Download or read book The German U Boat Base at Lorient France August 1942 August 1943 written by Luc Braeuer and published by Schiffer Military History. This book was released on 2016-05-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volume three (of a four-volume series) reveals the fate of the ninety-two German U-boats that passed through Lorient from August 1942 to August 1943. From October 1942, Type IX U-boats left Lorient for distant seas beyond the South African Cape and succeeded in sinking three times as many ships as those that attacked the North Atlantic convoys! This book also details the terrible effects of the massive Allied bombardments on both the base and town during the following months and discusses Allied progress in anti-U-boat techniques and armaments that forced the U-boats to abandon the North Atlantic at the end of May 1943 and the Allied offensive seeking to destroy German U-boats in transit in the Gulf of Gascony. This work is illustrated with over 600 exceptional war-era photographs as well as maps and plans. A unique color section presents the remains, documents, and memories relating to the presence of the U-boats in Lorient.

Download or read book The German U Boat Base at Lorient France Vol 2 written by Luc Braeuer and published by Schiffer Military History. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volume two (of a four volume series) reveals the story of the seventy-eight German U-boats that passed through the port of Lorient from July 1941 to July 1942. The book explains the major phases in the Battle of the Atlantic in which U-boats were operating and particularly the surprise attacks on merchant traffic along the American coast. It details the Allied actions against the port of Lorient and their system of defense against the German U-boat arm. Also featured are unedited reminiscences of the U-boat crews' life ashore in Lorient during their patrol arrivals and departures. This work is illustrated with over 500 exceptional war-era photographs as well as maps and plans. A unique color section presents the remains, documents, and memories relating to the presence of the U-boats in Lorient.

Download or read book The German U Boat Base at Lorient France Vol 1 written by Luc Braeuer and published by Schiffer Military History. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This first volume (of a four volume series) on the German U-boats at Lorient, France, covers the period from June 1940 to June 1941, and reveals the evacuation of the port by the French navy and the subsequent takeover by the Kriegsmarine. Illustrated with over 600 photographs, it details the installation of the German navy at Lorient and the first year of the presence of the U-Boot arm in this port, as well as the major stages in the Battle of the Atlantic in which they participated. The U-boats that were docked at Lorient are presented in tabular form by type, flotilla, commander, as well as the date of commissioning. This book also allows the reader to experience the life of the crews ashore following the return of their boats, and the British naval and aerial actions against the port of Lorient.

Download or read book The German U Boat Base at Lorient France July 1941 July 1942 written by Luc Braeuer and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The German U boat Base at Lorient France written by Luc Braeuer and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Hitler s U boat Bases written by Jak P. Mallmann Showell and published by Sutton Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2002 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title provides a concise historical background to the rise of the Nazi U-boat fleet, and the part it played in World War II. The author examines in detail how and why each of the bases in France, Germany and Norway were designed and built, and how they were defended against attack.

Download or read book U Boat Bases and Bunkers 1941 45 written by Gordon Williamson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-06-20 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few of the massive military structures built by Germany during World War II are as impressive as the U-Boat bases and bunkers in Germany, Norway and France. This title takes a close look at the formidable edifices on the French coast (Brest, Lorient, St Nazaire, La Pallice, Bordeaux) in Norway (Bergen, Trondheim) and Germany (Keil, Hamburg, Helgoland) and also focuses on the huge 'Valentin' factory complex at Bremen, which manufactured the new type XXI electro-boats. Bunker protective systems, such as camouflage, light and heavy flak installations and nearby air cover, are also examined as well as resident flotillas and the fate of the bases at war's end.

Download or read book U Boat Bases and Bunkers 1941 45 written by Gordon Williamson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-06-20 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few of the massive military structures built by Germany during World War II are as impressive as the U-Boat bases and bunkers in Germany, Norway and France. This title takes a close look at the formidable edifices on the French coast (Brest, Lorient, St Nazaire, La Pallice, Bordeaux) in Norway (Bergen, Trondheim) and Germany (Keil, Hamburg, Helgoland) and also focuses on the huge 'Valentin' factory complex at Bremen, which manufactured the new type XXI electro-boats. Bunker protective systems, such as camouflage, light and heavy flak installations and nearby air cover, are also examined as well as resident flotillas and the fate of the bases at war's end.

Download or read book Hitler s Gray Wolves written by Lawrence Paterson and published by Skyhorse. This book was released on 2017-05-16 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Next to nothing has been written about the U-boat war in the Indian Ocean. This is the story of a forgotten campaign. The battle began in August 1943, when a German submarine arrived in the Malaysian harbor of Georgetown. In total, nearly forty U-boats were assigned to penetrate the Indian Ocean, serving alongside troops of the occupying Imperial Japanese forces. The Japanese allowed U-boats to use Malaysia as an operational station. From that base, they mixed with Japanese forces on a hitherto unseen scale: a move which spread the U-boat war throughout the vast Indian Ocean and into the Pacific. Success in this theater of war held a real chance to swing the tide of battle in North Africa in favor of Rommel, but the Germans essentially did too little too late. The joint action also gave U-boats the opportunity to penetrate the Pacific Ocean for the first time, attacking shipping off the Australian coast and hunting off New Zealand. Plans were even afoot for an assault on American supply lines. The cooperation' also brought into stark relief the fundamental differences of German and Japanese war aims. After the crews of Italian supply submarines joined the Germans and Japanese, relations between the fighting men of the three main Axis powers were often brutal and almost constantly turbulent. Stories of U-boats laden with gold and treasure stem almost exclusively from boats destined to and returning from Japanese-controlled Malaysia, laden with material exchanged between the two major partners of the Triple Axis Alliance.

Download or read book The U Boat War written by Ian Baxter and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2009-03-09 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2.20PM Directly in front of us I sighted four funnels and the masts of a passenger steamer at right angles to our course coming from the SW and going towards Galley Head. 3:10 PM Torpedo shot at a distance of 700 meters below the surface - from the log of the German submarine U–20. The explosion that followed changed history as the date of the ship's log was may 7, 1915, the steamer was the Lusitania, and the torpedo sent 1195 innocent men, women, and children to a watery grave. In 1914, U-Boats were a new and untried weapon, and when such a weapon can bring a mighty empire to the briink of defeat there is a story worth telling. Edwyn Gray's The U-Boat War is the history of the Kaiser's attempt to destroy the British Empire by a ruthless campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare. It opens with Germany's first tentative experiments with the submarines and climaxes with the naval mutiny that helped bring down the Kaiser. In between is is a detailed account of a campaign of terror which, by April 1917,had the British Empire on the verge of surrender. The cost in lives and equipment was staggering. On the German side, 4894 sailors and 515 officers lost their lives in action; 178 German Submarines were destroyed by the allies; 14 were scuttled and 122 surrendered. According to the most reliable sources, 5,708 ships were destroyed by the U-Boats and 13,333 non-combatants perished in British Ships. World figures for civilian casualties were never released The U-Boat War is a savage but thrilling account of men fighting for their lives beneath the sea, and of the boats that changed the face of naval warfare.

Download or read book Forgotten Fifteenth written by Barrett Tillman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-06-02 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: November 1943—May 1945—The U.S. Army Air Forces waged an unprecedentedly dogged and violent campaign against Hitler’s vital oil production and industrial plants on the Third Reich’s southern flank. Flying from southern Italy, far from the limelight enjoyed by the Eighth Air Force in England, the Fifteenth Air Force engaged in high-risk missions spanning most of the European continent. The story of the Fifteenth Air Force deserves a prideful place in the annals of American gallantry. In his new book, Forgotten Fifteenth: The Daring Airmen Who Crippled Hitler’s War Machine, Tillman brings into focus a seldom-seen multinational cast of characters, including pilots from Axis nations Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria and many more remarkable individuals. They were the first generation of fliers—few of them professionals—to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against a major industrial nation. They suffered steady attrition and occasionally spectacular losses. In so doing, they contributed to the end of the most destructive war in history. Forgotten Fifteenth is the first-ever detailed account of the Fifteenth Air Force in World War II and the brave men that the history books have abandoned until now. Tillman proves this book is a must-read for military history enthusiasts, veterans, and current servicemen.

Download or read book Hitler s Gateway to the Atlantic written by Lars Hellwinkel and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-02-19 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An excellent book” that examines the role that the French Atlantic ports played for the Kriegsmarine during the Second World War (Warship Annual). When the Wehrmacht overran France in May and June of 1940, the German navy’s dream of access to the Atlantic was realized, and Brest, Lorient, St. Nazaire, La Pallice and Bordeaux were converted into naval bases for surface, U-boat and auxiliary cruiser operations, though it is only the heavily fortified U-boat bunkers that have received any attention to date. The book describes the extent to which the French, both locally and at the level of the Vichy Government, cooperated with the German authorities in occupied France to convert the existing ports, and explains how the 45,000 workers of the Todt Organization built the monumental bunkers and other facilities. This fascinating narrative of the German occupation is balanced by the story of the vicious British maritime-air campaign that was commenced immediately following the fall of France, and which was far more effective than has been previously suggested. The German attempt to turn Brittany into a vast bastion area after the Normandy landings is a further aspect which is covered in detail for the first time. Employing new research from both German and French sources, this is a highly readable account with many previously unpublished images. “Many people like to visit the ‘battlefields’ and grounds (called ‘battlefield tourism’) of World War 2 and this volume will greatly assist any such expedition as it devotes an entire chapter to the present-day condition of many structures . . . superb.”—Military Archive Research

Download or read book German U Boat Ace Heinrich Lehmann Willenbrock written by Luc Braeuer and published by Schiffer Military History. This book was released on 2017 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the international success of the classic film Das Boot, U-96 is arguably the most famous of all German U-boats. Here is the true story of U-96, and its legendary commander Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock. In continuous combat from September 1940 to March 1945, follow the crew of U-96 from their bases in Kiel, Germany, as well as Lorient and St. Nazaire on the west coast of France, to intense combat against Allied shipping. During eleven combat patrols in the North Atlantic under Lehmann-Willenbrock, U-96 sank twenty-four Allied ships, eventually earning its commander the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. One of their patrols was documented by war correspondent Lothar-Günther Buchheim, which was later novelized and made into the film Das Boot. This biography of Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, and history of U-96 is based on the WWII captain's log as well as the recollections of crewmembers.

Download or read book Hitler s U boat Fortresses written by Randolph Bradham and published by Lyons Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A compelling account of the people and events at Lorient and St. Nazaire that recounts the German invasion, nearly five years of occupation and Allied bombardment, and finally liberation after the German surrender. Of importance to all readers of World War II and military history, this book is a must read especially for those interested in the U-boat war."-James P. Duffy, author of Hitler's Secret Pirate Fleet "A most unexpected gift to our nation. I know veterans will want to read this; but I hope all Americans, especially the children, will read it so they understand the sacrifices their grandparents made."-Senator Ernest F. Hollings, D-South Carolina The French naval bases at St. Nazaire and Lorient, occupied by the Germans in June 1940, quickly became the homes of massive U-boat fortresses-nearly indestructible submarine pens, built mostly by slave labor. From these bases, the U-boats struck merchant shipping at will from the Mediterranean to the North Sea. Thousands of vessels were lost, along with vital war material from the U.S. destined for Britain and the Soviet Union. The Royal Air Force began an all-out bombardment of the two ports. Despite their extensive efforts-and those of the Americans who joined them in 1942-the fortresses would survive, surrounded by decimated French towns and countryside. The desperate battle was waged on land, air, and sea. Because the dock at St. Nazaire could house and repair Hitler's powerful warship, the Tirpitz, British commandos carried out a daring raid to destroy it in March of 1942. They succeeded, but with a great loss of life, and the Germans were able to quickly repair much of the damage. The defenses of these fortresses were sostrong that General Eisenhower would ultimately decide to seek containment rather than destruction. The U.S. Army's 66th Infantry Division, on its way to take up the task, lost its troopship Leopoldville to a German torpedo, with 802 men going down with the ship. The French underground movement in the area would spawn a fighting force of 40,000 men to fight alongside the Allies, and the subsequent German reprisals would devastate many families in Brittany. Yet, the fortresses stood-and they continue to stand today.

Download or read book Black Flag written by Lawrence Paterson and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2009-08-21 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the eve of Germany's surrender in May 1945, Grossadmiral Karl Dnitz commanded thousands of loyal and active men of the U-boat service. Still fully armed and unbroken in morale, enclaves of these men occupied bases stretching from Norway to France, where cadres of U-boat men fought on in ports that defied besieging Allied troops to the last. At sea U-boats still operated on a war footing around Britain, the coasts of the United States and as far as Malaya. Following the agreement to surrender, these large formations needed to be disarmed—often by markedly inferior forces—and the boats at sea located and escorted into the harbours of their erstwhile enemies. Neither side knew entirely what to expect, and many of the encounters were tense; in some cases there were unsavoury incidents, and stories of worse. For many Allied personnel it was their first glimpse of the dreaded U-boat menace and both sides were forced to exercise considerable restraint to avoid compromising the terms of Germany's surrender. One of the last but most dramatic acts of the naval war, the story of how the surrender was handled has never been treated at length before. This book uncovers much new material about the process itself and the ruthless aftermath for both the crews and their boats.

Download or read book Building for Battle written by Philip Kaplan and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2018-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril - Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Churchill, as a former First Lord of the Admiralty, was well versed in the importance of Britain protecting itself at sea. In the opening years of the Second World War, Germany's U-boat (submarine) fleet was tasked with attacking and destroying the supply ships that Britain depended upon for its survival. The U-boats were under the command of Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz who, for much of the war, effectively guided that strategy. There was a very real possibility that the British people would starve if the U-boats succeeded in their campaign. When France fell to the German forces in 1940, Hitler's Ubootwaffe gained a significant asset in five important ports along the Brittany coast - Brest, Lorient, St. Nazaire, La Palace and Bordeaux. The use of these ports put Germany's submarine force hundreds of miles closer to the action in the North Atlantic, the routes of the Allied supply convoys which were operating mainly between Halifax, Nova Scotia and various English port cities. This afforded the U-boats several more days at sea on their deadly patrols than was possible while they had been based in Germany and German-occupied Norway. In this new publication from Philip Kaplan, the massive bunkers or 'pens' constructed in Brittany by the laborers of the German Organisation Todt are revisited. These giant structures, some of which sheltered more than a dozen submarines at a time, still exist because they were built with concrete ceilings more than three meters thick. With equally impressive supporting walls, they suffered relatively little damage in the wartime bombing raids of the Royal Air Force and the US Eighth Army Air Force. Illustrated with more than 150 rare and compelling photo images, this book is a richly rewarding journey back across time to some of the most intriguing and electrifying sites from the war years. The story of the pen shelters and their part in that war is both fascinating and enduring.

Download or read book Hitler s Naval Bases written by Jak P. Mallmann Showell and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2017-01-21 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hitler's U-boats and his dreaded pocket battleships such as Bismarck and Tirpitz - Churchill dubbed the latter as 'The Beast' - continue to fascinate an ever-growing interest in the Second World War. Despite a numerical disadvantage when compared the Royal Navy, Hitler's U-boats wrecked havoc in the Atlantic against vulnerable convoys and the doomed Bismarck took on the might of Britain's battleships in a mighty clash of the titans. Hitler's Naval Bases, a work of love that took the author over forty years to research and write, is the most comprehensive and dedicated book on the subject matter. A world's first, it covers bases in remarkable detail from the smallest and unmanned locations to the largest dedicated bases in Lorient, Kiel and Wilhemshaven. The book covers the different types of naval base from isolated and forgotten bases, escape and survival bases, to the extremities of the main naval bases. The functions and various departments - artillery, ship construction to dockyard medical service - are explained as are North Sea naval bases in Emden, The Weser Ports and Cuxhaven, Baltic ports, the major bases that never were ('The Lobster's Claw on Heligoland') to France, Asia and German colonies, including re-fuelling in Spain and bases located in Russia and in the 'Heart of England'. Also covered are naval artillery and naval infantry as well as the anatomy of coastal artillery batteries, the shipping yards and even rules for living in such conditions. A most lavish and phenomenal book, it is beautifully illustrated with over 200 unpublished photographs complemented with thousands of unique interviews with veterans during the war as well as survivors. A labour of love, Hitler's Naval Bases is written by a world's leading authoritarian figure and is an essential book for those interested in the armed forces of the Third Reich.