00:00 The British came up with an alternate plan to limit the effectiveness of the German battleship Tirpitz during World War II.

01:36 The Tirpitz battleship was a major concern for the British due to the damage caused by its sister ship, the Bismarck, during the Battle of Denmark Strait.

02:56 The British wanted to prevent the Tirpitz battleship from entering the Atlantic, so they planned to disable the port of Saint-Nazaire, but bombing from the air was not a reliable option due to heavy anti-aircraft defenses and the small target of the harbor gates.

04:17 Operation Chariot involved using an old destroyer filled with explosives to ram into the gates of the dry dock at Saint-Nazaire, accompanied by other ships carrying commandos whose job was to destroy the necessary equipment and make it difficult to put the facility back into commission.

05:43 The Campbelltown ship successfully rammed into the gates of the dock, allowing the commandos to begin their demolitions, although they faced difficulties due to German defensive positions and the destruction of many of their landing boats.

07:02 Despite facing capture and surrounded by German forces, Lieutenant Colonel Augustus Neumann gave his remaining commandos orders to try and escape, not surrender until their ammunition was exhausted, and avoid surrendering altogether if possible, resulting in the majority of the commandos being captured, while the explosives on the HMS Campbelltown failed to detonate until the next day, causing significant damage and resulting in the deaths of 320 French civilians and Germans, ultimately leaving the docks unusable for the remainder of the war.

08:28 The mission resulted in numerous awards for gallantry, the destruction of the tier pits in 1944, and the return of the bell from the HMS Campbelltown to Campbelltown, Pennsylvania, although a new HMS Campbelltown was announced in 2020 with no word on whether it will carry the original bell.