WW2 British Commander raid on France

Having been selected to carry out the first commando raid on occupied France, No. 11 Independent Company was moved from its base in Scotland to the  British port of Southampton.

On arrival it conducted a number of detailed exercises against a local infantry battalion on the River Hamble.

During the exercise the men discovered the boats they had been supplied with were not good enough to transport them across the rough conditions of the English channel 

The raid would be carried out by 115 officers and other ranks, who were divided into four groups.

Each group would be landed on one of the target beaches, They were to spend no more than 80 minutes ashore before returning to their boats. The RAF boats being used were not equipped for a mission like this and lacked exact navigation equipment and the compasses were known to be unreliable. 

Crossing the channel they also came to the notice of patrolling RAF aircraft who, not being aware of the mission, came in close to investigate. At around 02:00 hours on 24 June 1940, the boats reached France and put their men ashore.

The group that landed at Le Touquet had the Merlimont Plage Hotel as an objective. Intelligence had suggested that the Germans were using the hotel as a barracks. When the group reached the hotel they discovered it was empty and the doors and windows boarded up. Unable to find another target, they returned to the beach, only to discover their boat had put back out to sea. During the wait, two German sentries stumbled on the group and were quietly taken out

 Another German patrol approached across the sand dunes and the group was forced to swim out to the boat, leaving its weapons behind.

The group that landed at Hardelot penetrated several hundred yards inland and returned to its boat without meeting any Germans. The men that landed at Berck discovered a seaplane anchorage but it was too heavily defended for them to risk an attack. The final group landed at Stella Plage under the command of Tod. It encountered a German patrol and in the short exchange of fire that followed, one man was slightly wounded.