Archive footage Operation Frankton was a commando raid on ships in the German occupied French port of Bordeaux in southwest France during World War II.

Men from no.1 section were selected for the raid; including the commanding officer, Herbert "Blondie" Hasler, and with the reserve marine Colley the team numbered thirteen in total.

[7] David Chater of The Times notes that "there were 10,000 German troops stationed in the town, and the estuary was so heavily defended that the raid amounted to a suicide mission ... nonetheless, it remains to this day a legendary tale of derring-do".

[1] Jonathan Wright wrote in The Guardian, that "a beleaguered Winston Churchill needed to strike against Nazi Germany, yet his options were 'savagely limited' ... this meant the authorities were prepared to listen to leftfield ideas such as those of Blondie Hasler, who believed commandos in canoes could inflict heavy damage, which is how Hasler came to lead a small unit of Royal Marines on 'a suicide mission by any other name', and the legend of the Cockleshell heroes was born".

[8] John Preston wrote in The Sunday Telegraph that the recreation depicted in the film "was extremely well done, with disaster both on foot and in Ashdown's imagination ... as it went on, though, it became increasingly literal and plodding ... nonetheless, the subject cried out for a bolder, more impressionistic approach".