Warfare Raid on La Rochelle

[subliutenant]

These are photos of a raid on La Rochelle, not sure of the year, he was an engine room artificer on board HMS Mauritius, patrolling the Atlantic coast of France, to intercept German Elbing class destroyers that were raiding in the Atlantic. As these ships never materialised, the powers that be decided that rather than go home empty handed, they would jump the boom and go into Oleron Bay to torpedo ships and bombard shore establishments. Pictures show some of the ships involved, some laying smoke, to cover their retreat, another of a couple of near misses to one cruiser, note the splashes, one of smoke rising from the shore, one of HMS Mauritius and one of the run home. The crew pic is of the engine room crew of Mauritius, my Dad being the one on the left of the gun, without a hat.

 

[Bombardier]

Your dad is a handsome man and one I am for sure proud of, they are part of a time in life when men truly were just that.
Thank you so much for sharing these photos and the history behind them, it warms my heart that others will see these and know of your father and his mates adventures

 

[subliutenant]

Your dad is a handsome man and one I am for sure proud of, they are part of a time in life when men truly were just that.
Thank you so much for sharing these photos and the history behind them, it warms my heart that others will see these and know of your father and his mates adventures

Dad got called up in 1938 (RNVR Tyne) draughted to HMS Resolution in 1938, back to Swan Hunter soon after as he was an apprentice there, called up in 39, joined HMS Sandhurst on the Tyne, sailed to Dover where they were bombed and sunk, then to HMS Crocus, for North Atlantic convoys and Malta and West Africa convoys, then HMS Whitehall, then HMS Eglington, then HMS Mauritius, finished his time in HMS Abercrombie at Sheerness in July 1946. Was in the Dunkirk evacuations, Malta convoys, and raids in Italy when we invaded there, also shelling shore establishments during D-day landings. Ended up a P.O. ERA.

 

[Nansouty]

I live near Bordeaux, which is not far from La Rochelle, and the followiung picture does not match the landscape there :

The coastline in that area is rather flat, as you can see on this picture I took a few years ago (the entrance to La Rochelle Harbour lies near the center of the picture)

In my opinion, the picture was taken elsewhere, perhaps in the Azores from which the ships affected to Operation Stonewall sometimes operated. At any rate, Mauritius served there from September to the end of 1943, at which time she was sent back to the Med (the landscape in the picture also looks more like it), just after the sinking of Elbing class T25 & T26 & Narvik class Z27. I was not aware too of the raid on the French coast, I'll ask on a French WW2 forum. Thanks for your dad's service.

 

[subliutenant]

I live near Bordeaux, which is not far from La Rochelle, and the followiung picture does not match the landscape there :
View attachment 454698
The coastline in that area is rather flat, as you can see on this picture I took a few years ago (the entrance to La Rochelle Harbour lies near the center of the picture)
View attachment 454693
In my opinion, the picture was taken elsewhere, perhaps in the Azores from which the ships affected to Operation Stonewall sometimes operated. At any rate, Mauritius served there from September to the end of 1943, at which time she was sent back to the Med (the landscape in the picture also looks more like it), just after the sinking of Elbing class T25 & T26 & Narvik class Z27. I was not aware too of the raid on the French coast, I'll ask on a French WW2 forum. Thanks for your dad's service.

That’s really interesting Nansouty!!
My Dad died in 1992, he didn’t talk that much of the war but did on some of his escapades! He did get around a bit as he hated being in Depot at all. So was always down Draughties after another ship. I may be mistaken on the location as he did talk about the three main bombardment sorties he was on. One was La Rochelle, another was shore bombardment when the Allies landed in Italy and Sicily and then the French coast during the D-Day landings. So I imagine it’ll be one of the latter two. Many thanks for your input and sorry I’ve taken this long to reply.

 

[subliutenant]

Looking through my Dads stuff, apart from shelling the French coast on ‘D’ day, the only other shore shelling he was involved in, was the landings in Italy, when the allies landed. Could be the Sicilian or Italian coast.