Abortive Raid on Isle of Wight

Discussion in 'General' started by DirtyDick, Jul 22, 2004.

  1. DirtyDick

    DirtyDick Senior Member

    I recall learning a few years back that there were contemporary reports of fully clothed corpses of German soldiers being washed up/found on the south coast of the Isle of Wight in about 1940-41, but that there was no official, publicised response made by the Government of the day in response to these claims.

    Is this likely to have happened?

    Has this anecdote(?) been debunked as mere hearsay through later examination or explanation?

    Richard
     
  2. Ali Hollington

    Ali Hollington Senior Member

    Can't help nail this down but my dad was interested in WW2 and as a police officer used to spend a lot of time chatting to the more senior members of our community (SE Essex). One story he relayed was of troops clearing the bodies of German army troops up after an abortive/failed raid, I can't remember the suggested location and unfortunately my dad is no longer with us to ask. Not really helping to answer your question but it something which has obviously "done the rounds" and when you think of the allied raids on europe is it immpossible some came back the other way?
    Ali
     
  3. DirtyDick

    DirtyDick Senior Member

    Hi Ali

    Yes, I was surprised when they said it was the IoW, unless they were trying to get at some of the radar stations during or around the time of the BoB or use it for propaganda.

    I would imagine that if German E boats could get to Slapton Sands in daylight in 1944 to attack US troops, then they could more easily make the short overnight cross to the Kent/Sussex/Hampshire coastline to land raiding parties in 1940/41.

    Richard
     
  4. morse1001

    morse1001 Very Senior Member

    they could be unfortunate souls washed ashore by the currants when their tropp ship was lost in the channel?

    :ph34r: :ph34r:
     
  5. BeppoSapone

    BeppoSapone Senior Member

    Originally posted by DirtyDick@Jul 22 2004, 08:58 AM
    I recall learning a few years back that there were contemporary reports of fully clothed corpses of German soldiers being washed up/found on the south coast of the Isle of Wight in about 1940-41, but that there was no official, publicised response made by the Government of the day in response to these claims.

    Is this likely to have happened?

    Has this anecdote(?) been debunked as mere hearsay through later examination or explanation?

    Richard
    I don't think that it happened, rather that this was "Black propaganda". The British Government broadcast that an attempted German raid or raids had been repulsed.

    IIRC the British broadcast news that burned bodies had been washed ashore, and mentioned "terror weapons" that could "set the sea on fire". They also read out lists of recent German POWs suggesting that they had been captured in this abortive raid/invasion.

    In fact, they had been taken off of flak ships that had been boarded by the Royal Navy in the English channel/North Sea.
     
  6. DirtyDick

    DirtyDick Senior Member

    Cheers for the replies, chaps.

    That makes sense, Tony, especially if the British tied in some hidden weapon that had halted the supposed invasion or raid, but also a risky strategy since it would imply that the coastline was vulnerable to infiltration.
     
  7. angie999

    angie999 Very Senior Member

    I have just finished reading Operation Sea Lion by Peter Flemming (Pan Books). This is a rather old source, originally published in 1957, but well researched and it covers this.

    I don't think it was "black propaganda", but according to this book a story was circulating in the summer of 1940 that the Germans had attempted an invasion and failed, with the results mentioned above. Churchill gave a slight amount of credence in Their Finest Hour by stating that 40 bodies had been washed up between the Isle of Wight and Cornwall.

    None of this checks out, not even Churchill, and it seems to have been what we would now call an urban myth. Nobody had actually seen it, but knew a friend of a friend who had.

    Of course, during WWII some individual German naval and Luftwaffe bodies were washed up here and there, as were British ones, of individuals lost at or over the sea.
     
  8. DirtyDick

    DirtyDick Senior Member

    Bodies of sailors killed in the Atlantic were often driven by the current to land on the West coast of Ireland, often weeks after death, where they would be interred.

    Apparently, one of the main non-operational duties of the Irish Army was retrieving bodies washed up along their shores.

    Richard
     
  9. BeppoSapone

    BeppoSapone Senior Member

    Originally posted by angie999@Jul 23 2004, 01:05 PM
    I have just finished reading Operation Sea Lion by Peter Flemming (Pan Books). This is a rather old source, originally published in 1957, but well researched and it covers this.

    I don't think it was "black propaganda", but according to this book a story was circulating in the summer of 1940 that the Germans had attempted an invasion and failed, with the results mentioned above. Churchill gave a slight amount of credence in Their Finest Hour by stating that 40 bodies had been washed up between the Isle of Wight and Cornwall.

    None of this checks out, not even Churchill, and it seems to have been what we would now call an urban myth. Nobody had actually seen it, but knew a friend of a friend who had.

    Of course, during WWII some individual German naval and Luftwaffe bodies were washed up here and there, as were British ones, of individuals lost at or over the sea.
    Definately black propaganda. I will have to have a think about where exactly I read it. Was it something to do with Sefton Delmer?

    Due to War Operations the bodies of some burned German soldiers and sailors were washed ashore in England, and someone in the "dirty tricks" department had the idea of creating this "legend", and broadcasting it to the German troops and or civilians.

    Not for a moment would it have fooled the German Abwehr, Heer or who-ever, but it was not supposed to. The target was the ordinary German "man in the street", or rank and file soldier. Many of these people listened to British broadcasts just as our side listened to "Lord Haw Haw".

    Imagine if you were a German soldier in France or Belgium. You had seen the invasion barges, seen the plane going out on raids, but you were never actually told much of anything. Would you believe the story? The names and home towns of POWs added the final touch.

    Funnily enough I was reading "The Fortress" by Raleigh Trevelyan. This is a book about Anzio, and Trevelyan's experiences on the Beach Head in the first part of 1944.

    Although it does not say so in the book Trevelyan was an officer of the Rifle Brigade, attached to a northern English infantry battalion in 5th Infantry Division. IIRC it was the Green Howards, but I could be wrong on that. Anyway, the point of all this was that German radio broadcast a message from an officer who was supposed to have been taken POW by the Germans. No-one in the Green Howards had ever heard of him, but the scam could have fooled other units in the division, or in 56th Division etc etc.

    The message was also rather silly, which may, or may not, have convinced British ORs that it was an officer speaking. Something like: "I say chaps, it's jolly spiffing here".
     

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