The Last of the Cockleshell Heroes

In December 1942, one of the most daring and innovative attacks on enemy shipping was launched by 12 canoes manned by commandos who were to become known as the Cockleshell Heroes. Of the 12, two were unable to pursue their mission when their canoe was damaged on the submarine transporting them to France, and two came back alive. In this book William Sparks, DSM, one of the two survivors - and now the only living one - tells his story of the raid. The book is also an account of the escape by Marine Sparks and Major "Blondie" Hasler across German-occupied France. For nearly three months while they desperately sought assistance from the suspicious French Resistance and dodged German soldiers at every turn, the two men found themselves in a seemingly futile bid to avoid capture and death.