The Blockade BustersPen and Sword, 19.05.2005 - 224 Seiten Recounts one of the greatest sea stories of World War II. It is the story of how George Binney, a 39 year-old civilian working in neutral Sweden when Norway was overrun by the Germans in 1940, set about running vital cargoes of Swedish ball-bearings and special steels to Britain through the blockaded Skagerrak, where German air strength was dominant and where the Royal Navy dare not trespass. Despite Admiralty gloom and in the face of political objections that were overcome by Binney's persistence, five ships carrying a year's supply of valuable materials for the expanding British war industries were successfully sailed to Britain in January 1941. A following attempt was not as successful and ended when six ships were sunk or scuttled. But then came the saga of the Little Ships, the motor gunboats flying the Red Duster that operated out of the Humber to and from the Swedish coast in the winter of 1943/44, defying the strengthened German defences and the wrath of severe weather. |
Inhalt
Authors Note | 6 |
Illustrations | 7 |
INTRODUCTION A Man Called Binney | 9 |
Escape Through the Skaggerak | 17 |
Twice is not once over again | 80 |
The Grey Ladies | 146 |
Sources | 213 |
216 | |
Andere Ausgaben - Alle anzeigen
The Blockade Busters: Cheating Hitler's Reich of Vital War Supplies Ralph Barker Eingeschränkte Leseprobe - 2005 |
Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
Admiralty aircraft attack B.P. Newton ball-bearings Beaufighters Bill Waring Binney's blockade Blücker boats Boheman breakout Brian Reynolds Bridford bridge Britain British Brofjord Captain cargo Charente coastal course crews Denham destroyers Dicto and Lionel Elizabeth Bakke enemy engine Erik Boheman escape escort Escudier fjord flotilla force Foreign Office Gay Corsair Gay Viking George Binney German German patrol Gothenburg Gudvang gunboats guns Hallö Hälsingmo harbour Holdsworth Hopewell Humber Immingham John Bakke knots Kristiansand Legation lifeboat Lind London Luftwaffe Lysekil Master Standfast Meanwhile MGBS miles minefields Ministry morning naval Nazi night Nonsuch North Sea Nortraship Norway Norwegian Norwegian ships operation ordered Oslo pilot port radar Ranja Rigmor risk Rubble sail Shan sighted signal Skagerrak Skytteren soon speed Standfast starboard steel Stockholm Stokes Storsten Swedes Swedish Government Swedish Navy Swedish waters Tai Shan tanker Tanton territorial waters told tons trawler vessels Victor Mallet voyage weather Whitfield