Memorial Operation Frankton Lightning House Pointe de Grave

Text on the memorial to the left of the lighthouse entrance:

"Operation Frankton December 1942: On the night of 7 December 1942, ten British Royal Marine commandos aboard five heavily laden kayaks, landed at 19:30 at Montalivet by the submarine HMS Tuna, paddled north through the dangerous waters of Pointe de Grave. At midnight they swam along the coast a mile from shore. Their target: the port of Bordeaux, over 100 miles away, where they were to sabotage German ships trying to evade the blockade. Caught in a violent undertow, the COALFISH kayak capsized. Thrown into the icy water, Sergeant Samuel WALLACE and Marine Robert EWART managed, with superhuman efforts, to swim to shore about 500 yards from where you are. After managing to get under the cover of trees while evading enemy defences, the two Royal Marines were captured at about 6 a.m. by the crews of a Flak battery about a hundred yards from Hier. Delivered to the Kriegmarine and then to the SD, they were interrogated incessantly for four days, while their comrades continued their journey to Bordeaux. They will not talk. Although caught in uniform, they were shot down near Blanquefort on the night of 11th December, just as the kayaks CATFISH (Major HGHASLER and Marine WE SPARKS) and CRAYFISH (Corporal AS LAVER and Marine WN MILLS) were attacking their objectives and inflicting a heavy blow on the enemy, protected by the resistance of the two Royal Marines from the worst interrogations."

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Source

• Text: TracesofWar
• Photos: Florian Pépellin
• Chemins de mémoire de l’opération Frankton