Tirpitz in Norway

Tirpitz in Norway
Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 81
Release: 2019-11-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472835867

In September 1943, under the cover of darkness, six British midget submarines crept into the heart of enemy territory, penetrating a heavily guarded Norwegian fjord in an attempt to eliminate the threat of the powerful German battleship, the Tirpitz. Numerous previous attempts to attack the ship from both air and sea had failed, and this mission was carefully strategized, and undertaken by skilled operatives who had undergone extensive training in an isolated sea loch. Though five of the six X-Craft submarines were either lost or captured, two crews had just enough time to lay their explosive charges, which detonated after they were forced to the surface, putting the Tirpitz out of action for a crucial six-month period. Masterminded from a top-secret naval headquarters on the east coast of Scotland, Operation Source has been memorialised as one of the most daring naval raids of World War II. This new study tells the complete story of this epic operation in unparalleled detail, supported by full-colour illustrations and contemporary photography.

Tirpitz in Norway

Tirpitz in Norway
Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 81
Release: 2019-11-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472835859

This study explores, in detail, the gripping tale of a handful of British X-Craft submarines which stole into one of the best-protected anchorages of World War II and crippled the great German battleship Tirpitz. In September 1943, under the cover of darkness, six British midget submarines crept into the heart of enemy territory, penetrating a heavily guarded Norwegian fjord in an attempt to eliminate the threat of the powerful German battleship, the Tirpitz. Numerous previous attempts to attack the ship from both air and sea had failed, and this mission was carefully strategized and undertaken by skilled operatives who had undergone extensive training in an isolated sea loch. Though five of the six X-Craft submarines were either lost or captured, two crews had just enough time to lay their explosive charges, which detonated after they were forced to the surface, putting the Tirpitz out of action for a crucial six-month period. Masterminded from a top-secret naval headquarters on the east coast of Scotland, Operation Source has been memorialized as one of the most daring naval raids of World War II. This new study tells the complete story of this epic operation in unparalleled detail, supported by full-color illustrations and contemporary photography.

Tirpitz in Norway

Tirpitz in Norway
Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 81
Release: 2019-11-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472835840

In September 1943, under the cover of darkness, six British midget submarines crept into the heart of enemy territory, penetrating a heavily guarded Norwegian fjord in an attempt to eliminate the threat of the powerful German battleship, the Tirpitz. Numerous previous attempts to attack the ship from both air and sea had failed, and this mission was carefully strategized, and undertaken by skilled operatives who had undergone extensive training in an isolated sea loch. Though five of the six X-Craft submarines were either lost or captured, two crews had just enough time to lay their explosive charges, which detonated after they were forced to the surface, putting the Tirpitz out of action for a crucial six-month period. Masterminded from a top-secret naval headquarters on the east coast of Scotland, Operation Source has been memorialised as one of the most daring naval raids of World War II. This new study tells the complete story of this epic operation in unparalleled detail, supported by full-colour illustrations and contemporary photography.

Tirpitz

Tirpitz
Author: Niklas Zetterling
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Total Pages: 343
Release: 2009-12-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1612000495

The authors of Bismarck deliver “a very good account of the Tirpitz and of the naval war in the North Atlantic and Norwegian waters” during World War II (NYMAS Review). After the Royal Navy’s bloody high seas campaign to kill the mighty Bismarck, the Allies were left with an uncomfortable truth—the German behemoth had a twin sister. Slightly larger than her sibling, the Tirpitz was equally capable of destroying any other battleship afloat, as well as wreaking havoc on Allied troop and supply convoys. For the next three and a half years, the Allies launched a variety of attacks to remove Germany’s last serious surface threat, hidden within fjords along the Norwegian coast. Trying an indirect approach, the British launched one of the war’s most daring commando raids—at St. Nazaire—in order to knock out the last drydock in Europe capable of servicing the Tirpitz. Of over six hundred commandos and sailors in the raid, more than half were lost during an all-night battle that succeeded, at least, in knocking out the drydock. It was not until November 1944 that the Tirpitz finally succumbed to British aircraft armed with ten-thousand–pound Tallboy bombs, the ship capsizing at last with the loss of one thousand sailors. In this book, military historians Niklas Zetterling and Michael Tamelander, authors of Bismarck: The Final Days of Germany’s Greatest Battleship, illuminate the strategic implications and dramatic battles surrounding the Tirpitz, a ship that may have had greater influence on the course of World War II than her more famous sister. “A riveting story . . . keeps the reader engaged.” —Nautilus, A Maritime Journal of Literature, History and Culture

X-craft Versus Tirpitz

X-craft Versus Tirpitz
Author: Alf R. Jacobsen
Publisher: Sutton Pub Limited
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2006
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780750941129

Norwegian investigative journalist Alf Jacobsen relates one of the most incredible tales of the Second World War, in which Royal Navy X-craft midget submarines attacked the German battleship Tirpitz in Norway. A daring plan was hatched by the Admiralty to sink Tirpitz using midget submarines to plant high explosive mines beneath the ship's keel. On 22 September 1943, six X-craft midget submarines set out from Scotland to sink the battleship at anchor in Norway. Three never reached the fjord and X5, commanded by Lt Henty-Creer, was presumed sunk by the Germans, so only X6 and X7 made the attack. Both Lt. Donald Cameron in X6 and Lt Godfrey Place in X7 placed their charges successfully, but were forced to surrender. Both were awarded the Victoria Cross. Although Tirpitz was not sunk she was put out of action until April 1944. Lt. Henty-Creer, the commander of X5, and his crew were never seen again. Neither he nor any of his crew received any posthumous gallantry awards. Did X5 actually penetrate the anti-submarine defenses around Tirpitz and lay its explosive charges beneath the battleship? If it did, then Henty-Creer and his crew deserve to be honored for their bravery.

Hunting Tirpitz

Hunting Tirpitz
Author: G. H. Bennett
Publisher: University of Plymouth Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2012
Genre: World War, 1939-1945
ISBN: 9781841023106

In late 1944, the German battleship Tirpitz was sunk by RAF Bomber Command. While it was the RAF that delivered the final coup de grace, it was the Royal Navy, from 1942 to 1944, that had contained, crippled and neutralised the German battleship in a series of actions marked by innovation, boldness and bravery. From daring commando raids on the coast of France, to the use of midget submarines in the fjords of Norway and devastating aerial attacks by the Fleet Air Arm, the Royal Navy pursued Tirpitz to her eventual destruction."

Sink the Tirpitz

Sink the Tirpitz
Author: Geoffrey W Raebel
Publisher: Air World
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2020-10-30
Genre:
ISBN: 9781526784377

The war hung in the balance. In the Pacific, the Japanese had suffered their first major defeat at Midway and the German advance into the heart of Russia had stalled at Stalingrad. But if the Germans could break through into the Caucasus and capture its vital oil fields, the Soviets might be battered into bloody defeat. It was crucial that the convoys from the UK fought their way through the Arctic to Archangel and Murmansk to deliver the supplies which were so essential to the Russians. But lurking in the Norwegian fjords was Germany's last great battleship, Tirpitz.With its eight 15-inch guns, Tirpitz posed an ever-present threat to shipping in the northern waters, and when it was believed that the battleship was about to attack Convoy PQ 17, the convoy was ordered to scatter. This was a disastrous decision that led to the loss of twenty-four merchant ships. It was, therefore, of paramount importance that the next convoy - PQ 18 - reached Russia, and so the assembly of forty merchantmen was escorted by a veritable fleet of fifty-one warships. The latter included an anti-aircraft cruiser, twenty-one destroyers, two anti-aircraft ships, two submarines and an aircraft carrier. Air cover was provided by RAF Catalina flying boats and Handley Page Hampdens of RAF Coastal Command.The Hampden torpedo-bombers of 144 Squadron RAF and 455 Squadron RAAF were deployed from Scotland to the Red Air Force airfield at Vayenga near Murmansk. This placed the aircraft within range of Tirpitz's lair in Altafjord. On receiving the news that Tirpitz had left the protection of the fjord, the Hampdens took to the air. Though no contact was made with the battleship, the presence of the twenty-three bombers deterred the Germans from risking their prestigious warship. PQ 18 safely reached Archangel on 21 September 1942.With links to the Great Escape, the story of this unique operation is revealed here by Geoffrey W. Raebel, the son of the surviving senior engineer of 455 Squadron. This the result of thirty years of research and draws in great part on the personal accounts of the men who took part in that historic enterprise. It is supplemented with rarely seen Coastal Command photographs, German ones that have never been published before, and the full story of the discovery, and recovery, of one of the bombers involved.

Secret Alliances

Secret Alliances
Author: Tony Insall
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
Total Pages: 530
Release: 2021-04-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1785905414

Europe, 1940. Nazi forces sweep across the continent, with A British invasion likely only weeks away. Never before has a resistance movement been so crucial to the war effort. In this definitive appraisal of Anglo-Norwegian cooperation in the Second World War, Tony Insall reveals how some of the most striking successes of the Norwegian resistance were the reports produced by the heroic SIS agents living in the country's desolate wilderness. Their coast-watching intelligence highlighted the movements of the German fleet and led to counter-strikes which sank many enemy ships – most notably the Tirpitz in November 1944. Using previously unpublished archival material from London, Oslo and Moscow, Insall explores how SIS and SOE worked effectively with their Norwegian counterparts to produce some of the most remarkable achievements of the Second World War.

The Hunt for Hitler's Warship

The Hunt for Hitler's Warship
Author: Patrick Bishop
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 444
Release: 2013-04-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 162157069X

Winston Churchill called it "the Beast." It was said to be unsinkable. More than thirty military operations failed to destroy it. Eliminating the Tirpitz, Hitler's mightiest warship, a 52,000-ton behemoth, became an Allied obsession. In The Hunt for Hitler's Warship, Patrick Bishop tells the epic story of the men who would not rest until the Tirpitz lay at the bottom of the sea. In November of 1944, with the threat to Russian supply lines increasing and Allied forces needing reinforcements in the Pacific, a raid as audacious as any Royal Air Force operation of the war was launched, under the command of one of Britain's greatest but least-known war heroes, Wing Commander Willie Tait. Patrick Bishop draws on decades of experience as a foreign war correspondent to paint a vivid picture of this historic clash of the Royal Air Force's Davids versus Hitler's Goliath of naval engineering. Readers will not be able to put down this account of one of World War II's most dramatic showdowns.

Tirpitz

Tirpitz
Author: Daniel Knowles
Publisher: Fonthill Media
Total Pages: 539
Release: 2018-04-17
Genre: History
ISBN: