A true story of bravery and sacrifice in Occupied France
Operation Frankton is virtually unknown in the US, though a well-regarded British movie based on it was released in 1955. It was a daring raid that began on the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This, however, was a 100% British operation. The team was selected from among the members of a special detachment of the Royal Marines. Just as the OSS in WWII was the precursor of both the CIA and US Army Special Forces (“de oppresso liber”) these Royal Marines were one of the predecessor units of the UK’s Special Boat Service (SBS,) now more comparable to US Navy SEALs.
13 men trained for the mission. Their job was to be positioned at the mouth of the Gironde estuary that led to Bordeaux, France. They were to exit the HMS Tuna submarine with six two-man canvas and plywood kayaks and embark on an operation to paddle some 70-80 miles away in the dead of night, hiding their kayaks by day, traveling only in darkness. Their mission was to destroy German vessels in Bordeaux harbor with limpet magnetic mines.
The 13th man was there to replace any of the team that was too sick or injured to go in. On the way out of the hatch, one of the folding kayaks was mangled beyond any ability to fix it. That two-man team remained behind. That left just ten men.
The commander of the team, Major Herbert Hasler, told the men left behind that he would see them in 3 months, and they should book a table at the Savoy Hotel for the reunion. Sadly, that table would be much smaller than they hoped for.
The plan of egress, after completing their mission, was to make their way inland, escape overland into Spain and move onwards to Gibraltar. It was hoped that they would be able to contact one of the escape lines along the route.
The 10 men remaining paddled off into the night.
For the first two hours, they made good progress but just miles from the mouth of the Gironde, still some 70 miles short of Bordeaux, the team was caught in the churning waters of vicious tidal rapids. One of the craft disappeared in the melee. The team searched but could find nothing. Back on course, they ran into a second tidal race even more powerful than the first.
Major Hasler and Marine Corporal Sparks, his #2, led the canoes into the tidal race. With waves crashing over them, three of the group weathered the rapids only to find that their fourth vessel was capsized, and its crew was in the water. That kayak, with all its gear, was scuttled. The two-man crew, still in the freezing December water, clinging to the remaining boats, were taken as far inshore as they could be without detection. Both men swam to shore.
Six men remained.
The next obstacle they encountered was four German ships at anchor in the estuary. Hasler decided they would paddle past them at full speed. However, the third boat was missing after the dash. As Cpl. Sparks later wrote: “During that first night we had lost two-thirds of our strike force. It began to look as though the operation was doomed to failure.”
Worse, the HMS Tuna had been detected on radar. On heightened alert, the Germans captured the two Royal Marines who first disappeared in the heavy seas. The Germans were now on heightened alert for the intrepid raiding party.
With dawn breaking, a hide location was seen. After camouflaging their kayaks in the scrub brush the men, exhausted, tried to get some rest. In too short a time, however, the voices of fishermen brought them to full alert. At the risk of compromising the operation, they identified themselves as British Royal Marines and asked that they not be betrayed to the Germans.
They were not betrayed.
The following night the team had to carry their kayaks, with all the munitions and gear in them, for nearly a mile to bypass patrols. Even so, they made more than 20 miles that night.
The next night they were not so lucky. Three hours of flood tide, six hours of ebb tide, and three hours of flood tide before daybreak meant only the fittest and the most mentally tough could finish the next 20 miles plus.
The team was now behind schedule. They launched their canoes earlier than full darkness the next night and were spotted by a French civilian, who upon finding who they were offered food and drink. They had to refuse but were likely inspired by the man’s offer. They were too close to success now to tarry.
Their maps were marked with German watchtowers, anti-aircraft batteries, and long stretches of the riverbank where German ship and infantry patrols were known to operate. These dangers were even greater now, as they approached Bordeaux.
The team continued cautiously along the river their final night and found a lay-up position in thick reeds -- just a short distance from two large German equipment ships. Their new plan of attack was for one team to take the shipping on the east bank, and the other the shipping on the west bank.
In this, their audacious plan was a complete success.
They placed 19 limpet mines with 9-hour fuses before they began their egress. These resulted in extensive damage to at least five large ships, one of which was a German Navy minesweeper.
Adolf Hitler was spewing spittle when he was informed of the loss. One of the scuttled kayaks was discovered, and Hitler demanded to know how “this child’s boat” could have breached all German defenses in this part of occupied France, at night, in rough seas, against the tide, through numerous maritime and ground patrols, then attack and sink these vessels without ever being discovered.
Welcome to the Royal Marines, Mein Fuhrer.
Except these Royal Marines were not out of the woods yet. An intercepted German High Command report read, “A small British sabotage squad was engaged at the mouth of the River Gironde and finished off in combat.” As a result, the entire team was reported as “missing, presumed dead.”
In fact, we know that at that moment the four remaining members of the team were still alive. They decided to travel in pairs to improve their chances of making it out of France.
“Now I know how a cowboy feels when he has to shoot his horse because it’s broken its leg,” Cpl. Sparks later wrote of cutting up and burying his faithful kayak, named CATFISH. (Each team of two had a code name for their kayak.)
As they made their way further into the interior of France, a farmer’s wife gave the CATFISH team of Hasler and Sparks dry clothes. They buried their military uniforms, knowing if they were caught, they would face execution as spies. On December 18, the two men reached the French town of Ruffec, where they made contact with the “Marie-Claire Escape Line.”
Mary Lindell, code-named Marie-Claire and Comtesse de Moncy, was not the typical young woman trained by the SOE or MI-9 or in the resistance. These women in the escape networks had arguably the most dangerous form of resistance work in occupied Europe. Many of them, still in their teens, escorted Allied servicemen hundreds of miles across enemy territory to Spain – and back again, to pick up another cohort, and another….
Ms. Lindell, however, was a 47-year-old Englishwoman who had been a front-line nurse in World War I. She founded and led the Marie-Claire Line. During the war, “Marie-Claire” was run over by a car, shot in the head while attempting to escape, imprisoned twice, and finally captured and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, from which few survived. She did.
She ran her escape line with an iron fist. After contact was made with Major Hasler and Corporal Sparks via local resistance members, Sparks wrote about her. He said it was amusing to see his tough and dangerous commander being imperiously told by Marie-Claire she was in command, and she alone would decide when and how they would be conducted out of France and into Spain, then on to Gibraltar.
It is a good thing they placed their trust in her. Marie-Clare had the men moved to Lyon, then to Marseilles, then to Perpignan, and finally across to Spain -- and on to home.
Sadly, there would be no grand reunion at the Savoy. Only Hasler and Sparks survived. Here is what happened to The Other Eight:
- Team CRAYFISH: Corporal Laver/Marine Mills reached the target area, destroyed the German ships. Last seen landing. Captured by the Vichy French Gendarmerie and handed over to the Germans. Executed, even though captured in military uniform, , either in Paris 23 March 1943 or near Bordeaux on 12 December 1942.
- Team CONGER: Corporal Sheard/Marine Moffat capsized. Last seen swimming to shore off Pointe de Grave. Moffat’s body was found later. Sheard’s body was never found.
- Team CUTTLEFISH: Lieutenant Mackinnon/Marine Conway last seen off The Mole at Le Verdon. Later captured by Germans. Executed, even though in military uniform, either in Paris 23 March 1943 or near Bordeaux on 12 December 1942.
- Team COALFISH: Sergeant Wallace/Marine Ewart missing after first tidal race. Later captured by Germans. Executed, even though in military uniform, near Bordeaux 12 Dec1942.
The US and its Allies were victorious in World War II because of men like these who knew the odds of success were remote, survival even more remote. Their deeds were theirs, their successes ours to respect.
