If Bath is bombed and it may come tonight or tomorrow night there will not be just two or three bombs or two or three fires, for I believe it will be an effort to make Bath another Coventry, Newell said five days after Pearl Harbor. The U-boats waited offshore and were serviced by a kind of lifeboat which brought out 250-litre barrels of diesel. Comments. In 1979, not long before he died, Frank Aiken, IRA veteran and wartime minister of "coordination for defensive measures" told me that "no German U-boat landed on the Irish coast if it had done, I think I would have heard about it.". 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U.S. bombers were equipped with his radar sets, powerful enough to spot U-boat periscopes from the [], [] World War II, sardine canneries flourished with large government orders for the troops. What exactly did he mean? Quora User's answer to Is there any evidence that U-boats used neutral Ireland to shelter? The Journalist Robert Fisk has largely debunked the urban myth about German U boats sheltering in Ireland. The other three had been cheerfully handed over to de Valera by Malcolm MacDonald in 1938, earning Churchill's most poisonous hatred. After a German U-boat sank the British passenger ship Lusitania on May 7, 1915, killing over 1,000 people, including 128 Americans, pressure from the U.S. prompted the German government to greatly constrain the operation of submarines; U-boat warfare was completely suspended that September. The Cyclops lost 87 passengers and crew. Hi Christopher,I didn't think of Argentina as an option but I am open to all suggestions. . This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 44 Did german u boats refuel in ireland? Of course, America joining the war intensifies this because A) David Gray was a bit of a prick and B) The British felt that whatever "excuse" we'd had for not wanting to fight alongside the British had surely been countered by America's entry. Doesn't matter because they beat Hitler. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Not because I believe it I spent much of my PhD thesis on Ireland in the Second World War disproving it. 8 Why did Germany declare a war zone around the British Isles? Boats refuelling in Spain ports during II WW on interned German ships with a connivance of the Spanish Government, The uboot in das boot didn't buy the torpeados and supplies they snuck into the harbor and tied up along side a german ship there and received them from the ship there. U.S. sailors firing after a U-boat attack during the Battle of Point Judith. Several Royal Navy officers regularly arrived in Donegal to go duck shooting at Drumbeg and Lough Eske in 1940. This is an apolitical forum for discussions on the Axis nations and related topics hosted by the Axis History Factbook in cooperation with Christian Ankerstjernes Panzerworld and Christoph Awender's WW2 day by day. Shortly after midnight on Jan. 14, Hardegans lookout spotted the Norness silhouetted against the brightly lit coast. cheese factory st johns, mi jobs Plstico Elstico. did german u boats refuel in ireland . He had never been to Ireland before the war, he told me. By the second half of April, Allied shipping losses fell by half. She made an easy target against the brightly lit coast. You . Norwegian Allied troops also used German-style helmets in 1940 often prompting patriotic Englishmen to arrest them. Many British ships were repaired in Irish shipyards. The U-boat was sunk that evening by four warships, Coast Guard cutters, a destroyer, frigates and two blimps. I would watch boats go out, and probably an hour later get a radio message that the boat had been sunk, Sturgis remembered. A full two years before Germanys aggressive naval policy would draw the United States into the war against them, Kaiser Wilhelm announces an important step in the development of that policy, proclaiming the North Sea a war zone, in which all merchant ships, including those from neutral countries,. Publisher. The U-Boat War. An all-island subreddit for discussion of Irish news, politics, culture, history and society. Was there rationing in Ireland during ww2? But after the sensational attacks from the air at Pearl Harbor and the German blitzkrieg against London, New Englanders had more concern about bombing raids from Europe than about U-boat attacks. Did Mexico fight in ww2; How good is Spain's military; Is Spain's Army strong. In 1709 a group known as the Palatines made the journey from the Palatinate region of Germany. And they also state that, although "there was no evidence proving the existence of refuelling bases, there was evidence that U-boats were quite possibly landing crews for purposes of relaxation and obtaining fresh provisions." According to Liddell, Archer said that a U-boat called in three times a week at a base at the mouth of the Doonbeg river, County Clare. After this became too dangerous, they used specially designed U-boats called Milchkhe (milk cows) to meet the boats at sea for transfer of food, mail, torpedoes and other supplies. I read all the Irish . It was commanded by Lieutenant Commander W R "Tiny" Fell who went on to design midget submarines and who had spent according to my own research a fruitless few weeks searching for German U-boats off the west coast of Ireland, or Eire as it was then known. Fisk took the word of wartime minister for defence Frank Aiken who in 1979 told him: No German U-boat landed on the Irish coast; if it had done, I think I would have heard about it. And the British government never produced evidence of refuelling, Fisk noted. This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII. Quite apart from the British Cabinet's lack of evidence, our reader's father suggested that the fuel storage tanks in the Republic might in fact be part of a smuggling racket between Eire and Northern Ireland (which, by the way, still continues). In the first three weeks of January, U-123 would destroy eight ships and damage a ninth. Founded in 1999. I wearily ignored it all. "Father regularly, as did many British servicemen, changed into civvies and nipped across the Eire border for a crafty drink. 31 . It was a persistent rumour of the war years, popular with the Irish government's critics in Britain, that German U-boats refuelled regularly along Ireland's south and . Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. He was also said to have admitted that at some ports, Ireland had no permanent guards. The Kaiser warned neutral countries that neither crews nor passengers were safe while traveling within the designated war zone around the British Isles. This was immediately after Dunkirk when the British severely lacked war materiel to replace the huge amount they'd left behind in France so such a shipment was important to their war effort. Certainly Churchill is considerably more belicose and hostile to Irish neutrality. If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. Historian Brian Hanley considers the evi. It was difficult to be patient with stories about German submarines openly refuelling at bases along the south and west coast. What was the size of Hitler's army; What weapons did Spain use. I visited old men and women in remote villages from Donegal to Cork, some of them wartime coastwatchers. Fisk took the word of wartime minister for defence Frank Aiken who in 1979 told him: "No German U-boat landed on the . However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Despite being frequently encountered as rumours, no U-boats ever used Ireland as a refuelling base. Ships continued to operate with all their lights on. Which is what happened after Bloody Sunday, when the army's top brass decided to libel the dead. Favourite haunts were Molly's Bar, Arnolds Hotel and McGilloway's.". He spotted the big British freighter Cyclops, carrying Chinese sailors and cargo to the British Isles, 300 miles east of Cape Cod in Canadian waters. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. (formerly the Public Record Office) show that a German agent was sent to Ireland to co-ordinate an operation which would see thousands of Nazi troops land at Larne . U-Boats sunk 23 vessels in the St. Lawrence and, in 1942, in a mission to drop off a spy, a U-Boat skulked so close to shore that it was briefly caught in the headlights of a passing car, although . But the fires [], [] out of British Honduras. The U-boats killed 5,000 seamen and passengers, more than twice the number of people who perished at Pearl Harbor. Did Ireland refuel German U-boats? Studies in maritime history. Favourite haunts were Molly's Bar, Arnolds Hotel and McGilloway's. On 17 Sep 2011 Mr. Robert Fisk wrote an article called German U-boats refuelled in Ireland? paid a visitor's condolence to the German legation on Hitler's death and an Irishman on the west coast had refuelled German U-boats. It was a lie. By shifting its military priority from the Soviet invasion to mounting a knockout punch against Great Britain before the United States became strong enough to intervene, Germany could forestall an Allied invasion of the continent and refocus its efforts on beating the Soviets.. Ninety planes were lost on those missions, and 26 people died. Anton Otto Fischer, USCGR. During the first three months of 1942, German U-boats sank more than 100 ships off the east coast of North America, in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean Sea. One of eight U-boats that arrived in Londonderry after the German surrender in 1945, Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Robert Fisk: German U-boats refuelled in Ireland? Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Some were requisitioned. During the first two years of World War II, Admiral Dnitz struggled to deploy an effective U-boat force, and had only between ten and twenty-five boats at sea at a given time in 1940 and 1941. If it's coming from that type of Brit, you can probably dismiss it out of hand. In 1940, our man his reader-son asks for anonymity was sent to a base unit at HMS Ferret in Derry with five members of 30 Commando, Royal Marines; their job was to "prepare and supply equipment" (incendiary and explosive charges) for 15 marines and two officers aboard the "Royal Fleet Auxiliary Tugboat Tamara which was disguised as a trawler". On May 9, another Coast Guard vessel sunk U-352 in the North Atlantic. In fact, there was a quiet fear in Whitehall that we might even side with the Germans. If Ireland aligned with the Axis, or offered succour during the war we would quite quickly have found both the UK and US occupying us. Did German U boats refuel in Ireland? Admiral Karl Donitz, the capable commander of Hitlers U-boat fleet, began planning the U-boat attacks as soon as Germany declared war on the United States in December 1941. by Jon G. 14 May 2007, 03:34, Post However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. The U.S. military did not respond. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. This story was updated in 2023. and occupied territories. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. What 3 things do you do when you recognize an emergency situation? They were easy prey as the U-boats could spot them easily against the lighted cars, buildings, streetlights and billboards along the coast. It emerged that, during the second World War, they had been naval officers on a submarine patrolling waters west of Ireland, a country they were in the habit of visiting from time to time. He called it Operation Paukenschlag, or Drumbeat. Years later, studying for a doctorate in politics at Trinity College, Dublin, I spent five months travelling down the Irish west coast to investigate the U-boat claims. Ireland was neutral for the duration of the war, but tilting somewhat to the Allied side. Another neutral nation did allow U-boats to refuel in at least the port of Vigo, Spain. As far as I know ,he got the information from a U-boat captain(that served in WW2 I suppose) he knows in Canada. Operation Drumbeat counted as a little-known victory for Germany. This was all done very clandestine at night from interned German merchant vessels there. Its government was not only unwilling to fight, but unable. The attacks would begin on Jan. 13, 1942. German U-boats and Italian submarines attempted to disrupt the Allied supply of oil and other material. Not because I believe it - I spent much of my PhD thesis on Ireland in the Second . And they also state that, although "there was no evidence proving the existence of refuelling bases, there was evidence that U-boats were quite possibly landing crews for purposes of relaxation and obtaining fresh provisions." Press J to jump to the feed. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. by kamehouse 13 May 2007, 16:22, Post But our reader's dad wasn't the only Brit to cross the border for rest and relaxation. The British navy men were also in the habit of visiting Free State pubs when off-duty, especially in Dunfanaghy, Co Donegal. On April 17, a Coast Guard cutter sank U-175 with depth charges while escorting a convoy south of Iceland. All would commit any crime for a shilling". He didnt have good charts, but that didnt matter. Some of those ship losses were within site of land . RN Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, later Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Lord High Admiral, originally from the House of Schelswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glcksberg, regarded still by villagers of distant Vanuatu as a god. Other reports of U-boat landings except one in Bantry Bay "from a reliable [sic] source" could "neither be accepted, nor wholly discounted". Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. The relics of Hitler's Navy we. (Read the story here.). Several hours later, 39 survivors in lifeboats were taken to Newport, R.I. By the early morning of Jan. 15, U-123 approached New York Harbor. His name? Public House Premier Frank McNally on the phenomenon of Tipperary publicans in Dublin, Cyclists on the footpath Frank McNally on a permanently hostile debate, The Ole Shooting Match Frank McNally on how Ireland helped launch one of Americas most controversial organisations, the NRA, Space to work, imagine and dream Mary ODonnell on Leuvens Groot Begijnhof, In the picture Ray Burke on Yeats, film and censorship, Before I would have held my husbands hand walking around the streets. The only places where U-boats could refuel was German ports and allies of Germany ( Italy, Vichy France, etc.) Germany believed it could win the war by preventing the U.S. from supplying Britain with war materiel and fuel. Only if the enemy knew of sinkings, or if they were witnessed by people along the coast would the Navy disclose successful U-boat attacks. I found mention of something similar on the Dn Laoghaire Chat forum. As of September 1939, the army had only 7500 men, though large numbers were serving in the British military; the air corps had four effective fighters; and the navy had two patrol boats! Just to add to this we had a Marine and Coast Watching Service in WW2. At the onset of World War II, the German high command wasted no time in sending U-boats to harass shipping along the Atlantic Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. During a time of fuel rationing and Ireland sourcing its fuel from the UK, the claim doesn't even hold up to the mildest scrutiny. The German Navy in World War II found a clever but risky method of extending their submarine patrols by building "milk cows," specialized submarines covered in fuel tanks to refuel their brethren, and drawing the fire of American destroyer and planes. U.S. Navy officials knew something else was coming. It wasnt until the night of April 13-14 that the first U-boat was sunk. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. When the United States entered World War II, both sides understood the key to Allied victory would be the restoration of Americas industrial might. st george animal shelter volunteer; town of wellfleet assessor's database; 4 billion dollars to naira in words When my thesis was later published as a book, I received a polite letter from the long-retired U-boat captain. In those days, German U-boats were harassing merchant ships, sinking them with [], [] If youre interested in U-boat warfare in the Atlantic, you may be interested in this story about U-boats in World War II here. By Denis Martin FTU. He also noted it was 'a base of U-boats', though the memorandum acknowledged that the term 'base' was being 'used loosely' because there was 'no evidence proving the existence of refueling base'. stubhub tickets not available until day before; amanda hale psychology; did german u boats refuel in ireland; 2 Thng By, 2021; . There were few good books then on modern Irish history. Nobody at the top wanted Bloody Sunday to happen. By a weird irony, I had long ago arranged to come to Ireland to be interviewed for a television documentary on the IRA in the early 1970s, when I was cutting my teeth as a reporter on my first big story. Nine years in the making, Hitler's U-boat War is destined to become the definitive account of the German submarine war against the Allies, or "The Battle of the Atlantic."It is an epic sea story, the most arduous . Ireland was indeed neutral and de Valera did his make his notorious condolence visit. Hours after the Norness sank, a blimp spotted the hull sticking out of the shallow water. Some, including Ernest Hemingway, volunteered. Another neutral nation did allow U-boats refuel in at least the port of Vigo, Spain. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. How did German immigrants differ from Irish? As belligerants , unless their boat was gravely damaged and could not make a port of call in a friendly port, I don't think they could LEGALLY refuel ANYWHERE ,i.e. He managed the boxing career of Tom McNeeley and turned down an offer to manage Rocky Marciano. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. On the night of May 5-6, the German Uboat U-66 and the American submarine USS Arizona were due to rendezvous. Cad mle filte! On the 70 th anniversary of the end of World War Two, one of the major parts of the German surrender was the Nazi U-boat fleet. It all has to be imported. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. The British leadership was almost entirely happy with Irish neutrality because we were too much trouble, and too resource heavy, to protect. They attackedcommercial shippingin [], [] While I knew much of this story from my research in preparing the historic newscasts which aired on XM Radios 40s Channel/Savoy Express back in the 2000s heres more related to U-boat attacks in the early days of the War from a New England perspective. Albert Frederick Arthur George Windsor These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Thirty-six crewmen were killed; six survived. A protracted campaign that lasted for most of the war, German vessels tried to sink Allied supply ships. I can well see why. But our reader's dad wasn't the only Brit to cross the border for rest and relaxation. With thanks to The Burning Shore by Ed Offley. It does not store any personal data. Admiral Donitz andU-123 had sunk 20ships alone during this [], [] Crocker spent World War II fighting the Allies' deadliest enemy in the South Pacific: the mosquito. Malaria struck as many as [], [] on land are bad. If you can obtain solid evidence from your friend it would be of great interest to the Uboat 'historians' . The rest of Ireland had a Catholic, nationalist majority who wanted self-governance or independence. For the Tamara had appeared in my Trinity College thesis. I've never heard this. George VI/Full name. Hardegen didnt even bother to submerge the U-boat. U-123 sunk the Norness with three torpedoes. In three months the H33, H43 and the Tamura failed to detect any German submarine in Irish Waters. But because a reader has sent me a fascinating account of his dad's war service as an SOE recruit. How do people make money on survival on Mars? . Opinions expressed by the authors and contributors of this site are not necessarily those of the Defence Forces. Archer would not let the Brits interview the three German prisoners. 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By far the most effective tools were the U-boats, the German submarines. In March, the U-boats attacked 48 ships, and almost all sank. Mine fields were laid in the harbors and mobile artillery was positioned to protect the harbors. The first Type XIV was U-459 (Georg von Wilamovitz-Moellendorff), commissioned in November 1941 and made her first patrol in April 1942. What are various methods available for deploying a Windows application? From then until early August, German U-boats dominated the waters off the East Coast, sinking fuel tankers and cargo ships with impunity and often within sight of shore. Guy Liddell, the director of wartime British counter-espionage, wrote that he had asked Colonel Liam Archer of Ireland's G2 military intelligence about U-boat landings, to which the alleged reply was: "They are here in force, we can't do anything." So when we declared neutrality, there was relief that at least the worst had been avoided WRT Ireland. By July and August, the government finally ordered the coast blacked out, and U-boat attacks fell to 26 on the East Coast. Oh it has been claimed it happened but it would have been next to impossible. Thus, he was forced to limit U-boat operations to the North Atlantic and around the . The submarines moved to the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, attacking fuel tankers and freighters. It was something, at least. Frequent visitor to Ireland during the Emergency? that would allow others to check and see if these items match German records. U-96, one of submarines resupplied in Spain. Archer also gave British intelligence details of equipment, found on three captured German agents in Skibbereen, which included explosives inside a tin of French peas intended to blow up Buckingham Palace. Was George VI King of Ireland? In February, the killing continued. They had ships to refuel them at sea. Why Do Cross Country Runners Have Skinny Legs? This was why the Germans developed the Milchcow( German tanker submarines). Rationing in Ireland continued for years after the war. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. That changes though as Britain's position becomes more precarious. Open the mobiGlas and select the maintenance (wrench) icon to buy fuel and repairs. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. He sneaked a look and discovered these were U-boat officers, whose craft were laying up in remote inlets on the coast, come ashore for unofficial R and R, and wearing their uniforms because Ireland was neutral.". I can well see why. While thousands of New Englanders looked to the sky for enemy airplanes, few had any idea about the carnage wreaked in the waters nearby. RN Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, later Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Lord High Admiral, originally from the House of Schelswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glcksberg, regarded still by villagers of distant Vanuatu as a god. So they even admitted themselves that it was complete bullshit, speculation at best. Our reader's dad "told me that one of the Irish landlords insisted he did not go into the snug since 'other gentlemen officers' were already there. There is a persistent rumor that one or more (usually more) U-boats used Ireland as a refuel base in the war. I read all the Irish government's coastwatching reports from 1939 to 1942. Neither the crew nor the hundreds of tons of weapons on board were intrned. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. No that's not to say that the Kriegsmarine may never have used an Irish bay or inlet to rendevouz a U-Boat with a Milch Cow sub for replenishment and hope not to be seen. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Quite apart from the British Cabinet's lack of evidence, our reader's father suggested that the fuel storage tanks in the Republic might in fact be part of a smuggling racket between Eire and Northern Ireland (which, by the way, still continues). Did German U boats refuel in Spain. did german u boats refuel in ireland. Had he been one of the many German "tourists" travelling in Ireland before the war? But no state aid was ever given in an Irish port. The Irish papers oozed with admiration for Saville, but largely missed the expensive soap which Saville used to clean the reputation of both the Tory government of the time and the British Army hierarchy. Operation Deadlight was the code name for the Royal Navy operation to scuttle German U-boats surrendered to the Allies after the defeat of Germany near the end of World War II. Many British ships were repaired in Irish . Do snopes and other such websites cover this stuff? In the archive at Kew I'd found records of the Tamara, a Royal Navy tugboat disguised as a trawler that went vainly hunting for U-boats along the Irish west coast.

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