Memorial Operation Frankton Ruffec

This memorial commemorates Operation Frankton. The text reads:

"OPERATION FRANKTON, December 1942 - On December 18, 1942, at about 1:00 p.m., Mr. René Mandinaud and his sisters Alix and Yvonne welcomed Major Hasler and Marine Sparks of the British Royal Marines at the end of their 160 km long retreat on foot from St. Genès de Blaye (Gironde) to Ruffec. On December 7, they landed off the coast of Montalivet by the submarine HMS Tuna. They were the survivors of the attack, carried out aboard five kayaks, on German blockade runners lying in the port of Bordeaux. Hasler and Sparks, Corporal Laver and Marine Mills (captured and subsequently shot) had sabotaged five enemy ships. Also Corporal Sheard and Marine Moffatt (drowned), Sergeant Wallace and Marine Ewart, Lieutenant MacKinnon and Marine Conway (captured and shot) were killed during the mission. Mr. Mandinaud contacted Mr. Jean Mariaud. The latter arranged the passage of the two refugees to the former free zone after several discussions with Mr. Paillé, a former professor in England, to confirm their nationality and with Madame Marthe Rullier, who warned the smuggler. The next day, under the guidance of baker René Flaud, they were led to the edge of the demarcation line, which was guarded day and night. There they were taken by smuggler Fernand Dumas to the Marvaud farm near Saint-Coutant, where they were housed for 41 days by Mr. and Madame Armand Dubreuille. The escape route to Spain, via Ruffec, was organized by Mary Lindell, Countess of Milleville, alias "Marie-Claire", an agent of the British secret service MI9. Injured in an accident, Marie Claire eventually went with her 18-year-old son Maurice to Marvaud, to whom she gave the task of escorting the two Royal Marines by train from Roumazières to Lyon, from where they reached Marseille, the Spanish border, Barcelona, ​​​​Madrid, then Gibraltar and England. All participants in the events reported here risked the death penalty. In 1961, MM. Mariaud, Flaud, Dubreuille, Mme Rullier, Mlle Yvonne Mandinaud, Mary Lindell and Maurice de Milleville were, invited by the British government, officially received and honoured in London."

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: TracesofWar