The months after this saw the allies hunting down the fabled "secret weapons" and German engineering blueprints anywhere (Operation paperclip & surgeon). It was Dönitz which was designated by Hitler before his suicide to led peace negociations with the allies and end of the war on the Western front in May 1945. Despite a last ditch attempt in the summer of 1944 to reverse their fortunes by midget submarines and human torpedoes, then by the first true "submarines", in vain. In mid-1944, with dwindling oil reserve, the Norwegian fleet was close to inaction while each sortie by U-Boats was not certain even to spot any target before being sunk by aviation or ships.
The old ships of the Reichsmarine started to be scrapped in 1935 while a new construction program renewed the fleet and the Anglo-German naval treaty of 1935 ended Versailles's limitations for the new Kriegsmarine, which could now start a far more ambitious program, but short when just started in 1939.ĭuring WW2, the Kriegsmarine actions could be summup in two phases: A surface warfare phase until 1942, after the losses in Norway, and especially of the Birmarck in May 1941, the small Kriegsmarine could only oppose to the might of the Royal Navy in a asymetric way, so through a corsair's war, which later was purely led by submersibles, also traduced by the replacement of Dönitz at the head of the Kriegsmarine instead of Raeder, an enthusiast proponent of all-out submarine warfare.įrom then on, surface assets were mostly relocated on the Norwegian façade to prey on northern convoys, while fromp French ports, Dönitz unleashed his wolfpack tactics, which until mid-1942 experienced its "happy times", sinking montlhy a considerable tonnage and seriously worrying Churchill (it was in fact it's more critical concern until 1943).įrom late 1942 to late 1943, the combined might of allies industries ensured to replace both the losses with new ships and spread the Atlantic with far numerous escorts while considerably enhance their ASW warfare arsenal and refined their tactics. It did not benefited the credits given to the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe, notably in part due to Hitler's being stranger to all things naval and the sea, or a powerful influencer such as Goering. In September 1939, the Kriegsmarine ("war navy") was undisputably the "poor child" of Hitler's army branches.
Kriegsmarine: WW2 German Navy 7 Capital Ships, 8 cruisers, 22 destroyers, 24 S-Bootes, 72 Submersible, 142 Misc.
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