Quote:
Originally posted by Keith Webb
This one man submarine is preserved at the South African Military Museum.
From what I have read they weren't very successful.
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From my (as yet unpublished book) "The Molch was used in the Mediterranean in an attempt to disrupt the Allied invasion of Southern France. On the night of 25/26 September 1944 12 Molchs attacked, sinking or damaging nothing for the loss of 10 miniature submarines. From January through April 1945 Molch and Biber midget boats were used in the North Sea and the Baltic and went out on 102 sorties, lost 70 of their own and only sank 7 very small ships (average size 70 tons) and damaged two others."
Astounding as it may seem the Moloch was one of the more succesful German mini subs. Hundreds of sailors died in the other types for little or no success. The Negers and Marders had a death rate per mission of over 65% and achieved next to nothing.
BTW are the colours in your photo authentic? If so I've got to change one of my illustrations.