Operation Frankton was a commando raid on shipping in the German occupied French port of Bordeaux in the Bay of Biscay during the Second World War. The raid was carried out by a small unit of Royal Marines known as the Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment (RMBPD), part of Combined Operations.
The plan was for six canoes to be taken to the area of the Gironde estuary by submarine. They would then paddle by night to Bordeaux. On arrival they would attack the docked cargo ships with limpet mines and then escape overland to Spain. Twelve men from no.1 section were selected for the raid; including the C.O. Blondie Hasler and the reserve Colley the total of the team numbered thirteen. Two men survived the raid: Hasler, and his no.2 in the canoe, Sparks. Of the other eight, six were executed by the Germans while two died from hypothermia. The British Prime Minister Winston Churchill believed the mission shortened WWII by six months and Admiral Louis Mountbatten, the commander of Combined Operations, deemed the raid "the most courageous and imaginative of all the raids ever carried out by the men of Combined Operations."
Read more about Operation Frankton: Background, Mission, Aftermath
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