The War of the Gun Boats

First published in 1970, in this reprint the author explains in his introduction that his book doesn’t aim to cover all MTB operations in all the theatres of war, but to show how the tactics used by MTBs evolved on both sides of WWII. A brief history of MTB development covers the characteristics of the different national “little boats”. The German S-boats (known as E-boats (enemy) by the British) were larger with diesel engines and better armed; the smaller British MTBs had Italian petrol engines. After Dunkirk the Germans occupied all the coast facing England and the RN rapidly established MTB bases to face this challenge. Early contact in the Channel emphasised the superiority of the E-boat, but the arrival of better armed MGBs operating with the MTBs proved effective, thanks to the leadership of officers such as Lt Cdr Hichens. The book also covers the operations of the USN in the Pacific where PT boats were a constant threat to Japanese coastal shipping. In the Mediterranean, German E-boats initially had success against convoys and sank 2 cruisers but the Allies steadily gained the upper hand and by 1944 had evolved Battle Squadrons – a mix of Fairmile D -class MGBs and MTBs with US PT boats with their superior radar. The book has a lovely vignette of an E-boat demanding and achieving the surrender of 5,000 Italians and the city of Venice! Other operations covered are the St Nazaire Raid – the “greatest single undertaking by Coastal Forces” and D-Day where Coastal Forces successfully prevented E-boats attacks and harassed German coastal shipping as the Allies advanced. Concluding, the book shows that the E-boats were more successful against Allied convoys than the MTBs were against German shipping, but the larger British convoys provided better targets, although German mining operations were the most successful use of the E-boat. The book traces the rapid build-up of British Coastal Forces commanded predominantly by RNVR officers; operating in all weather, in the dark with only basic navigational aids, was a skill in itself, let alone fighting. Unashamedly a canter across WWII Coastal Forces operations, a read of books such as Peter Scott’s Battle of the Narrow Seas and Hichens Gunboat Command will give a deeper understanding. Although currently worldwide Coastal Forces are minimal, the war in Ukraine shows the continued vulnerability of coastal shipping and the advent of unmanned attack craft.