Le Figaro Bordeaux
They faced the cold and the wind to push the Germans out of Bordeaux.
During the nights of December 7 to 10, 1942, twelve commandos of the Royal Marines launched an assault on the Girondin estuary from Montalivet to blow up enemy boats anchored in the port of the sleeping beauty.
The first crew, whose kayak was damaged during the submarine drop off Soulac, did not leave.
The second capsized on the first day.
Spotted on returning to shore, “
the two sailors were arrested and shot in Blanquefort four days later
,” says Jean-Sébastien Baillet, cultural mediator at the Jean Moulin Center in Bordeaux.
“
Operation walnut shells
” therefore boils down to three kayaks when it reaches the Garonne.
After the loss of a new crew at the Bec d'Ambès, two kayaks reached Bassens.
Read alsoUnder the Austerlitz sun, French victory still shines
On the night of December 11 to 12, 1942, the four soldiers mined five German boats.
North of Blaye when they explode, the penultimate crew is spotted and arrested.
Taken prisoner in Paris, he was shot in March 1943. The only survivors, Major Herbet George Hasler on the initiative of this raid and his teammate, William Edward Sparks, then joined the Resistance via the Pyrenees.
A Gironde historical reconstruction
80 years after the events, the canoe-kayak section of Sport athlétique de Mérignac (Smack) retraces the wake of this audacious mission.
A tribute to the British soldiers who participated in "the
most courageous and imaginative of all the raids ever carried out during the Second World War
", as described at the Liberation by Vice-Admiral and Chief of Combined Operations of the British Army, Lord Mountbatten.
“
We are not ready to take the same risks
”, specifies Christian Cassou from the outset.
Equipped with more efficient kayaks, tents, freeze-dried survival rations and duvets for camping, the group of the president of the nautical division is proud to commemorate with dignity the 80th anniversary of this little-known fringe of Gironde history.
"
We assume this duty of memory with great modesty because we will be sailing by day and surrounded by welcoming people on the banks
", underlines the experienced navigator, who at the age of 68 calls himself "
the veteran
" of the group.
The Smack has commemorated this WWII military raid since 2005. Ordinarily only part of the Royal Marines route is re-enacted.
Mérignacais canoe-kayak athletic sport (SMACK) / DR
The Frankton tradition was born on the Smack
Come snow or shine, the Smack has commemorated Operation Frankton every year since 2005. The previous year, some of its members had featured in
Des ombres dans la nuit – Opération Frankton
, broadcast by France 3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine .
Costumes, reproductions of the period... The adventure served as a "
wake-up call
" for Philippe Brunet.
“
Ramon Maranon, the director, put us in apocalyptic conditions for the little boaters that we are.
He told us: “You have to be cold, that it shows, that it is real
”, remembers the sixty-year-old.
An invigorating experience, which stimulated internal tributes to "
his sacred heroes
".
Usually, the volunteers retrace a portion of this exceptional expedition in more comfortable conditions.
Leaving from Montalivet this Thursday, December 8, the five crews of the Smack will disembark at the pontoon of honor in the port of Bordeaux this Sunday at 3 p.m.
Closed for four years for renovations, the Bordeaux Cultural Center Jean Moulin, which in principle exhibits a permanent collection on Operation Frankton, does not organize an event for its 80th birthday.