Paterson, Lawrence/Groult, Edouard A. (Illustr.) Kriegsmarine Southern Command 1941-45

When Germany and Italy invaded Yugoslavia and Greece in early 1941, the Kriegsmarine established a new operational command whose task was to establish German control over the eastern Mediterranean and coordinate actions with the Italian, Romanian and Bulgarian navies. With the invasion of the USSR in the summer of that year, the Black Sea also became a battlefield, and the Naval Group South was formed. For the first time, naval historian Lawrence Paterson outlines the dizzying variety of Kriegsmarine combat units that fought under Naval Group South S-boats and U-boats, flotillas of escort vessels, landing ships, artillery ships, patrol boats, submarine hunters and minesweepersand how they operated, including their organisation, complex logistics, and vital intelligence and communications services. The fighting was often fast and fierce, ranging from open battles with the Soviet Black Sea Fleet and operations in support of Operation Barbarossa to combat against Tito's partisan naval units off the Croatian coast. Illustrated with rare photographs, artwork of dramatic actions, 3D diagrams and maps, this book examines the little-known naval warfare waged by Germany's smaller ships at the outer edge of German naval power in Europe.