Schnellbootwaffe: Adolf Hitler's Guerrilla War at Sea: S-Boote 1939-45

by Hrvoje Spajic

Overview

The Schnellbootwaffe was created in the early 1930s, before the Second World War, in concurrence with the regenerated Kriegsmarine. Young officers, most of whom learned their craft in the old Imperial Navy, would now take responsibility for the operational use of these revolutionary vessels. Working with the naval engineers of Lürssen Shipyard, the Germans designed combat weapons that were never surpassed by their opponents. After the first series of Schnellboote were launched, constantly improved versions of these vessels would follow. The Schnellbootwaffe would achieve significant victories for the Kriegsmarine at the beginning of the war by using these vessels in high-level strategies, including a style of guerrilla warfare. The British often call German torpedo boats E-boats, and these fast vessels were a genuine threat not only to coastal trade, but also to the movement of Allied ships after D-Day. Indeed, Admiral Rudolf Petersen's flotillas remained combat-ready until the very end, even after the balance of power was in favour of the Allies. Allied air bombardment of German torpedo boat bases from 1944 onwards failed to destroy the offensive potential of the Schnellboote and their crews. The Allied disaster at Lyme Bay at the end of April 1944 shows how this guerrilla war at sea was still dangerous, even at this stage of the war. The Allied invasion plans were not yet known to the Germans, but Eisenhower learned a great deal from Lyme Bay and the Schnellbootwaffe was still potentially dangerous right until the end of the war. This book tells the fascinating story about these special people, whose pirate spirit and guerrilla style of naval combat is reminiscent of the ancient pirates and their own way of warfare.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399091763
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	12/22/2021
Series:	Images of War
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	184
File size:	40 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Hrvoje Spajić is a Croatian military historian. He has published more than 150 popular-science articles and is the author of eight books on the subject of military history. 'Schnellbootwaffe: Adolf Hitler's Guerrilla War at Sea, S-Boote 1939-45' is his first work in English. He lives with his family in Zagreb.

Table of Contents

List of Tables 7

List of Maps 15

List of Illustrations 18

Chapter 1 Introduction 21

Chapter 2 Precedents and First Actions (1915-40) 22

2.1 First operations (1914-18) 22

2.2 Development between the two world wars 24

2.3 The Kriegsmarine's first victories (1939-40) 28

2.4 The French campaign 30

2.5 Germans on the high seas 33

2.6 Mine warfare 36

Chapter 3 The British Response (1941) 38

3.1 Schnellbootwaffe 39

3.2 The Kriegsmarine's new boats 45

3.3 The raids continue 51

Chapter 4 The Mediterranean (1941-45) 57

4.1 The blockade of Malta 58

4.2 A hopeless situation for British convoys 65

4.3 The retreat to Tunisia 68

4.4 The liberation of Sicily and the landing at Salerno 72

Chapter 5 British Pressure (1942) 79

5.1 Unternehmen Zerberus 80

5.2 Guerrilla warfare in the English Channel 83

5.3 The reorganization of the S-Boote command structure 88

5.4 Successful German raids in late 1942 95

Chapter 6 American Intervention (1943) 100

6.1 The naval battles continue 102

6.2 The arrival of the Americans 114

6.3 British victories and a strengthened German defence 117

Chapter 7 Maritime Operations and Operation Neptune (1944) 125

7.1 New S-Boote raids from French and Dutch ports 126

7.2 Allied defeat: disaster at Lyme Bay 131

7.3 Fighting during the summer of 1944 138

Chapter 8 Final Battles on The Western Front (1945) 150

8.1 Withdrawal to the Netherlands and Norway 151

Glossary 171

Selected Bibliography 175

About the Author 177

Index 179

Editorial Reviews

"The images in the book are excellent and cover all levels of the action and history of the units."

IPMS/USA

"The pictures are well-reproduced and include some fine views of S-boats."

Naval Historical Foundation

"...provides new readers with a useful starting point for exploring the activities of German torpedo boats during the Second World War."

The Northern Mariner

"We are provided a full history of the development of these boats as well as operations of all the various flotillas."

ModelingMadness.Com

"...the excellent text offers a succinct appreciation of S-boat warfare. "

Historical Miniatures Gaming Society