It was called ' Operation Chariot' and produced five VCs, 78 other medals and 51 mentions in dispatches, between 611 men. Winston Churchill recognised it as one of the key successes of the war - and an act of almost incredible courage on the part of 600 sailors and commandos. At midnight on 27 March 1942, a combined force of Royal Navy and commandos sailed up the River Loire, under heavy fire from German shore batteries. Their objective: to destroy the giant Normandie dock at St Nazaire, prospective Atlantic base for the dreaded battleship Tirpitz. The story is written and told by one of the survivors, former commando captain Michael Burn, MC, who finished the war in Colditz. Producer TONY BROUGHTON A BBCtv/ORTF co-production