English Channel in WW II
English Channel in WWII
bigpigeon.us webpage WWII-Germany > The ETO > The ETO Sea War, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 26 Dec 2022.
​Germany attempted to impede Allied progress in the ETO via naval attacks by E-Boats and submarines in the English Channel area. On two occasions, these attacks caused heavy loss of life.
The First Disaster - the Slapton Sands E-boat raid

The Slapton Sands beach area, southwest of Dartmouth on the above map, was similar to the beach areas of the planned Normandy landings. Thus civilians were evacuated from the area in 1943 so Slapton Sands could be used for training purposes.

A major exercise, Exercise Tiger, was planned from 22 April to 30 April of 1944. Early on 28 April, eight LSTs (Landing Ship Tanks) passed through Lyme Bay heading to Slapton Sands. Due to an accident  and communications snafus, the LSTs had but one escorting warship. 

Around 2 am, nine German E-boats from Cherbourg attacked with torpedoes. (An E-boat was the German equivalent of US PT boats.) LST-507 and LST-531 both sank with heavy loss of life. In all, 749 Americans died. 
Sherman Tank Memorial at Slapton Sands
Sherman Tank Memorial at Slapton Sands
The Normandy Landings
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Allied naval forces suffered losses during the Normandy invasion from German mines, shelling from shore batteries, and beach obstacles.

The first waves of Infantry who landed on Normandy beaches on D-Day came on Higgins Boats, small rectangular landing craft with a ramp on the bow. The Higgins Boats came in two sizes.
  • The original LCVP (landing craft, vehicle, personnel) used plywood in its construction. With a crew of two to four, they could carry 36 soldiers.
  • The larger LCM (landing craft, mechanized) were made from steel and were sometimes called tank lighters.

About Andrew Higgins: Andrew Jackson Higgins was born in Columbus, Nebraska and raised in nearby Omaha. In high school, he was expelled from Creighton Prep for unruly behavior. He had his first water experience with the National Guard on the nearby Platte River. As a young man, he made his way to the Gulf Coast. Eventually he began a boat-building business in New Orleans, developing better boats for shallow and snag-filled bayou waters.

Andrew Higgins' idea for landing craft with a droppable bow came from knowledge of Japanese landing craft. Higgins Industries built over 23,000 landing craft during WWII.
Landing Craft Approaching Normandy Beach
LCVP Higgins Boat Approaching Normandy Beach - 6 Jun 1944
An LC-M Higgins Boat at Normandy
LCM Higgins Boat at Normandy after D-Day
Landing Craft Losses on D-Day

On June 6, the United States lost 27 larger landing craft, including 18 Landing Craft, Tanks, aka LCT, such as the one shown on the right. Other losses included eight Landing Craft, Infantry, Large, aka LCI(L).

I have not see a count for small landing craft losses. However, having looked at British losses, I suspect we lost over a hundred Higgins boats

The United States lost only one Landing Ship Tank - aka LST, on D-Day. Losses of other larger vessels were also remarkably small.
LCT-305
LCT-305 on Omaha Beach, Normandy wrecked during the D-Day invasion, 6 Jun '44 - Robert Saunders of Council Bluffs died on this craft.
Almost a Miracle - the Sinking of the Susan B. Anthony

Early on 7 June 1944, the Susan B. Anthony (AP-72) was transporting members of the 90th Infantry Division from southern Wales to Utah Beach. The Anthony hit a mine NW of Bayeau and about ten miles north of Omaha Beach and lost all power. Rescue ships arrived and shortly before the Anthony sank at 10:10, all 2,689 on board had been evacuated without the use of the Anthony's lifeboats or rafts.

The Susan B. Anthony rescue is thought to be the largest maritime rescue in human history without loss of life.
The USS Susan B. Anthony
The USS Susan B. Anthony at Oran, Algeria in 1943
The Second Disaster - the Sinking of the Leopoldville
  • On the morning of December 24, the Leopoldville left Southhampton, carrying 2,223 combat troops from two regiments of the 66th Infantry Division and escorted by four warships.
  • At 5:54 pm, five miles from Cherbourg, a torpedo from the German submarine U-486 struck the Leopoldville. Three of the escorts left to search for the submarine, while the British destroyer HMS Brilliant came alongside the Leopoldville and eventually took off 500 survivors.
  • Most of the Leopoldville's crew soon abandoned the ship in lifeboats, taking some survivors with them.
  • Attempts to summon assistance faltered because of communications issues and the absence of key personnel, who were at Christmas Eve celebrations.
  • The Leopoldville exploded and at 8:40 pm sank.​802, including 763 Americans, died.
SS Leopoldville in 1937
SS Leopoldville in 1937
The three men from the Pottawattamie area lost on the Leopoldville included:
  • Charles E. Swanson, Jr. had no siblings. After his death, his parents adopted two children.
  • Eldred Welbourn graduated from high school at age 15. As a child, he lived for a time near Pigeon Creek, where his parents rented a farm from my step-grandfather, Ralph Spencer.
Tanker Y-17 - Another Big Pigeon Native Son Lost

The Allies used progidious amounts of gasoline in their June 1944 - May 1945 drive across Western Europe. Underwater pipelines laid in two locations under the English Channel proved inadequate, and most gasoline had to be delivered to the European mainland by ship.

The US Army Tanker Y-17 was but one of many small vessels lost off the coast of Western Europe during WW II. In April 1945, the Y-17 left the Solent area SW of London bound for the Antwerp, Belgium area with a cargo of high-octane aviation fuel.

On 9 April 1945, the Y-17 was torpedoed in the North Sea off Ostend, Belgium by a two-man German submarine. The Y-17 exploded with no survivors.

​The Y-17 crew had but one US Navy man, Signalman George E. Jorgensen, Jr.  Junior Jorgensen had been one of my Aunt Ethel's Hazel Dell #3 students when his family lived on a farm near Pigeon Creek. 

The Y-17 used the petroleum terminal at Hamble-le-Rice, a harbor village between Southampton and Portsmouth. Workers at Hamble built a memorial.
The Army Tanker Y-17 Memorial
the Army Tanker Y-17 Memorial
Sources for Big Pigeon's The ETO > The ETO Sea War webpage:
Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead - The ETO > The ETO Sea War:
  • Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Roster module.​​
03-10 - The ETO > The ETO Sea War: (six dead, updated 7 Oct 2020)
† Arkfeld, Francis Felix, SN 621-46-99, US Navy, Shelby Co.
  • Landing Craft Tank LCT-486; KIA 7 Jun 1944, craft sunk by a mine off Utah Beach, Normandy, France; The ETO > The ETO Sea War; BNR.
† Jorgensen, George Eugene Jr., SN 316-86-64, US Navy, Pott. & Mills Cos.
  • Navy signalman on Army tanker Y-17 carrying aviation fuel from Hamble-le-Rice, near Southampton SW of London to the Antwerp, Belgium area; KIA 9 Apr 1945 off Ostend, Belgium; Y-17 sunk by torpedo from German midget submarine U-5309; no survivors among the 18 crew members; The ETO > The ETO Sea War; BNR.
† Saunders, Robert William, SN 316-91-16, US Navy, Pott. Co.
  • Landing Craft Tank LCT-305; KIA 6 Jun 1944 off Omaha Beach, Normandy, France; LCT-305 hit a mine but completed its mission, only one dead; D-Day, first day of Battle of Normandy - The ETO > The ETO Sea War.
† Svenningsen, Elmer Lawrence, SN 31-461-349, US Army, Pott. Co. & Fairfield Co., CT
  • 362nd Inf. Regt., 66th Inf. Div.; KIA 24 Dec 1944 on SS Leopoldville crossing English Channel from Southampton, England to Cherbourg, France; Leopoldville was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-486 five miles off Cherbourg; 763 US Army deaths; The ETO > The ETO Sea War; BNR.
† Swanson, Charles Edward Jr., SN 17-082-496, US Army, Pott. Co.
  • Co. H, 262nd Inf. Regt., 66th Inf. Div.; KIA 24 Dec 1944 on SS Leopoldville crossing English Channel from Southampton, England to Cherbourg, France; Leopoldville was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-486 five miles off Cherbourg; 763 US Army deaths; The ETO > The ETO Sea War; BNR.
† Welbourn, Eldred Orville, SN 37-484-888, US Army, Pott. Co.
  • 262nd Inf. Regt. 66th Inf. Div.; KIA 24 Dec 1944 on SS Leopoldville crossing English Channel from Southampton, England to Cherbourg, France; Leopoldville was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-486 five miles off Cherbourg; 763 US Army deaths; The ETO > The ETO Sea War; BNR.​