THE MOST COURAGEOUS RAID OF WW2 #ww2 #heroic #royalmarinecommando #history

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Published Apr 18, 2024

Operation Frankton, also known as “The Cockleshell Heroes”, was a daring commando raid by a small unit of Royal Marines during World War II.
Their mission targeted ships in the German-occupied French port of Bordeaux.
A team of 13 Royal Marines, part of the Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment. One was a reserve.
Five folding kayaks were taken to the Gironde estuary by submarine. Ten men paddled by night to reach Bordeaux. There should have been an extra boat, but that was damaged, and both crew members and kayak were withdrawn. It took two nights to get there. They attacked docked cargo ships using limpet mines. Six German vessels were sunk in shallow water. They planned to escape overland to Spain.
Only two of the 10 men who launched from the submarine survived: Herbert ‘Blondie’ Hasler and Bill Sparks. They were smuggled out by an Englishwoman, Mary Lindell, who ran an escape line.
Six were illegally tortured and executed by the Germans as POW prisoners, and two died from hypothermia. Of those, one grave has been located.

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