Dive Into History

Author: Andraž Fajdiga

  • Lehrkommando 700 – Hitler,s experimental diving unit in Venetian lagoon

    The defeats suffered by Nazi Germany in 1944 on all fronts led to a feverish search for new solutions and the development of new doctrines. Even the German Kriegsmarine (KMS –Navy), which was no longer able to compete with the British or American Navy, began to develop a new war doctrine called Kleinkampf -Verbände (K- Verbände). Thus, in the last breaths of World War 2, an interesting unit was born…

    The whole new doctrine of warfare marked a shift from the doctrine of larger naval units, i.e. battleships and cruisers, to cheaper, numerically smaller and more mobile, but equally or more effective smaller units, which would include mini–submarines with a crew of one or two men, smaller motor boats Linsen,  filled with explosives, and the use of combat swimmers.

    In Sistiana, Italy not far from Slovenija s border, on a beach not far from the port, at a depth around of 10 meters we can come across the wreck of the mini submarine Molch, which remains a silent witness of German ingenuity and stubbornness. But since this article is intended only for military divers, we will leave Molch on the bottom and take a stroll back to 1942…

    The whole story began much earlier. I have already written about the operation of the Decima MAS unit, but certainly the experience of this Italian unit was also used by the Germans in forming their own diving unit. Overall control of the implementation of the new doctrine was taken over by Admiral Heye, who was given broad authority to recruit and acquire resources to form the units.

    Alfred von Wurzian and Branderburgers

    In 1942, law student and keen water sportsman Austrian Alfred von Wurzian (pictured) collaborated with his friend the famous Austrian underwater explorer Hans Haas on an expedition in the Aegean Sea. There they tested a new system of oxygen rebreather Dräger–Gegenlunge, a product of the then leading German company in the manufacture of breathing systems. Despite the practical limitations of the depth due to the toxicity of oxygen at 20 meters, the device proved to be potentially useful for military purposes. Von Wurzian presented the device on Sept. 11, 1942, to Vice Admiral Erich Först, then commander of the KMS in occupied Greece, who, however, did not show much enthusiasm. In parallel with these events, however, the Abwehr, as part of its armed wing the Branderburger Division, began to set up the Marine Einsatz Kommando (MEK) units, which were intended to gather intelligence, destroy bridges, lay mines, etc. Alfred von Wurzian repeatedly tried in vain to impress the naval command for the use of the apparatus for military purposes, until his work was noticed by Abwehr, who sent him for observation and training in the Italian unit Decima MAS. Alfred von Wurzian, meanwhile, became a de facto member of the Abwehr, working with German representative Eugene Wolk in the Decima MAS unit. By the end of the training in the spring of 1943, von Wurzian was already able to demonstrate combat skills.

    The Surrender of Fascist Italy and Migration to the North

    With Italy’s surrender, Wurzian was almost been captured in Rome, where he hurriedly retreated north, along with most of the Decima MAS unit and Wolk. In the newly formed Salo Republic, specifically in the town of Valdagno near Verona, a training center for the combat unit was re–formed in January 1944. Von Wurzian and Wolk received about 30 recruits from Germany, most of whom were all good water sportsmen. The recruits were recruited from among the staff of the Abwehr, naval units and even the elite SS. These recruits were joined by the core of Decima MAS, who trained separately from the Germans under Wolk’s leadership. LK 700 thus integrated MEK units, combining them with diving equipment and Decima MAS technicians into an entirely new unit. The unit’s biggest organizational problem was the internal friction due to disputes over command, organization and payment, etc. between the navy, Abwehr and the SS, as the latter mainly imagined the special position of its recruits due to its elite status.

    Training included endurance training, swimming upstream, training in orientation, survival techniques, martial arts Jiu jiutsu, handling explosives, foreign languages, etc. Later, the newly established unit Lehrkommando 700 (LK 700) together with the command moved to Venice, more specifically to the island of San Giorgio, where a training center for more advanced combat techniques (LK 701) was established, while the center in Valdagn provided basic training renamed Lehrkommandoes 704. In Bad Tölz in Bavaria, the Lehrkommando 702 center was developed as part of the SS Junkerschule swimming complex. Each MEK unit consisted of approximately one officer and up to 22 members, with associated 15 vehicles for equipment transport and support, i.e. 3 vehicles for communication, two amphibious and one towing vehicle for transport. When necessary, according to the purpose of the combat missions, MEK units with different specialties were merged. 

    The location in Venice was ideal for training divers because, in addition to the remoteness of the island, some primitive island infrastructure allowed for some natural features, which illustrated as realistically as possible the difficulties of field training: strong currents, poor visibility in the Venetian lagoon… The Germans were probably also helped a lot in training by a confiscated special forces training manual captured during the Allied action at Dieppe. 

    On June 30, 1944, the LK 701 training center in Venice was visited by Otto Skorzeny himself, who was already celebrated in German military circles as the leader of the German special warfare units and the mastermind and operational leader of the rescue of the Italian dictator Mussolini from his prison in Gran Sasso the year before. The purpose of the visit was to smooth out the internal conflicts in the unit while at the same time checking its competence and equipment. He was more than impressed with the results, as during the visit he tested and later convinced Admiral Heye that, despite his misgivings, he had included his SS comrades in the combat unit. A special SS sergeant was appointed as the liaison between the SS and K–Verbande.

    Weapons and equipment
    Before the dive, the LK 700 diver donned wool underwear and a knitted suit made of thick white wool to protect his body from the cold during his several hours in the water. Over this, he wore a rubber suit, which consisted of two parts. First, the diver wore trousers, which ended with boots at the bottom. On top of the rubber suit, a protective canvas suit was donned which served as camouflage and protected the main suit from injury. Then came a belt with lead plates and fins. The equipment was supplemented by an oxygen breathing apparatus, which weighed 4kg and allowed the divers to remain underwater for about an hour.
    You will notice that in the pictures the divers of the LK 700 do not have diving masks. The divers of the saboteurs usually approached their targets on the surface, only just before the target they dived and placed explosive devices underwater. The saboteur swam to the target on his back at a slight angle to the surface. Only his face peeked out of the water behind the mask, which was smeared with greasy cream mixed with soot. Then, a dark green mesh was pulled over the face, attached to a knitted cap. As a result, it was very difficult to detect signs of the presence of the “sea hunter” on the surface of the water. A rule: “let the current” was the first commandment when performing the task. The only accessory besides the Dräger breathing apparatus was a special nose clip.
    Means of sabotage
    The tactics used to mine the ships were no different from the Italian one. The German divers were armed with various explosive devices. Sabotage mine 1 was round with a timing ignition mechanism in the middle and an inflatable rubber bubble that was supposed to hold the mine in place until detonation. Saboteur mine 2 was composed of four interlocking parts, which were attached to the shaft of the vessel and triggered by a stream of water while the target vessel was floating.
    For attacks on bridges and kesons and such targets, K–Verbände used cylindrical shells known as Muni Pakets and Nyr Pakets, which contained 600kg and 1600kg of explosives, respectively. The weapons, fitted with an Italian–style timer, could only be deactivated with an unscrewed safety ring. In addition, a modified GS mine was used against the bridge targets. Two launch chambers were installed at each end of the torpedo–shaped weapon, allowing divers to more easily direct the mine down the river and attach it to its desired target. The timers used could be set for any time period of up to six days, although the clock settings were considered more accurate. In the attack on the bridge in Nijmegen, the timer was set at four hours.
    Divers in action
    The unit experienced its baptism of fire as early as June 1944, when it was given the task of destroying two strategically important bridges to the north–east of Caen, Normandy, where the major Allied landings were taking place. The Pont de Ranville and Pont de Heronville, at the far eastern point of the Sword landing zone, enabled the English penetration into Caen, and as such a key target of German defences. The biggest problem for the Germans was the sheer Allied superiority in the air, as the planes attacked anything German moving on the ground, making transport extremely difficult. However, six battleships equipped with two mines to smash the GS 22 bridge structure. In June 1944, they carried out a daring night operation, which proved partly successful. Despite successfully destroying their planned targets, the mines were found to have been mislaid under the bridge.
    Until the disintegration of the German front and army in France, the divers carried out about twenty sabotage operations with minimal losses and great successes.
    The next major opportunity presented itself. In September 1944, two groups of five divers, in collaboration with the Linsen boats laid an explosive device in front of a barrier in Antwerpen, then the largest cargo port in Europe, making it difficult for the Allies to penetrate Belgium and the Netherlands. The barrier was out of use for about three months. 
    During Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands on the night of 28 and 29 September 1944, the Germans launched an attack on the bridges at Nijmegen, with 12 men taking part in the action. According to the plan, they were to enter the water about 10 kilometres ahead of the target, advance by current to the target, lay mines and sail on towards the German lines to the south. Due to the strong English defence and errors in execution, the German losses were severe: three killed, seven captured and only two combatants successfully returned to their positions. They successfully destroyed the railway bridge while the road bridge remained only slightly damaged due to the poor placement of the destructive explosive device.
    By the end of the war, units of combat swimmers were less successfully involved in combat operations, including the unsuccessful attack on the bridge at Remagen in March 1945, where German combat swimmers lost the last opportunity to prevent the Western Allies from crossing the Rhine.