St. Nazaire 1942: The Great Commando Raid (Praeger Illustrated Military History) - Hardcover

The raid on the port of St. Nazaire in March 1942 by a sea-borne task force from British Combined Operations remains one of the most daring actions of World War II. The port lies at the mouth of the River Loire and in 1942, as well as a U-Boat base, contained the massive "Normandie" dock, the only facility on the Atlantic coast large enough to accommodate the feared German battleship Tirpitz. This book tells the story of the raid on St. Nazaire that denied the use of the dock to the sister ship of the Bismarck, and constituted a crucial victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. Out of a force of just 611 soldiers and sailors, 169 were killed. But the Tirpitz never ventured into the Atlantic.

KEN FORD has written a number of books on the Second World War. He trained as an engineer and now spends his time as an author and a bookseller specializing in books on military history.