WW II German Minefields in English Channel

[gene2700]

Am starting a research project on German mineing of the English Channel during WW II and am looking for reference material (in English) to get me started.

At this point I would welcome "any" suggestions as to reference material dealing with this subject, i.e. types of mines, "locations of fields", replenishment of fields, how planted, and most importantly, success of the Channel fields during the pre-D Day/D day periods.

Would like to hear from anyone who has knowledge of this subject, either on-line or off-line.

gene 2700

[Vesper]

My grandfathers ship, HMS Vesper, was caught in a minefield with her engines failed I'll look about & see what records I can find to help. I think they were quite effective as a number of ships were sunk or damanged due to mines. It may be quite a confusing topic to study as the British laid mines in the Channel as well as the Germans.

Regards,

-Vesper

[himmelhund]

hi gene2700,



This is a plan of all available mines used by the Germans. by John Lambert



This is a photo af all the german minefields laid during WWII. This photo is off the book 'Minenschiffe 1939-1945' by K.Kutzleben , W.Schroeder , J.Brennecke (Koehler Verlag) text in german. In this book is all the info off all the minefields with there names , ships and type of mines used.There is an other photo of all minefields in the Med

i.e. Minefield 20 'Pommern'

The mineships 'Brummer' and 'Köningin Luise' are receiving mines in Cuxhaven (10 January 1941) Brummer receives 800 Sprengbojen , the Köningin Luise takes 200 EMC mines. That same day they transfer to Kiel , where mineship Tannenberg had taken onboard some 396 EMC mines . Under command of 'Chefs Minenschiffe Gruppe Nord ' onboard Tannenberg , these 3 ships set sail to Stavanger....... This is a small summary of a much larger text.

regards,

Himmelhund

[himmelhund]

Hallo gene2700,

Most of the minefield laid in the Channel were done by destroyers, torpedoboats and minesweepers. The reason for this is very obvious , these boats were fast and armed when the enemy was encountered. i.e when 2 german destroyers were laying a minefield ( I do not recall directly which destroyers it where) parallel with them , there were sailing 2 enemy destroyers. One of the german destroyers fired a spread of torpedoes towards them , hitting the HMS Kelly. The british were thinking they had hit a mine. Heavely damaged the HMS Kelly reached harbour.

regards,

Himmelhund

[Mark McShane]

Gene,

"Chronology Of The War At Sea 1939-1945" by Jurgen Rohwer, is a good reference book. Gives plenty of entries for mining operations in the English channel/North Sea. Not great for indepth details of each operation oir engagement but will certainly get you started and help you narrow/guide your research.

Cheers,

Mark

[I B Piper]

Hello gene2700,

Here's a picture of a British mine from the same period. Not much different from some of the German mines.

Cheers,
I B Piper

[Vesper]

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

This may also be of some interest

[faf_476]

During D-day German heer forces were lack of mines, that's why the Allied forces succesfully landed.
I think this would help;
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-wea ... _ww2-2.htm
(statement about the mines is on the lowest part)

[fredleander]

Gene,

"Chronology Of The War At Sea 1939-1945" by Jurgen Rohwer, is a good reference book. Gives plenty of entries for mining operations in the English channel/North Sea. Not great for indepth details of each operation oir engagement but will certainly get you started and help you narrow/guide your research.

Cheers,

Mark

Agree! Here is a link:

http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/chronik.htm#Z

Regds

Leandros

[Natter]

This is a plan of all available mines used by the Germans. by John Lambert

Is this from a book or a stand-alone poster of some kind? I would appreciate more info to be able to obtain this...

[Polar bear]

Most of the minefield laid in the Channel were done by destroyers, torpedoboats and minesweepers. The reason for this is very obvious , these boats were fast and armed when the enemy was encountered. i.e when 2 german destroyers were laying a minefield ( I do not recall directly which destroyers it where) parallel with them , there were sailing 2 enemy destroyers. One of the german destroyers fired a spread of torpedoes towards them , hitting the HMS Kelly. The british were thinking they had hit a mine. Heavely damaged the HMS Kelly reached harbour.

a correction very much later:
The two destroyers were HANS LODY and ERICH GIESE, the damaged british DD was the JERSEY, the date was Dec 7, 1939.

HMS KELLY was hit by the German E-boat S 31, commanded by OLtzS Hermann Opdenhoff, in May, 1940.

... and much minelaying in the Channel was done by the E-boats, too.

greetings, the pb