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  • The Greatest Raid

  • St Nazaire, 1942: The Heroic Story of Operation Chariot
  • By: Giles Whittell
  • Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
  • Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (33 ratings)

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The Greatest Raid

By: Giles Whittell
Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

From the author of Bridge of Spies: a dramatic and colourful new account of the most daring British commando raid of World War Two.

In the darkest months of the Second World War, Churchill approved what seemed to many like a suicide mission. Under orders to attack the 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. Five Victoria Crosses were awarded - more than in any similar operation.

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, from Lt Gerard Brett, the curator at the V & A, to 'Bertie' Burtinshaw, who went into battle humming There'll Always Be an England, and from Lt Stuart Chant, who set the fuses with 90 seconds to escape, to the epic solo reconnaissance of the legendary Times journalist Capt Micky Burn.

Unearthing the untold human stories of Operation Chariot, Bridge of Spies author Giles Whittell reveals it to be a fundamentally misconceived raid whose impact and legacy was secured by astonishing bravery.

©2022 Giles Whittell (P)2022 Penguin Audio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
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Brave men amazing storie

great book brave men story of bravery and daring of the great generation of all time

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The Greatest Raid

Amazing story. Narration languid in parts. Often ridiculous use of analogies that distracted and sometimes annoyed. Cut the analogies and it a good book of an extraordinary event

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