WW2 'greatest raid' medals appeal raises £30k

Historic medals from one of the "greatest raids of all time" when World War Two Allied troops carried out a raid on a Nazi Germany-controlled dock will go on display after a £29,000 fund-raising target was reached.

More than 600 men set off from Falmouth in March 1942 and the raid succeeded at putting the dock at St Nazaire in France out of action to stop vessels based there impeding Atlantic convoys.

The National Maritime Museum Cornwall has raised more than £30,000 to display medals awarded to Lt Cdr Stephen Beattie.

Museum volunteer Jonathan Griffin said the money would be used for a secure display case so the medal could go on display in Falmouth, where preparations for the raid took place.

The operation aimed to destroy the only facility on the Atlantic coast able to maintain Germany's heaviest capital ships such as the Tirpitz to keep them from disrupting a key Allied convoy route.

Beattie's ship was piloted head-on into a dock gate, packed with nearly five tonnes of explosives, which put the site out of commission when they detonated.

Five Victoria Cross (VC) medals were awarded to people who were involved in the raid in north western France, the largest number given out for any single World War Two operation, Griffin said.

They were five out of 183 awarded during the whole war.

More than 80 other decorations were also issued as a result of the operation.

The museum said it exceeded its target ahead of a fundraising deadline on Monday and Griffin said the medals, including Beattie's VC, were "in memory of the 169 people who didn't come back".

The medals are due to go on display in time for the raid's 85th anniversary next year.

Griffin said: "A medal is a focus for thought... Beattie was right at the heart of it."

He added Beattie's family suggested the medals remained in Falmouth.

He said: "It was a real suicide mission.

"Of the 611 who were ashore, a third return dead, a third were captured [including Beattie] and a third managed to make their way back to Falmouth."

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