A coup on Granville

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The coup d'état on Granville was a military operation by the German Wehrmacht on the night of March 8th to 9th, 1945 in the French coastal town of Granville . Starting from the Channel Island of Jersey , around 600 German soldiers carried out the coup on Granville on 13 boats of the Kriegsmarine in order to steal supplies. It was the last offensive of the Kriegsmarine in World War II .

prehistory

During the war, the German occupation evacuated Granville on July 31, 1944 after the Allied landing in northern France . Then the Allies set up a POW camp in the village . In December 1944, five German prisoners of war escaped from the camp, stole an American landing craft and fled to the Channel Island of Jersey, which was occupied by the German military. There they were received as heroes and reported that coal was being handled in the port of Granville . On the Channel Islands, the German crew almost ran out of coal to operate their ships. Food had also become scarce for the around 30,000 soldiers of the 319th Infantry Division stationed on the Channel Islands , as they were cut off from any supply.

In March 1945, Vice Admiral Friedrich Hüffmeier became the new fortress commander of the Channel Islands . He ordered the raid on Granville to get the supplies he needed and restore the morale of his garrison. Lieutenant Armin Zimmermann , among others, played a key role in the planning , later as Admiral Inspector General of the Bundeswehr .

A first attempt of an attack in the night of 6 February 7, 1945 due to bad weather and the discovery by a submarine chaser of the US Navy canceled.

procedure

The company was headed by Lieutenant Carl-Friedrich Mohr. His association included four large M-class minesweepers (M-412, M-432, M-442, M-459), three naval ferry frames with 8.8 cm cannons , three small harbor protection boats (FK 01, FK 04, FK 56), two small type R mine clearance boats and a sea ​​tug . On board were a total of about 600 army and marines, including 150 men as raid commandos for Granville.

The intention was to destroy the infrastructure in the port of Granville, 60 km from Jersey, to sink ships, and to hijack supply steamers and free prisoners. The venture was risky as the Allies were in control of the sea and the air .

The attack occurred at night and lasted about an hour. Outside the port, the German ships attacked an American submarine, killing 14 members of the US Navy.

In the port of Granville, the attackers destroyed installations such as loading cranes and sunk ships. They were supported by 55 German prisoners of war who were working in the port at the time of the attack. In the village, the German attackers broke into a hotel in which nine US officers were. Two US marines who opposed the Germans were killed. A Royal Navy officer and five soldiers were also killed. According to some sources, the Germans took 30 Allied soldiers as prisoners to the Channel Islands.

When the Germans withdrew, the tide was so low that only a hijacked coal freighter could be brought to the Channel Islands. The German prisoners of war found in the port were also taken away. A German minesweeper (M-412) ran aground at low tide in the port of Granville and was blown up. The attack resulted in the deaths of 22 Allied and six German soldiers.

Carl-Friedrich Mohr, who heads the company, was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on March 13, 1945 . Another boat commander received the Knight's Cross on March 21, 1945.

Another raid was planned for May 7, 1945, but Admiral Karl Dönitz ordered Friedrich Hüffmeier not to carry out any further attack operations shortly before the end of the war.

literature

  • Jacques Mordal: coup d' état on Granville , Gerhard Stalling Verlag, 1965

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dieter Stockfisch, coup d'état on Granville, A hussar piece shortly before the end of the war in the rear of the Allies , in: Marineforum 11-2002 p. 44f