|
|
|
Wardaggers.com
is located on the South Coast of the United Kingdom
and has been trading and dealing in mainly German
authentic military collectables online for over 5
years. I am a UK citizen and have personally
collected Third Reich related edged weapons and
accessories for over 30 years. Due to our location
on the South Coast, the area was fortified during
WWII and was often the target for Luftwaffe bombing
and strafing runs. It was also a strategic offensive
location as the war progressed serving as a base for
British and American troops in the lead up to the
Normandy Invasion. Many of the area's local fishing
boats, yachts and cruisers also aided in the Dunkirk
evacuations.
The following two pages recount moments from history
of a small fishing port's involvement during WWII
and is dedicated to the Men and Women of the local
Parish who served, fought and died for their
Country.
|
| This website, the
owner an all persons associated with it's upkeep
bear no affiliation to any hate groups, political
organizations or outlawed parties. The site's
purpose is to aid the collecting community and
individuals with an interest in Military history and
in no way condones, approves or supports Nazi
ideology. |
 |
|
Page 1 ( Allied ) |
LOCAL WW2 AXIS MILITARY HISTORY |
Page 2 ( Axis ) |
|
|
|
|
|
Operation Tiger 22nd-30th April 1944 ( German Attack
) |
|
|
|
|
|
LOCATION -
Lyme Bay,
English Channel
DATE -
April
28th
1944
During research for the previous page I decided to dig a little deeper
into the attack on the US LST convoy on the
night of the 27th April 1944. The convoy
consisting of eight US LST's and one RN Corvette
was attacked by a formation of nine S-Boats or
Schnellbootes of the 5th and 9th Flotillas
operating out of Cherbourg, France. The 5th
Flotilla craft consisted of six boats ( S-100,
S-136, S-138, S-140, S-142, S-143 ) the
9th Flotilla comprised of three boats ( S-130, S-145
and S-150 ). These fast and highly manoeuvrable
craft where heavily armed with twin torpedo
tubes and very experienced crews. KapitanLeutnant Erich Werner Siegfried Götz
von Mirbach shown above left and in command of
S-150 was a hardened veteran with over 70,000
tons of shipping to his name and over 200
missions. He is also shown in the group picture
( 4th from the left ) along with Kapitanleutnant
Hans Gunterjurgens Meyer ( 2nd left ) who
commanded S-136 which also participated in the
attack. S-138 was commanded by Oberleutnant z.s.
Hans Jurgen Stohwasser.
From the French mainland Kapitan zur see Petersen radioed the commanders
the bearing of a possible target, setting course
at 36 knots and under radio silence the S-Boats
of the 5th Flotilla split up into pairs for an
attack on what they thought originally where
Royal Navy Destroyers. The torpedo boats S-136 &
S-138 commanded by Meyer and Stohwasser fired on
targets at a range of 2000 metres, the S-136
firing a double salvo at the right hand target,
which turned out to be the US LST-507 and a
single torpedo from the S-138 of Stohwasser
finding it's mark to the left hand target which
was US LST-531. Formation one, consisting of
S-100 & S-143 from the 5th Flotilla and alerted
by tracer fire and a blaze on the horizon joined the attack,
both firing twin torpedo salvos, after 76
seconds an explosion was heard.
With both the US LST's the 531 & 507 well alight and the convoy in
disarray, the 9th Flotilla Schnellbootes S-130 &
S-150 under the command of von Mirbach attacked
under the cover of darkness. He was to strike
twice in the ensuing mayhem with one torpedo
finding it's mark on the already stricken US
LST-531 and a head on strike to the US LST-289.
In the hours following the action it became
clear that the US LST's-507 & 531 had been sunk
with the loss of 202 and 424 lives respectively,
the LST-289 was heavily damaged but continued
firing throughout the encounter with the loss of
13 and 18 wounded. The LST 511 was hit by
friendly fire from LST 496 during the chaos
resulting in another 18 wounded. In total 639
men lost their lives out of a US Army and Navy
complement of 943.
Both Kapitanleutnants Hans Meyer and Erich Gotz von Mirbach already held
the German Cross in Gold prior to the attack on
the 28th April with Hans Stohwasser receiving
his 6 weeks later. Ironically Stohwasser was
awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold the day
after his Schnellboote, the S-138 was sunk on June 14th
1944 while moored in Le-Havre after a massive
air raid by 243 Lancaster Bombers on the port which also sank the S-100,
S-143, S-142, and the S-150. ( 5 of the 9
participating S-Boats ). The remaining four
S-Boats that where involved in the attack on the
Operation Tiger landing craft faired little
better with only the S-130 surviving the War.
The S-136 commanded by Hansjurgens Meyer which
had sunk the US LST-507 on the 28th April, was
itself sunk by British Destroyers five weeks
later on the 11th June 1944, the S-140 sinking
to a mine strike one week earlier.
The S-130 is the only surviving example of a wartime S-100 class
Schnellboot today and is currently undergoing a
major restoration project in Plymouth, Devon.
Poignantly the craft was towed through the same
waters at Slapton en-route to Plymouth from
Southampton in which she had played such a
devastating role some 60 years earlier.
AWARDS OF KAPITANLEUTNANT
ERICH WERNER SIEGFRIED GOTZ VON MIRBACH ( BARON
)
LONG
SERVICE AWARD - 4 year, RANK - Leutnant
Zur See, AWARDED ON - 5th April 1939
IRON CROSS - 2nd Class, RANK - Oberleutnant Zur
See, AWARDED ON - 30th April 1940
IRON CROSS - 1st Class, RANK - Oberleutnant Zur
See, AWARDED ON - 28th May 1940
KNIGHTS CROSS, RANK - Oberleutnant Zur See,
AWARDED ON - 14th August 1940
DESTROYER WAR BADGE, RANK - Oberleutnant Zur
See, AWARDED ON - 16th December 1940
E-BOAT BADGE, RANK - Oberleutnant Zur See,
AWARDED ON - 21st December 1940
GERMAN CROSS IN GOLD, RANK - Kapitanleutnant,
AWARDED ON - 10th November 1942
SPANISH MILITARY ORDER OF MERIT, RANK -
Kapitanleutnant, AWARDED ON - 10th November 1943
E-BOAT BADGE WITH DIAMONDS, RANK -
Kapitanleutnant, AWARDED ON - 14th June 1944 (
Only 8 awarded )
KNIGHTS CROSS WITH OAKLEAVES, RANK -
Kapitanleutnant, AWARDED ON - 14th June 1944
Note: The E-Boat badge with diamonds and the
Oakleaves to the Knights Cross where both
awarded on the same date, some 6 weeks after the
attack on the Lyme Bay convoy. It was also the
same day that the RAF destroyed the S-Boat pens
at Le-Havre sinking 14 Schnellboots including
his own which probably qualified him for the
awards. Von Mirbach survived the war and died in
Hamburg aged 52 in 1968. |
|
|
|
|
Staffelkapitan ( Squadron Leader ) Hauptmann Frank
Liesendahl |
|
|
|
|
|
LOCATION -
France
DATE -
Pre-17th July
1942
The 10. ( Jabo ) / JG2 "Richthofen" was
formed on the 10th March 1942 and was
established to provide fast low level hit and
run attacks on shipping and coastal ports along
the South Coast of the UK between Brighton and
Torquay. In the first three months of the flight
becoming operational under the command of
Squadron Leader Oberleutnant Frank Liesendahl,
it claimed to have sunk 20 allied merchant ships
totalling 63,000 tons. The squadron operated
from airfields based around Evreuz and Caen in
France and I suspect that is probably where the
above picture of Liesendahl's plane was taken.
Flying Bf-109F-4jB fighters fitted with a single
SC250 undercarriage bomb, the pilots relied on
speed, low altitude and poor weather conditions
to surprise merchant shipping operating close to
the coast and under the protection of land
defences. In April alone in 1942 the sister
'JABO' squadron of JG2, the JG26 had carried out
37 attacks and 106 sorties against South Coast
towns and gas installations, dropping bombs and
strafing the targets. In late June 1942 the JG2
squadron was equipped with the Fw190 A-2 'Jabo'
fighter bombers.
On the 17th July 1942 at 12.45pm the Steamship the "Daxhound" was attacked
by four German fighters approximately 1 mile off
Berry Head (Brixham). The Daxhound had an escort
of two Fairmile "B" motor launches ( Pictured
below ) the ML118 & the ML157. The German planes
consisted of a "Schwarme" two Bf-109F-4jB
fighters and two Fw190 A-2 Jabo's, one flown by
Squadron Leader and German Cross of Gold holder
( June 5th 1942 ) Oberleutnant Frank Liesendahl.
A bomb from one of the planes went through the
wheel house of one of the motor launches and
exploded in the sea without any Allied
casualties, both launches responded and light
Anti aircraft fire from the Daxhound was
returned bringing down Liesendahls Fw109 which
crashed into the sea killing him. His body was
recovered and he was posthumously awarded the
Knights Cross on the 4th September 1942 and
promoted to Hauptmann after failing to return
from the mission.
I do not think that anybody at the time really appreciated what a scalp
this was. Liesendahl was given the command of
JG2 fighter bomber squadron after proving his
worth for the low flying strafing of Polish troops
on the Bzura during the Polish campaign in 1939
and again at Dunkirk in 1940. He was shot down
during the Dunkirk retreat and had to make a
forced landing after aerial combat with
Spitfires, he spent eight weeks
recovering from injuries sustained and it was
during this convalescence that he
convinced Geschwader Kommodore Major Walter
Oesau to give him command of a dedicated and
independent 'Jabo' squadron. The fact that
Liesendahl again succumbed to enemy fire on the
17th July 1942 may have had a lot to do with the
fact that he was in an unusual or relatively new
aircraft to him. Much of his previous experience
and flight time was gained in the Bf-109F as
pictured above and in which he was obviously
very adept, as shown by the six ship tally on
his tail fin. It may of course just be
coincidence that he was shot down whilst in
control of the Fw190-A2 only issued to the
squadron a little over two weeks earlier.
Shown below is Liesendahls tail fin from his Bf-109F showing his personal
achievements and tonnage claimed prior to his
death. I am also interested to hear from anybody
who knows his age and burial location please. As
a matter of interest his propeller was recovered
from the wreck at a later date and resides in a
private collection, I doubt anything remains of
the rest of the aircraft due to the close
proximity to shore and trawling activity.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Staffelkapitan Liesendahl's Tail-fin and Fairmile
"B" ML |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
| |
|
OUR SERVICES: |
| |
|
Some of our services include the
following: |
|
|
- We do offer a
consignment service, offering and
displaying your authentic
military items on wardaggers.com, please
see terms and
conditions for more
information.
- Collector website construction, from
single page gallery based blogs to
three, five or seven page websites.
Contact for details.
- Free valuation and assessment of
your German Military items to the best
of our knowledge.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
