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This operation prevented the option of the Normandie Dry Dock being used for the Tirpitz.Germany, as in the Great War was virtually land locked as regards capital battleships gaining access to the high seas.The decision to be constantly aware of the whereabouts of the Kreigsmarine capital battleships and to take action to prevent their use on the high seas was a British priority in waging the war against Nazi Germany.
When Great Britain could not prevent this happenng, the Kreigsmarine had temporary command of the North Sea in June 1940 when the RN and the RAF suffered badly from a mauling by the Scharnhorst.It did not happen again.
The alternative point is that St Nazaire could possibily have been heavily bombed but having said that, there was not sufficient evidence that the RAF could deliver precise bombing of the Normandie Dry Dock at this time.The operation did cause Hitler to maintain adequate troops to man the Atlantic Wall.
It was the result of the series of small scale raids that Hitler made his irational order regarding the execution of Allied POWs captured on these raids in uniform or not. Kietel signed and issued the executive instruction on behalf of Hitler which was to prove his death sentence at Nuremberg.
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