Patrick Bishop - Target Tirpitz - X-Craft, Agents and Dambusters - The Epic Quest to Destroy Hitler’s Mightiest Warship

TARGET TIRPITZ

X-CRAFT, AGENTS AND DAMBUSTERS – THE EPIC QUEST TO DESTROY HITLER’S MIGHTIEST WARSHIP

PATRICK BISHOP

To Tony and Mary

Contents

Cover

Title Page TARGET TIRPITZ X-CRAFT, AGENTS AND DAMBUSTERS – THE EPIC QUEST TO DESTROY HITLER’S MIGHTIEST WARSHIP PATRICK BISHOP

Dedication

List of Illustrations

List of Maps

Plans of Tirpitz

Diagrams of X-Craft

Ranks of the Kreigsmarine

Prologue

Chapter 1: The Belly of the Beast

Chapter 2: Wilhelmshaven, Saturday, 1 April 1939

Chapter 3: Swordfish

Chapter 4: Trondheim

Chapter 5: ‘A wonderful chance’

Chapter 6: ‘A somewhat desperate venture’

Chapter 7: Smoke and Fog

Chapter 8: Provoking Nemesis

Chapter 9: ‘A heart-shaking decision’

Chapter 10: A Ha’porth of Tar

Chapter 11: The Iron Castle

Chapter 12: Enter the Lion

Chapter 13: Madmen

Chapter 14: The Great Adventure

Chapter 15: ‘A bloody great bang’

Chapter 16: North Cape

Chapter 17: Tungsten

Chapter 18: The Third Man

Chapter 19: ‘My God Mac, they’ve had it today’

Epilogue

Picture Section

Notes

Index

Acknowledgments

Also by Patrick Bishop

Copyright

About the Publisher

Illustrations Contents Cover Title Page TARGET TIRPITZ X-CRAFT, AGENTS AND DAMBUSTERS – THE EPIC QUEST TO DESTROY HITLER’S MIGHTIEST WARSHIP PATRICK BISHOP Dedication List of Illustrations List of Maps Plans of Tirpitz Diagrams of X-Craft Ranks of the Kreigsmarine Prologue Chapter 1: The Belly of the Beast Chapter 2: Wilhelmshaven, Saturday, 1 April 1939 Chapter 3: Swordfish Chapter 4: Trondheim Chapter 5: ‘A wonderful chance’ Chapter 6: ‘A somewhat desperate venture’ Chapter 7: Smoke and Fog Chapter 8: Provoking Nemesis Chapter 9: ‘A heart-shaking decision’ Chapter 10: A Ha’porth of Tar Chapter 11: The Iron Castle Chapter 12: Enter the Lion Chapter 13: Madmen Chapter 14: The Great Adventure Chapter 15: ‘A bloody great bang’ Chapter 16: North Cape Chapter 17: Tungsten Chapter 18: The Third Man Chapter 19: ‘My God Mac, they’ve had it today’ Epilogue Picture Section Notes Index Acknowledgments Also by Patrick Bishop Copyright About the Publisher

Integrated

6 A German naval dingy alongside capsized Tirpitz. (TopFoto.co.uk)

12 Erich Räder with grossadmiral’s baton. (akg-images/Imagno)

29 Fairey Swordfish in flight. (akg-images/akg/De Agostini Picture Library)

42 Flight Lieutenant A. F. P. Fane. (Courtesy Estate of Mrs J. M. Harris)

45 Karl Topp and Kurt Voigt. (Courtesy Jurgen Voigt)

76 The end of the Izhora. (David Brown/Tirpitz Collection, reproduced in Menace by Ludovic Kennedy, Sidgwick and Jackson, 1979)

95 HMS Campbeltown wedged in the Normandie dock gates. (Popperfoto/Getty Images)

103 Air Marshall Sir Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris. (© Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS)

123 Gunga Din film poster. (© Michael Nicholson/CORBIS)

148 A PQ.17 steamer falls victim to the U-boats. (TopFoto.co.uk)

164 Leif Larsen. (Courtesy Literary Estate of David Howarth)

178 A seaman with a model of Tirpitz. (ww2incolor.com)

179 Singer Lale Andersen posing as Lili Marlene. (akg-images/ullsteinbild)

202 Kapitän Hans Meyer. (akg-images/Interfoto)

209 Barentsburg viewed from the decks of Tirpitz. (John Asmussen/bismarck- class.dk)

213 Max Shean. (© Peter Hore)

239 HMS Stubborn. (The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, FL19434)

243 X-8 attack and passage crew before departure on Operation Source. (The Royal Navy Submarine Museum)

253 Donald Cameron VC. (The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, A21798)

255 Henty Henty-Creer (John Robertson/rohspecialforces.com)

278 Admiral Bruce Fraser adding rum to the Christmas pudding on the Duke of York. (The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, A20183)

280 Arseni Golovko. (Reproduced in With the Red Fleet by Arseni Golovko, Putnam & Co Ltd, 1965)

297 HMS Victorious at sea. (The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, A22152)

311 Hellcats on HMS Furious. (The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, A24771)

320 Barnes Wallis with a model of the Tallboy. (The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, A24771)

334 Guy Byam and Stanley Maxted. (Daily Mail archives)

340 Tallboy in flight. (The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, CH 15380)

356 Bomber Command interpretation report diagram. (Andrew Pinder)

368 Klaus Rohwedder at Wilhelmshaven. (Author’s collection)

Plate sections

Hitler in Wilhelmshaven for the launching of Tirpitz. (Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

The battleship Tirpitz just before launch at Wilhelmshaven. (Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Kapitän zur See Karl Topp on the navigation bridge of Tirpitz. (The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, HU 50747)

Injured observer Dunworth being carried from his Albacore, March 1942 (The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, A 7902)

Ice-caked deck of British warship in Northern Waters, 1942. (Topham/AP/TopFoto.co.uk)

Admiral Sir Dudley Pound walking to No. 10 with Winston Churchill. (© Associated Newspapers/Daily Mail/Rex Features)

Admiral Sir John Tovey. (Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo/Scherl)

Escorts and merchant ships of convoy PQ.17 at Hvalfjord, May 1942. (The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, A 8953)

Tirpitz steaming through Altafjord, 16 March 1944. (John Asmussen, www.bismarck-class.dk)

RAF reconnaissance picture of Tirpitz in Trondheim. (ww2images.com)

Bjorn Rorholt. (Private Collection)

Tirpitz at anchor off Kaafjord, 4 July 1942. (The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, HU 50983)

Mark Two Human Torpedo, 1942. (ww2images.com)

X-10 with Sub-Lieutenant Page on the casing. (The Royal Navy Submarine Museum)

Interior of X-craft with Sub Lt. ‘Robbie’ Robinson. (The Royal Navy Submarine Museum)

X-craft commanding officers before departure on Operation Source. (The Royal Navy Submarine Museum)

Tirpitz moored in Kaafjord. (Popperfoto/Getty Images)

View from Tirpitz of the X-Craft attack. (ww2images.com)

X-craft survivor John Lorimer on board Tirpitz after capture. (ww2images.com)

Donald Cameron with Godfrey Place after their release from a German PoW camp. (Popperfoto/Getty Images)

Wildcat on deck. (ww2images.com)

Barracudas landing on HMS Formidable, August 1944. (The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, A 25443)

Christmas in the seamen’s mess on Tirpitz, 1942. (The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, HU 50938)

Seamen drinking beer on Tirpitz. (The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, HU 50766)

Vice Admiral Oskar Kummetz on deck with Raeder and Admiral Otto Schniewind during an inspection trip to Norway. (akg-images/ullstein bild)

Aerial still of RAF attacks on Tirpitz, 15 September 1944. (ww2images.com)

Group photo of Flight Officer C. H. Giersch, Flight Lieutenant Bruce A. Buckham, Flight Officer D. A. Nolan, Squadron Leader A. G. Williams, Flight Officer D. A. Daniell and Wing Commander James B. Tait. (AP/Press Association Images)

James Tait with pipe. (Courtesy Peter Tait)

Woodsman’s picture of the final attack through trees, November 1944. (Private collection)

Aerial photo of final attack taken from Flight Lieutenant Knights’ Lancaster. (ww2images.com)