Hitler's Forgotten Flotillas: Kriegsmarine Security Forces

by Lawrence Paterson

Overview

This study of the Kriegsmarine's Sicherungsstreitkräfte, their security forces, fills a gap in the study of the German navy in World War II. This book describes the wide array of vessels including patrol boats, minesweepers, submarine hunters, barrage breakers, landing craft, minelayers, and even the riverine flotilla that patrolled the Danube as it snaked towards the Black Sea. These vessels may not have provided the glamour associated with capital ships and U-boats, but they were crucial to the survival of the Kriegsmarine at every stage of hostilities.

As naval construction was unable to keep pace with the likely demand for security vessels, Grossadmiral Erich Raeder turned to the conversion of merchant vessels. For example, trawlers were requisitioned as patrol boats (Vorpostenboote) and minesweepers (Minensucher), while freighters, designated Sperrbrecher, were filled with buoyant materials and sent to clear minefields. Submarine hunters (U-Boot Jäger) were requisitioned fishing vessels. More than 120 flotillas operated in wildly different conditions, from the Arctic to the Mediterranean, and eighty-one men were to be awarded the Knight's Cross; some were still operating after the cessation of hostilities clearing German minefields. Paterson documents organizational changes, describes the vessels, and recounts individual actions of ships at sea. Extensive appendices are included.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473882393
Publisher:	Naval Institute Press
Publication date:	06/15/2017
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Lawrence Paterson has spent many years researching aspects of German naval operations and has written more than ten books on various aspects of the U-boat war. His most recent work, Schnellboote, is an operational history of Germany’s fast attack craft.

Table of Contents

Maps vi

Introduction xi

Glossary xiii

1 Development of Naval Mine Warfare and Auxiliary Ships in the Kaiser's Navy 1

2 Defending Germany's Coasts: Minesweepers, Vorpostenboote and U-Jäger of the Kriegsmarine, 1939-1940 26

3 Expanding Horizons: German Pyrrhic Victory in Norway and the Fall of France, 1940 59

4 Establishing the Security Divisions, 1941 99

5 Sun and Steel: The Security Forces move into North Africa and the Soviet Union, 1941-1942 120

6 War in the North and West: The Security Flotillas in Western Europe, the Baltic and Norway, 1942-1943 151

7 War in Southern Russia: The Security Forces in the Black Sea, July 1942-1944 185

8 The 'Inland Seas': The Security Forces in the Mediterranean, Aegean and Tyrrhenian Seas, June 1942-December 1943 216

9 The Mediterranean, Adriatic and Aegean, January 1944-May 1945 267

10 Elimination: Allied Forces mount Operations against the Security Forces, 1944-1945 279

Postscript 313

Appendices 315

Notes 337

Bibliography 342

Index 344

Editorial Reviews

'Naval Books of the Year'. "This book is an excellent treatment of a side of naval warfare that is rarely given the attention it deserves. It is thus heartily recommended." --Warship

From the Publisher