The Greatest Raid

In the darkest months of the Second World War, Churchill approved what seemed to many like a suicide mission. Braving the defences of the seemingly impenetrable St Nazaire U-boat base on the Atlantic seaboard, British commandos undertook 'the greatest raid of all', turning an old destroyer into a live bomb and using it to ram the gates of a Nazi stronghold before exploding it. Churchill called the raid a 'deed of glory', but as Giles Whittell reveals, it was a fundamentally misconceived raid whose impact and legacy was only secured by the astonishing bravery of its commandos. Drawing on official documents, interviews, unknown accounts and the astonished reactions of French civilians and German forces, The Greatest Raid recreates in cinematic detail the hours in which the " Charioteers" fought and died, unearthing human stories in poignant detail. It offers irreducible proof of the courage, daring and defiance shown by British commandos throughout the war, securing a legacy that resonated for years to come.