26 August 1944: MEK 60 German frogmen destroyed the Vascouy coastal artillery battery position. The sudden pressure on our heads due to the quick descent made Ohrdorf and I feel numb. Instead, in the inter-war period the Italian Navy successfully trained the special frogmen corps Decima Flottiglia MAS equipped with a new and powerful craft: a slow speed human … 1944 September 16: By this time the Allies had taken, 1944, night of September 28–29: By now the, Soviet EPRON Diver K.D. At this point Friedrich Hummel once again made a not-entirely-welcome appearance. However, all was not well within the ranks of Lehrkommando 700. Dorpinghaus followed the operational plan and hugged the east bank of the river, searching for the ‘dolphins’ – wooden pilings that marked the entrance to the lock itself. But now a new dimension was added: airborne operations. Aware that the mission would require precise targeting and that newly deployed protective nets would have to be negotiated, the only real option remained frogmen rather than an attempted attack using Marders. At first Wandel faced problems in winning the acceptance of the frogmen under his command, Hummel being held in high regard due to his obvious experience in underwater sabotage. In October 1994 they were subordinate to the Flotilla of Mine Warfare. My Grandfather served in the American army (though not deployed) during WWI. The four men passed submerged under the illuminated road bridge and made ready to snag their mine against the pylons of the rail bridge when the unexpected obstruction of a pontoon crossing loomed from the darkness. His brief was to employ his forces when opportunities presented themselves; his first task allocated by OKW being the destruction of the Kruisschans and Royer locks on the Scheldt in what would become ‘Operation Bruno’. On schedule, one Linsen slipped from harbour at midnight followed by the second half an hour later. Once more their luck held as the sentry had still not noticed them. The Frogmen provides accurate insights into the operations of the U.S. Navy's Underwater Demolition Teams in the Pacific in WWII based on what I've read in factual historical records. The unit's name was Küstenjäger-Abteilung "Brandenburg". According to the German author Cajus Bekker Hummel ignored in his swiftly hatched plan the need for silence and secrecy to carry out the operation and instead declared that a combined force of assault boats and frogmen would attack the bridges. Known as the "Floating Trojan Horse of Gibraltar", Decima Flottiglia MAS, an Italian commando frogman unit created during the Fascist government engaged in numerous attacks against the harbour at Gibraltar. Post by Sid Guttridge » 15 Dec 2020, 01:21 I have just found a passing reference to the German Navy's only special forces unit, comprising frogmen, high … He was originally from Austria. May 1945 German frogmen succeed in their second attempt to blow up the pontoon bridges at Nipperwiese and Fiddichow. This three-role concept of the French became the basis of the commando frogmen of the German navy. The pair successfully completed their mission, entering the water near midnight and exiting the following morning at their correct preassigned position. It consisted of men without a Nazi past, who had served in World War II in the small combat forces and the naval employment commands. A sharp bend in the river about 150m upstream meant that frogmen would be badly placed to deliver the size of charge required to damage the thick bridge pylons. Many would subsequently use their experience for Skorzeny within his Jagdverbände. The port of Antwerp was, and still is, one of Europe’s great harbours, but it is not a natural one. The mine was able to have its buoyancy adjusted by releasing air trapped in compartments at either end, a push button opening the required valve. Between the night exercises, there are night runs. The arrival at Utrecht of the frogmen that would operate under Prinzhorn had taken longer than expected and the first planned mission date of 12 September was postponed for one more night. 1935 German Maritime Tinnie Pin Medal - Seefahrt Ist Not - WWII WW2. The first of these was forced against the shore by the sudden bend of the Rhine, unable to control the ponderous mines as the current caught them. The Elite Frogmen of the Decima Flottiglia Mas. The first Kampfschwimmer were trained first with the Nageurs de combat in France. The waves of landing craft carrying troops of the famous … The Royers Lock was 30m in length and 7m wide and allowed for the first time the round-clock usage of the port. MEK40 became embroiled in fighting within the Scheldt, a small raiding party sent to North Beveland failing to return in late November. The unit is also referred to as the X° Mas, 10ª Flottiglia MAS, or Decima Flottiglia MAS. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. $1.95. May be fitted with various different optics. During the rapid fall of Antwerp to British armoured forces on 4 September the speed with which the advanced elements of the 11th Armoured Division had entered the city had completely surprised the German defenders. B Sqn captured 5 of the party. German propaganda in turn trumpeted the achievement, illustrations drawn to show frogmen placing the huge charges giving credit where credit was indeed due to the courageous commandos. The last mission of August 1944 for MEK 60 and MEK65 was undertaken in support of the Bibers of 261 K-Flotilla. After a brief and heated discussion Hummel departed, Böhme subsequently complaining to Heye about Hummel’s behaviour only to be informed by his superior that Hummel had at no point been entrusted with the mission, though Heye had discussed the matter with Hummel and given him permission to go to Utrecht to act as an advisor to Böhme. Bretschneider remembered reaching the water surface and being able to see the shadows of British engineers working on the roadway above him, the glow of their cigarette-ends plainly visible. A fresh attempt on the Nijmegen Bridge by the newly raised MEK40 that had arrived in the Netherlands to relieve MEK60 and 65 was aborted on 14 November though the following night Prinzhorn’s MEK60 demolished a bridge at Moerdijk over the Holländsche Diep. On 8 September, K.z.S. Almost all of them were made from the point of view of the Allied Forces.Very few movies show the second world war from the perspective of Nazi Germany. 171 pp. The boats were transported under great secrecy to the Vistula and assembled awaiting the order from Army Group A to begin. It was, at best, wildly optimistic. Bullets splashed into the water around them as they despairingly realised that the current would not allow them to position their mines against the bridge pylon. The attacking force comprised two Linsens from 216 K-Flotilla, each carrying an officer, group leader, helmsman and three frogmen with a single modified GS mine in tow. As the small boat eased back toward the centre of the wide river one of the elusive ‘dolphins’ loomed out of the hazy darkness. Great for reference. Success rate is approximately 30% which is up from the previous 5-10 percent over the three-year training period. They measured the actual depths of the water, detected natural or man-made obstructions under the surface, and … The original German frogman unit that formed at this time was the 2nd Reserve Pioneer Company of Stettiner Pionierbattaillon 2. However, at the front there was little time for the frogmen of the K-Verbände to concern themselves with the internal wrangling of their service headquarters. The same night that Prinzhorn and Dörpinghaus had attacked Antwerp’s locks another group of ten frogmen had been scheduled to attack bridges in the Vught area south of Hertogenbosch, though German records do not record the outcome of their planned enterprise. By destroying the main lock gate totally, Antwerp could be denied to the Allies for a considerable period of time. Prinzhorn and his men, led by an artilleryman familiar with the site, approached the formidable emplacement aboard two commandeered control Linsens and were able to land successfully less than 100m from the first bunkers. MEK65 was engaged in reconnoitring the area around Arnhem-Hertogenbosch as Polish paratroops were dropped on the south side of the river to attempt to link up with the British troops trapped in Arnhem on the north side. For divers in the water I cut up some 1/72 Atlantic frogmen to have a couple with heads above water. With daylight creeping into the east he searched for a place in which to conceal himself, alighting upon a derelict fishing boat where he slept the daytime hours away, resuming the swim to safety once night had fallen again. Their first use by Army Group South came on 4 December when they attacked the bridge at Paks south of Budapest with floating mines though the result of this attack is unrecorded. Though it rests some way inland on the River Scheldt it remains a tidal harbour and so the first canal lock was constructed in the port at the beginning of the twentieth century. Situated as they were between Honfleur and Trouville, the guns were perfectly placed within their concrete bunkers to bombard German-held Le Havre, only 7km away across the Seine river mouth. He had already managed to convince Heye to accept SS men under disciplinary sentences into the K-Verbände and later the following month he despatched SS Untersturmführer Walter Schreiber to be his SS representative at Valdagno, a liaison officer between Himmler’s organisation and the K-Verbände. The Linsens discharged their mine tows to the Marders as planned and returned, though the human torpedoes subsequently aborted the attack for reasons that were not mentioned in German records. THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION – FRANCE, Prokhorovka – the unknown clash of the Great Patriotic War, German Frogmen in Action I and II — Weapons and Warfare | Ups and Downs of Family History V2.0. Plan to attack the underwater oil pipeline, Applicants must be German citizens in the sense of the article 116 of the. The first German frogman commando unit was formed under the direction of Alfred Von Wurzian during World War Two. Thousands of movies have been made about World War II (nearly 6,000 movies listed in IMDb mention WWII as one of their plot keywords). The destruction of the minesweeper and Scheldt buoys between Hansweerth and Antwerp were successfully carried out on the night of 20 September, though one Linsen was hit by machine-gun fire from the south bank of the river. They trained at Prora on Rügen. 3646 wristwatches were supplied to both Italian and German military divers, including an elite commando unit of frogmen known as the ‘Kampfschwimmers’. A German Frogman, captured while swimming with others along the Rhine River near Remagen, in an attempt to destroy US First Army bridges. In 1909 the British designer Commander Godfrey Herbert received a patent for a manned torpedo.During World War I, it was rejected by the War Office as impracticable and unsafe. In June 1944 Heye had placed the medical officer MstArzt Dr Arnim Wandel in overall charge of the Kampfschwimmer branch of the K-Verbände, replacing the colourful Friedrich Hummel. Learn how your comment data is processed. The year 1944 had seen the final shattering of Germany’s military on all fronts. Kriegsmarine frogmen, high speed explosive boats and one-man submarines? Of it, approximately 40 men are actively operational. As events transpired, the other boat was Prinzhorn’s Linsen, still dragging its mine after they had failed to find the lock gates. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! He then proceeded to inform Böhme that he had been personally selected by Admiral Heye to carry out the mission against the Kruisschans lock and requested that the necessary men and material be placed at his disposal. First there are four weeks of introductory training. ... the German U-boat U-81 launched a successful torpedo attack on the British Aircraft carrier Ark Royal. Illustrated with maps and photo­graphs. With this uneasy tension affecting the Lehrkommando, Otto Skorzeny paid Valdagno a visit on 30 June, later also touring San Giorgio with Wandel. S&R was composed of Sailors hailing from the boat pool at ATB, Solomons, Maryland, and Army 3rd and 9th Infantry Divisions. After their disastrous committal to action on 30 August the Bibers were withdrawn and Prinzhorn’s men were tasked with destroying any abandoned machines and their torpedoes as the rest of the Bibers retreated from Normandy. After hours of nerve-wracking probing, a disappointed Dorpinghaus ordered his Linsen to reverse course, fearing that they had somehow overshot the lock entrance. ... German Frogmen and Midget Submarines of World War II. Eventually the gate appeared in the darkness and the three men were able to rest alongside the stone pillars that flanked the huge metal gate. Barbarossa to ‘Berlog’ – Soviet Air Force, Rome Military mid-fourth century to the mid-third century BC, Rommel Recaptures Cyrenaica, January 1942, Russian Weapons, that are currently in service…, A Lesson of History: The Luftwaffe and Barbarossa. It lay well, so I pressed the fuse button and we immediately began to surface, too quickly for my liking. A "chariot" copied from that of the British who copied it from the Italian. ( Log Out /  However, British troops at Arnhem were under extreme pressure by largely Waffen SS troops and the day after Nijmegen’s fall were forced to surrender the bridge’s northern end and became isolated within the city. Brandishing a signed authorisation on the ‘highest authority’ Hummel assumed command of the operation in the name of the RSHA. Luftwaffe reconnaissance was later able to confirm that day that the gate was buckled and the harbour water level was falling with the ebb tide, signifying that the mission had succeeded and Antwerp was effectively, though temporarily, unusable, although by 13 October the subject of denying the use of Antwerp to the enemy was again high on the agenda of a situation meeting at Führer Headquarters, the Wolfsschanze. Regardless of whether there is in fact substance to Hummel’s alleged behaviour, the attack was finally launched on the night of 28 September. The MEKs were the last Kriegsmarine troops to leave the port of Fecamp, their own withdrawal to Ghent fraught with problems due once again to Allied air superiority and the Wehrmacht’s demolition of many water crossings and roads. [citation needed] First frogmen Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. ‘Market Garden’ had failed and the Rhine remained inviolate at the crucial final bridge. Craft developed by Germany during World War II. Böhme was apparently extremely affronted by this declaration and refused point blank, stating that the mission had already been entrusted to Prinzhorn. Since 1974 the Kampfschwimmer have been stationed in the naval base at Eckernförde near Kiel. Böhme was convinced that this decision was due to Hummel’s actions at Utrecht, which Heye may have interpreted as an attempt by the SS to steal the ‘glory’ due to the K-Verbände. A further attempt was also made on the Nijmegen road bridge by MEK60 using two borrowed Linsens and two likewise purloined Marders. They also have to train to exit and enter a submarine through a torpedo tube. ( Log Out /  Their task was twofold; to reconnoitre the bridge area and test the current. November, 13th, 2017 Winnipeg: Fedorowicz. Total of 256 pages with lots of information and pictures. In the Gulf War, German frogmen completed various operations that are classified by German Intelligence and such. A unit was needed which could help to secure the Baltic Sea exits through the Danish Straits. On 1 August 1958 Group 3402, as these commando frogmen were called by the navy, was set up. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}54°28′34″N 9°51′49″E / 54.4762°N 9.8637°E / 54.4762; 9.8637, German postwar commando amphibious warfare force, Craft developed by Germany during World War II, German Navy Web site:Praktikum bei den Kampfschwimmern, https://medium.com/war-is-boring/german-combat-divers-are-busy-on-land-and-underwater-7c6cd8ad56ef, https://www.bundeswehrkarriere.de/blueprint/servlet/blob/28236/6a27f89b9c3bb78f765f66984abffb77/ksk-data.pdf, "STRATEGIE & TECHNIK: Aus Suhl an die Spezialkräfte: RS9 wird G29", http://www.sondereinheiten.de/einheiten/kampfschwimmer/, Republic of Korea Navy Special Warfare Flotilla, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kommando_Spezialkräfte_Marine&oldid=1002220578, Military units and formations of the German Navy, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2009, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Lerne leiden, ohne zu klagen! Gibraltar was a very tempting target for the Italians, who saw it as a refuge for British warships and allied merchant shipping. Freed from their cumbersome charge the four men gradually became separated as they allowed the Rhine to deliver them to German lines once more. After Italy changed sides, the German frogman unit MEK71 based in Jugoslavia made numerous attacks against liberated Italy, using two-man canoes. Their first appearance is at the end of " Heart of the Reich " near the main entrance to the Reichstag building. The Rhine splits into two separate rivers around the Dutch-German border – the Waal, that flowed past Nijmegen, and the Lek, which was crossed at Arnhem. These minimum requirements must be fulfilled by all candidates, to become certified for training:[20]. In due course Bretschneider’s mines exploded and the rail bridge was demolished, though Luftwaffe reconnaissance aircraft later showed only minor damage to the road bridge by Schreiber’s misplaced mines. On 17 September Field Marshal Montgomery made his bid for an armoured thrust over the natural barrier of the River Rhine and into the heart of Germany, threatening the industrial area of the Ruhr and aimed directly at Berlin. In January 1945, to placate those officers and men that still considered the young medical officer as unsuited to the task, Wandel was finally removed from command of the Lehrkommando 700 and his place taken by K.K. The Allies would not relinquish the bridge that so many men had died to take despite the fact that by 25 September the surviving British troops of the 1st Airborne Division had withdrawn over the Lower Rhine from Arnhem, leaving the majority of their strength behind, dead or captured. Picture Information. After travelling for 9km the mine tows were transferred to the Marders, which in turn were supposed to continue to the bridge, affix the mines (by a method unspecified in reports) and then return to Zaltbommel. (Learn to suffer without complaint!). The Suomen Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force). This ability to get in and out without detection, allowed the World War II Raiders and Navy frogmen to be two of the most effective fighting forces of World War II. The four men of the second group, Bootsmaat Henze and Unteroffizieren Krämer and Kammhuber led by the formidable commander of SS Jagdverbände Donau Untersturmführer Walter Schreiber, laboriously moved towards open water, braced for the inevitable fusillade of shots. The "lentil". July 1944: German frogmen destroyed the lock gates on the Orne river. Schmidt was manhandled aboard followed by the two other frogmen and the Linsen cast off, retreating into the darkness. December 10, 1944; 15.00hrs: The Chief of the General Staff, Army, emphasises the importance of destroying the Russian Danube bridges south of Budapest. The Germans sighted another motor boat heading directly for them as they headed for their base and so they abandoned caution and opened the throttle to maximum, managing to outpace the pursuing craft. ISBN 0-921991-73-8. There remains some confusion as to the reasoning behind this unusual personnel change. However, despite preliminary successes, politics and inter-military affairs caused controversy and all non-Navy members of the frogmen teams were reassigned before the conclusion of WWII. Frogman, member of a U.S. naval underwater demolition team.In World War II their efforts reduced troop losses and facilitated the landing of men and supplies on enemy shores. He was also an Olympic swimmer. For INQUIRIES call. Hermann Lüdke. The Kampfschwimmer were set up when Germany joined NATO in 1955. Again, according to Bekker’s account, Hummel decided to make his own study of the target bridge and took two assault boats to study the Nijmegen crossing, attracting heavy fire and alerting the British guards to the danger posed by frogmen. Prinzhorn studied the problem and soon accepted on behalf of his men. Once the Underwater Demolitions Teams had proven their merit and tactical importance in battle, Admiral Ernest J. Seconds later he heard footsteps crossing the gate from one side of the lock to the other, but they were the slow measured tramp of a complacent guard; they had escaped detection. A similar request had also been issued by Army Group A for K-Verbände units to be used against bridges across the Vistula where the German Army held a rapidly crumbling front. Many of the advances in naval special warfare by Germany were generally adopted from the Italians were generally considered the fathers of naval special warfare in naval commandos. March 1945: Multiple failed attempts to destroy the Ludendorff Bridge near Remagen by German frogmen. WW1 WW2 German KVK Original Long Neck Ribbon For Merit Cross. Despite a limited number of submarines and other surveillance assets, naval forces in World War II had to find a way to spot enemy obstructions and defenses at fortified islands and beaches. The commandos had to train ordinary crewmembers as auxiliaries in tasks such as keeping watch and taking control of the engine room and bridge of the boarded vessels.[18]. If true, this notion was ludicrous and at the very least Prinzhorn was unhappy to see his Kommando commandeered by the SS and telegraphed his concerns to Admiral Heye. May 1945 German frogmen failed in their initial attempt to blow up the pontoon bridges at Nipperwiese and Fiddichow. After a brief rest the trio began to retrace their steps until Schmidt finally succumbed to the cold of his punctured suit after negotiating only one net. He would use the twin-torpedo charge that Prinzhorn and Richard had put forward, the weapon requiring four men to control in the water; one at each end of a mine holding onto lines strung from the torpedo bodies. The base for the Lehrkommando had already moved due to the inexorable advance of Allied troops, the Venetian units having relocated to Sylt on 21 October 1944, Lehrkommando 704 following shortly afterward. Furthermore, many felt that Wandel lacked the necessary drive and ruthlessness to forward the ambitions of the frogmen of Lehrkommando 700. As the Allies had advanced with ‘Market Garden’ the Linsens and Marders that had been based at Lillo were withdrawn to the more secure area of Groningen. The Italian military in WW2 is usually viewed negatively, but they produced some of the finest naval commando units. Finally, using the signal flares as a guide he clambered from the cold water to be greeted by his comrades, Walter Jager amongst them. Bretschneider again remembered the sporadic firing of white signal flares agreed upon beforehand to show the frogmen where friendly territory began. On Schmidt’s signal they both pushed the button, the sudden weight dragging them swiftly underwater – so quickly that Schmidt’s fins leapt out of the water with a resounding splash before he plummeted to the seabed. Meanwhile, the normal routine of the day continues: swimming, diving, and push-ups. My comrades came to my aid and tried to persuade me to return to the waiting boat, but I was determined to go on and by letting some oxygen into the counter-lung of my breathing apparatus I managed to regain buoyancy. The flooding of the Rhine in December and the subsequent loss of suitable landmarks precluded further attempts against the Nijmegen Bridge. Unable to deny the Allies the port of Antwerp, Böhme was instructed to investigate the viability of sabotaging the lock in order to render the harbour inoperative. The potential of what he saw must have impressed the SS commando who also tested the diving equipment himself in the Venice Lagoon.