Greatest Raid of All Time

[digitalfreefall]

Jeremy Clarkson: Greatest Raid of All Time

8:00pm - 9:00pm
Sunday 18th March
BBC2

This is a terrific war story, grippingly told by Clarkson. Anyone who saw his Victoria Cross programme in 2003 will know he has a fine knack of spinning a Boy's Own tale of wartime derring-do. And they don't come much more derring than the 1942 commando raid on St Nazaire. With Britain losing the Battle of the Atlantic, Churchill wanted to knock out the Germans' giant dry dock on the Atlantic coast of France. So he called in the new commando special forces, who devised a plan so wildly ambitious that the scene where Clarkson talks us through it using charts and models verges on the blackly comic. The veterans' own accounts of how the raid unfolded are equally jaw-dropping. ("I remember Johnny Proctor lying with his leg blown off, cheering us on.") Their toughness and incredible sang-froid bring a tear to the eye and offer, for older children, an inspiring history lesson.

[xcj]

cheers for the heads up

[batess01]

Just read thread watching rite now , luck? or Fate?

[Jiml mix it]

it's a good watch

[hazholmes]

A real eye-opener!

Some of the courage demonstrated out there is something for us all to aspire to I think.

[jamie534]

Mental that's courage rarely seen nowadays.

[bird]

Well I have to say that made hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Very much enjoyed it.

[Dangermouse]

I'd Recommend the book by the same name. can't remember who the author was sorry, but if i do ill post a link for amazon

[Dangermouse]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Greatest-Raid-A ... 0330480707

there you go! i'd also recommend the accompaning book on the Cockleshell Heoes by the same author

[degrees of passion]

typical british humour that guy who commented something like 'were 4 minutes late!'.Amazing story dont know where to draw the line from them being couragous and out and out nutters,bit of both i think.This story really is inspiration,i mean i didnt know their training was THAT intense,and that guy who manned the gun on one of the getaway craft who was shot 16 times and only stopped fighting cos he fainted through loss of blood!

I must say the one thing that really got me down was when the veteran at the end commented that "im sure the youth of today would do the same"....I applaud his optimism but tragically i cant help but disagree.Can you imagine anyone from the current british youth culture signing up and be willing to even attempt such a feat?

"Wot iz u on bout i aint doin nuffin like that man u iz trippin innit"

[Sarastro]

Can you imagine anyone from the current british youth culture signing up and be willing to even attempt such a feat?

Considering we are on a site where lads are doing just that, er, yes?

[offbeatpath]

Degrees of passion I understand where you are coming from as we all know there are some real ghetto moron pussy’s out there who would rather shoot an unarmed teenager than do something courageous for king/queen and country. But at the same time there are some courageous lads (I hope one day to personally prove that great man right) out there who are doing monumental actions every day just like Sarastro meant.

[degrees of passion]

sorry think i didnt make myself clear on what i was trying to say,i meant the whole british chav culture thing.Yes they're is some good apples left in the youth of our society,but the fact still remain that (im sure i read somewhere) around WWII the % of people who voted (in a poll) for armed service was something like 98%,today i think its completely reversed and the figure is somewhere in the region of under 10%.

Point im getting at is that although the commando tests etc are still very much the same and the commandos of today take the same high risks etc as back then,they're certainly not appreciated as much with everyday people.Most people dont care for the heroics of todays british soldiers,they'd much rather switch over and watch mtv base than bbc news' coverage of afghanistan for example.

PS: Oh and another thing which really annoyed me was the fact that this daring raid only got that tiny rock of a monument for people to remember it by.

[digitalfreefall]

The programme was really insightful and brought home just how much that generation sacrificed for our benefit.

One quote that stands out for me

Of course we were scared but we couldn't afford to be cowards

Its a shame the BBC doesn't commission more documentary's from Clarkson he has a genuine passion for British history (his doc on Brunel as part of the Great Briton competition was outstanding) and deserves a series.

It would make a nice change from piss poor shows about gardening/decorating/watching some D list "celebrity" ice scating while singing covers of songs that were crap in the first place.