The War for England's Shores

S-Boats and the Fight Against British Coastal Convoys

G H Bennett

• Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN: 9781399077927
• Topic: Historia
• Subtopic: Historia alemana

The War for England's Shores examines the Kriegsmarine's S-Boat offensive along the English Channel and the North Sea from 1940 to 1945, together with British and, later, Allied responses to nullify that threat. Very fast, and armed with torpedoes and mines, S-Boats posed a serious threat to the convoys that were forced to run close along the British coast on a daily basis. Despite the significance of this campaign and the real threat to the whole British war economy, it has been, until now, strangely overlooked by historians. Indeed, the book highlights issues around the maritime identity of those states and navies that see themselves in oceanic terms, at the expense of engagement with, and operations in, coastal waters. Using an array of archival materials from Britain, Germany and the USA, The War for England's Shores examines why the Germans failed to make the most of this opportunity to disrupt British trade. G H Bennett analyzes how the British slowly countered the threat by embracing new technologies and developing a system of sea control that gradually forced the German S-Boat arm from the offensive against Britain's coastal convoys, and on to the defensive in the months leading up to the invasion of France. The author also looks at the S-Boat campaign along these convoy routes in the context of present-day interest in littoral warfare, so that the work has a vital and current appeal and offers significant and surprising insights. The book offers an unparalleled exploration of a key moment in the development of coastal warfare, and will appeal to historians and enthusiasts as well as defense analysts and naval personnel.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• List of Maps and Tables
• List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1 German Naval Strategy, 1870–1940
• CHAPTER 2 The Rise of the S-Boat, 1940–1941
• CHAPTER 3 The Campaign in the Balance, 1941–1942
• CHAPTER 4 The Human Dimension
• CHAPTER 5 Dönitz Replaces Raeder
• CHAPTER 6 The 1943 Turning Point: The Emergence of a Multilayered System of Defense
• CHAPTER 7 The 1943 Turning Point: The Role of Intelligence
• CHAPTER 8 The 1943 Turning Point: German Failure to Respond Effectively
• CHAPTER 9 S-Boats and the Shift to the Defensive, 1943–1944
• CHAPTER 10 D-Day for the Kriegsmarine
• CHAPTER 11 The Long Retreat, 1944–1945
• Conclusion
• Appendix: Vessels in English Waters Lost to Torpedo Attacks by S-Boats, 1940–1945
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Plates