Western Culture and The Cockleshell Heroes

By Rich Kozlovich

 

On June 25, 2023 Joseph L. Shaefer posted this article, A true story of bravery and sacrifice in Occupied France, which was about Operation Frankton, a raid by a newly created special force of 13 men specially trained for a mission to destroy German vessels in the harbor of Bordeaux during WWII.  

 

The mission required two men teams in six kayaks to paddle 70 to 80 miles up the Gironde estuary paddling at night and hiding during the day.  And it was a disastrous success, and if you take a look at the map, you can see why this was such a monumentally dangerous and difficult five day task, with six ships ultimately being damaged. 

 

Please read the article as it's really quite good, and by comparison, is a very real reflection on the continuing decline in Western culture we are seeing going on around us now.  They made a movie about this released in the mid 1950's called The Cockleshell Heroes.   I saw it and I thought it was excellent, but unfortunately, it's not well known, and I can't find where it's streaming anywhere, so I ordered a DVD. 

 

On the first night one kayak was so badly damaged one team remained behind, then as a result of these tidal forces another was scuttled in the first two hours of the mission, and they were never found.  A short time later another tidal wave scuttled a second kayak, and in that freezing December water they managed to swim to shore.  They and others were later captured and executed in spite of being in uniform.  Within a few hours they went from ten men to six men, and three kayaks.  

 

While they accomplished their mission, out of the thirteen men, only five lived.  Only ten actually undertook the mission, and out of those ten, only two of them survived, and they survived because of the courage of a truly great French woman named Mary Lindell.  Her story is even more remarkable.

 

Why such a terrible survival rate?  In my view it was bad planning.  Those who planned this mission surely must have known about the tidal forces these men would have to face and deal with, which were really quite powerful, and how difficult it would be to hide during the day, and they were spotted.  Fortunately the only people who spotted them were French patriots. 

I'm always amazed at the perseverance and self sacrifice of the men who fought and won WWII in spite of what can only be called bad planning on so many fronts, and this was bad planning. How could they not have known how difficult this raid was going to be? But, as I've read a lot of history regarding what went on during WWII, it's my view bad planning was a notorious and unending problem with the Brits.

Operation Market Garden is probably one of the clearest examples of that.  Montgomery was over rated and I think incompetent, his planning was seriously flawed, and in point of fact, it failed because Montgomery failed to close the gap in what was called the Falaise Pocket allowing thousands of German troops to escape, and the German Panzer division that thwarted Market Garden was among those that escaped.  Montgomery had an enormous ego, a bad attitude, and never saw a burden so great, or a blame so outrageous, he couldn't put on someone else's shoulders.  He blamed the Polish paratroopers for the failure of Market Garden, which was an outrageous lie.  

 

At one point Patton had a private meeting with Eisenhower and told him exactly what he thought of Montgomery, and it must have been factually devastating because Ike ordered him to never say any of that out of that room. 

 

There was a substantial difference between the competence of Germany's general staff and England's. Another clear example of that was the surrender of Singapore by the Brits to the Japanese.

But that difference in competence involved all the allied generals, with the clear exception of Patton, who was in my opinion the most competent general in WWII, on either side, and probably the most competent General America ever had. I've often said if Patton was leading the Army of Virginia in the Civil War instead of Lee, the Battle Gettysburg would have never been fought, J.E.B. Stuart, along with other Southern Generals would have been fired, and he would have captured Washington.  Patton had no tolerance for big egos, bad attitudes, unless they were his own.  He had no tolerance for bad planning and weak strategic execution of plans.

 

Patton made it clear he was going to expose all their stupidity after he retired, and it must have been a feeling of relief for the generals he served with when he died.  If he hadn't died, and told the world what really went on, it's my view Eisenhower would probably not have been elected President, and might not have even run.  The biggest difference between Eisenhower and Patton was Patton really didn't have any political aspirations after the war.  Ike did, and played the politician all during his SHAEF years.  Eisenhower wasn't chosen for his brilliant strategic mind.  He was chosen to keep all the big egos in check.  Mostly he did a pretty good job of it, and took some difficult stands, but in my view, he chose to be politically correct too often. 

 

While bed ridden and dying in the hospital Patton's wife made it clear there were a number of generals who would not be allowed to visit him.  He wasn't liked by most of the other Allied Generals, and for some good reasons.  Truth be told, he wasn't all that likable.  But when it came to planning and strategy, he was head and shoulders over the rest, which really upset them, especially Montgomery.  

 

He was called Blood and Guts, with soldiers claiming it was his guts and their blood, but Patton was a front line general and Patton's planning and tactics probably save a lot of Allied soldier's lives.   I felt entirely too many Allied commanders were far too reckless with their lives.   While he's mostly remembered for slapping enlisted soldiers, he also spent far more time visiting wounded soldiers than any other allied General.  In spite of his despicable actions, he actually cared about them and honestly considered them heroes.

As for the heroes who died, sacrificed, and suffered, to accomplish this mission; they were the kind of men who were the real winners of World War II.  I doubt their like will be seen again, nor will there be many Mary Lindell's either.