Damn bad bad luck. or should I say planning.
How Rundstedt could've repulsed the Allied invasion in 44
- Thread starter Soren
- Start date
Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
syscom3
Pacific Historian
I was leafing through a book about the Normandy invasion and I came across this tidbit.
The German navy made use of the port of Le Havre well unto June 14. That night, the RAF wiped out the port, sinking 3 torpedo boats, 10 E-Boats, 15 R-Boats and 18 other smaller craft.
The next night the RAF wiped out the port of Boulogne sinking 25 R-Boats and other craft.
Prior to these events, the German navy was completley ineffectual in their attempts to interdict and slow down the allied buildup. After this, they became the proverbial mosquito biting an elephant. Not worth the effort.
The German navy made use of the port of Le Havre well unto June 14. That night, the RAF wiped out the port, sinking 3 torpedo boats, 10 E-Boats, 15 R-Boats and 18 other smaller craft.
The next night the RAF wiped out the port of Boulogne sinking 25 R-Boats and other craft.
Prior to these events, the German navy was completley ineffectual in their attempts to interdict and slow down the allied buildup. After this, they became the proverbial mosquito biting an elephant. Not worth the effort.
Erich
the old Sage
U guys need friend James Tents "E-Boat Alert" which will give you full documentation of the sinking of many S-booten in their ports an those that made it out to sink allied shipping later. so much fear was put into these little craft that it was a top priority to sink them before they could get out to sea at Normandie
Sort of off topic but interestingly 24 R-Boots were returned to Germany as part of the New Bundes Marine in 1956 and were used well into the 1960 as coastal minesweepers and patrol boats.
mosquitoman
Master Sergeant
I've heard of S-Boots, but what were R-Boots?
They were small minesweepers designed to operate in coastal waters and shallow areas. The Germans built aprox. 300 of them from 1933 till the end of the war. Most of them did not have standard propellors and rudders but horizontally mounted Voith-Schneider propellors which made the boats very maneuverable.
They did mine sweeping, convoy escort, and escorting U-Boots out of there pens.
After the war many were taken over by the Allies: USA got 48, the Soviet Union 45, Denmark 24, Britain 11, the Netherlands 8 and Norway got 4 of them.
Some were eventually used to start the German Minesweeping Service "Deutscher Mienenräumdienst" to remove the minefields in european waters after the war, and 24 were returned to the New German Navy in 1955 and used into the 1960s.
Dimensions
Size (Max): 155 t
Length (Total): 41,0 m
Beam: 5,8 m
Draft: 1,7 m
Weapons
3,7 cm Flak: 1
2 cm MG: 3
8,6 cm Missle Launcher "Föhn": 1
Engines
Voith-Schneider Propellers: 2
Engines: 2
Type: MAN 8-cylinder diesel
Performance
Total Performance: 1800 shp
Speed: 19 kn
They did mine sweeping, convoy escort, and escorting U-Boots out of there pens.
After the war many were taken over by the Allies: USA got 48, the Soviet Union 45, Denmark 24, Britain 11, the Netherlands 8 and Norway got 4 of them.
Some were eventually used to start the German Minesweeping Service "Deutscher Mienenräumdienst" to remove the minefields in european waters after the war, and 24 were returned to the New German Navy in 1955 and used into the 1960s.
Dimensions
Size (Max): 155 t
Length (Total): 41,0 m
Beam: 5,8 m
Draft: 1,7 m
Weapons
3,7 cm Flak: 1
2 cm MG: 3
8,6 cm Missle Launcher "Föhn": 1
Engines
Voith-Schneider Propellers: 2
Engines: 2
Type: MAN 8-cylinder diesel
Performance
Total Performance: 1800 shp
Speed: 19 kn
Attachments
evangilder
"Shooter"
Good info there, Adler!
Good stuff!
Thankyou
mosquitoman
Master Sergeant
Thanks, great info!
