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= = german forces = =
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the germans had around 5 @@ 000 troops in the immediate area of st nazaire the port was defended by the 280th naval artillery battalion under the command of kapitän zur see edo <unk> the battalion was composed of 28 guns of various calibres from 75 mm to 280 mm railway guns all positioned to guard the coastal approaches the heavy guns were supplemented by the guns and searchlights of the 22nd naval flak brigade under the command of kapitän zur see karl @@ konrad mecke
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the brigade was equipped with 43 anti @@ aircraft guns ranging in calibre from 20 to 40 mm these guns had a dual role as both anti @@ aircraft and coastal defence weapons many were in concrete emplacements on top of the submarine pens and other dockside installations of the st nazaire submarine base
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the harbour defence companies were responsible for local defence and for the security of the ships and submarines moored in the harbour these companies and the harbour defence boats used to patrol the river were under the command of harbour commander korvettenkapitän kellerman the 333rd infantry division was the german army unit responsible for the defence of the coast between st nazaire and lorient the division had no troops based in the town but some were located in villages nearby and would be able to respond to any attack on the port
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the kriegsmarine ( german navy ) had at least three surface ships in the loire estuary a destroyer an armed trawler and a sperrbrecher ( minesweeper ) the latter being the guard ship for the port on the night of the raid there were also four harbour defence boats and ten ships from the 16th and 42nd minesweeper flotillas berthed in the basin while two tankers were berthed inside the normandie dock the 6th and 7th u @@ boat flotillas commanded by kapitänleutnant georg @@ wilhelm schulz and korvettenkapitän herbert sohler respectively were permanently based in the port it is not known how many submarines were present on the day of the raid the submarine base had been inspected by the u @@ boat commander in chief vizeadmiral karl dönitz the day before the raid he asked what would they do if the base was subject to an attack by british commandos sohler replied that an attack on the base would be hazardous and highly improbable
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= = the raid = =
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= = = outward journey = = =
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the three destroyers and 16 small boats left falmouth cornwall at 14 00 on 26 march 1942 they formed into a convoy of three lanes with the destroyers in the middle on arrival at st nazaire the portside mls were to head for the old mole to disembark their commandos while the starboard lane would make for the old entrance to the basin to disembark theirs not having the range to reach st nazaire unaided the mtb and mgb were taken under tow by campbeltown and atherstone
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on 27 march at 07 20 tynedale reported a u @@ boat on the surface and opened fire the two escort destroyers left the convoy to engage the u @@ boat later identified as u @@ 593 the u @@ boat promptly dived and was unsuccessfully attacked by depth charges the two destroyers returned to the convoy at 09 00
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the convoy next encountered two french fishing trawlers both crews were taken off and the ships sunk for fear they might report the composition and location of the convoy at 17 00 the convoy received a signal from commander @@ in @@ chief plymouth that five german torpedo boats were in the area two hours later another signal informed them that another two hunt class destroyers hms cleveland and hms brocklesby had been dispatched at full speed to join the convoy
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the convoy reached a position 65 nautical miles ( 120 km 75 mi ) off st nazaire at 21 00 and changed course toward the estuary leaving atherstone and tynedale as a sea patrol the convoy adopted a new formation with the mgb and two torpedo mls in the lead followed by campbeltown the rest of the mls formed two columns on either side and astern of the destroyer with the mtb bringing up the rear the first casualty of the raid was ml 341 which had developed engine trouble and was abandoned at 22 00 the submarine sturgeon directed her navigation beacon out to sea to guide the convoy in at about the same time campbeltown raised the german naval ensign in an attempt to deceive any german lookouts into thinking she was a german destroyer
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at 23 30 on 27 march five raf squadrons ( comprising 35 whitleys and 27 wellingtons ) started their bombing runs the bombers had to stay above 6 @@ 000 feet ( 1 @@ 800 m ) and were supposed to remain over the port for 60 minutes to divert attention toward themselves and away from the sea they had orders to only bomb clearly identified military targets and to drop only one bomb at a time as it turned out poor weather over the port ( 10 / 10ths cloud ) meant that only four aircraft bombed targets in st nazaire six aircraft managed to bomb other nearby targets
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the unusual behaviour of the bombers concerned kapitän zur see mecke at 00 00 on 28 march he issued a warning that there might be a parachute landing in progress at 01 00 on 28 march he followed up by ordering all guns to cease firing and searchlights to be extinguished in case the bombers were using them to locate the port everyone was placed on a heightened state of alert the harbour defence companies and ships ' crews were ordered out of the air raid shelters during all this a lookout reported seeing some activity out at sea so mecke began suspecting some type of landing and ordered extra attention to be paid to the approaches to the harbour
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= = = ramming the dry dock = = =
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at 00 30 hours on 28 march the convoy crossed over the shoals at the mouth of the loire estuary with campbeltown scraping the bottom twice each time she was able to pull free and the group proceeded on up toward the harbour in darkness they had got to within about eight minutes passage from the dock gates when at 01 22 the entire convoy was illuminated by the combined searchlights of both banks of the estuary a naval signal light demanded their identification
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the mgb @@ 314 replied in a coded response obtained from a german trawler boarded during the <unk> raid a few bursts were fired from a shore battery and both campbeltown and mgb @@ 314 replied ship being fired upon by friendly forces the deception gave them a little more time before every german gun in the bay opened fire at 01 28 with the convoy 1 mile ( 1 @@ 6 km ) from the dock gates beattie ordered the german flag lowered and the white ensign raised the intensity of the german fire seemed to increase the guard ship opened fire and was quickly silenced when the ships in the convoy responded shooting into her as they passed
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by now all the ships in the convoy were within range to engage targets ashore and were firing at the gun emplacements and searchlights campbeltown was hit a number of times and increased her speed to 19 kn ( 35 km / h ) the helmsman on her bridge was killed his replacement was wounded and replaced as well blinded by the searchlights beattie knew they were close to their objective still under heavy fire the mgb turned into the estuary as campbeltown cleared the end of the old mole cut through anti @@ torpedo netting strung across the entrance and rammed the dock gates striking home at 01 34 three minutes later than scheduled the force of the impact drove the ship 33 feet ( 10 m ) onto the gates
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= = = disembarkation from campbeltown and the mls = = =
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the commandos on campbeltown now disembarked two assault teams five demolition teams with their protectors and a mortar group three demolition teams were tasked with destroying the dock pumping machinery and other installations associated with the dry dock the kilt @@ wearing captain donald roy ' the laird ' and his 14 @@ man assault troop were tasked with inactivating two pump @@ house roof @@ top gun emplacements high above the quayside and securing a bridge to provide a route for the raiding parties to exit the dock area roy and sgt don randall used scaling ladders and grenades to accomplish the former and a head @@ on rush to secure the bridge and form a bridgehead that enabled capt bob montgomery and lt corran purdon and their demolition teams to exit the area
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they lost 4 men in this action the fifth team also succeeded in completing all their objectives but almost half its men were killed the other two commando groups were not as successful the mls transporting groups one and two had almost all been destroyed on their approach ml 457 was the only boat to land its commandos on the old mole and only ml 177 had managed to reach the gates at the old entrance to the basin that team succeeded in planting charges on two tugboats moored in the basin
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there were only two other mls in the vicinity ml 160 had continued past the dock and was engaging targets upriver ml 269 appeared to be out of control and was running in circles by this time the crew of campbeltown had detonated the scuttling charges and gathered at the rear of the ship to be taken off ml 177 came alongside the destroyer and took 30 men on board including beattie and some of the wounded major copland went through campbeltown and evacuated the wounded towards the old mole not knowing that there were no other boats there to take the commandos off
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lt col newman aboard the mgb need not have landed but he was one of the first ashore one of his first actions was to direct mortar fire onto a gun position on top of the submarine pens that was causing heavy casualties among the commandos he next directed machine @@ gun fire onto an armed trawler which was forced to withdraw upriver newman organised a defence that succeeded in keeping the increasing numbers of german reinforcements at bay until the demolition parties had completed their tasks
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some 100 commandos were still ashore when newman realised that evacuation by sea was no longer an option he gathered the survivors and issued three orders
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to do our best to get back to england
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not to surrender until all our ammunition is exhausted
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not to surrender at all if we can help it
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newman and copland led the charge from the old town across a bridge raked by machine gun fire and advanced into the new town the commandos attempted to get through the narrow streets of the town and into the surrounding countryside but were eventually surrounded when their ammunition was expended their only option was to surrender not all the commandos were captured five men reached neutral spain from where they eventually returned to england
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= = = small ships = = =
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most of the mls had been destroyed on the run in and were burning the first ml in the starboard column was the first boat to catch fire her captain managed to beach her at the end of the old mole some starboard boats managed to reach their objective and disembark their commandos ml 443 the leading boat in the port column got to within 10 feet ( 3 @@ 0 m ) of the mole in the face of heavy direct fire and hand grenades before being set on fire the crew were rescued by ml 160 one of the torpedo mls which had been looking for targets of opportunity such as the two large tankers reported to be in the harbour the commanders of mls 160 and 443 lieutenants t boyd and t d l platt were awarded the distinguished service order for their bravery the rest of the port column had been destroyed or disabled before reaching the mole mls 192 and 262 were set on fire there were only six survivors ml 268 was blown up one man survived
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ml 177 the launch that had successfully taken off some of the crew from campbeltown was sunk on her way out of the estuary ml 269 another torpedo @@ armed boat had the unenviable task of moving up and down the river at high speed to draw german fire away from the landings soon after passing campbeltown it was hit and its steering damaged it took ten minutes to repair the steering they turned and started in the other direction opening fire on an armed trawler in passing return fire from the trawler set their engine on fire
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ml 306 also came under heavy fire when it arrived near the port sergeant thomas durrant of no 1 commando manning the aft lewis gun engaged gun and searchlight positions on the run in he was wounded but refused to leave the gun for treatment the ml reached the open sea but was attacked at short range by the german torpedo boat jaguar durrant returned fire aiming for the torpedo boat 's bridge he was wounded again but remained at his gun even after the german commander asked for their surrender firing drum after drum of ammunition he refused to give up until after the ml had been boarded durrant died of his wounds and after the recommendation of the jaguar 's commander was awarded a posthumous victoria cross
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after the commando headquarters group had landed commander ryder went to check for himself that campbeltown was firmly stuck in the dock some of her surviving crewmen were being taken on board the mgb ryder returned to the boat and ordered the mtb to carry out its alternative task and torpedo the lock gates at the old entrance to the basin after a successful torpedo attack ryder ordered the mtb to leave on their way out of the estuary they stopped to collect survivors from a sinking ml and were hit and set on fire back at the docks the mgb had positioned itself in mid @@ river to engage enemy gun emplacements the forward 2 pounder was manned by able seaman william alfred savage commander ryder reported that
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the rate of supporting fire had evidently been felt and the commandos in the area of the tirpitz dock had undoubtedly overcome the resistance in that area there was an appreciable slackening in the enemy 's fire
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ryder could see no ships other than seven or eight burning mls he then realised that the landing places at the old mole and the entrance to the basin had both been recaptured by the germans there was nothing more they could do for the commandos so they headed out to sea on their way they were continuously illuminated by german searchlights and were hit at least six times by the german guns passing ml 270 they ordered her to follow and made smoke to hide both boats
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when they reached the open sea the smaller calibre guns were out of range and stopped firing but the heavier artillery continued to engage them the boats were about 4 miles ( 6 @@ 4 km ) off @@ shore when the last german salvo straddled them and killed savage who was still at his gun he was awarded a posthumous victoria cross for his exploits his citation recognised both savage and the bravery of the many unnamed crews of the motor gun boat motor torpedo boat and motor launches who continued to carry out their duties in exposed positions in the face of close range enemy fire
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= = = return journey = = =
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at 06 30 the five german torpedo boats that the convoy had evaded the previous day were sighted by hms atherstone and tynedale the two destroyers turned toward them and opened fire at a range of 7 miles ( 11 km ) after ten minutes the german boats turned away making smoke the destroyers sighted the mgb and two accompanying mls soon after and transferred their casualties to the atherstone not expecting any more boats to arrive they headed for home just after 09 00 the hunt @@ class escort destroyers hms brocklesby and hms cleveland arrived sent by commander @@ in @@ chief plymouth shortly after this the ships were spotted by a heinkel 115 floatplane of the luftwaffe
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the next german aircraft on the scene a junkers 88 was engaged by a raf bristol beaufighter which had appeared in the area earlier both machines crashed into the sea other german planes arrived but were driven off by beaufighters and hudsons from coastal command the atlantic weather conditions deteriorated amid concerns about the growing german threat and the realisation that the damaged small ships would not be able to keep up commander sayer ordered the crews off the smaller boats and had them sunk
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three of the small vessels managed to return to england mls 160 307 and 443 they had reached the rendezvous and waited until 10 00 for the destroyers to appear having already been attacked once they moved further out into the atlantic to try and avoid the german air force but a junkers 88 appeared overhead at 07 30 and approached them at low level for a closer look the ships opened fire and hit the junkers in the cockpit the plane went into the sea the next aircraft to appear was a blohm and voss seaplane which attempted to bomb the ships but left after being damaged by machine @@ gun fire the surviving mls eventually reached england unaided the following day
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= = = campbeltown explodes = = =
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the explosive charges in hms campbeltown detonated at noon on 28 march 1942 and the dry dock was destroyed reports vary on the fate of the two tankers that were in the dock they were either swept away by the wall of water and sunk or swept to the far end of the dock but not sunk a party of 40 senior german officers and civilians who were on a tour of campbeltown were killed in total the explosion killed about 360 men the wreck of campbeltown could still be seen inside the dry dock months later when raf photo reconnaissance planes were sent to photograph the port
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according to captain robert montgomery ( royal engineers attached to no2 commando ) campbeltown was meant to have detonated at 4 30am the delay caused he believes by some of the acid in the pencil fuses being distilled away as the morning progressed more and more captured comrades joined him in the german hq
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the day after the explosion organisation todt workers were assigned to clean up the debris and wreckage on 30 march at 16 30 the torpedoes from mtb 74 which were on a delayed fuse setting exploded at the old entrance into the basin this raised alarms among the germans the organisation todt workers ran away from the dock area german guards mistaking their khaki uniforms for british uniforms opened fire killing some of them the germans also thought that some commandos were still hiding in the town and made a street by street search during which some townspeople were also killed
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= = aftermath = =
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the explosion put the dry dock out of commission for the remainder of the war the st nazaire raid had been a success but at a cost of the 622 men of the royal navy and commandos who took part in the raid only 228 men returned to england five commandos escaped via neutral spain and gibraltar with the help of french citizens and took a ship to england from gibraltar 169 men were killed ( 105 rn and 64 commandos ) and another 215 became prisoners of war ( 106 rn and 109 commandos ) they were first taken to la baule and then sent to stalag 133 at rennes the fallen british raiders were buried at the la baule @@ <unk> cemetery with military honours the cemetery is located 13 kilometres west of st nazaire
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to recognise their achievement 89 decorations were awarded for the raid this total includes the five victoria crosses awarded to lieutenant commander beattie lieutenant colonel newman and commander ryder and posthumous awards to sergeant durrant and able seaman savage four distinguished service orders were awarded to major william copland captain donald roy lieutenant t boyd and lieutenant t d l platt other decorations awarded were four conspicuous gallantry medals five distinguished conduct medals 17 distinguished service crosses 11 military crosses 24 distinguished service medals and 15 military medals four men were awarded the croix de guerre by france and another 51 were mentioned in despatches
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adolf hitler was furious that the british had been able to sail a flotilla of ships up the loire unhindered his immediate reaction was to dismiss generaloberst carl <unk> chief @@ of @@ staff to the commander in chief west the raid refocused german attention on the atlantic wall and special attention was given to ports to prevent any repeat of the raid by june 1942 the germans began using concrete to fortify gun emplacements and bunkers in quantities previously only used in u @@ boat pens hitler laid out new plans in a meeting with armaments minister albert speer in august 1942 calling for the construction of 15 @@ 000 bunkers by may 1943 to defend the atlantic coast from norway to spain
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the battleship tirpitz never entered the atlantic she remained in norwegian fjords to threaten allied shipping until she was destroyed by the raf on 12 november 1944
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= = legacy = =
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st nazaire was one of the 38 battle honours presented to the commandos after the war the raid has since been called the greatest raid of all the survivors formed their own association the st nazaire society which is a registered charity in the united kingdom
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a memorial to the raid erected in falmouth bears the following inscription
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a new hms campbeltown a type 22 frigate was launched on 7 october 1987 she carried the ship 's bell from the first campbeltown which was rescued during the raid and had been presented to the town of campbelltown pennsylvania at the end of the second world war in 1988 the people of campbelltown voted to lend the bell to the new ship for as long as she remained in royal navy service the bell was returned to the town on 21 june 2011 when hms campbeltown was decommissioned
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on 4 september 2002 a tree and seat at the national memorial arboretum were dedicated to the men of the raid the seat bears the inscription
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in memory of the royal navy sailors and army commandos killed in the raid on st nazaire on 28 march 1942
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= = documentaries and dramatisations = =
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a fictionalised version of the raid was the climax of the 1952 british war film gift horse the film follows the career of an ex @@ us navy destroyer hms ballantrae ( actually hms leamington ) the raid is named operation boadicea and portrays the main events of the actual battle
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the war film attack on the iron coast was released in 1968 and was a highly fictionalized version of the raid
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in 2007 jeremy clarkson presented the story of the raid in a bbc documentary entitled the greatest raid of all time
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an episode of the television series world war ii 's greatest raids on the military channel ( now the american heroes channel ) devoted an episode to this raid titled commando do or die it was released in early 2014 and has been rerun several times
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a mission in the video game enemy front re @@ enacts the mission from the first person perspective of a british commando
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a mission in the video game medal of honour european assault also re @@ enacts the mission from the perspective of fictional soldier william holt
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= hellblazer =
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hellblazer ( also known as john constantine hellblazer ) is an american contemporary horror comic book series originally published by dc comics and subsequently by the vertigo imprint since march 1993 when the imprint was introduced its central character is the streetwise magician john constantine who was created by alan moore and stephen r bissette and first appeared as a supporting character in the saga of the swamp thing # 37 ( june 1985 ) during that creative team 's run on that title hellblazer had been published continuously since january 1988 and was vertigo 's longest running title the only remaining publication from the imprint 's launch in 2013 the series concluded with issue 300 and has been replaced by a dc universe title constantine well known for its political and social commentary the series has spawned a film adaptation television show novels multiple spin @@ offs and crossovers
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the series was the longest @@ running and one of the most successful titles of dc 's vertigo imprint and was the stepping stone to many british writers notable writers who have contributed to the series include jamie delano garth ennis paul jenkins warren ellis grant morrison neil gaiman mike carey andy diggle and peter milligan hellblazer was one of the first modern occult detective fiction works and heavily influenced the genre to come
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= = production history = =
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after favorable reader reaction to john constantine 's appearances in the comic book series swamp thing where he had been introduced by alan moore during his authorship of the title the character was given his own comic book series in 1988 the series was intended to bear the title hellraiser but this title was revised before publication due to the contemporaneous release of clive barker 's unrelated film of the same name initial writer jamie delano was in his own words fairly ambivalent about the change of title
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the initial creative team was writer jamie delano and artist john ridgway with dave mckean supplying distinctive painted and collage covers delano introduced a political aspect to the character about which he stated generally i was interested in commenting on 1980s britain that was where i was living it was shit and i wanted to tell everybody the book originally published as a regular dc comics title became a vertigo title with the imprint 's launch in march 1993 ( issue # 63 of the series ) in october 2011 it was announced that this would join dc titles in being published digitally on the same day as its physical release starting in january 2012
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= = = creative personnel = = =
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many writers had lengthy runs on the series such as garth ennis and mike carey who respectively had the second and third @@ longest runs on the book ( only behind peter milligan ) other writers who wrote for the series include paul jenkins warren ellis brian azzarello neil gaiman grant morrison denise mina and peter milligan
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numerous artists worked on the series as well such as john ridgway ( the original series artist ) simon bisley mark buckingham richard corben steve dillon marcelo <unk> jock david lloyd leonardo manco and sean phillips cover artists included dave mckean ( who designed the first run of the series ' covers ) tim bradstreet ( who designed the most ) glenn fabry kent williams david lloyd and sean phillips
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= = in the comics = =
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