German Molch Submarine

[Keith Webb]

This one man submarine is preserved at the South African Military Museum.



From what I have read they weren't very successful.

[centurion]

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.

From my (as yet unpublished book) "The Molch was used in the Mediterranean in an attempt to disrupt the Allied invasion of Southern France.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.

[Keith Webb]

Originally posted by centurion

BTW are the colours in your photo authentic? If so I've got to change one of my illustrations.

I don't know about the colours - best to contact the museum directly.

[John McGillivray]

There is one of those things at the Canadian War Museum. Below is a link to some photos when it was at Vimy House.

http://www.dana-nield.com/vimy/German.asp

[centurion]

Originally posted by John McGillivray
There is one of those things at the Canadian War Museum. Below is a link to some photos when it was at Vimy House.

http://www.dana-nield.com/vimy/German.asp

Thanks
I'd been using some scale drawings and black and white WW2 photos and had guessed, incorrectly, that normal U boat colurs would have been used (as appears to have been the case with the Biber). One lives and learns.