LE MONUMENT COMMÉMORATIF DU COMMANDO

Commando stele

Monument commemorating Operation Chariot on 28 March 1942. This menhir, erected after the Liberation, is now located in the Petit-Maroc district, near Vieux Môle. It pays tribute to the courage of the British soldiers who took part in Operation Chariot.

On 27 March 1942, 611 volunteer commandos aboard the destroyer Campbeltown, two torpedo boats and seventeen speedboats landed in the harbour under heavy German fire. The commandos succeeded in neutralising the harbour works but faced deadly fighting in the old town of Saint-Nazaire. Only 224 Britons were able to return to Great Britain.

The Allies were thus able to test the German defensive systems along the Atlantic seaboard.