/4586603862