{{Short description|German raid on Granville, France, March 1945}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}} {{Infobox military conflict | conflict = Granville raid | partof = World War II | image = | caption = | date = 8–9 March 1945 | place = Granville, Manche, France | coordinates = {{coord|48.837401|-1.593931|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | result = German victory | combatant1 = {{plainlist| * {{flag|United States|1912}} * {{flag|United Kingdom}} * {{flagcountry|Provisional Government of the French Republic}} }} | combatant2 = {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}} | commander1 = {{plainlist| * {{flagicon|United States|1912}} Percy Sandel * {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} Roger Lightoller{{KIA}}}} | commander2 = {{plainlist| * {{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} Friedrich Hüffmeier * {{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} Carl-Friedrich Mohr}} | strength1 = Unknown | strength2 = {{plainlist| * 6 minesweepers * 3 armed barges * 3 motor launches * 1 tug}} | casualties1 = {{plainlist| * 1 minesweeper heavily damaged * 4 freighters damaged * 1 collier captured * 22 killed * 30 captured}} | casualties2 = {{plainlist| * 1 minesweeper scuttled * 1 missing * 6 wounded}} | casualties3 = | notes = }}
The '''Granville raid''' occurred on the night of 8–9 March 1945 when a German raiding force from the Channel Islands landed in France and brought back supplies, Allied prisoners and former German prisoners of war to their base.<ref name=Jim>Morison, Samuel Eliot ''History of United States Naval Operations in World War II'' p.306</ref>
==History== ===Background=== During the Second World War, Granville, Manche, France was the site of a prisoner of war camp. In December 1944, four German paratroopers and a naval cadet escaped from the camp and captured a US Navy LCVP, in which they made their way to the German occupied Channel Islands. There they relayed substantial intelligence on the Allies' disposition in the Granville area, including the fact that several ships were in the harbour discharging coal, which was in short supply in the Channel Islands, and the location of US troops. (The former POWs were killed on 25 December, while returning to Germany in a transport plane that was shot down by an Allied night fighter near Bastogne. Also killed in the transport was ''Korvettenkapitän'' Fritz Breithaupt, a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and commander of ''Minensuchflottille 24'' [Mine Sweeping Flotilla 24].)<ref name=BBC>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/52/a4041352.shtml|title = BBC - WW2 People's War - the Granville Raid}}</ref>
The new garrison commander of the Channel Islands, ''Vizeadmiral'' Friedrich Hüffmeier, a former captain of the German battleship ''Scharnhorst'', used the intelligence to plan a raid against the Allies to restore morale to his garrison and obtain needed supplies.
On the night of 6–7 February 1945, a first attempt was aborted, due to a combination of bad weather and the detection of an escorting ''Schnellboot'' ("E-boat"), by US Navy submarine chaser ''USS PC-552''.<ref name=Jim/>
===Raid=== The raid, led by ''Kapitänleutnant'' Carl-Friedrich Mohr, was carried out on the night of 8–9 March. Hüffmeier's raiding force comprised four large M class minesweepers (''M-412'', ''M-432'', ''M-442'', ''M-459''), three armed barges (artillery lighters) carrying 8.8 cm guns, three fast motor launches, two small R type minesweepers, and a seagoing tug.
As the Germans had received intelligence regarding the identification signals needed to enter the harbour, they were initially able to land unopposed. They damaged the harbour locks and started fires on shore.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1945.html#prof|title=The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II--1945|website=www.ibiblio.org}}</ref> The Germans mined the British-registered merchant freighters ''Kyle Castle'', ''Nephrite'', ''Parkwood'' and the Norwegian freighter ''Heien''. The master of the ''Kyle Castle'', William Callum Fraser, M.B.E.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://lisburn.com/history/digger/Digger-2009/digger-06-11-2009.html|title=Lest we forget | Lisburn.com|website=lisburn.com}}</ref> was killed while resisting the Germans, although an officer named Richard Reed remained hidden on the vessel with a shipmate until after the Germans left.
Outside the port, the submarine chaser USS ''PC-564'' raised the alarm and was attacked by German vessels. About 14 US Navy personnel were killed in action on ''PC-564'', others were wounded, its 3"/50 gun was disabled and the pilot house destroyed. The captain, Lieutenant Percy Sandel, gave the order to abandon ship, but he and other crew members remained on board, and managed to evade the Germans, before intentionally grounding ''PC-564'' on the shore. Sandel and the remaining crew were later rescued. (''PC-564'' was salvaged and, renamed USS ''Chadron'', remained on the US naval register until 1963.)
At the ''Hotel des Bains'', which housed nine senior US officers, two US Marines resisted the Germans and were killed in action. A Royal Navy officer, Roger Lightoller, the son of Charles Lightoller,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UZ9ZBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT122|title=The War of the Motor Gun Boats: One Man's Personal War at Sea with the Costal Forces, 1943–1945|via=Google Books|first=A. J.|last=Chapman|date=2 October 2013|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=978-1-4738-3008-0|page=122}}</ref> and five enlisted personnel from the RN were also killed during the raid.<ref name=BBC/><ref>[http://okretywojenne.pl/pefu/download/channel_island.pdf#prof "Defiant until the end"]. Page 7</ref> The Germans took 30 Allied personnel as prisoners to the Channel Islands, including 15 of those who had earlier abandoned ''PC-564''.<ref name="BBC" />
Allied resistance caused significant delays to the German raiders. By the time they were ready to depart, the tide was so low that only one captured collier, {{SS|Eskwood||2}}, containing 112 tonnes of coal, could be taken back to the Channel Islands. It also carried 67 German former prisoners of war who were working in the area and rescued by the raiding party. A German minesweeper, ''De Schelde'' (M-412), ran aground, and was scuttled with explosives.{{Cn|date=May 2025}}
===Aftermath=== While the charges on the British freighters detonated successfully, all of them remained either afloat, aground or accessible at low tide. Reed and others managed to repair the hull damage on ''Kyle Castle''. While her engines were unusable, she had been anchored outside the port and Reed allowed ''Kyle Castle'' to drift to a position south of the Channel Islands. Using hatch covers as makeshift sails, they managed to steer ''Kyle Castle'' into the English Channel, where they received assistance and were towed to Plymouth.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}}{{dubious|date=August 2012}}
Mohr was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 13 March 1945, while ''Oberleutnant zur See'' Otto Karl, who had commanded artillery lighter ''AF 65'', was awarded the Knights Cross on 21 March 1945.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.islandfarm.fsnet.co.uk/Vizeadmiral%20Friedrich%20H%FCffmeier.htm |title=Viceadmiral Friedrich Hüffmeier (Friedrich Hueffmeier) |access-date=7 January 2008 |archive-date=4 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080104100603/http://www.islandfarm.fsnet.co.uk/Vizeadmiral%20Friedrich%20H%FCffmeier.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>
In a later operation, an 18-man German sabotage raid from Jersey landed from rubber boats on Cape de la Hague on 5 April 1945, intending to destroy installations. The mission failed, and the team was captured.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sanders |first=Paul |year=2005 |title=The British Channel Islands Under German Occupation, 1940–1945 |publisher=Société jersiaise, Jersey Heritage Trust |page=181 |isbn=0-9538858-3-6}}</ref>
A further raid was planned for 7 May 1945, but Admiral Karl Dönitz ordered Hüffmeier not to carry out any more offensive operations so close to the end of the war.
One of the mentioned casualties, Lieutenant Roger Lightoller, was a Motor Torpedo Boat skipper and son of Charles Lightoller, the second officer of the RMS ''Titanic'' during its ill-fated maiden voyage.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UZ9ZBAAAQBAJ&q=roger+lightoller+granville+raid&pg=PT122 |title=The War of the Motor Gun Boats: One Man's Personal War at Sea with the Costal Forces, 1943-1945 |isbn=9781473830080 |via=Google Books |last=Chapman |first=A. J. |date=2 October 2013}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * Jackman, Jack (2005) ''The Granville Raid''. WW2 People's War archives. BBC home. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/52/a4041352.shtml Account from a book with eye-witness commentary]
Category:Western Front (World War II) Category:Conflicts in 1945 Category:1945 in France Category:Battles of World War II involving France Category:World War II raids Category:Military history of the Channel Islands during World War II Category:Naval battles of World War II involving Germany Category:Naval battles of World War II involving the United States Category:Naval battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom Category:March 1945 in Europe