Donitz's Last Gamble: the Inshore U-boat Campaign 1944-45 by Lawrence Paterson

Donitz's Last Gamble: the Inshore U-boat Campaign 1944-45 by Lawrence Paterson

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Summary

After 1944, Donitz with drew U-boats from the Atlantic and brought them closer to home. Caught unawares, the Allies were quite unprepared and it proved a dangerous development not just in WW2 but later, during the Cold War, when the same tactics were planned by the Soviets. This is a story told by an U-boat author.

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Donitz's Last Gamble: the Inshore U-boat Campaign 1944-45 by Lawrence Paterson

After the June 1944 D-Day landings D'nitz withdrew his U-boat wolf-packs from the Atlantic convoy war and sent them into coastal waters, where they could harass the massive shipping movements necessary to supply the Allied armies advancing across Europe. Caught unawares by this change of strategy, the Allied anti-submarine forces were ill-prepared for the novel challenges of inshore warfare. It proved surprisingly difficult to locate U-boats that could lie silently on the seabed, and the shallow waters meant less than ideal conditions for sonar propagation. Furthermore, because the battle was nearer home, the U-boats wasted less time on transit, so at any one time there were more of them in combat. In the final months of the war there was also the threat of far more advanced and potent submarine types entering German service, but thanks largely to overwhelming numbers of escorts this last gamble by D'nitz was defeated. In fact, the Allied navies had never really established superiority, and this was to have enormous significance later during the Cold War, when the same tactics were planned by the Soviets. Since it had such a major impact on post-war naval thinking, it is a story of the utmost importance told by an accomplished U-boat author.
Paterson, Lawrence: - Lawrence Larry Paterson is a qualified scuba diving instructor who spent many years living in France and researching German wrecks from World War II in Breton waters. His first book First U-boat Flotilla was a direct result of his time near Brest, home of that particular U-boat flotilla. He also spent a period of time as a member of the Royal Navy Submarine Museum Archive Working group, specializing in U-boat records. He attributes much of his interest in World War II to both his grandfathers; one who was an ANZAC during the First World War and the other who was a Royal Navy stoker during the Second. His naval books have been published worldwide.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9781844157143
ISBN 10 1844157148
Title Donitz's Last Gamble: the Inshore U-boat Campaign 1944-45
Author Lawrence Paterson
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Hardback
Publisher Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Year published 2008-10-20
Number of pages 208
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note Unavailable