Naval Frogmen

Naval Frogmen: Wartime Underwater Operators tells the top secret clandestine seaborne missions by commandos during the Second World War. From the waters of Europe to the Far East, these specialist frogmen took part in near suicidal missions in their mini submarines often primed with explosive warheads or limpet mines. Risking all for their country and to defeat the German Navy, British underwater commandos crippled the mighty Tirpitz battleship. Second World War divers enjoyed the new techniques of aqualungs and the first were underwater oxygen rebreathers made in 1933 by an Italian company. Consequently, the first well-known frogmen were from Italian navy commandos achieving notable successes against the British. As the war developed, all nations used frogmen for a variety of roles including placing limpet mines and the cutting of torpedo and submarine netting. Japan used the frogmen for more devastating effects. As the war in the Pacific came to a close, frogmen of the Imperial Japanese Navy waiting for American ships with explosives attached to a pole. Their kamikaze aim was to sink the ship and blow themselves up in the process. A magnificent tribute to these most courageous men, Naval Frogmen: Wartime Underwater Operators chronicles the conception of operations at the start of war to the end of hostilities. From Italian operations in the Mediterranean, human guinea pigs, missions in Europe and D-Day to the Japanese conclusion, this gripping and exhaustive book reveals all.