Weapons of Desperation

Book excerpt: As the Third Reich headed for destruction, German ingenuity in the naval field turned to unconventional weapons – midget submarines, radio-controlled explosive boats, and various forms of underwater sabotage. This is one of the last un-chronicled areas of World War II naval history and this well-known author describes how, facing overwhelming odds, German sailors – most of them volunteers – mounted attacks that were little better than suicide missions. Judged by their effect on the Allied advance, their successes were slight, but there seems to have been no collapse of morale and the indomitable bravery of those involved makes riveting reading. Pieced together from fragmentary sources, this largely untold story uncovers some of the most desperate operations of the War.