Avre Friday Briefing #58
Batch No. 3 — Size & Fit
Batch No. 3 — the U.S. Navy Shawl Collar Denim Shirt has a regular fit and fits true to size. It's designed to be worn over a tee or over something more substantial like a hoodie. Here's how it sits on a few different models
In the images above, Brendan is 6'4" with a 45" chest and is wearing a size M
In the images above, Pete is 6'0" with a 39" chest and is wearing a size M
In the images above, Johno is 5'10" with a 39" chest and is wearing a size M
In the images above, Jim is 6'1" with a 40" chest and is wearing a size M
Full garment measurements — taken flat with all fastenings done up — are on the size guide. If you're stuck between sizes or have any questions about fit, please get in touch: hello@avreind.com.
VAT 01 — Why 265
Our whisky is limited to 265 bottles. Here's why
On the night of 28 March 1942, 265 British Commandos sailed from Falmouth as part of Operation Chariot — the raid on the heavily defended dry dock at St Nazaire: the only facility on the Atlantic coast capable of servicing Germany's largest battleships. Their mission was to put the Normandie dock out of action. If the dock was gone, the Tirpitz — lurking in the Norwegian fjords and threatening Allied convoys — couldn't safely enter the Atlantic.
The plan was audacious. An obsolete destroyer, HMS Campbeltown, would be packed with concealed explosives and rammed into the dock gates at full speed. The Commandos would disembark under fire, destroy pumping machinery, gun emplacements and dock installations, then evacuate by motor launch. The Campbeltown's charges were timed to detonate hours later, after the raiders had gone.
Most of the motor launches were destroyed on the approach. The Commandos fought their way through the town, and when evacuation by sea became impossible, Lt Col Newman gathered the survivors and issued three orders:
- Do our best to get back to England;
- Don't surrender until all ammunition is exhausted;
- Don't surrender at all if we can help it.
They were eventually surrounded. Of the 611 men who took part in the raid, only 228 returned to Britain. 169 were killed with 215 becoming prisoners of war. The following day, HMS Campbeltown detonated as planned, destroying the dock. The Tirpitz never entered the Atlantic.
Eighty-nine decorations were awarded, including five Victoria Crosses. The operation has been described ever since as "the greatest raid of all."
VAT 01 — Ghosts of the Mole — is our tribute to those 265 Commandos. One bottle for each man who stepped ashore that night.
From WW2 HQ
Cooks vs Hitler's Elite: The Battle of the Bulge
This week James and Al are back on Walking the Ground, this time in the Ardennes in the snow, retracing one of the most overlooked chapters of the Battle of the Bulge — the defence of St Vith.
What makes the St Vith story remarkable isn't that elite troops held the line against a German armoured thrust. It's that, in large part, they didn't have to. Rear echelon troops — drivers, cooks, gunners who had every reason to fall back — held up some of Germany's best-equipped forces for the best part of a week, buying time for the Allies.
James and Al walk the ground where it happened, including the ridge above Rodt where the Führer-Begleit-Brigade — Hitler's own escort formation — launched a night attack and was held up for nine hours by a scratch force of support troops. As James puts it, you can judge the quality of a military by how it reacts when things aren't going according to plan.