"Pegasus Bridge: Gunboat(s)" Topic

Question for the TMP masses…
On D-day after Maj. Howard and his friends took Pegasus Bridge there were several attempts by the Germans to take it back. One of these included 1 or 2 gunboats. One of these was hit with a PIAT round & captured and the other one turned back. Does anybody know what "gunboats" these were? I have read several references to them but never saw an actual name or description. I'm curious as to armaments in particular so I can use it in a scenario. Thanks ahead of time. Mike

E-Boats maybe? or armed trawlers?

Artillerieprahmen, I imagine.

All the best,

John.

Same here – never saw much of a description of them. I've never seen reference to S-boats or armed trawlers operating on rivers. More likely an armed river tug, motorized barge, or similar. Actually, the Germans had smaller craft for patrol than S-boats. Can't think of what they were called now, butI'll check in a bit. Even on the Rhine (significantly larger than the river at Pegasus Bridge), it was typically smaller boats than S-boats and trawlers that were used for patrol.

They were 'Vorpostenboote'. These were often converted trawlers, but a photo of the one grounded at Pegasus Bridge looks like a scaled-down destroyer or corvette, but with much lighter armament (which was no better than 20mm, IIRC). It doesn't have the slick lines of an E or S Boat, but not as clumsy-looking as trawlers or tugs. 'Cutter' would probably be the best description – think of modern US Coastguard Cutters or RN Fishery Protection Vessels.

It would be useful to be able to see that photo.

A problem is that Ambrose and others suggest that the "gunboats" were sent from Ouistreham, but the only KM unit there was 10. Raumbootsflottille. The closest Vorpostenbootflottille was the 2nd at Caen.

This interrogation report had R-boot photos and a drawing, but these craft based at Ouistreham seem a bit too large for what's described coming up the canal:

link

Likewise, this example of a Verpostenboot (and the accompanying photos) also appears much too large for the canal:

link

But there were certainly smaller ones. This 20mm model seems a likely candidate:

link

…but again, a photo would help nail it down.

Allen

Perhaps Dave at The PT Dockyard may know? Robert

I've read varying discriptions as well. Most likely, they fell into the VPboot category and that can mean just about anything from a converted fishing trawler to a yacht.

I suspect that the most likely candidate would be a kreigsfischkutter ( link ). As the name suggests they were the size of inshore fishing boats, and were armed with 1 x 37mm and 4 x 20mm cannon. They would have been small enough to sail up the river as far as the bridge, and the armament would have been quite powerful when used against infantry that were without a great deal of close support.

I asked this question at the end of another thread some time ago and received the always useful response from R Mark.

TMP link

I found a couple of pictures that would be useful:

picture

link

In any case, Allen sugestion of using the britannia models armed trawler Ship is an excellent one. I bought it for the same scenario in 28mm and (IMHO) the ship fits perfectly.

Unfortunately I've loaned out the only book I've got that has the photo in it – I strongly recommend getting the book though! :)

Re the size – remember that the Orne Canal is a ship canal – designed to let large ships go all the way up to the Colombelles steelworks and the Caen Basin. I've stood at the bridge and watch freighters go past that tower over the buildings and the bridge itself. You could potentially sail a cruiser up there!

Thanks for the link Palafox! I obviously knew more a year ago! I'm like Homer Simpson – if I learn new stuff, some old stuff has to fall out!

(I've had two more free pots of tea from Madame Gondree since then – maybe she puts something in it)

Btw, what's the name of the book?.

I've just remembered that the photo is on my tour handout: It appears to have been converted from a small frieghter. I'd estimate it to be about 150-200 feet long. It's got a high fo'c'sle, with two 'pulpit' gun mounts, stepped so that the second gun can fire forward over the front gun. The front gun appears very similar to a 5cm KwK and has a gunshield. The second gun appears to be a 2cm or 3.7cm Flak and has a gunshield.

Superstructure is amidships, with a single, tall & narrow funnel, whch is light-coloured and has a black tip. The rest of the ship appears uniform in colour rather than camouflaged, though as it's mainly submerged, it's difficult to tell for certain.

The poop deck extends almost all the way forward to the funnel, but is not as tall as the fo'c'sle. There's a lot of equipment in this area and it's hard to distinguish due to the fuzziness of the photo, but it's probably minelaying kit and light Flak.

Sorry! I thought I'd mentioned it (I might have deleted it again by mistake before posting) – it's the excellent 'Gold Juno Sword' by Georges Bernage (Heimdal).

Aha! Allen has already provided the answer – his second link (This one – link ) is exactly the same type.

Believe me when I say that this would look pretty small on the Caen Canal.

Thanks a lot Mark. You always give very useful book recommendations but usually a pain in the ass for me to find… at a reasonable price. The best offers do not ship internationally. Thanks again Mark, seems Bernage has very good books on Normandy.

Holy crap gang-
Thanks a bunch for all the help!

Yup, his books are generally superb, though a few (such as the Goodwood one) are padded out with totally irrelevant modelling articles (yes, really). Some of his books also 'recycle' lots of previously-published material. 'Gold Juno Sword' is truly brilliant though and there are other gems, such as his books on the Odon and Hill 112 (though sadly, these alst two are only available in French). I'm surprised to hear you say that it's expensive though – I've found it for sale in France pegged at 15 Euros.

Wow, I've only met (and already ordered) it in France for 29 Euros, not including P&P. In England It's found by 8 GBP. Thanks for the tips.

OK, with Mark's identification (in the other thread, posted by Palafox) of the Vorpostenboot as V212, we can see here (scroll down to 06.06.44):

link

…that the two craft lost in the canal that day were V206 "Otto Broehan" and V212 "Friedrich Busse", from the 2.Vorpostenbootflottille.

Cool.

Allen

Impressive.

"Thanks a bunch for all the help!"

Well, it is one of those engagements a lot of people have an interest in.

The stuff on the different kinds of gunboats was fascinating, not something I'm very clued up on at all. That thing is enormous! Good job the Bismarck was on the bottom of the sea….

I just remembered I have the book "The Devil's Own Luck" by Denis Edwards in which he very briefly describes two separate attacks by "gunboats". The second one came from Oistreham and was the one hit by the PIAT round and captured. But it is the first one that I found even more interesting. A "gunboat" came from the Caen direction and was fired on and apparently hit by the 50mm AT gun that the Brits had by then figured out how to use. The Brit gunners didn't realize they hit it until they were informed later by paras or glidermen closer up the canal. They had been ordered to prepare to engage and assault the boat as it came near. Now that would make for an interesting game scenario. Johnny Depp has nothing on these guys!

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but does anyone make one of these boats in 28mm?

Pvt. Matter-
I looked for models of this when I got the responses to my request above. At the time the only one I found was a 20mm version from Britannia. My recollection was that it was not accurate to the boats in action at the bridge. Also the 20mm version was over a foot long. A 28mm version may approach a foot and a half.

Edit:
As a kid I built piles of Lindbergh models (mini lindys cars & some boat models). I built the PT 109 in 1/72 scale. I recall they made a version in 1/64 as well. Again, not an exact replica of what you want but with some conversion you could make it work. Just a thought…

This topic just reminded me of all the good and learned people that have been lost to TMP (for various reasons). Sad really.

I just did the math: at 1/56th scale, one of those boats would be 41.3 inches long……….