relatively unknown wwII operation

[varek]

Here's an interesting account I had not heard of before:
the Germans called it Operation Drumbeat. German navy ships, mostly U-boats, attacked Allied shipping along the East Coast of the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Drumbeat

 

[MacLeod]

I've heard about it, wasn't that the time US Naval Chiefs ignored British advice regarding ships should travel in Convoy's, coastal blackouts etc..

 

[sojourner]

Didn't know the name of the operation, but I thought it was pretty common knowledge that German u-boats prowled the east coast during WW2.

 

[J.T.B.]

Here's an interesting account I had not heard of before:
the Germans called it Operation Drumbeat. German navy ships, mostly U-boats, attacked Allied shipping along the East Coast of the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Drumbeat

It's very well-known and extensively covered in any decent history of the Battle of the Atlantic. And "mostly" U-boats? What other German vessels were involved?

I've heard about it, wasn't that the time US Naval Chiefs ignored British advice regarding ships should travel in Convoy's, coastal blackouts etc..

A simplistic explanation that took root a long time ago and is seemingly never going to be eradicated, but has been pretty thoroughly debunked by scholarship of the last 30-40 years.

 

[KaineMorrison]

Here's an interesting account I had not heard of before:
the Germans called it Operation Drumbeat. German navy ships, mostly U-boats, attacked Allied shipping along the East Coast of the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Drumbeat

They taught us about this in school here on Long Island. I'm surprized that it is not more well known...

 

[Captain Ice]

It's very well known to those of us who have made a study of naval warfare in the second World War. If you want to look at something that is relatively unknown, you should look at Japanese operations off the west coast.

 

[sojourner]

Like the Japanese Zero that was captured in Alaska? Or the balloon bombs floated over the west coast of the U.S.?

 

[MacLeod]

Here's an interesting account I had not heard of before:
the Germans called it Operation Drumbeat. German navy ships, mostly U-boats, attacked Allied shipping along the East Coast of the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Drumbeat

They taught us about this in school here on Long Island. I'm surprized that it is not more well known...

Perhaps that is part because depending on where you are from you might know more about say the Pacific Theatre rather than the Europen theatre of WWII. The Battle of the Atlantic would probably come under the European theatre.

 

[Otto Harkaman]

If you want unknown operations Otto Skorzeny's "My Commando Operations: The Memoirs of Hitler's Most Daring Commando" is a good book. The man is totally fascinating, supposedly after the war he was the leader of Odessa, was involved with Eva Peron over the Nazi gold (Bormann treasure) and I believe trained Gaddafi troops and the PLO etc etc.

Amazon book listing

 

[RoJoHen]

I was taught almost nothing about WWII. Pearl Harbor...concentrations camps...concentrations camps...Anne Frank...oh, and more concentration camps. That's about it.

I'm pretty sure I learned more from "Band of Brothers" than I ever learned in school.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

Didn't know the name of the operation, but I thought it was pretty common knowledge that German u-boats prowled the east coast during WW2.

I agree with MacLeod. What you get taught at school about historical events very much depends on your location.

If I am not mistaken it was only a few years ago that a sunken German U-Boot (submarine) was found rather close to the East Coast. Made rather big headlines as it was one they had been searching for in a completely different area.
Quite a lot of ships both from the US and Germany sunk each other off the coast near New York. That was the main shipping route and hence the main target. I suppose that kids in NY might be more likely to learn about that than for example school children on Hawaii.


ETA: here we are: U 550 was found south of Nantucket almost exactly 2 years ago http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/s...er-entdecken-deutsches-u-boot-wrack-1.1425001 in German
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-550 in English

 

[MacLeod]

Well to be fair, I've learned more about history watching numerous documentaries.

 

[StarCruiser]

Among the German U-Boat crews - it was known as the second "Happy Time" since they had a good run of attacks with very few losses.

 

[sojourner]

Didn't know the name of the operation, but I thought it was pretty common knowledge that German u-boats prowled the east coast during WW2.

I agree with MacLeod. What you get taught at school about historical events very much depends on your location.

If I am not mistaken it was only a few years ago that a sunken German U-Boot (submarine) was found rather close to the East Coast. Made rather big headlines as it was one they had been searching for in a completely different area.
Quite a lot of ships both from the US and Germany sunk each other off the coast near New York. That was the main shipping route and hence the main target. I suppose that kids in NY might be more likely to learn about that than for example school children on Hawaii.


ETA: here we are: U 550 was found south of Nantucket almost exactly 2 years ago http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/s...er-entdecken-deutsches-u-boot-wrack-1.1425001 in German
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-550 in English

I'm from Florida and yet, I know about Pearl Harbor and Midway. I also didn't limit the source of that knowledge to children's school, that came later in the thread. I will admit that it may not be knowledge that is prevalent to most people, but I wouldn't classify U-boat activity on the east coast as "relatively unknown".

On a related note, there's a nice article on gizmodo.com about a U-boat found off the coast of Texas.

 

[MacLeod]

But you would expect people to know about Pearl Habour as the attack on it brought America into the war, but would you know about the battle on which it drew inspiration in part the BAttle of Taranto where British bi-planes flying from HMS Illustrious attacked the Italian fleet at anchor in Taranto Bay?

As for the Battle of Midway much like the Second Battle of El-Alamein it marked a turning point in the fortunes of the Axis forces in favour of the Allied forces.

 

[Otto Harkaman]

But you would expect people to know about Pearl Habour as the attack on it brought America into the war, but would you know about the battle on which it drew inspiration in part the BAttle of Taranto where British bi-planes flying from HMS Illustrious attacked the Italian fleet at anchor in Taranto Bay?

The importance of the British attack on the Italian fleet was that the bay was so shallow it was thought impossible to launch an aerial torpedo attack. It showed the Japanese they could do the same at Pearl, which was also thought too shallow to launch plane dropped torpedoes.

 

[Otto Harkaman]

Interesting the CNN had a report on the u-boat in the Gulf

A U-boat and its American prey haunt Gulf of Mexico

I forgot what book I had read on the German u-boats off the East coast and in the Gulf, but what I do remember was the horrific descriptions of what happened to crews on the tankers when hit.

 

[publiusr]

Merchant Mariners suffered a higher percentage of casualties than did many troops on D-Day, or so I've heard.

 

[J.T.B.]

Merchant Mariners suffered a higher percentage of casualties than did many troops on D-Day, or so I've heard.

The numbers are a little hard to compare, since the merchant marine had so little supporting structure. Troops actually landing on D-Day beaches had an overall higher casualty rate, but there were many thousands involved in the operation who were not directly in combat. It's pretty clear, though, that it was statistically more dangerous to be a generic merchant mariner than to be a generic member of the armed forces. The US merchant marine had a casualty rate of ≈3.5-4%, the marines ≈3%, the army ≈2% and the navy ≈0.9%. The 8th Air Force, the strategic bombing force in Europe, had a rate of ≈12%, and the submarine service in the Pacific ≈20%. The casualty rate for the British merchant navy was ≈16%.

 

[MacLeod]

One of the highest casualty rates in any branch of service of any military during WWII was the suffered by the U-Boats.