Blondie

Blondie Hasler was the leader of the famous 'Cockleshell Heroes'. He designed the canoes which were used in the operation, he recruited and trained the twelve men who made up this most secret team and led them on their daring mission, code name 'Operation Frankton', to attack enemy shipping in Bordeaux harbor. He was one of only two 'Cockleshell Heroes' who came back alive, the other being Bill Sparks, his partner in the cockleshell Catfish. His story is told by former Royal Marine, Ewen Southby- Tailyour. The story of how Blondie managed to make contact with the Maquis once he and Sparks had completed the mission is well worth a book in itself. Although the book offers a new insight into the men that were the 'Cockleshell Heroes' Blondie Hasler was more than just a 'Cockleshell Hero'. Ewen Southby- Tailyour has been given full access to family archive material, which reveals Herbert George Hasler as an extraordinary figure who makes this one of the outstanding biographies of the year.