HMS Unbroken monument, Antibes

This monument on the once hostile coast of the Cape of Antibes commemorates a clandestine operation by the submarine HMS Unbroken.

It was the boat's first operation after acceptance trials and initial work up in Holy Lock, Scotland,  from where it sailed to the Mediterranean. The operation involved dropping off  agents of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), Captain Peter Churchill (and three colleagues) on a successful mission to deliver three radio sets to the resistance. It also involved  an unplanned return to the boat of a member of the French resistance Baron d'Astier de la Vigerie (operating under the code name Bernard). He was later to travel to Algeria to prepare the ground for the arrival of de Gaul.

The agents were landed using folding kayaks at the Bay of Antibes on 20th April 1942 and returned the same night with the former naval officer who had been fired by the Vichy government after refusing to fire on British ships at Gibraltar in 1940. He was eventually taken to Algeria to prepare the ground for the arrival of de Gaul in north Africa. In 1944 he became head of Free French forces in England and sassisted Eisenhower in the D Day landings.

After the war Peter Churchill married the famous SOE agent Odette Sansom with whom he worked closely until they were both captured in 1943. Remarkably both survived incarceration in different concentration camps.

 The monument commemorates this operation but is dedicated to all who took part in the dangerous clandestine missions. This is an atmospheric place to sit and ponder the activities of  these dedicated and brave individuals, particularly as the sun goes down.

HMS Unbroken served with distinction in the Mediterranean and was loaned to the Soviet Union in 1944 returned to the Royal Navy in 1948 and scrapped in 1950.