Paddy Ashdown and the Cockle Shell Heroes

Last night I went to see Paddy Ashdown give a talk on his latest book, "A Brilliant Little Operation" - the subject of which was a group of Royal Marine commandos. Their exploits were made famous by the film, "The Cockleshell Heroes".

The story, if you're not familiar with it, relates to a team of World War 2 commandos who canoed behind enemy lines into occupied France (down the river Garonne) in order to destroy the ships that were supplying the German war machine. The raid was as daring as it was audacious - even the commanding officer admitted that it would be impossible to repeat. (I'm aware I'm using lots of parenthetical clauses here but bear with me...). After sustaining huge losses (only two survived from an original group of 12) several of the German ships were damaged. Although they were repaired, the actions of this group of men caused the Germans to direct significant portions of their resources to defending the port of Bordeaux making the war effort on other fronts more achievable.

Subsequently the technique of canoeing behind enemy lines had been used and used frequently but these men were the first. The trailblazers. Their exploits were largely unsung during the war for operational security reasons and after the war, the details were poorly publicised. Ashdown is aiming to rectify this by writing about the operation and the characters involved and it was on this piece that he was talking.

For those of you that haven't heard of Paddy Ashdown, now would be a good time to mention that he is a politician and has spent many years serving in both houses of the British Government. It is therefore a fair assumption that he will be a seasoned public speaker. Despite this, it is worth mentioning that his presentation was excellent. The man talks very well and covers a lot of detailed information quickly and fluently. He is passionate about the subject and this shines through as he takes us through the operation.

More pertinently, Ashdown is also a former officer in the Special Boat Service - an elite Royal Navy unit that owes some of it's heritage and tactics to Goldie Hasler and his men. During the talk, he includes anecdotes and stories from his own military service and operations he has been on which required similar techniques and equipment. This personal touch adds depth to the story and his descriptions of the difficulty involved in canoe based operations. These serve to highlight the truly remarkable achievements of this team.

A particularly poignant moment came when Ashdown read from the last letters of the troops that didn't make it home. Despite the fact he has inevitably read them many times before, he was still visibly moved as were the audience.

The talk concluded with a question and answer session although it was truncated due to time constraints. Ashdown showed a tremendous depth of subject knowledge and enthusiasm for talking about it. This wasn't just an ex-politician cashing in on his public persona in order to sell a few books. This was someone with a genuine passion for the subject and a connection to the history he studied and the gift of being able to communicate.

JR