It's all in German, but with you can still pick through here for some good information. I just skimmed it, and was taken aback at how intensive this is!
http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/update.htm
Enjoy!
Kriegsmarine in WWII
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Tom Houlihan
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Doktor Krollspell
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Re: Kriegsmarine in WWII
Very interesting website with loads of information! 
Thank you very much Tom, now I have yet a new reason for a late night... 
Regards,
Krollspell
Thank you very much Tom, now I have yet a new reason for a late night... Regards,
Krollspell
"Wie es eigentlich gewesen ist"
Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886)
Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886)
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Christoph K
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Re: Kriegsmarine in WWII
Appreciate the new link!!!! Thanks
Ye who dig's the pit!
Shall fall into it!
Shall fall into it!
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mark surridge
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Re: Kriegsmarine in WWII
I am new to this website and finding it difficult to know how I might post a question that will appear on your forum page? I am interested in the RAF attacks made on the SS Munsterland whilst it was in Cherbourg Harbour in October 1943 as I am particualry interested in the death of a brave Typhhon Pilot, A.V.Gowers DFC.
I attach my own researches....I would be pleased to learn if there is any information in the archives of FELDGRAU pertaining to this ship - a blockade runner.
I would be delighted to hear from you or any other members who might have information of interest to me.
Unfortuanetly I do NOT speak German !
Please contact me by email : [email protected]
Operation Tunnel was an initiative implemented by Naval Command at Plymouth to regain control of the western approaches to the Channel, and in particular to prevent the 4th German E-Boat flotilla, newly supplied with its radar controlled torpedo boats and minesweepers, from escorting their heavily laden merchantmen from their Atlantic ports like Brest to Cherbourg. On October 23rd 1943 a small fleet, led by the Cruiser HMS Charybdis supported by a further six destroyers, including HMS Limbourne, was sent to intercept and destroy The Münsterland,” a 6,000 ton German merchantman that had successfully evaded the American and English fleets in both the Pacific and Atlantic, and was now inching its way along the Breton Coast heading for safe haven in Cherbourg, with full cargo of strategic minerals and vital supplies needed for the German V1 and V2 rocket technology.
The flotilla of German E-Boats proved too much for the British Navy which lost first the Charybdis, sunk by torpedoes and then her escort destroyer, Limbourne, which was so badly damaged she had to be scuttled. Over 500 men lost their lives in the icy waters. The Münsterland, protected by its convoy of minesweepers on one side and the shallows on the other, entered Cherbourg harbour, where in addition she was defended by trawlers armed with anti aircraft guns, and powerful flak batteries on shore.
The following day, 24th October 1943 it was the turn of the RAF to attack using a three-part offensive attack on the Münsterland :
1. 10 Group Ramrod 94 - a high-level attack by two squadrons of Mitchells escorted by 90 Spitfires of the Ibsley, Perranporth and Churchstanton Wings (8 Spitfire squadrons in all).
2. Roadstead 77 Pt 1, low-level attacks by 263 Squadron’s Whirlwinds (escorted by 257 Squadron)
3. Roadstead 77 Pt 2, low-level attacks by 183 Squadron’s Typhoons
We have three eye witness accounts of the low-level attacks made on the Münsterland. ‘Poppa’ Ambrose of 257 Squadron wrote in his log-book, “There was a ship in Cherbourg Harbour, carrying wolfram or tungsten ore. Tungsten was used in specialized armour piercing ammunition. Our intelligence people said it had got through from Japan and had to be hit at all costs. We went out with Reggie Baker’s 263 Whirlwind Squadron with bombs, while we and 183 Squadron were flying with cannon. We were 24 aircraft. When we went for briefing, they said we were going out at nought feet. We said, don’t be silly, only idiots go into Cherbourg Harbour at nought feet – we should dive down, and even that was considered to be virtual suicide.”
Other pilots confirmed the thrilling nature of the attack, “This was the squadron’s first low level attack upon shipping in Cherbourg harbour. Our aircraft flew at just above sea level on a course which brought them between the outer moles and straight to the Münsterland. Four aircraft bombed the Münsterland and two of these attacked with cannons, leaving her on fire in two places. She was well ablaze 11 minutes later but the fire had been extinguished 90 minutes later. The other four aircraft bombed two ships aft of the Münsterland and saw cannons strike one of the. Two pilots then scored strikes on two of six M Class minesweepers in the transatlantic dock. Flak was fired at our aircraft from more than one hundred guns within range from harbour and ships.” Two Whirlwinds were lost to the murderous flak and Flight Sergeant Beaumont reported, “It was like a horizontal hailstorm painted red.”
Bombs and rockets fired by Whirlwinds of 263 Squadron and Typhoons of 257 Squadron had struck the blockade-runner but the Münsterland had suffered only superficial damage. Poppa Ambrose added in his log, “Reg Baker went in with the Whirlwinds and we went in before there was any actual flak from the ship. I remember one chap who actually got a German’s head between the cannons on his Typhoon wing and when he got home it was still there.”
Norman Franks records a postscript added by Poppa Ambrose in his book “Typhoon Attack” After the war I met the Group Captain Ops – I had not met him before – and I said, ‘You were the bloke who sent us into Cherbourg Harbour at nought feet’. He said yes, but said it had been on Churchill’s instructions. Churchill had laid down the tactics – we were to go in ‘on the deck’ as he put it. Anyway we blew up the ship.”
Further reconnaissance showed she was safely berthed in port and virtually unassailable, but the low level attack went ahead, and eight Typhoons of 183 Squadron led by Gowers set off from Predannick. Although they claimed two direct hits on the merchantman the Cherbourg defences proved too strong and downed three Typhoons, including Gowers.
“The squadron had to fly through the fiercest concentration of flak yet encountered, though the attack was made with great courage and daring. Two bombs were thought to have made direct hits and others were very near. As a result of this attack the Squadron suffered most serious losses yet. The C.O. was seen to go down in flames just outside the Mole whilst P/O Rawson(NZ) and P/O Timms did not return.” (183 ORB).
The third eye witness account of the raid, from the acclaimed French pilot Pierre Clostermann, is similarly graphic, “Half of dozen belated Typhoons passed to my right like a school of porpoises, bearing down on the hell going on behind the long granite wall of the breakwater. I skimmed over a fort whose very walls seemed to be belching fire - a curious mixture of crenellated towers, modern concrete casements and thirty Years War glacis. We were now in the middle of the roadstead - an inextricable jumble of trawlers masts and rusty wrecks sticking out between the battered quays. The weather seemed to have cleared a little - Look out for the Jerry fighters! The air was criss-crossed with tracers, lit up by flashes, dotted with black and white puffs of smoke. The Münsterland, was there, surrounded by explosions, flames, and debris. Her four masts bristling with derrick and her squat funnel well aft emerging from the smoke. The typhoon attack was in full swing, bombs exploding all the time with colossal bursts of fire and black clouds of smoke, thickening as they drifted away. A Typhoon vanished into thin air in the explosion of a bomb dropped by one in front. One of the enormous harbour cranes came crashing down like a house of cards.
It would appear that Clostermann had witnessed Gowers’ death; his account confirms the ORBs of the three squadrons involved: Gowers’ Typhoon apparently vanished into thin air under the weight of the defensive bombardment. Gowers’ widow recalled afterwards, “They said it was direct hit. His plane just blew apart, it virtually disintegrated.
Poppa Ambrose concluded his log, “We came back to the Mess and normally most of us remained sensible and drank beer, not spirits, but I remember that afternoon we opened the bar at four o’clock; we were all hacked off. Gus Gowers, the CO of 183, had been lost.”
Joan Gowers, received a telegram from the Air Ministry the following day reporting her husband “Missing”, and in vain she waited for good news. The telegram she had been dreading came from Buckingham Palace, personally signed by King George V1, “The Queen and I offer you our heartfelt sympathy in your great sorrow. We pray that your country’s gratitude for a life so nobly given in its service may bring you some measure of consolation.”
I attach my own researches....I would be pleased to learn if there is any information in the archives of FELDGRAU pertaining to this ship - a blockade runner.
I would be delighted to hear from you or any other members who might have information of interest to me.
Unfortuanetly I do NOT speak German !
Please contact me by email : [email protected]
Operation Tunnel was an initiative implemented by Naval Command at Plymouth to regain control of the western approaches to the Channel, and in particular to prevent the 4th German E-Boat flotilla, newly supplied with its radar controlled torpedo boats and minesweepers, from escorting their heavily laden merchantmen from their Atlantic ports like Brest to Cherbourg. On October 23rd 1943 a small fleet, led by the Cruiser HMS Charybdis supported by a further six destroyers, including HMS Limbourne, was sent to intercept and destroy The Münsterland,” a 6,000 ton German merchantman that had successfully evaded the American and English fleets in both the Pacific and Atlantic, and was now inching its way along the Breton Coast heading for safe haven in Cherbourg, with full cargo of strategic minerals and vital supplies needed for the German V1 and V2 rocket technology.
The flotilla of German E-Boats proved too much for the British Navy which lost first the Charybdis, sunk by torpedoes and then her escort destroyer, Limbourne, which was so badly damaged she had to be scuttled. Over 500 men lost their lives in the icy waters. The Münsterland, protected by its convoy of minesweepers on one side and the shallows on the other, entered Cherbourg harbour, where in addition she was defended by trawlers armed with anti aircraft guns, and powerful flak batteries on shore.
The following day, 24th October 1943 it was the turn of the RAF to attack using a three-part offensive attack on the Münsterland :
1. 10 Group Ramrod 94 - a high-level attack by two squadrons of Mitchells escorted by 90 Spitfires of the Ibsley, Perranporth and Churchstanton Wings (8 Spitfire squadrons in all).
2. Roadstead 77 Pt 1, low-level attacks by 263 Squadron’s Whirlwinds (escorted by 257 Squadron)
3. Roadstead 77 Pt 2, low-level attacks by 183 Squadron’s Typhoons
We have three eye witness accounts of the low-level attacks made on the Münsterland. ‘Poppa’ Ambrose of 257 Squadron wrote in his log-book, “There was a ship in Cherbourg Harbour, carrying wolfram or tungsten ore. Tungsten was used in specialized armour piercing ammunition. Our intelligence people said it had got through from Japan and had to be hit at all costs. We went out with Reggie Baker’s 263 Whirlwind Squadron with bombs, while we and 183 Squadron were flying with cannon. We were 24 aircraft. When we went for briefing, they said we were going out at nought feet. We said, don’t be silly, only idiots go into Cherbourg Harbour at nought feet – we should dive down, and even that was considered to be virtual suicide.”
Other pilots confirmed the thrilling nature of the attack, “This was the squadron’s first low level attack upon shipping in Cherbourg harbour. Our aircraft flew at just above sea level on a course which brought them between the outer moles and straight to the Münsterland. Four aircraft bombed the Münsterland and two of these attacked with cannons, leaving her on fire in two places. She was well ablaze 11 minutes later but the fire had been extinguished 90 minutes later. The other four aircraft bombed two ships aft of the Münsterland and saw cannons strike one of the. Two pilots then scored strikes on two of six M Class minesweepers in the transatlantic dock. Flak was fired at our aircraft from more than one hundred guns within range from harbour and ships.” Two Whirlwinds were lost to the murderous flak and Flight Sergeant Beaumont reported, “It was like a horizontal hailstorm painted red.”
Bombs and rockets fired by Whirlwinds of 263 Squadron and Typhoons of 257 Squadron had struck the blockade-runner but the Münsterland had suffered only superficial damage. Poppa Ambrose added in his log, “Reg Baker went in with the Whirlwinds and we went in before there was any actual flak from the ship. I remember one chap who actually got a German’s head between the cannons on his Typhoon wing and when he got home it was still there.”
Norman Franks records a postscript added by Poppa Ambrose in his book “Typhoon Attack” After the war I met the Group Captain Ops – I had not met him before – and I said, ‘You were the bloke who sent us into Cherbourg Harbour at nought feet’. He said yes, but said it had been on Churchill’s instructions. Churchill had laid down the tactics – we were to go in ‘on the deck’ as he put it. Anyway we blew up the ship.”
Further reconnaissance showed she was safely berthed in port and virtually unassailable, but the low level attack went ahead, and eight Typhoons of 183 Squadron led by Gowers set off from Predannick. Although they claimed two direct hits on the merchantman the Cherbourg defences proved too strong and downed three Typhoons, including Gowers.
“The squadron had to fly through the fiercest concentration of flak yet encountered, though the attack was made with great courage and daring. Two bombs were thought to have made direct hits and others were very near. As a result of this attack the Squadron suffered most serious losses yet. The C.O. was seen to go down in flames just outside the Mole whilst P/O Rawson(NZ) and P/O Timms did not return.” (183 ORB).
The third eye witness account of the raid, from the acclaimed French pilot Pierre Clostermann, is similarly graphic, “Half of dozen belated Typhoons passed to my right like a school of porpoises, bearing down on the hell going on behind the long granite wall of the breakwater. I skimmed over a fort whose very walls seemed to be belching fire - a curious mixture of crenellated towers, modern concrete casements and thirty Years War glacis. We were now in the middle of the roadstead - an inextricable jumble of trawlers masts and rusty wrecks sticking out between the battered quays. The weather seemed to have cleared a little - Look out for the Jerry fighters! The air was criss-crossed with tracers, lit up by flashes, dotted with black and white puffs of smoke. The Münsterland, was there, surrounded by explosions, flames, and debris. Her four masts bristling with derrick and her squat funnel well aft emerging from the smoke. The typhoon attack was in full swing, bombs exploding all the time with colossal bursts of fire and black clouds of smoke, thickening as they drifted away. A Typhoon vanished into thin air in the explosion of a bomb dropped by one in front. One of the enormous harbour cranes came crashing down like a house of cards.
It would appear that Clostermann had witnessed Gowers’ death; his account confirms the ORBs of the three squadrons involved: Gowers’ Typhoon apparently vanished into thin air under the weight of the defensive bombardment. Gowers’ widow recalled afterwards, “They said it was direct hit. His plane just blew apart, it virtually disintegrated.
Poppa Ambrose concluded his log, “We came back to the Mess and normally most of us remained sensible and drank beer, not spirits, but I remember that afternoon we opened the bar at four o’clock; we were all hacked off. Gus Gowers, the CO of 183, had been lost.”
Joan Gowers, received a telegram from the Air Ministry the following day reporting her husband “Missing”, and in vain she waited for good news. The telegram she had been dreading came from Buckingham Palace, personally signed by King George V1, “The Queen and I offer you our heartfelt sympathy in your great sorrow. We pray that your country’s gratitude for a life so nobly given in its service may bring you some measure of consolation.”