The Cockleshell Heroes is a 1955 2nd World War film with Trevor Howard, Antony Newley and José Ferrer, who also directed. It is based on Operation Frankton, the true story of a Commando raid on shipping in Bordeaux harbour. 1955 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ... Trevor Howard Trevor Howard CBE (September 29, 1913 - January 7, 1988) was a British actor. ... José Ferrer José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1909 - January 26, 1992), was an actor and film director, born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. ... During World War II, Operation Frankton was a British Combined Operations raid on shipping in Bordeaux harbour, France in December, 1942, by 12 men of the Boom Patrol Detachment, Royal Navy, in two-man Cockle MK II kayaks, (*the Cockleshell Heroes). ... The French Navy commando Jaubert storm the Alcyon in a mock assault. ... For the wine, see Bordeaux Wine City motto: Lilia sola regunt lunam undas castra leonem. ...

Ferrer plays a newly-promoted Major of the Royal Marines, who is given the assignment. He clashes with his second-in-command, a cynical by-the-book Captain (played by Trevor Howard), and his tough sergeant (Victor Maddern) and relentlesly trains his group of volunteers, losing several in the process, but gradually building a small skilled team. Major is the name most commonly given to the military rank equivalent to NATO rank code OF-3. ... The Corps of Royal Marines, usually just known as the Royal Marines (RM), are the United Kingdoms amphibious forces and a core component of the countrys Rapid Deployment Force. ... Captain is both a nautical term and a military rank. ...

Following the extensive training, the raid is launched ten miles off the mouth of the Gironde river from a British submarine. The team face a further seventy miles of paddling upriver in their Cockle MK II kayaks. Gironde is a département in the southwest of France named after the Gironde Estuary. ... USS Los Angeles A submarine is a specialized watercraft that can operate underwater. ... A kayak is a type of small human-powered boat; a covered variant of a canoe, typically used with a double-bladed paddle instead of a canoes single bladed paddle. ...

After travelling by night and hiding by day, only four men reach the target, where they plant limpet mines on a number of ships. A naval mine is a stationary self-contained explosive device placed in water, to destroy ships and/or submarines. ...

The raid is successful, but only two men survive and get back to England after the raid, with assistance from French resistance fighters. The rest perish in the icy waters or are shot on Hitlers' orders. Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945, standard German pronunciation in the IPA) was the Führer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. ...

One of the survivors, Ex-Cpl Bill Sparks, was an advisor on the film. Royal Marine Bill Sparks DSM (September 5, 1922 – December 1, 2002) He was the last surviving Cockleshell hero who paddled 85 miles into France to blow up German merchant shipping. ...

A Royal Navy ship, HMS Flint Castle was used to portray a German anti-submarine vessel dropping depth charges. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... HMS Flint Castle (K383) was a Castle-class corvette of Britains Royal Navy. ... Depth Charge used by U.S. Navy later in World War II The depth charge is the oldest anti-submarine weapon. ...