Scarpa Bay in the English Channel, the site of the British naval fleet during World War II, was so complex that the enemy could not penetrate it. In 1939, the British battleship "Royal Oak" was sunk by the German Navy in Scarpa Bay, and the reason for the investigation afterwards was impossible to know, how did the German army enter Scarpa Bay? What's going on here? Interested friends can like and follow, convenient to browse the previous content.
British Navy cruiser
Due to the unique geographical characteristics of the island country, the United Kingdom often suffered from foreign invasions at sea at the beginning of its establishment, so the United Kingdom began to develop maritime defense forces, and they formed a maritime fleet. The Royal Navy, perfected by successive kings, gradually became the hegemon of the sea. Until the beginning of the Second World War, Britain's Royal Navy was the most powerful navy in the world, and they were the backbone of Britain's struggle for supremacy at sea.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > battleship Royal Oak</h1>
The Royal Oak is a series of warships belonging to the British Royal Navy's Revenge series. At the beginning of the Second World War, the battleship Royal Oak suffered damage to its equipment during a mission, so the British Navy docked it in Scarpa Bay and temporarily served as an anti-aircraft gunboat in port.
Schematic map of Scarpa Bay
Scarpa Bay has an important strategic position in the sea, through Scapa Bay, direct access to the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, during the Second World War, it was once an important naval base on the British sea, the British Navy occupied Scarpa Bay, firmly controlled the North Sea, occupying a favorable position in the Atlantic Ocean.
Scarpa Bay's unique geographical location makes the navy in the nearby sea want to take it for themselves. So although the British navy was already stationed here, the navies of other countries still wanted to seize it, including the British navy's nemesis in the Atlantic theater, the German navy.
Battleship Royal Oak
In fact, Scapa Bay also has the biggest advantage, that is, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, because the terrain is very complex, the coastline is tortuous, and without people who are particularly familiar with the nearby sea, invaders cannot enter accurately. Moreover, many actual battles have also shown that all the naval forces that tried to break into Skapa Bay were all sunk by mines, so Skapa Bay is also known as the most difficult place to attack.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the Scarpa Bay sneak attack plan</h1>
In 1939, the British and German navies once again fought fiercely in the Atlantic. These two forces have been rivals for many years, and in order to occupy the favorable situation at sea, Germany has specially created a number of secret weapons, that is, German U-boats. German U-boats, once called a terrifying nightmare by Churchill, were the most ferocious wolves in the Atlantic.
German U-boat
In October 1939, the German army made a detailed plan, and they decided to let the submarine U-47 sneak into Scapa Bay and sneak into the British Navy's maritime military base. After receiving this sneak attack order, the naval command immediately made preparations in all aspects, and on October 8, the German submarine U-47 secretly set off, and after several days of secret underwater sneaking, the U-47 submarine finally reached the waters near Scapa Bay.
On the night of October 13, The captain of U-47, Gain, was cautiously sailing under the cover of night. As mentioned earlier, the terrain of Scarpa Bay is very complex, and it is impossible to reach safely without a familiar person to lead the way. However, Captain Gain seemed to know how to go, and without hesitation along the way, he soon succeeded in entering Scapa Bay.
Scarpa Bay
At this time, the British Navy, after a day's work, was very tired, and except for the soldiers on duty to defend, the others had long been asleep. This is not to say that the British navy was not vigilant, but that no enemy could ever break in, and over time the soldiers became accustomed to this relaxed attitude.
In the early hours of October 4, the German submarine U-47, under the command of Captain Gain, fired a wave of ammunition at the ship HMS Royal Oak docked at Skapa Bay Naval Base. After completing the launch, Captain Gain ordered the submarine to retreat, to wait and see what was going on, and to replenish the submarine's ammunition.
Sneak attack on Scarpa Bay
However, at that time, all the British navy on the Royal Oak was still asleep, and the Royal Oak ship itself was very thick, and the sound of this wave of attack did not attract the attention of the officers and men on the battleship. After Discovering that the British Navy had not fought back, Gayne ordered three more ammunition to be fired, all three of which hit the target.
In just ten minutes, the 29,000-ton Royal Navy, the hull of the Royal Oak battleship was exploded, billowing smoke rose into the sky, and the ship soon sank to the bottom of the sea. The German submarine U-47, after completing this sneak attack mission, under the command of Captain Gain, withdrew quietly and quickly.
Battleship Royal Oak
The successful sneak attack on the Royal Oak killed a total of 833 officers and men on board, including the commander of the British Navy's Second Fleet, Praguejov. The captain of the German submarine U-47 was also widely discussed among the German army, and Gain soon became a war hero. The Sneak Attack at Scarpa Bay quickly became a legend on the Atlantic Battlefield, and the struggle between the British and German navies became more and more intense.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > ghost of Scarpa Bay</h1>
Through this incident, the British government realized the inadequacies of its own navy, and at the same time, he was very surprised by this matter, he did not know how the German navy had successfully entered Scapa Bay. In order to find out the course of this matter, the British Royal Navy specially set up a commission of inquiry.
Naval Battle of the Atlantic
In the analysis of all experts, the cause of the final incident points to one thing, that is, Skapa Bay is likely to be mixed with spies from Germany. On the night of the incident, it should be that the German spy led the way for the U-47 submarine, successfully dodged various obstacles, and successfully arrived at Scarpa Bay.
Following this conjecture, everyone began to look for this spy, and even dispatched the British counter-espionage department. Through the investigation of all the British navies, the counter-espionage department found that the spy was not mixed with the officers and soldiers, so they set their sights on ordinary residents. There is an Orkney Island in Scarpa Bay, which is inhabited by residents from the United Kingdom. The counterintelligence department launched a carpet search on orkney Island.
Orkney Islands
But the people on the island were checked over and over again, and none of the suspicious identities were found, and all the inhabitants of the island could withstand the verification and scrutiny. Wasn't this the work of spies? For a moment, this matter was like a mystery, and it could not be solved. Everyone remains convinced that such a spy must have existed in the Karpa Bay sneak attack.
It was not until 1942 that a media outlet from the United States suddenly reported an article that mentioned the sinking of the Royal Oak, and also pointed out that the spy who made the British counterintelligence department unable to find anything was called Alfred Weilin. Alfred Weillin, a former member of the German Naval Forces, later joined the German intelligence service.
The sinking of the Royal Oak
After that, he ostensibly left the German army, but in fact infiltrated England as a spy to live. Alfred Weilin came to Orkney Island, where he opened a watch shop and, with his strong social skills, soon became acquainted with the people of the island. Alfred Weilin also changed his name to Albert Ott.
Albert Ott is usually very enthusiastic, very enthusiastic, the people on Orkney Island are very fond of him, usually in the chat, everyone also says what they want, never care about him. Albert Ott lived on orkney Island for 12 years.
12 years is enough for a professional and excellent spy to understand all the situations. When the German Naval Command formulated a sneak attack plan, it decided to use this "secret weapon". Albert Ott reported the underwater barriers in Scarpa Bay and the distribution of the British Navy to the German Navy, so that the Scapa Bay sneak attack plan could be successfully executed.
In fact, after the end of World War II, the British counterintelligence department has not given up the search for spies, and after seeing the American report, they returned to Orkney Island again. But they all knew that Albert Ott must have retreated long ago, and this time he would go back to check if there were any clues he had left behind.
The ghost of Scarpa Bay
Unexpectedly, this investigation made the whole thing become confusing. There is no such watch shop on Orkney Island, and after asking all the residents, everyone has said that there has never been such a person on the island. What's going on here?
Since this spy has not been found, many people have begun to call this spy, the ghost of Scarpa Bay, over time, this matter in the folk, there is another version of the rumor, there is no such spy, that night to the German U-47 submarine to lead the way, in fact, is the real ghost. I have to say that everyone's imagination is still very rich, but this ghost of Scarpa Bay has also become a mystery that has not been solved in the Second World War.
Perhaps in our cognition, most of the supernatural events occur in life, and the battlefield is full of artillery fire, real wars. In fact, on the battlefield, there are many strange events, if you are interested, you can pay attention to this account Oh, there are many things that happened on the battlefield, some unknown things. Or if you are interested in something, you can leave a message in the comment area and discuss it together!