The Greatest Raid of All cover art

The Greatest Raid of All

Operation Chariot and the Mission to Destroy the Normandie Dock at St Nazaire

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The Greatest Raid of All

By: C.E. Lucas Phillips
Narrated by: Stewart Crank
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About this listen

A vivid account of the famous St Nazaire Raid that demonstrates the sheer bravery of the British Commandos and the Royal Navy. A must-listen for fans of James Holland, Ant Middleton, and Cornelius Ryan.

St Nazaire, 1.22 a.m. 28th March 1942.

HMS Cambeltown, supported by seventeen wooden motor launches, approached the German-held port intending to smash into the lock gates of the largest dock in the world; the Normandie Dock-Operation Chariot was in full swing.

Against vicious Nazi gunfire, the commandos stormed the docks, and within half an hour, succeeded in their chief demolition objectives, but in the heat of battle, the Royal Navy had lost nearly all of its small vessels intended to carry them back to England. With their route home closed off, the men were forced to fight through the town in a bid to escape German forces.

C. E. Lucas Phillips' The Greatest Raid of All draws upon numerous British, French, and German eyewitness reports to uncover the astounding true story of one of the most daring attacks of World War Two in which no fewer than five Victoria Crosses were awarded.

©1958 The Estate of C.E. Lucas Phillips (P)2022 Tantor Armed Forces Military Naval Forces Special & Elite Forces War Royal Navy

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All stars
Most relevant  
Too much details that makes it slow and hard to listen at many moments. If edited it would be worth the time. Too lazy to skip every 2 minutes but it has good parts. Skip the slow ones.

Too slow...too cold and too factual

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The narrator clearly is not a naval man, as evidenced by his continuous mispronunciation of "Coxwain", "Boatswain" and "Oerlikon". Otherwise, a great story, that you can almost visualise in black & white, just like those old British war movies.

Great story, well read, but with the occasional cringworthy pronunciation.

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This story about the greatest raid of all is incredible. I already knew about it but this book made me even more amazed at what they achieved in so little time and against such odds those 612 men are amazing and what we owe them and the rest of the greatest generation ever to live is a debt we can never repay Anyone who respects that generation must listen to this book.

An amazing story about 612 very brave men

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the narrator's incorrect Pronunciation of naval jobs ie boatswain, and coxswain especially plus a few other odd pronunciation. probably because I am a ex RN. only a small point but most irritating. However it was generally well read and informative.

attention to detail

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The narrative is very well-written and gripping.

The narrator is animated. His pronunciation of pretty basic naval and military terms is, however, woeful. So irritating that I considered giving up at several points.

Well written detailed description of an outstanding operation

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Phillips twists together a complex narrative into a compelling account of the events leading upto, during and after the raid.

Time passed means we now look at some of the contributions leading upto the events in a different light, but this is a minor point.

The narrator struggles over one or two names, but it can be forgiven. The English used is that of a classically educated individual, you can notice the influence of Latin grammar, but I think it suits.

The respect he has for the men of the raid is front and centre but told also with the fastidious need for accuracy. He does not fully attribute an action to an individual unless he is certain and clearly points out areas of question or divergence, usually with a suitable reason why.

A retired soldier is making sure history has a proper account of the raid.

My next book is his account of the Amethyst.

An old master

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Need bear in mind that this was written in the late 1950s so some of the florid language now sounds a bit archaic. Underlying story comes across well

Now sounds a bit dated

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