St Nazaire Raid - now

[punyXpress]

Just starting on BBC2 - repeat I know, but what an epic.
Puts current weather problems in perspective.

[B1k3R]

I'm watching it.

[Bluepete]

JC is very good at this type of programme.

Watched it last time, love it this time!

Pete ;)

[andrewsmith]

watching it

Seen it before, JC is brilliant at this

[robh539]

Seen before but watching again, it's very good.

[Specialone]

First time i had seen it tbh, it was brilliant.
There are loads of stories from that era of bravery that not many people get to hear about.
The old guy said at the end he was sure the youth of today would do the same, yes they would but i dont think there would be as many, especially with those odds of success.

[littleoldman]

Just been on the iplayer and its not available, sorry I missed it , was upstairs avoiding X Factor

[punyXpress]

Your starter for 10
Who was the TT rider mentioned as joining the Commandos near the start of the programme ?

[Mr Speirs]

First time i had seen it tbh, it was brilliant.
There are loads of stories from that era of bravery that not many people get to hear about.
The old guy said at the end he was sure the youth of today would do the same, yes they would but i dont think there would be as many, especially with those odds of success.

I think there would be the people to carry out the raid but the numbers that never came back wouldn't be accepted by the public today. People seem to be upset that even one person dies in a war now.

[Jimmy2Feet]

i only got the end of it! didn't realise it was on. what i saw of it was great. might try and find it on the i player.

[Ed]

Have been to St Nazaire. It's a bit of a dump, and when you're coming into the town it looks very unpromising. But the submarine pens are still there. There's a memorial to all those on HMS Campbeltown who were killed in the raid, and there on it is the name of our friend's uncle, William Roots, who was aged 19.

You can walk through the submarine pens. It's all very dilapidated. You can then inspect the covered loch that the Germans built so that submarines could escape unnoticed from the River Loire into the sea. It's very very dimly lit, they save the shock until the last - you go into the last chamber and suddenly a U boat looms out of the dark. It really is scary:smt103 And you can see just how small these submarines were. Painted black, they are really creepy.

There's another memorial to the British sailors who were killed, it's on the Prince of Wales Quay at Falmouth - where the raid set off from. More of a modern thing this, but still hugely evocative of boundless courage.