Weapons Of Desperation German Frogmen And Midget Submarines Of World War II

by Lawrence Paterson

As the Third Reich headed for destruction, German ingenuity in the naval field turned to unconventional weapons--midget submarines, radio-controlled explosive boats, and various forms of underwater sabotage-and the formation of small battle units known as Kleinkampfverbande. Utilizing an unusual range of devices, some barely beyond the experimental stage, and attacks regarded as little better than suicide missions, the organization was unique in drawing its personnel from the Navy, regular Army, and Waffen SS. Judged by their effect on the Allied advance, their successes were slight, but descriptions of their indomitable bravery make riveting reading. Pieced together from fragmentary sources, it is a largely untold story of some of the most desperate operations of the war.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2006

About the author

Born and raised in New Zealand, but now living in southern Italy. I've been interested in history, particularly WW2 history, since I can remember.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weapons of Desperation is a detailed, generally well-researched and valuable account of the Kreigsmarine’s “Small Battle Units” (K-Verbande) during the Second World War, but not without its issues. While it is primarily an operational history, there are brief discussions of the design of the various human torpedoes, explosive motorboats or midget submarines, which contain interesting details as to their design and operation.

Most of the time I enjoyed reading the book and (editing aside, see below) the discussion is robust, the writing engaging and easy-to-read and the use of terminology done in a way that is easy to digest (with the exception of some more obscure rank acronyms, which were not included in the glossary). The book is very person-focussed, with the key people involved often mentioned by name, sometimes with background, which does an excellent job putting a human dimension on the operations covered in the book. There are excerpts from reports, interviews and other sources as well where appropriate, which all appear well-chosen and add value and perspective to the narrative.

The book, however, largely avoids discussing the darker side of Germany’s behaviour in the Second World War, and this is clearly a conscious choice of the author. For a book that focuses on operations can be understood to a degree. This is somewhat inconsistent, however, with the swastika that appears on the front cover and the spine (and not as part of the Kriegsmarine ensign) – if politics is to be ignored, then it should be ignored entirely. Including the symbolism of probably (at least arguably) the most ethically bankrupt regime in modern history on the cover of a book that talks in generally positive terms about German K-Verbände operations (and skates over or ignores any problematic issues) is an inconsistency of approach that otherwise tarnishes a very impressive book. The book also mentions the Hitler Youth and the SS (the K-Verbande were the only Kriegsmarine unit to admit SS members into its ranks), but again with no discussion of what this might suggest about the people coming from these sources. In a book that otherwise goes to some effort to cover the human dimension, it stands out somewhat jarringly. Reading between the lines, and with the context of other sources, it is clear that many of the K-Verbande were clearly committed Nazis and fervent supporters of the regime, but this is only touched on obliquely, and then very rarely, in the book itself.

For example, the book does mention how some members of the K-Verbande appeared to hold suicidal or near-suicidal views, but avoids discussing why this may be the case. This felt like a missed opportunity on a number of levels and renders the otherwise effective remembrance of the people discussed in the book less complete. It would have been informative to understand why the young sailors of the K-Verbande fought bravely to the end for a corrupt and ethically-bankrupt regime, far beyond the stage where it was victory was impossible - but the manipulation and oppression by the Third Reich of its own people is never mentioned directly and only briefly tangentially reference in a quote. Instead, people who are otherwise uninformed as to the broader context would not be irrational in drawing the conclusion that many of the K-Verbande were deeply stupid – surely not the impression the author intended to give, nor one that for a second I expect is fair.

Otherwise, the research (including the use of primary sources, and both German and English sources) and relaying of events concerning the operations, people and other information appears generally sound and it is clear the author has paid considerable attention-to-detail. Most of the text is a valuable contribution to coverage of the K-Verbande in English. There are valuable (if someone limited in number) reference notes and a limited bibliography, as well as an index, and the text is well-supported by a plates section with appropriate photographs. There are basic maps of key operational areas in the body of the book, but unfortunately no index of maps, making them more difficult to reference than need be.

Unfortunately, the editing could be better – most of the text is sound (the editing is far from the worst out there), and there were very infrequent grammatical or spelling issues, but there are some inconsistencies and errors of fact that could have been picked up by more careful proofing – the range of the Neger was 48 nautical miles on one page, and 30 on another, for example, or a date given as June when it was actually July. There is also occasionally some loose language – calling a frigate a destroyer, for example. The editing is generally “good enough” though, and only occasionally was I left wondering exactly when something had happened (as the date in the text was clearly incorrect). The book is generally excellent at using German names and terms, but then on page 85 inexplicably (and without explanation) uses the anglicised “Richard” instead of “Richert” (used elsewhere in the book) for the commanding officer of MEK-65.

Surprisingly, given the generally robust research and discussion, the author occasionally makes claims that are not supported – for example, asserting that the destroyer Isis was sunk by Negers rather than mines (at time of writing, the cause of loss is still unclear). Given the detail provided on previous successful Neger strikes, the lack of information provided here stands out starkly and other sources I’ve consulted suggest that at the very least, there is still some ambiguity over the cause (which, given this, would be expected to lead to more detail from the author, not less). At another time, the book claims that the K-Verbande damaged the cruiser Durban on 3 Aug 1944 so badly it was “eventually written off” – they hit Durban, to be sure, but it had been scuttled to form part of the Normandy breakwater nearly two months earlier, and was well and truly written off before it was attacked by the K-Verbande. La Combattante is suggested as the ship sunk by U-5330 when it was over 100km away from that vessel when it was sunk. These slips are quite out of character with the rest of the book, thankfully, and as best I could tell thankfully quite infrequent.

One mostly outstanding feature of the book is a 13-page appendix detailing the people in the key positions throughout the organisation, as well as the structure of the organisation itself. There are some formatting errors in the Appendix that make it harder to interpret than it should be, but the errors are consistent enough to make it possible to deduce what the tables are saying. There are, however, a number of inconsistences between the appendix and the text of the book, which are not as easily deciphered, relating to both dates and spelling of names.

All up, despite the sometimes patchy editing/accuracy, the book is an important contribution in English on the K-Verbande, and worth reading for those interested in the unit itself, or late-war naval operations in the southern North Sea. However, it is important to bear in mind that the author has consciously chosen to avoid (or, where impossible, carefully skirt around) discussions of the ideological and political issues that related to the K-Verbande’s personnel and how they carried out their operations - and to not assume that the absence of discussion suggests an absence of issues.

[Derek Nudd · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rare and valuable look at the Small Battle Units that the Kriegsmarine threw into the pot in the last 15 months of WW2. I thought the book would have been further enhanced by tabular appendices summarising the equipment developed, operations launched, results gained and losses sustained. A survey of previous attempts to develop small U-boats would also have been useful.
I am also inclined to stand by my own evaluation of the reason for their limited effect, as 'half-trained crews using half-developed kit in what were only theoretically not suicide missions.'
Nonetheless this is a well-written, well-produced and useful addition to the library.