Weapons of desperation : German frogmen and midget submarines of the Second World War

The Royal Navy commandos had one of the most dangerous and important missions of World War II: they were the first onto the invasion beaches and the last to leave. Formed in 1941 as the Royal Naval Beach Parties, they participated in the Dieppe raid, where many lost their lives. Organized under officers designated as Beachmasters, they became full-fledged fighting commandos--with their now legendary Fairbairn Sykes commando knives-and led the way on the beaches as part of the Allied landings in Madagascar, Pantelleria, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Arakan, D-day, Elba, Walcheren, and more. Although their work on the beaches had been crucial to the Allied success, after the war they were disbanded and forgotten. With this book, their remarkable story is finally told through the personal accounts of the commandos themselves. Beachhead Assault includes a foreword by Man and Boy author Tony Parsons, whose father was a Royal Naval Commando who fought at Elba. As the Third Reich headed for its inevitable destruction, German ingenuity in the naval field turned to unconventional weapons - midget submarines, radio-controlled explosive boats, and various forms of underwater sabotage. Inspired by Italian, and later British successes with human torpedoes and X-Craft, the Germans had set up an organization called Kleinkampfverbande (Small Battle Units) which drew its personnel from the Navy, regular Army and Waffen SS. Originally envisaged as an all-volunteer elite unit of special forces, it was increasingly diluted be draftees and even military defaulters posted to the K-verbande as punishment, and in the last years many of the unusual devices that the deployed were barely beyond the experimental stage.Despite the acute dangers, there was no collapse of morale, even as conditions in both the Mediterranean and northern European waters became increasingly adverse. By the end, facing overwhelming odds, even their senior commanders regarded some of the attacks as little better than suicide missions. Judged by their effect on the Allied advance, their successes were slight, but the indomitable bravery if those involved makes riveting reading. Pieced together from fragmentary sources, it is a largely untold story, chronicling some of the most desperate operations of the Second World War. The Royal Naval Commandos had one of the most dangerous and the most important tasks of any in World War II - they were first on to the invasion beaches and they were the last to leave. Formed in 1941 as the Royal Naval Beach Parties, many lost their lives in the Dieppe raid. After Dieppe they became fully fledged fighting commandos with their legendary fairbairn sykes commando knives, organized into units from A Commando through to the All Canadian W Commando. Under their officers who were designated as beachmasters, the Royal Naval Commandos led the way in on the beaches as part of the allied landings in Madagascar, Dieppe, north Africa, Pantelleria, Sicily, Salerno, the Volturno River, Anzio, Arakan, D-Day, Elba, Walcheren and Commachio. Their work on the beaches was crucial to the success of the allied invasions. After the war the Royal Naval Commandos were disbanded and forgotten and their wartime role was given to the Royal Marines