|
Books > History > World history > From 1900 > Second World War
|
Buy Now
Big Guns in the Atlantic - Germany's battleships and cruisers raid the convoys, 1939-41 (Paperback)
Loot Price: R409
Discovery Miles 4 090
You Save: R43
(10%)
|
|
|
Big Guns in the Atlantic - Germany's battleships and cruisers raid the convoys, 1939-41 (Paperback)
Series: Raid
 (sign in to rate)
List price R452
Loot Price R409
Discovery Miles 4 090
You Save R43 (10%)
Expected to ship within 9 - 17 working days
|
At the outbreak of World War II the German Kriegsmarine still had a
relatively small U-boat arm. To reach Britain's convoy routes in
the North Atlantic, these boats had to pass around the top of the
British Isles - a long and dangerous voyage to their "hunting
grounds". Germany's larger surface warships were much better suited
to this kind of long-range operation. So, during late 1939 the
armoured cruiser Deutschland, and later the battlecruisers
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were used as commerce raiders, to strike
at Allied convoys in the North Atlantic. These sorties met with
mixed results, but for Germany's naval high command they showed
that this kind of operation had potential. Then, the fall of
France, Denmark and Norway in early 1940 dramatically altered the
strategic situation. The Atlantic was now far easier to reach, and
to escape from. During 1940, further moderately successful sorties
were made by the cruisers Admiral Scheer and Admiral Hipper. By the
end of the year, with British mercantile losses mounting to surface
raiders and U-Boats, plans were developed for a much larger raid,
first using both cruisers, and then the two battlecruisers. The
climax of this was Operation Berlin, the Kriegsmarine's largest and
most wide-ranging North Atlantic sortie so far. Scharnhorst and
Gneisenau remained at sea for two months, destroying 22 Allied
merchant ships, and severely disrupting Britain's lifeline convoys.
So, when the operation ended, the German commander, Admiral Lutjens
was ordered to repeat his success - this time with the brand new
battleship Bismarck. The rest, as they say, is history. These
earlier Atlantic raids demonstrated that German surface ships could
be highly effective commerce raiders. For those willing to see
though, they also demonstrated just how risky this strategy could
be. Covering a fascinating and detailed analysis of the
Kriegsmarine's Atlantic raids between 1939 and 1941, this book will
appeal to readers interested in World War II and in particular in
Germany's naval operations.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
You might also like..
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
