The force left Falmouth on March 26 1942. De la Torre was in one of the motor launches following the destroyer Campbeltown and had a bleak view of the protection which her wooden hull might afford him against coastal batteries. However, the flotilla managed to convince the Germans that it was friendly as it approached St Nazaire under the cover of night. But the calm was short-lived. “As we neared the lock gates,” de la Torre said afterwards, “searchlights came on, the Germans opened up with heavy guns and all hell broke loose.”
Campbeltown, packed with delayed-action explosives, hit the dock gate shortly after 1.30 on the morning of March 28. De la Torre jumped over the rail of his launch, heading for the swing bridge at the entrance to the submarine pens, only to be caught in a huge explosion as the winding house blew up.
He was buried in rubble, and by the time he had struggled clear the way to the bridge was blocked. He ran back to the quay and helped wounded on to the launch. Shells crashed straight through the craft, setting it ablaze, and the order was given to abandon ship.
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Grabbing a Carley float, de la Torre leapt over the side but, weighted down by a pistol in each pocket, he sank. His inflated Mae West brought him back to the surface but, just as he came up, shell fragments tore through the float. Down he went again.
Finally struggling to the surface, he got hold of a raft laden with wounded men, and hung on as it drifted down the river. “It was a desperate scene,” he said later. “Pools of burning fuel were floating on the water and as we tried to steer past them shells and bullets were splashing in on either side. Motor launches were on fire. It was chaos. I thought nobody could live through it. Then, through all this confusion, I could hear a voice singing O God, Our Help in Ages Past.”
Some of his comrades who could hang on no longer were swept away. Meanwhile, de la Torre could see figures waiting on shore. He hoped that they might be locals, but it soon became clear that they were German soldiers.
A marine officer removed de la Torre’s pistols and gave him, in exchange, a souvenir ring bearing the coat of arms of St Nazaire. Other Germans, astounded at their daring in coming six miles up the heavily defended estuary in such small boats, offered their compliments. De la Torre was taken to hospital, all the windows of which were blown in the next morning when Campbeltown exploded, putting the dock out of action for the rest of the war.
'Бій відлунав. Жовто-сині знамена затріпотіли на станції знов'
