American Reacts to Jeremy Clarkson's The Greatest Raid Of All REACTION 

My great uncle Harry was on this raid, he was a sgt, he got badly shot up getting some of his men who were pinned down to safety he lost a lung. Was awarded the Military cross.

Clarkson proving again that he can be a damn good presenter when he puts his mind to it 👍

A survivor of this years 80th anniversary of D-Day said “ Me, a hero? No, the real heroes are still over there, they never came home “. So true.

In British vernacular "egg-head" is someone intelligent and a specialist, with connotations of "nerdy". So someone who would indeed "know his stuff".

They gave their today for our tomorrows. Thanks to them all, legendary men.

Jeremy Clarkson is such a good storyteller and the BBC were foolish to not get him to make more programmes like this.

As a Brit officer would say "Well done those men". This Aussie can only concur, with respect.

"Just before the Campbeltown exploded, Sam Beattie was being interrogated by a German Naval Officer who was saying it wouldn't take very long to repair the damage to the dry dock gate and they needed to do more than ram it with a clapped out destroyer. Just at that moment, she went up. Beattie smiled and said "we're not quite as foolish as you think!" truly inspiring, It just exemplified the bravery and sheer tenacity and bloody mindedness of these incredible fighting men.

All those young dead men never had a life or fun or relationship but we all did, thanks for everything guys👍🇬🇧

1:01:20 You really won't hear anything more British than that. You are tired and exhausted. Then you are told that you are going to be shot. Your response? "Please, don't shout. Just get on with it". 🙂

My Granddad was on this raid, He was one of the lucky ones that came home with only minor (his words) injuries, He pretty much lost the use of his right leg after being shot in the thigh. He passed away of natural causes in April 1986

This story deserves a movie

Tirpitz was the sister ship to the Bismarck. and looked almost identical.

The memorial at the end says: From this Harbour 622 sailors and commandos set sail for the successful raid on St.Nazaire 28th March 1942 168 were killed 5 victoria crosses were awarded Dedicated to the memory of their comrades by The St Nazaire Society

As a veteran submariner who served on the Vboats ..the ones carrying nuclear missiles ....we were taught of every danger and the sacrifices we would have to make. One part of our training was listening to a crew of submariners that slowly sank to crush depth ...their recordings and the creaking of the sub with all the systems breaking down ..the air supply dwindling and water seeping in,fires started ...a stark reminder of some of the issues we could face I would be down ..underwater for 4 months continuous ...once the hatch is shut ....it will not be opened again ....the longest distance to be seen being the length of the missile section ... Tying into this story ...we got messages one a month, a little strand of paper two hundred and 40 letters long ...that is all the contact we had with the world ....and thats if we received it at all Today without war ...we still conduct the longest continuous running military operation with all of the responsibility of 135 specialists and the nuclear weapons all on board a £1.1billion submarine ...CASD.....I have steered such a thing. It's a big weight as an engineer to keep such a thing running

British understatement is a thing. " ...the task may require a degree of audacity.."

😂 He who dares wins, is the motto of the SAS. That's why Delboy uses uses it.

I've seen this documentary dozens of times, and it still hits me hard. The sacrifices and bravery carried out are beyond comprehension. And it was bad enough to fight an enemy abroad, but now, unfortunately, we have an enemy within that despises our way of life. Bewildering. 😢

Egghead is a compliment. Basically a smart person is an egghead

Egghead means highly intelligent, aka boffin.

The attack on the French fleet was at Mers-el-Kébir, near Oran on the Algerian coast. The French commander assured Britain that the fleet would remain neutral, but the British thought the risk was too great that the Germans would do anything to acquire the second largest battleship fleet in the world. The British tried to force the French to surrender and join them, and when the commander refused, they were attacked. A few ships were sunk before a truce was agreed. The French naturally saw this as a betrayal, but more importantly in Churchill's mind, the Americans saw this as a power move and Roosevelt told the French he'd have done the same.

Leslie Fenton, born in England was a Hollywood actor and played ‘Nails’ Nathan in the James Cagney film The Public Enemy. When war came he returned to England and joined the Royal Navy and he commanded one of the wooden evac boats on this raid.

I think Mickey Burn's checkered past is highlighted because it's all in his auto-biography and it shows completely the uniqueness of every man in the regiment

You're showing more respect than our current Prime Minister. Shameful he couldn't show up to show respect for the sacrifices you guys made.

In the UK, to be called an "egghead" is more a compliment than an insult! (And, no, he said that the Tirpitz never even sank a fishing boat!)

Tears in my eyes watching this. Tears of pride. Always known about this raid. Thank you for doing this one.

Lord Louis Mountbatten was Prince Philip's uncle. He was a descendant of Queen Victoria, and therefore also related to Queen Elizabeth. People back then had the ability to write expressive letters from the heart. Many people also made very descriptive, detailed diary entries. That art has disappeared in the age of instant text message communication.

Being called an Egghead is not a slur but a complement as it is another word for genius.

My Grandfather is buried in that cemetery. Shot down over target during an RAF raid on the U boat pens.

My late father (God rest his soul), served in the Navy during WWII . He got Sunk 'TWICE' in the Atlantic. If asked 'How did you survive' He would simply say *_"You have to or you Die"_* He served on some of the Unsung heroes of WWII 'Mine Sweepers' who were some of the first to pave the way forward. GOD KNOW how freighting it must be being sunk and ending bobbing around in the freezing cold Atlantic ocean waiting to get rescued. Some of the things he told me were truly horrific. I grew up listening to the nightmares.

Tirpitz was a sister ship to Bismarck. Micky Burn had pro Nazi sympathies well before even they had any notion of the Holocaust, and well before he joined the Commandos. The Commandos (along with the Paras) became Britain's strategically mobile light infantry assault troops. They achieved miracles in the Falklands.

This is the greatest feat of arms in the history of warfare, the Commando spirit at its finest, the French still haven’t forgiven the British for sinking their fleet, but from a country that surrendered in 6 weeks & then half the country sided with the Nazis it had to be done.

You are thinking of the Attack on the French Fleet at Mers-El-Kebir

This is a cut version. I remember a more extensive version with more of the battle and what some of the survivor's did afterwards.

"Who dares wins" is also the motto of the SAS so it's perfectly applicable to this documentary.

RiP to them all, they're all gone now and laid to rest. The last person alive from this raid died a few years ago just a mile from my home in Wolverhampton. Thank you to all veterans and all active service members that fight for our country.

In regards to destroying ships to stop them falling into enemy hands it is called “scuppering”.

lol "He who dares wins" is the motto of the SAS who these commandos would later evolve into. Very appropriate time to quote Del Boy

The Micky Burn thing is from his own biography, and also it's not included as a negative - it's included to show him as an interesting character. Which he was. Actually his life was even more interesting than described here, he has a relatively long Wikipedia page which describes a lot of it. Also the story of the Campbelltown's bell is quite interesting - it is in Campbelltown, PA until there's a new HMS Campbelltown; it seems to go backwards and forwards between the US and the RN depending on if there's a HMS Campbelltown in active service. There's a new HMS Campbelltown coming, so presumably it will come back then one assumes it'll go back to the US when it is no longer in service in 30 years or whatever.

They mentioned his past to show how complex not only Micky was, but the make of people that created the original commandos. Remember these was the original special forces. The sas was made up of commandos, and the SBS was part of the commandos (sort of) Then we have the cockleshell hero's made up of RM and I'd say they too fall into SF. Good video on the cockleshell heroes on here. Another mental mission.

I'm a Brit, born in Nottingham in 1964, I'm 60 and I'm so so proud of what the Uk used to be, but so dismayed at what it has turned into now, the likes of these men will never be seen again, may they all rest in eternal peace.

I think Clarkson should be doing more of these types of programmes. He did a great programme on the VC awards.

Absolutely balls of steel, thanks to all allied troops for their courage and conviction, may we never forget those young men x

This and the Victoria Cross documentary were the best things Clarkson has done. He tells History well.

I had the honour of talking to James Dunning who was interviewed in the documentary about a raid to Boulogne a month later in 1942. He was really helpful and a fascinating man. He took part in 4 Commando's raid on Hess Battery during the Dieppe raid and saw the magazine detonate due to a perfectly placed mortar shot. Lord Lovat was his CO.then. he later became a Commando instructor. A great man who sadly died after a fall at his home about ten years ago. He called me 'dear boy'.

I could not agree more with you, when it to the art of writing a letter. Those letters from the two world wars, are just so moving.

Saw that memorial 30+ years ago and wondered what the story was and why the memorial was so small. Now I've seen this video it has explained it all. I am told there is a new larger memorial today, but the old one is still in the car park. I somehow like the old small one.

Great video and the stoicism and humour of the survivers is testament to their mindset, both at the time and during the making of this film. In the UK being considered an ''egghead'' is just someone of great intelligence, nearest today would be a nerd.

I needed an excuse to stop studying for the day.. thankyou sir

You were thinking of Operation Catapult, a British plan that called for the neutralisation or destruction of the French ships stationed in French Algeria at Mers el Kebir. The French had been defeated and signed armistices with Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy which came into effect on 25th June 1940. That defeat left Britain alone within Europe without our former French allies. The main threat was the 5 battleships and 2 fast battleships in French Algeria. If the Axis seized them, they were the second largest fleet of capital ships in Europe behind the Royal Navy. The British had contacted Admiral Francois Darlan, the French naval commander, repeatedly refused requests to put them into the custody of the British or sail them to the French Caribbean, in both cases being out of the hands of our enemies. Remember, that while the British possessed the largest navy at the time, their forces are stretched between the North and South Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, and parts of the Pacific. The French felt that their assurances that they would retain control of the ships should have been enough. However, Darlan appears to have failed to understand that he was just one man. What if he died or was replaced? How honourable his replacement? Germany was already building war facilities within France and seizing equipment for their war effort. This was too much of a risk for the War Cabinet. Ideally, the attack would never have happened. However, we were at war and did not have the luxury of ignoring hard choices. There were cock ups all long the way; despite Darlan being at home, he could not be contacted. His subordinate, when reporting the British ultimatum to France, neglected to mention the being given the option to sail to the Caribbean. Nothing seemed to go right and, no doubt personalities of high level staff didn’t help matters. It was a terrible decision and I’m glad I will never be called upon to make such a decision. It’s easy to call the decision controversial or a betrayal, but they weren’t in our situation, 80 years removed an not living on the frontlines. Those people were a hard generation, the majority inured to living with austerity, but still with hearts capable of immense kindness and compassion. People who didn’t turn away in the face of terrible adversity. Apologies for the lengthy comment. Hope you found it helpful. God bless our veterans

The raids on the Tirpitz and ultimate destruction of it, is another great story of courage, determination, self sacrifice, ingenuity and luck.

Egghead is nickname for a genius. So its not an insult.

Bill Gibson's letter is heartbreaking it should be read to every kid.

Thank you for taking the time to watch this Boomer. I am kind of proud that I guessed it was going to be about the raid on St Nazaire, the thing I remembered about it was that immediately after the raid, the Germans thought it had failed spectacularly and sent a few high ranking officers for a photo opportunity on board the captured ship. We know what happened next. I think that one raid improved the odds of us staying in the war by at least 50%. Absolutely mind boggling. The sheers balls of those guys. If we hadn't stayed in the fight, there wouldn't have been a war for the US to join. Think about that.

Congratulations on 100k….this documentary is astonishing, and Jeremy does a superb job as narrator 👍👌🇮🇲

I have taken a great interest in WW2 from the age of 10 after my father died. He never spoke much about it, I don;t know his full history except that he was in the Royal Engineers in North Africa. He took part in all the battles along the coast including El Alamein. Most Americans don't fully understand the strange love / hate relationship between the British and the French. A thousand years of fighting each other and fighting together. Your comments about us sinking the French navy reminded me of when I was working in La Défense business area. Sitting on a bench, waiting for two friends to exit their hotels so we could head to the center of Paris. And old man sat near me and started talking. In my best French I told him my French was very poor. He got very exited when he discovered I was English, and even more so when my two friends turned up. He practically worshiped us. All because of the war. We explained to him that none of us are old enough to have been in the war. He was still over the moon to meet us. He wanted to hear all about our parents involvement. He then invited us to his home. He was so insistent, we couldn't refuse. We met him and his wife at his home for Sunday dinner where he showed us all his war history. He was in the free French army. He spent a little time in England during the war, coming back to France to take part in the resistance. But the thing that had us all wiping our eyes and trying to hold ourselves together is when he showed us photographs and told us about his younger brother. He was two years younger and in the French navy and had been killed when we the British destroyed his ship.

At 3:46 there is a photo of German soldiers as honour guards at a coffin draped with the Union Jack. I like how they honoured the bravery of the British commandos.

‘He who dares, wins’ is the motto of the Special Air Service that Del Boy, bless ‘im, mangled for his own comedic purposes :)

Micky Burn ended up in Colditz as a POW for the rest of the war.

What you also have to remember as well, Boomy, m8 - was that Hitler already "knew" after taking charge in Germany that "he" was going to have a war to gain some countries as extra lands for Germany . . . So when it came to the navy, he purposely broke away from (I think it was called the "Washington Arms Treaty" set out and signed by various countries in said capital prior to WW2 starting . . . Hitler simply ignored that treaty coming into power and asked their navy to design both the Bismarck and the Tirpitz in order to have something to use against the larger British and French naval fleets. Just so you can understand this better - HMS Vanguard, which was built in 1944 as a 1-off, had a full tonnage of 44,500 and was our last ever biggest and fastest battleship to be built . . . Whereas the Tirpitz, fully loaded and commissioned after Bismarck (1940 & at over 41,000 tons in 1941 - still had a tonnage weight of 52,600 . . . So even our last ever largest battleship ever built still wasn't as heavy as it was . . .

Check out “Gift Horse” 1952 film based on this raid. Also known as “Glory at sea” in the U,S.

these men need a movie to honour them.

There is another great documentary out there about how they managed to track down the Tirpitz in Norway and eventually sink it. That is another pretty incredible story. It's part of the "Secret History" series and the episode is called "The Dambusters Great Escape". It's a Channel 4 show though so you may struggle to find it but well worth watching if you do come across it. The Dambusters raid itself is yet another great WWII story too.

As an ex RM have seen many reviews of this episode. I think yours is the best. It's respectful .

Hello KB…long time watcher, first time commenting. These men and women that fought in WWII are truly the finest generation and we will never see their like again. What always amazes me with these documentary’s is that dying or getting back from a mission isn’t the concern but getting the job done and not letting the chaps down is forefront in their minds. Both my Grandfathers served during the war. One in the RAF and the other in the Commandos and l am and always will be immensely proud of that. Thank you for bringing us this upload with care and respect it rightly deserves.

The KMS Tirpitz (named after a WW1 Kriegsmarine Admiral) was a sister-ship to the Bismark, but was even more formidable, with additional wartime upgrades and modifications making her about 5% heavier than her sister, in fact being the heaviest battleship ever commissioned into a European navy. Earl Mountbatten of Burma was a maternal uncle of Prince Philip and a once-removed second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. He was a formidable and accomplished man and a bit of a cast-iron badass in his own right.

Great reaction, make sure you check out the third war documentary Clarkson did, it's called PQ17: An Artic Convoy Disaster.

Another battle that a lot of people don't know about is the Battle of Mirbat, Oman 1972. Only 9 S.A.S. soldiers were outnumbered by hundreds of insurgents. This battle is the stuff of legend amongst special forces. Those soldiers lived up to the S.A.S. motto of WHO DARES WINS.

Thank you for listening to my comments about the royal navy destroying the french fleets

Tirpitz was knocked out in a Norwegian fjord, hit by one of Barns Wallis "Grand slam" earthquake bombs.

What I love about living in the UK. Those documents he's reading. They are all free to read by members of the public. You can just go into the archives and ask to look at them. they'll bring the books out, give you gloves and let you just read all of the things. We have texts from a time you didn't think could write. You can just go and read them all and it costs nothing. Vast amounts of documents that have still to be catalogued and put online. Most of them still not read.

In the UK, “egg-head” refers to intelligence. If someone is particularly smart, academically bright, general knowledge, high IQ etc etc etc., they’re referred to as an ‘egg-head’.

The only naval vessel she ever went up against was the X-CRAFTS (mini subs)

The Tirpitz was the sister ship to the Bismarck. Hitler was afraid to send it out after the Bismarck got sunk.

'Scuttling' or 'immobilising' are the terms of what you're talking about when sinking a ship (or not able to use) that is either your ship or an allied force sinking it. During these what you're talking/thinking of, no French were ended on purpose that I know of. This is because they the French were giving a set time to carry out the orders that were already down to the basic crew members.

Mountbatten bore the German name Battenberg and changed it to the Anglicised Mountbatten The Royal Family's name was originally the German Saxa Coberg Gotha. Later changed to Windsor during WW1. Ian Dee. ( again.)

The attack on Mers-el-kebir is the event you referenced were the royal navy (reluctantly) attacked the French navy :)

You mentioned the shelling of the french fleet, we did give them the options of sailing to America to be neutral, sailing to France's Carribbean colonies to stay free or joining us to fight. They refused all three.

As a "Local" i live very close to looe and used to fish all around the coast of Cornwall that monument has never been over looked to the point and i think i said this on embrace the suck as well everytime i went past it i would always place a hand on it as does everyone else, Very well remembered so....Size isint everything....

Wow. That was by far your best reaction video yet. I can’t believe I’ve never seen this clarkson film or heard of this raid. Utterly amazing.

Clarkson really shows his compassion and understanding in this one! You can tell its a real passion to him. When you get some downtime to yourself you should watch Clarkson Farm, it's got the gadgets, the humour and the seriousness

sweet perfect timing, this doc is excellent 👍

Well done KB on 100,000 subscribers .🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

I believe the gentleman who was a Nazi sympathiser ended up joining the SAS during the Second World War. There is a fantastic book and BBC documentary called “SAS Rogue Heroes” I would watch it regardless whether you can or can’t make a RU-vid video reaction from it. It’s an amazing book and a really good documentary program to go with it. I honestly can’t recommend it enough.

06:39 Being the grandchild of 2 decorated WW2 veterans I can honestly say I have never seen that map! That is amazing! Britannia (and America) ruled the waves!!! That map was truly insane and why I guess the Titanic knew there would be a boat nearby?! 16:06 What I have here... Thats a direct dig at Neville Chamberlain who returned from Nazi Germany with a 'promise' AKA Peace for our time from Herr Hitler Chamberlain's return to the UK after Munich that he thought Mr H would be a good boy! LOL! In part because we had a German Royal Family! Still do! :P And the ousted King Edward the Eighth would become Hitlers Puppet once he invaded!

Clarkson did this and the V.C video brilliantly

Wish he'd react to The Last Tommy, an amazing BBC doc on the last surviving WW1 veterans, incredibly moving show

I've plenty more fun comments to make but... Mickey Burn is one of the "interviewees" that they have through the whole thing. He is first featured literally after they talked about him. Hes the extremely drawn but also very well spoken gentleman. He survived the war

I was in Falmouth a few years ago - since this program first aired, a much larger monument has been put up in the harbour.

There’s a really good documentary on Mickey Burn called ‘Turn towards the Sun’. St Nazaire is just one of many stories about his life

Been waiting for this. Truly excellent watch, and an astounding story of bravery and audacity.

Love the part where the german says crashing that little wooden boat into the gate would not work ....then boom ..lol ..love it ,brave men .😊

If you enjoyed this, I think you'll also enjoy his other WW2 documentary, "PQ17: An Arctic Convoy Disaster".

I've been looking forward to this...

He did a great victoria cross documentory too. With a twist at the end!!

Sometimes I wonder if I had any family members on that trip. Also it sucks that Cornwall rarely gets much recognition for our role in WW2. 😢

Actor Christopher Lee who played Saruman in the Lord of the Rings films was a commando. When they filmed the scene where he gets stabbed in the back he corrected the director by saying he knew how a man stabbed in back reacts since he had seen it it himself.

Bismarck was the first battleship of it's class. The second was the Tirpitz.

Sympathy towards Nazism was not uncommon in the early 30s in the UK. There was a UK fascist party in politics. It was later banned. Once Hitler's true intentions became clear attitudes quickly changed.

Best summed up by "they gave up their tomorrows for our today" Never forget.