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Impressive new memorial to WW2’s greatest commando raid begins construction this summer
13 June 2025
Work will begin this summer to create an imposing monument to the defining commando raid of World War 2.
Work will begin this summer to create an imposing monument to the defining commando raid of World War 2.
Often dubbed 'The Greatest Raid of All', the attack on the docks at St Nazaire in March 1942 rendered the port unusable by German battleships – Hitler’s flagship Tirpitz – especially.
The raid – officially Operation Chariot – is memorialised in St Nazaire and in Falmouth, the port of departure of the raiding force.
The Operation Chariot Memorial Project will ensure the attack is remembered at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, the nation’s year-round place to remember.
The impressive design mirrors one of the iconic sights of the attack – a Corten steel replica of HMS Campbeltown riding high rammed into the caisson with five commandos spilling on to the neighbouring dock wall to blow up port installations.
The replica of the caisson is approximately five metres wide and the monument will be sunk over a metre into the ground, so that visitors will look up at the bow of the replica Campbeltown when approaching down the slope.
The veteran destroyer was sent in to destroy Normandie Dock to deny the Germans a sanctuary for capital ships such as Tirpitz should they sortie into the Atlantic and need to retire to a haven in France for repairs/maintenance.
HMS Campbeltown was selected as the lead vessel for the raid, loaded with time-delayed explosives to complete the mission after ramming the dock.
Army commandos would then wreak havoc on other dock facilities upon disembarking their smaller ships.
It succeeded. As baffled Germans inspected the Campbeltown the morning after the raid the hidden explosives detonated.
Campbeltown’s bow and forecastle were largely vaporised, a tidal wave swept through the dock, the caisson was wrecked, several hundred Germans were killed instantly and the dock put out of action till after the war.
A total of 140 gallantry awards were bestowed, with three of the five Victoria Crosses awarded to Royal Navy personnel.
The memorial has been designed by noted sculptor Joanne Risley and aims to capture both the scale and ingenuity employed on Operation Chariot.
Major James Wilson-White who serves in the Royal Logistics Corps is the great-grandson of Campbeltown’s helmsman, Albert Wellsted.
The 43-year-old chief petty officer from Chichester was killed as he guided the destroyer on her final approach.
He is remembered on Portsmouth’s Naval Memorial, but as with all the 600 or so raiders – 169 were killed, 215 were taken prisoner, meaning the casualty rate among the attackers was nearly two thirds.
Maj Wilson-White, who is one of the trustees of the project, describes it as “iconic and enduring” and believes it is vital to ensure the legacy of the raiders “is safeguarded for future generations. They deserve nothing less.”
Work is due to begin on the memorial towards the end of August, with a formal dedication of the completed monument planned on the 85th anniversary of the raid in May 2027.
Around £150k of the £170,000 total cost of the monument has been raised to date – donations are welcome via www.stnazaireraid.org.
Side-by-side with the monument are ambitious plans for a wide-ranging educational programme made possible by funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, the Operation Chariot Memorial Project can tell the story of the raid, through development and delivery of a comprehensive education and engagement programme over the next three years.