Description

Book Synopsis

During the Second World War, it is hard to imagine a situation where the British High Command could think that one of the only ways they could attack Hitler was to send ten canoeists with limpet mines to paddle one hundred miles up the Gironde estuary, in the middle of winter, in an attempt to sink German blockade ships in Bordeaux harbour. Yet this is precisely what happened in 1942. The man who gave the go-ahead for the audacious commando raid - Lord Louis Mountbatten, head of Combined Operations - fully anticipated that all ten men would die in the attempt.

Mountbatten wasn''t far wrong - two ripped their collapsible canoes as they were manhandling them out of the submarine; two drowned when their canoes capsized entering the Gironde estuary; and a further six were captured by the Germans and later executed. By complete chance, the two canoeists who managed to escape - Major ''Blondie'' Hasler and Marine Bill Sparks - stumbled into the arms of the French resistance. Once i

Operation Suicide

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    A Paperback by Robert Lyman

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      Book details

      Publisher Quercus Publishing
      Published 1/15/2024
      ISBN-13 9781529440065
      978-1529440065
      ISBN-10 1529440068
      Also in:
      Non Fiction History European history: medieval period, middle ages

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      During the Second World War, it is hard to imagine a situation where the British High Command could think that one of the only ways they could attack Hitler was to send ten canoeists with limpet mines to paddle one hundred miles up the Gironde estuary, in the middle of winter, in an attempt to sink German blockade ships in Bordeaux harbour. Yet this is precisely what happened in 1942. The man who gave the go-ahead for the audacious commando raid - Lord Louis Mountbatten, head of Combined Operations - fully anticipated that all ten men would die in the attempt.

      Mountbatten wasn''t far wrong - two ripped their collapsible canoes as they were manhandling them out of the submarine; two drowned when their canoes capsized entering the Gironde estuary; and a further six were captured by the Germans and later executed. By complete chance, the two canoeists who managed to escape - Major ''Blondie'' Hasler and Marine Bill Sparks - stumbled into the arms of the French resistance. Once i

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