Saint-Nazaire, March 12th 2012
Dalc'homp Soñj – Remember – Souvenons-nous
On Wednesday March 28th 2012 the CREDIB (Center for Research & Diffusion of Breton Identity) together with the " Section Relations Internationales & Interceltiques " of the " Cultural Institute of Brittany / Skol Uhel ar Vro " (ICB) will proceed to a ceremony paying homage to the brave men of Opération Chariot or St Nazaire Raid.
Those valourous men sailed from Great Britain and offered their lives for our liberty.
At 10.30 am we shall remember them during a silent pause in front of the "Vieux Môle" - the symbolic place of the sacrifice of the British and their allies. It's exactly there, at the moment of their landing on Breton land in the port of Sant-Nazer / Saint-Nazaire, that Commandos and British sailors suffered most human losses.
A bunch of gorse, a symbol of Breton land, will be laid whereas two pipers will play Breton music - just as they did in 2009 at the shooting of a documentary film on the life of Micky Burn, one of the heroes of Operation Chariot : http://credibsantnazer.hautetfort.com/archive/2010/04/index.html
We shall also remember the Bretons who contributed to the success of this daring raid, thanks to the information they transmitted to the British. Among them, the founder of Seiz Breur (7 brothers): the artist and ethnologist René-Yves Creston, with other Breton militants from Sant-Nazer / Saint-Nazaire, who started a network of informers as soon as I940.
After the silent pause, we shall have commentaries by André Daniel, a historian, Hubert Chemereau, author of an article on the raid in the Breton cultural magazine "ArMen" (The stone), and James Dorrian ( voir notre article ), the great Irish specialist on the raid.
Then we shall proceed on to the ceremony for this seventieth anniversary, in front of the "Monument au Commando" at 11.30 am.
Hubert Chémereau for CREDIB and ICB. Translation Yvette Daniel from ( voir notre article ).
More
( voir notre article ): the 2011 official ceremony with many photos, and ( voir notre article )
http://www.culture-bretagne.org/ and http://blog.culture-bretagne.org/ of Cultural Institute of Brittany / Skol Uhel ar Vro and http://credibsantnazer.hautetfort.com/ of CREDIB.
Books linked with Operation Chariot or St Nazaire raid:
© James Dorrian: March 2006. Material contained in this site is subject to copyright and must not be reproduced in any form without permission...
With kind permission for CREDIB and ABP:
– Storming St Nazaire - James G. Dorrian 1998/2001: Pen & Sword Books Ltd: isbn-085052 8070: http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/?product_id=291
– Saint-Nazaire: Operation Chariot-1942 - James Dorrian 2006: Pen & Sword Books, Ltd: isbn-1844153347 http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/?product_id=818 and http://www.jamesgdorrian.com/intro.html to read the introduction.
– Turned Towards the Sun - Michael Burn 2003: A Clocktower Paperback - Michael Russell (Publishing) Ltd - isbn-978-0-85955-308-7. ( voir notre article ): Mick Burn has died.