The Raid on St. Nazaire

Author: Lutz Pietschker
Version: 2002

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Raid on St. Nazaire Image Gallery

These are some pictures I scanned from various books. If you look at them you can see what a magnificent job Avalon Hill did to provide historical accuracy. This does not only mean the map accuracy but also details that are not as obvious. For example, participants of the raid describe how they brought their webbing to parade-ground whiteness before the raid so that they would be able to easily distinguish their own troops from the Germans- a detail you can observe on the game box lid.

• An aerial photo of the complete harbour area (JPEG, 78k)
  seen from the avant port (game area Z) side.
• The original briefing model (JPEG, 37 k)
  as photographed by me in the Imperial War Museum, London. The mock-up is mounted on a 50 by 100 cm board and does, in fact, not look very impressive.
• The naval approach (GIF, 13k)
  and the return paths of the surviving ships.
• Motor gun boat (MGB) (JPEG, 52 k)
  Commander Ryder's flagship of the flotilla.
• Motor launch (ML) (JPEG, 65 k)
  The workhorses of the RN Coastal Forces: Wooden hull, petrol engines. Pyres sent in to attack a heavily defended port!
• Motor torpedo boat MTB 74 ("Wynn's weapons") (JPEG, 65k)
  A unique boat with a special task, and a very special commander.
• The "Campbeltown" prepared for the raid (JPEG, 65k)
  Note the additional armour.
• Commando soldier carrying demolition equipment (JPEG, 39k)
  With backpack loads as this a squad of demolition experts can bring down a complete reinforced concrete building.
• The attacking formation of the flotilla (GIF, 13k)
  shortly before entering the harbour area.
• The naval attack (GIF, 26k)
  The formation splits to land the commandos.
• The objective area (aerial photo) before the attack (JPEG, 78k)
  Looks very much like the game map, doesn't it?
• Diagram of the attack (GIF, 39k)
  Actual paths taken by ships and commandos.
• The "Campbeltown" on the dock caisson (JPEG, 65k)
  The most famous picture of them all.
• Cutaway view of the pump house (GIF, 26k)
  The objective of Stuart Chant's squad which it demolished completely in a matter of minutes.
• The dock 9 months after the attack (JPEG, 65k)
  with the "Campbeltown" still inside ,exactly as she was swept there at the moment of the detonation. The dock and the lock are obviously still very much out of order.
• The commemorial parade (JPEG, 91k)
  Lieutenant-Colonel Newman and Commander Ryder lead the parade of veterans across the "Bridge of Memories" (swing bridge, game area 343) on the day the memorial was revealed.

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Written and published by Lutz Pietschker. Please send comments about technical problems to the site master.
-Made with a Mac!-

, last change 2011-03-12