I was privileged to be one of the Royal Navy sailors to take Lord Mountbatten back to St Nazaire shown in your video (1:17:03) After the service in the town he mustered our crew and told us all the story of how the raid was planned and how it played out. He thanked us all with a tot of navy rum. "Splice the main brace" P.S. also proud to have one of the 1300 V.Cs in our family.
I would like to put out there that as this documentary is quite old now that the last man alive that took part in this operation died a couple of years ago. RIP to them all, they were all very brave men. ❤
war veteran's are morons fighting and killing people that has never done no harm to them and fought for a country that doesn't care about them because they didn't fight and die for king and country but for the military industrial complex ,if you can not understand what you are reading then good Knight go back to sleep
I know death is inevitable but it's sad to hear the last man involved passed away. I suppose we can only hope that their memory lives forever. Which can of course only happen if we all make sure to teach our kids about sure extraordinary men.
Lord Louis Mountbatten's subordinate in Royal Navy Intelligence was Ian Fleming, the future James Bond author, who organized the Dieppe raid and the raid on Telemark in Norway amongst others.
Funnily enough at one point Ian Flemings' subordinate when stationed in Washington DC in early to mid 1941 was a young RAF Hurricane ace who had been permanently grounded due wounds. A man by the name of Roald Dahl.
@Russell Coight and a man who worked with all of them at one point was a bloke called Christopher Lee, who went and worked for RAF Intelligence and was the part-inspiration for a character created by Fleming... called James Bond
@@nickjames3055 when Fleming was in America his assistant was a grounded Spitfire pilot wounded in the middle east called Roald Dahl. Christopher Lee was a really shady character who asked about his activities during the war would ask "Can you keep a secret?" When the person said yes, he would say "So can I!" Christopher Lee's cousin was Patrick McNee, who was commanding a Motor Torpedo Boat in the Channel and South Coast against the raiding German E boats before later ending up as a Royal Navy Officer in the film Battle of the River Plate and most famously as John Steed in the Avengers alongside Diana Rigg.
@@kaymackay3519 details on what they did exactly are a bit sketchy but from what Fleming said Dahl was great at being the young handsome tall charming war hero during parties with diplomats and politicians in Washington DC. Basically he was aiming to make the US politicians more sympathetic to the British Commonwealth war effort. Bit of a pity he never wrote a follow up book to Going Solo about his time working with Fleming and Lee.
Stories like these honestly bring tears to my eyes. I'm a Brit, but it's not a patriotism thing, it's just being proud to be human and seeing what men like this were capable of.
@@meme4013 wow, what a synically sociopathic response. I for one am more than capable of reconigising the "heroic achievements" of the soldiers of most countries. The Soviets, French, Finnish, Americans... You might consider what you've said here and realise how telling it is of your mentality.
I thought you would know us better by now, Daniel. Understated achievements and narration. "I'll take that old man", "There you are, four minutes late", "decidedly unhealthy here", arm shot up "I'll have to escape but it will have to wait, I don't feel up to it at present", "Oh, please don't shout and just get on with it", the VC decidedly understated, any surprise that the memorial is understated? There is a memorial at Portsmouth to the X-Craft submariners of D-Day, also understated. Jim Booth, the last of these brave men who spent 48 hours under the waves off the coast of Normandy, showing the way for the landings, died last year at 101 years old. He was a relative of mine and didn't talk of his exploits, when I asked why he had two Croix de Guerre's his reply was also understated, "Oh, I don't talk about such things".
Its strange isn't it. Your last line sounds similar to how my grandfather was apparently (he died before I was born) but my mum always said whenever they would ask him about the war he would just tell them "you don't need to know" We found out he was there when they liberated Belsen... so God knows what horrors he saw and what he kept locked away
@@garethbattersby Jesus Christ! My grandfather was a Pole who fought with the British (and loved them) at Cassino, his family knew all about the USSR starvation of the Ukraine. And in WW2 He literally was sent to Siberia. So many people have seen so many things in a not to distant past.
This is my favourite documentary ever. Clarkson is well known in the U.K. as a motoring journalist & he’s been very successful but in my opinion this is his best work to date. They should show this in high schools. Well done for covering this 👍❤️
What a amazing story of human Endeavour The bravery of these man is unsurpassed… thank you Jeremy Clarkson bringing to light this extraordinary event in our history 🇬🇧🇺🇸
@@highcountrydelatite you're in the running for most pointless YT comment of the week, because you've omitted to include............ ....... ........ The punchline, or any substantiating details to back up your wild outrageous claim. Be warned, that I have the Cockleshell Heroes in reserve in my back pocket.
Another wonderfully respectful show on the incredibly brave young men who are slowly drifting into history without anywhere near enough recognition. Thanks guys for highlighting this. ❤
The story about the sinking of the Tirpitz was touched on at the end of this film.. if you ever get a chance to watch Channel 4's "The Dambuster's Great Escape" it fills in that part. 617sqn Lancasters sank the ship using supersonic Tallboy earthquake bombs. Earlier attempts flew from Arctic Russia, the successful raid "accidentally" used Swedish airspace to get behind German air defences.
As a Brit,this is what WE do,no boasting,no showing off,just doing the job we are told to do,and thats why Im so proud,despite our failings to be BRITISH.
Thanks so much for this reaction guy's, was so excited when the notification was received, plugged the laptop into the TV, this reaction deserves Big viewing, you guys did not disappoint 😁👍
No idea on the time line whether the Enigma code had been broken by then (yes I know a Pole had done something) but a little story. My sister had just been to see the Imitation Game movie about Alan Turning and the Enigma cracking, she told our Father saying its a wonderful move, now bering in mind this was in the last decade, my Father replied with " I worked with Alan Turing for a while". My Father rarely talked about work (evidently he was not allowed, so much so he would not allow my sister to learn Russian at school), but to hold this secret for all those years was amazing. Oh before that we did find out that when he moved to Manchester in the 50's he was in digs with Duncan Edwards (died in the Munich air disaster) was tiped to be the greatest footballer ever. He kept coming out with these stories and names from time to time when something prompted him, I wonder what we never found out and he took to his grave with him. As for VC's 11 were awarded at Rorke's Drift in the Boer War, now thats another battle you must review, and the movie Zulu is amazing.
WRONG! Enigma was not broken until 1954 by a pole-even though the FIRST Enigma machine was captured by the British acting upon intelligence fgrom The Poles (Despite LYING Americans films to the contaray- looking at YOU Yanks and your U571 film!) What was cracked was THE LORENZ CYPHER by Alan Turin and TOMMY Flowers with the Collossus machine. YES YANKS we BRITISH invented the first electronic programmable computer
Amazing what some people manage to keep secret their whole lives! By the way, Rorke's Drift was during the Anglo-Zulu Wars, not the Boer War (which came later).
@@dorothyramser7805 I live near Bletchley Park and volunteered for a few months at the museum of computing they have on the grounds, got to talk to the guy who headed the team that recreated one of the Collossus computers, really interesting chap. Absolutely fantastic work they did in cooperation with the Poles to make the process easier and faster so that messages could be decrypted and passed along to the top brass with enough warning to make it useful intel. Apparently there's some lost bars of silver buried somewhere around here that Alan Turing buried and couldn't crack his code telling him where it was, probably underneath some new housing development by now.
I live in falmouth and they have moved the memorial and they now also have 5 vc’s dotted around it in the ground. Also there is a small parade for it each year in the town
Regarding the monument: In the city I live in, Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, there is a simple statue of an American soldier, a ranker not an officer, sitting down and resting his (period) rifle across his knees. Tourists don't see it unless they go looking for it. It's by the wall of one of the walkways in the Princes St Gardens, below the castle rock... The dedication is to all the US soldiers who joined and fought beside Scots regiments in WW1. Locals honor it with flowers every year, as part of our celebration of remembrance. It doesn't need a big monument for us not to forget.
Guys your comment about special Units not needing the strict discipline and how new this was to the Army was very intelligently put. The USA given the hard task of Omaha and the prospect of scaling cliffs sent the Rangers to the Commando Training in Scotland. On completion mutual respect ensued. Years later an officer from the USA visited to do the SAS course he passed and took the Principles back to form Delta Force. Today all these Units train and work together at times to our Mutual benefit. I enjoy your videos you make some good observations. Cheers😊
Regarding the Chart in the Cabinet War Rooms, each of the pinholes represent a Convoy Movement. Whilst, as you said a Convoy has a multitude of ships the pins would denote their positions at different times on their voyage. So one convoy would be represented by multiple pin holes; the more pinholes the longer the journey. There were still a LOT of convoys, though with thousands upon thousands of ships.
After the bomb went off, Beattie turned to the German officer and said: “see, we’re not as daft as you think”. One of the most famous quotes from the war.
Important to not ignore the George cross. They both have equal status but the VC is won in the presence of the enemy and the GC not in the presence of the enemy. Typically medical staff often win a GC but most famously was the one presented to Malta which is displayed on the Maltese flag
Hi Guys, great to see you react to this documentary as well. For a naval perspective you could watch the 1960 British film (Sink The Bismark !) & see how much effort was put into that operation in 1941. The Tirpitz from this story was the sister ship of the Bismark. Bear in mind, this not only helped make more secure the supplies from the U.S. but also, the troop transports. Which was paramount for things such as Operation Torch 8 months later & the build up for the later D-Day operations from our South coast. For another great documentary checkout (13 Hours That Saved Britain), this is about the most decisive day in 1940. Which led to the German Operation Sealion (the amphibious invasion of Britain), being indefinitely postponed.
i'd highly reccomend watch a documentary about operation mincemeat 'the man who never was' .a good doc rather than a short few mins.will go into all the details, deception and results from it. the planning and details are fascinating
The cenotaph in London represents all the servicemen who died in the war. you have to remember that we suffered for 6 years and there were many operations like this by all 3 Services.We don’t need enormous memorials to remind us of our history.
A Black Adder Plan!!! Perfect descripion! I almost wet myself laughing. Now you know where Rowan Atkinson and the boys got their inspiration for that bit of comedy.
Jeremy Clarkson is the greatest story teller ever, his motorsport stories from top gear are just the tip of an iceberg Edit: if you ever get a chance to watch clarksons top gear mini documentary on Ayrton Senna you wouldn’t be disappointed
I always thoroughly enjoy your reaction shows, guys, and I really appreciate the respect you always give to the blokes who deserve it...more power to you, well done, and thanks! You can always see the respect Jeremy Clarkson has for the men he is telling us about, and his documentaries are always excellent................ cheers!
I was a scout leader on the Westminster grounds near Enniskillen when Mountbatten passed us in his car enroute to see the Dowager at that time. Then a few days later the rest is history
Glad to see that the memorial for this has been updated/moved in Falmouth, it’s no longer just a rock in a car park, it’s a much better memorial now saw it when was in Falmouth last summer
The calm and matter of fact manner in which these great veterans are explaining this war decisive situation is just so very AWESOME! Thank you all you great gentlemen🙏👏👏
it is hard to remember back to how dire things looked in early 42. Long before the massive build ups and air superiority that lead to D-Day. It really was, as JC pointed out, a virtual suicide mission - an act of desperation almost. Fear of a ship like Tirpitz getting amongst the convoys that was Britain's life line to the outside world was, in hindsight, an unnecessary fear. But at the time, Europe had fallen, Netherlands, Belgium, mighty France, then Norway, Greece and Crete, things looked bleak in North Africa. And the Far East - fall of Malaya, Singapore and Burma looking equally bleak... desperate times. Desperate measures.
I live a stones throw away from Falmouth. I have seen that memorial rock in the car park many times as a child and I never really took it in. As an adult, you gain an appreciation for the significance of the generations that have come before you. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them and the price paid for freedom.
These guys just summed up the never-say-die, unassuming British spirit at its finest! Only FIVE Victoria Crosses awarded? Here's the "requirements" to just get nominated: "A recommendation for the VC is normally issued by an officer at regimental level, or equivalent, and has to be supported by three witnesses" Given you're on a near-suicide mission, most of your mates get killed. But, on rare occasions the enemy can nominate a soldier, as in this case. Which explains why only 15 Victoria Crosses have been awarded since world war two, 8 of those posthumously. This incredible spirit could explain why no foreign army has invaded us since 1066, I salute those young lads, RIP. PLEASE check out "The Cockleshell Heroes", the "Dambusters" & escapes from "Colditz" for more heroism. 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Well done guys. Your reactions added weight to the story. Perhaps this documentary and your reaction video, provides a more substantial monument. After all a monument is seen only the people in a local area. But a film like this is seen world wide.
Thank you to you Guys for paying respect to the spirit of British people, I have been watching your casts for sometime now and apologies for not having subscribed before, I thought I had. Best wishes from West Yorkshire England. I truly hope that our future generations can replicate the bravery of the people serving in WW11 and indeed in wars since, Chris
I think you would be blown away by the mission bravo two zero.. that's all I'm going to say. There's a movie about it on RU-vid which surprised me.a true story about the SAS behind enemy lines in Iraq.
My dad was in the Royal Navy on a destroyer in the North Atlantic when the captain made an announcement on the PA. He said........We have just received a signal that the Tirpitz is sitting on the bottom of a fjord. Ships company, splice the mainbrace.
Tom Hanks was in a movie called Greyhound. It was about the zone between America and the UK where our air forces couldnt reach to give support. It was a 5 day journey and the U boats were everywhere. Check it out. I know it's a movie but gives u a rough perspective of the battle for the atlantic
Some very notable people here. Nicholas Parsons, a renowned TV presenter in the 70s and 80s, early 90s Jimmy Perry, who was a writer for a British TV sitcom in the 70s called Dad’s Army. I suggest you watch this guys. Tony Ben, a notable politician of the 60s 70s 80s.
My grandfather was a commando sadly he died when my mum was 3 years old. Watching this makes me proud to be British and l agree they need to build a much larger monument.
Just a point of interest on the VCs. A New Zealand citizen soldier, Charles Upham is the only combatant to ever win two VCs. His were won during WW2 in fighting in Crete and North Africa, while two other VCs with bar were awarded to medical officers in W W1. Upham's story is an interesting one, and a book of his life, 'Mark of the Lion" is an easy yet informative read.
We don't do monuments so to speak dedicated to individual moments in time, after all loads of servicemen and women have died doing what they signed up for, so at what point do you decide a certain raid or event is marked with a bigger monument than another. However, the Commandos do though have a big monument in Scotland where they train dedicated to all those Green Berets who have died in the service of the Commandos. As for those raids, that was just one of many they conducted to make life hell for the Nazi's, as i said below, they used kayaks to get up a long river to blow up ships... kayaks ffs..
"Hi" to the men of Embrace the Suck. I would really like to have a few beers with these guys. Your reaction to the Victoria Cross video popped up on my screen this morning. I had watched it before, but I watched the end again for your reactions to Clarkson casually dripping the fact that Major Cain was his father-in-law into the narrative (really enjoyed that bit!). Then I noticed comments encouraging you to watch his follow-up about "The Greatest Raid of All" and I wondered "did they ever get to that one?" So I climbed into the search feature and up it came. I had seen both programs as documentaries (and watched them several times) and then the Victoria Cross one as reaction videos. So I wondered how you would react to the St Nazaire Raid one. I am glad I did. I was very grateful for the respect you showed and particularly with Daniel's informed comments, what with him being an ex-serviceman and all. His drawing the comparison between the Operation Chariot plan and Blackadder take on WW I was brilliant. Should either of you decide to slide across the Atlantic to visit England, you will find it a living museum to military conflict going back thousands of years. You can find evidence of the Roman occupation and a visit to the War Rooms museum is worth a visit. As is the Imperial War Museum. BUT, if you get down to Winchester (a lovely city, reeking of history, the cathedral is gob-smackingly impressive) you will find 5 (FIVE!) museums dedicated to various military units. Winchester is right in the zone where the armies mustered for the D-Day campaign and traces are visible if you know what you are looking for/at. The walls of Winchester Cathedral is covered in plaques and memorials which give a form of military history. And, unless things have deteriorated in the last 20 years, it is impossible to find Bud Light in any licenced outlets anywhere.
Three out of my four Grandparents were in the War, Grandad Joe survived Arnhem one of very few, Grandad Lawrence was An MP Dog handler in Egypt and my Grandmother drove the RAF trucks on the airfields. I am appalled at how my country has shrivelled.
I'm always impressed how they look after the military graveyards in Europe. My grandads buried in one in Tunisia and the photos i've seen show its very well and respectfully looked after. It's also deliberately quite a way out of town..
the great thing about living here in the UK. All those war diaries and letters, well you can just go into the national archives and read them yourself. It's all free. It doesn't cost anything, the more valuable stuff is beyond the public but can can read all the copies. There's 1000s of diaries written by the wives of these brave men. You can just walk in, ask to read them and you'll be shown to a table where they are brought to you so you can read them. You don't have to pay, there's a donation box I always put £40 in, but anyone can just walk in tell a member of staff what you wou would like to read and you get shown to a table with all the literature of what you wanted to know all layed out infront of you
I’ve knocked down buildings where the roof is still being held up, despite the fact that all of the supports have been removed and two of the walls, a roof would still be able to be held up but a single or even a bunch of wire cables which is just a nightmare having to deal with
The memorial stone at the end was moved not long after this aired to a more appropriate place, still in Falmouth but it's no longer just in a carpark. They have also added some additional bits to it to make it more worthy.
Showing my age, but I'm pretty sure there was a mission on a Medal of Honour game based on this raid. Not trivialising the event, just how I first learnt of it
@@StevenKeery Best one was when they got home and refused to move to the Anderson Shelter when the Air Raid siren went off: 'we've been dealing with Stukas' (Malta Run). They ended up hiding under the table when the bombing started.
Thank you for your respectful showing of this documentary. One possibly should not forget that the basin also held submarine pens protected by concrete. It may be that there was a smaller lock for them but it certainly would have slowed things down.
Us Brits are famous for our sarcastic sense of humour. Sometimes joking about a bad situation will lift your spirits. I've got no doubt that it helped the cammandos that night
On the little boats, Fairmile ML's. ML being Motor Launch. Originally designed as a general purpose boat, could be equipped with depth charges for anti-submarine work, mine sweeping kit etc. They were not designed for charging into enemy held ports. 12 out of 16 were lost on the St. Nazaire raid.
I was in Falmouth on the 28th of March a few weeks ago (the anniversary of the raid) and although they have moved the monument to the Prince of Wales Pier it is still the same plaque on a rock and only a few wreaths and flowers had been placed on it.
And you’re forgetting that a single convoy has enough food and materials to say feed New York for a day, and so the need for more supplies for both basic things like knives and forks to farming equipment for tractors all the way down to coridite for explosives and munitions as well as food to feed the rest of the British army to boot
You should check out the story of Telemark (Norway) during WW2 of how a couple of blokes over 3 years (yes 3 years) stopped the Nazis from acquiring atomic/nuclear capability!!!! Ray Mears did a fantastic 3 part survival documentary recreating & meeting the surviving members of this incredible story of sabotage. Or you could watch the. 1965 Kirk Douglas film "The Heroes of Telemark" but that only scratches the surface of what these brave men injured. Nice reaction as per always by you guys by the way. 😯🎥🙌👍
still think the men were built differently back then ... have watched this story countless times and it never fails to impress me ,just will and focus and huge balls ... wish J.C would do more stories like this
I'm ex military my Dad WW2 RN. My Uncle a RM was on this raid and came back. Went home to Liverpool went upstairs to bed woke up still in bed with no house it had been bombed he was so tired he never heard the bomb that blew up the house.. Of course we kids took the piss about how heavy he slept.
OMG. This one if Flipping Amazing. I still can’t get over what these guys did. I haven’t seen your post yet. But, I’m bloody sure I know what it is and if it’s what I’m thinking???? It’s Epically Crazy. 😮😮😮😮😮😮😮🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧❤️🇬🇧❤️🇬🇧
