The Daring Dozen Read Online Free PDF

dismantling their canoes and concealing them among the reeds on the marshes, where they lay waiting for darkness. ‘I remember the mossies at dawn would come over and they raised an almighty noise, like bombers going overhead,’ said Smith. ‘We had mossie cream and at dusk they would come over again and settle on us. At dark we would paddle off again at the north shore.’ 22
    When a channel deep enough (2ft) to facilitate a crossing of the lake was found, the SBS were then instructed to launch the diversionary raid against the Germans’ positions on the eastern shore, the three-mile-long spit that separated the lake from the Adriatic. Ken Smith recalled the conversation between Brigadier Ronnie Tod of the commandos and Lassen: ‘We sat round in a small circle and the brigadier said to Lassen “I want you to spread your chaps out tonight, right along the front, get ashore, and make as much commotion to give an impression of a big landing.” Lassen kept interrupting him: “But I can take Comacchio.” The brigadier said “I don’t want you to, just spread your chaps out.”’ 23
    Lassen’s belief that he could take Comacchio with 50 men was either bravado or a sign that he was becoming, in the parlance of the time, ‘bomb happy’ after four years of almost constant action. Ranged against him were hundreds of Germans, well entrenched in positions affording them an excellent field of fire.
    Among the 50 men in Lassen’s squadron were several veterans of the Dodecanese campaign. At least one, Freddie Crouch, believed that they were being sacrificed so that the commandos could establish their bridgehead on the north shore. Crouch had a premonition of his own death, and one of his comrades, Les Stephenson, was also uneasy with the plan because there ‘had been no proper reconnaissance’ on account of the impossibility of getting close enough to scout the enemy positions without being seen.
    Lassen split his small force into three patrols. His own patrol would be first onto the spit while a section under the command of Lieutenant Turnbull would then land a little further north. Meanwhile a third patrol led by New Zealand’s Lieutenant Dion Stellin, nicknamed ‘Stud’ on account of his success with the ladies, would discharge numerous thunderflashes and other explosive charges to fool the enemy into believing the main assault was underway.
    The SBS had to endure an excruciating delay to their mission as they waited for the commandos to drag their landing craft across the mud to the channels. Everyone was tense. Then, at 0430hrs on 9 April, Lassen and his patrol pushed off in their canoes. Ken Smith followed in Turnbull’s patrol a short while later. ‘We lined up in our canoes and made for the shore,’ remembered Smith. ‘Lassen was away to the right and met land before us and he managed to get ashore.’ 24
    But already Lassen’s patrol had encountered problems in disembarking from their canoes. The mud that bordered the spit was thick, glutinous and treacherous, and Freddie Crouch got stuck as he tried to get ashore. ‘He began sinking but would not call for help because that would give away our positions,’ remembered Trooper Fred Green, who watched in horror as Crouch vanished beneath the mud. 25
    Already one man down, Lassen told Green to accompany him down the spit while the rest of the patrol followed a few yards behind. Green could speak Italian and Lassen’s hope was that the Turkomans would be fooled into thinking they were local fishermen about to embark on a day’s work. The plan failed, and a Spandau machine gun began firing from a pillbox. However, the pillboxes housing the defenders were not the imposing hexagonal concrete structures found along the French coast; rather, they were small bunkers made of stone and earth.
    Lassen told Green to take cover. Then, removing a grenade from his battledress, Lassen charged the pillbox and destroyed it. A second machine gun opened fire, so Lassen