The X-Craft Raid [antikvár]

Preface"I cannot fully express my admiration for the three commanding officers . . . and the crews of the midget submarines X-5, X-6, and X-7, who in the full knowledge of the hazards they were to encounter . . . penetrated into a heavily defended fleet anchorage. There, with cool courage and determination and in spite of all the modem devices that ingenuity could devise for their detection and destruction, they pressed home their attack to the full. It is clear that courage and enterprise of the very highest order in the close presence of the enemy were shown by these very gallant gentlemen, whose daring attack will surely go down in history as one of the most courageous acts of all times."Rear Admiral C. B. Barry, November 8, 1943This book, because it is the only one devoted exclusively to the secret World War II mission mentioned by Admiral Barry, deserved, I thought, to be based completely on original sources. I started my research, therefore, in September of 1967, at the British Admiralty in London, where I obtained the three official Admiralty reports of the mission and was kindly offered every assistance by Sir Michael Carey, Second Permanent Under Secretary of State for the Royal Navy. After many visits to the Admiralty, thevii