Memorial Operation Frankton Royan

This memorial commemorates Operation Frankton, a commando raid on the porst of Bordeaux which took place from 7 to 12 december 1942. Of the 13 commandos, two survived. Text on the memorial:

"In Memoriam - To the Heroes of Operation Frankton." In December 1942, Major Hasler of the British Royal Marines and eleven volunteers from this elite corps launched a commando operation to sabotage German blockade runners in Bordeaux. On December 7, ten of them were launched with their five kayaks from a submarine off the Gironde estuary. They were to sail up the river from Royan to Bordeaux at night. The mission was perfectly accomplished by Hasler and Sparks, who alone emerged unharmed from this remarkable feat of arms. Of the other eight, two drowned, six were captured, tortured, and then shot, two of them at Blanquefort on December 11, 1942, the others in Paris in March 1943."

Operation Frankton
The Cockleshell Heroes carried out Operation Frankton in December 1942, targeting German ships in Bordeaux. Trained at Lumps Fort in Portsmouth, they paddled 60 miles in collapsible kayaks to lay limpet mines.

Of the ten commandos, two were drowned, six were captured and executed, and only Major Hasler and Marine Sparks escaped. Despite heavy losses, the raid sank two ships and damaged four, disrupting enemy supply lines. Winston Churchill later credited it with shortening the Second World War by six months.

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Source

• Text: TracesofWar
• Photos: Coen Prenger (1, 2, 4), VVVF (3)
• Chemins de mémoire de l’opération Frankton