The Cockleshell Raiders 1942-1945

By 1942, the British were aware that vital raw materials were getting to Germany via the occupied French port of Bordeaux. This was too far up the Gironde River for a conventional raid, so an attack using canoes was mounted, and four ships were sunk. Although only two of the ten "Cockleshell Heroes" survived, the raid led to the same method being used against Japanese-held Singapore.