The The D-Day Story and national museum partners present an online exhibition in the lead up to the 80th anniversary of D-Day in World War Two.
Every day, for 80 days, the D-Day Museum will share a selection of 80 objects relating to the Normandy campaign, from their collection and those of other major museums including the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN).
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Object 27:
At first glance this small craft might not seem to pose a great risk to Allied ships. But German ‘Neger’ human torpedoes like this one did pose a significant naval threat in the weeks after D-Day.
The German ‘Neger’ was essentially a torpedo (without an explosive warhead) that had been converted so that it would seat a person inside a Perspex dome, which projected out of the water. Underneath the vessel there was a second torpedo, this time fitted with a warhead. The concept of the weapon was that the crewman would approach an Allied ship, probably at night so he was harder to spot, and then release the torpedo which would run at high speed towards the enemy. As other, more conventional German ships were sunk or kept at bay by the Allies, the small Negers were one of the devices the German navy used to try to sink shipping just off the coast of France.
Once the Allies had landed in Normandy the Negers were based on the coast further to the east than the landing beaches, from where they made two main attacks in July. At night, groups of them would attack the Allied anchorage, arriving at the eastern-most beach, Sword. Gun-armed landing craft were anchored in a line to try to intercept these attacks, in what was known as the Trout Line. Motor torpedo boats also patrolled to head off such attacks.
The Negers’ attacks could be deadly. On the night of 5-6 July 1944 for example, around seventy Royal Navy sailors were killed when Negers sunk two British minesweepers, HMS Magic and HMS Cato. The craft could also be very dangerous to the crewman too: sometimes the torpedo fired but did not detach from the manned section of the craft.
Reference: NMRN PH 1993/1164
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2moI fondly remember Mike Melville calling it "THE White Knight", with his South African accent. Somewhere along the way, people starting calling it White Knight One, but that was never it's name. It is such a unique aircraft: 2 fixed gear, 2 retractable gear, 2 afterburners, bank vault forward hatch, so much more. I feel very privileged to have flown in it with a great set of pilots and crew. I especially appreciated it's ability climb and descend very quickly.