The Naval War in the Baltic, 1939-1945

by Poul Grooss

From the shelling of the fort at Westerplatte on the Polish coast on 1 September 1939 to the loss of thousands of German refugees at sea in May 1945 the Baltic witnessed continuous and ferocious fighting throughout World War II.

In this new book Poul Groos chronicles naval warfare in the region and covers such major events as the siege of Leningrad, the Soviet campaign against Sweden in 1942, the three wars in Finland 1939-44, the Soviet liberation of the Baltic states and the German evacuation of two million people from the East and the Soviet race westwards in 1945.

Groos also explores topics such as Swedish cooperation with Germany, the Germans’ use of the Baltic to train U-boats crews for the battle of the Atlantic, the secret weapons trials in the remote area of Peenemünde and the RAF mining campaign that reduced the threat of new and revolutionary German submarine technology. He explains how messages from Bletchley Park were the basis for the RAF attacks on German coastal regions. Moreover Groos provides the political and military context of the war in this theater and he describes details of ships, radar, artillery, mines and aircraft.

Genres: History, World War II, Military History, Naval History

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Poul Grooss is a retired Danish Navy captain who commanded torpedo boats and guided-missile corvettes in a career that lasted more than forty years. He is a teacher of naval warfare at the Royal Danish Naval Academy and Chairman of the Naval History Society of the Royal Danish Naval Museum.

Reviews

[JD · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very detailed look at the war as it was fought in the Baltic region, where the war raged from the first day of the war till the last. In numbers killed, the war on the seas here were just as deadly as the battle in the Atlantic, and was much more concentrated. This is also one of the only regions where the Soviet navy was heavily engaged against the Germans and the Finns, and mine warfare also played a big role here. The most interesting parts of the book for me was the role of the Finnish navy, the role of neutral Sweden in the region and the mass evacuations before the Soviet ground forces of German troops and civilians and the horrendous losses that occurred with it when passengers liners were sunk. A long read with loads of background information that could have been left out, but still a good book to shed light on yet another forgotten campaign of World War 2.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really was excited to read this book, a recent study on the naval war in the Baltic region during WW2. My excitement was dampened unfortunately by a few things that sort of derailed the book. Mr. Grooss opens the book by letting all of us readers know he is not a historian. He was a Danish naval officer with a keen interest in this topic. Okay, I like honesty and openness.

Unfortunately, his lack of being a historian affected the end product. It is sort of difficult to describe the writing style, but it resembled how I would see term papers or reports written. With the book covering a 6 year period, plus quite a few pages dedicated to both pre and post war naval issues, there is the lacking of a tremendous amount of detail. Sort of a skeleton without the meat. A battle might be described with simply the ships involved and their casualties. No reference made to "what" happened (or how) far too often.

I felt he was also making more than a few points on the outcome of the war being impacted by the action in the Baltics, but really offered up few supporting facts. One cannot allude that the disruption of ore shipments from Sweden had a major impact, yet show how German industry was building multitudes of U-boats right up till the end of the war (I think also alluding that this was a wasteful usage of steel). Clearly steel was not in short supply, so iron ore shipments from Sweden should have had little impact, so logic counters his argument. This does not mean his arguments are wrong, but he didn't give me enough information in his book to firmly feel he was right.

The book is well illustrated, with some rare photos that add a great deal of value to the book. I also really liked his detailing of the refugee disasters as well as the huge logistic efforts the Germans pulled off to get civilians and troops to safety. A better level of details on this specific topic, which was thorough. Sadly, this was one of the only topics so well covered.

The references provided in the back of the book are nice, and I would have liked to see the text body get better usage of the reference notations. It makes things easier for research purposes if they are well linked.

This is not a bad book. I cannot call it a great book either. It reads easy enough, but really wasn't that detailed or educational. It is a decent overview. I think it could have benefitted from a historian doing a peer review, and maybe assisted on the writing style some to bring the book up to a library grade reference book. This topic sorely needs one. Still, it was a worthwhile read for me and I have no regrets.

2.5 Stars, rounding up for the honest effort.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doug Gay apparently picked this volume up for me while in Denmark with Lene, Dad's widow. The author is a retired naval captain (Cold War era) who teaches at the Royal Danish Naval Academy. The book is, as it suggests, about WWII in and around the Baltic, meaning that the major players are, on the Axis side, Germany, Finland and Denmark, and, on the Allied side, the USSR, with a bit of aerial support from the UK and USA. Sweden, an ostensible neutral, factors in seriously as well.

Being Norwegian myself, most of the elders in my family having lived under Nazi occupation and Dad having served against them, the war in Scandinavia is of some real, personal interest. I would have liked more about Norway, but it appears that the Baltic per se ends with Denmark, so Norway's marginal to the narrative. Still, given the author's background and original readership, the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Finland and Sweden get disproportionate attention insofar as the USSR, and Germany suffered most in that theatre and overall (of course Poland and the Baltic states did as well, in proportion to their populations).

Denmark succumbed to the Germans, being allowed to maintain something approaching domestic sovereignty during the war as an unwilling ally of their powerful southern neighbor. Despite his nationality, Grooss reviews his homeland's activities more critically than I had expected. Sweden, however, comes in for the most criticism, its neutrality being, until Germany's defeat became inevitable by 1944, a sham in the author's eyes. Finland, interestingly, obtains the most sympathy, their war against the Soviet invaders having started first and their military performance being first-rate. Finland's alliance with Germany is therefore presented sympathetically.

Enough review of the rest of the war is given that most readers with cursory knowledge of it should be able to follow this text. It's naval enthusiasts, however, who will most appreciate this account which to all appearances covers all the ships and subs which participated.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Predominantly an impressive display of an encyclopaedic knowledge of all things military/Second World War. And perhaps that is also the primary drawback because the book is hard to read due to a seemingly absent flow and overarching narrative structure.

Granted it is a difficult topic because the Baltic during World War 2 was not a center but a overlap of multiple separate narratives such as:

- The northern part of Axis-Russian East Front including the Finish Continuation War
- The problematic and difficult role of isolated Sweden balancing neutrality, opportunism and survival
- The Danish experience of occupation and being a foodstore, transit and base area for Germany
- The Germanic dominance over the sea enabling submarine training for the Battle of the Atlantic and testing of the both the V1 and V2 weapon systems
- Operation Rettung - the naval evacuation of 2 mio German refugees from the eastern front as the Russians advanced

In all of this naval operations played an important supporting part for all countries, but to tell their history is challenging as demonstrated in this book. A second edition would strongly benefit from a hard weeding out of multiple curious but irrelevant details ( the fate of Hindenburg's sarcophagus and estimates of the USSR's overall human sacrifices during the war). In addition it would be helpful to decide on a few narrative anchor-points such as (for example) the German Navy in the Baltic, the Swedish and and Russian - and keep the rest stowed away for another book.

Nonetheless a valiant effort and impressive result, that the military history buff can not help to enjoy.

[Spad53 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t expect this to be very good, it sounded a bit boring, but it was excellent. It’s written by a Danish Navy captain, who really knows the subject, and since I live just across Sweden from the Baltic, on the Skagerrak, I have been to a great many of the places mentioned. I thought the book was well-written and entertaining.
I felt the author was a bit harsh on the Swedish role. Sweden has very strong cultural ties to Finland, a proportion of the Finnish people speak Swedish. During the war we had a slogan “Finlands sak är vår” (roughly meaning Finlands cause is ours), in my opinion we are closer to Finland than we are to the other Nordic countries. So it’s hardly surprising that Sweden was suspicious about the Russians and perhaps less suspicious about the Germans who, after all, were Finlands allies.
I found a small mistake.
“In 1944, the RAF withdrew two squadrons of radar-equipped Halifax bombers from minelaying operations. They were stationed in the Hebrides and were given new armaments, namely 0.75in/20mm guns and armour-piercing rockets, and with additional
fuel tanks, they could cover the entire Skagerrak and Kattegat. They were now deployed against German shipping between Norway and Denmark.”

I have to take issue with this statement. I’d never heard of a rocket-firing Halifax, but I finally found a small article about it on the internet when I searched for “rocket-firing Halifax” but in that article it states clearly that this combination never went into service, it was too dangerous to the aircraft. I didn’t find any mention of 20mm guns either. Certainly 58 sqn flew the Halifax against German shipping in 1944-45, so that much is correct. No big deal and I enjoyed researching it.

I really enjoyed this book, it was great to read something new about the Second World War, and I read far too much about it. I really learnt a lot from this book, although I don’t completely agree with Paul Grooss’s conclusions, I don’t disagree with his facts, everything is correct, and well presented. Highly recommended for anyone interested in WW2.

[Matti Karjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poul Groossin "The Naval War in the Baltic 1939-1945" (Seaforth, 2017) käsittelee Itämeren aluetta toisen maailmansodan myrskyssä ja tyrskyissä. Tekijä paljastaa teoksen esipuheessa, ettei ole ammattimainen historioitsija, mutta on kuitenkin perehtynyt aiheeseen luennoimalla ja tutkimalla aihetta kotimaassaan Tanskassa. Lisäksi hän on entinen laivaston upseeri.

"The Naval War in Baltic 1939-1945" sisälsi paljon kiinnostavaa ja minulle entuudestaan uutta tietoa. Saksalaisten yritykset kuljettaa turvaan meritse puna-armeijan jaloista pakenevia ihmisiä olivat melko dramaattisia. Vaikka yli kaksi miljoonaa ihmistä saatiin turvaan, olivat muun muassa Wilhelm Gustloff- ja Cap Arcona -laivojen torpedoinnit hirvittäviä tragedioita. Lienee muuten jossain välissä luettava Günther Grassin Ravunkäyntiä, eikä Ruta Sepetyksen nuortenkirja Salt to the Sea vaikuta sekään hassummalta.

Lisäksi teos käsittelee kiinnostavasti ja hyvinkin kriittisesti ruotsalaisten osuutta toisessa maailmansodassa, ja suomalaisena on toki mielenkiintoista lukea meidän sodankäynnistämme ulkopuolisen silmin. Lisäksi kirja sisälsi runsaasti hienoja valokuvia.

Välillä juolahti mieleen, että Grooss on toisaalta napannut hieman liian suuren palasen ahmittavakseen. Välillä tapahtumia kuvataan vähän turhankin pintapuolisesti. Typerät virheet söivät myös uskottavuutta: esimerkiksi V-2-rakettien parissa työskennellyt kaveri oli Wernher Von Braun, ei Werner. Suomalaisessa paikannimistössä mentiin myös metsään muutamaan otteeseen.

Kaikesta huolimatta lukemisen arvoinen teos, jonka ajattelin säilyttää kotikirjastossani!

[Yoda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good overview of the naval war in this region (albeit with weaknesses)

The below is a review of the unabridged audiobook edition of this work.

This book is geared towards the layperson as opposed to the specialist or serious student of naval history. This is clearly illustrated by the fact that the author lays out relatively simple concepts and facts that the specialist or serious student would already know. For example, what indirect and direct ship fire are or the fact that the technologies used in the Baltic (i.e., radar, sonar) were not as advanced as those used in the Atlantic.

However, the book should still be of interest to the specialist or serious student. This is so for two reasons. One is that the author, Paul Grooss, is Danish Naval Officer in Intelligence and, as a result, is very knowledgeable regarding naval issues. This shows through in much of the book. Secondly, the book is very in-depth and thorough regarding the narrative of the history of the naval war in this region. In addition, it is meticulously researched using both primary and secondary sources.

The book does have a number of weaknesses though. One is that although there is brief discussion of the topology of the Baltic Sea it is not in-depth and hence inadequate. This important as much of the Baltic is relatively shallow (and thus makes submarine activity difficult). Its many islands (and shallows) also makes it conducive to torpedo boat operations and, alternatively, especially dangerous for larger warships as well as precluding the use of larger warships in many of its parts. There is also no in-depth discussion/analysis of how important this route was in supplying and transporting Axis forces on the Northern front (i.e., areas bordering the Baltic in Russia as well as Finland and Norway). For example, there is no analysis of how many tons of Axis supplies were shipped on the Baltic and what percentage of all supplies this accounted for.

Thirdly, there is quite a bit of discussion of how Hitler and the Kriegsmarine viewed the Baltic as being critical to the training of Type XXI submarine crews and how these submarines were the center of a strategy geared towards knocking the Western Allies out the war but there is a too short analysis of how feasible this would have been (in reality extremely unlikely). Yet much of German strategy, in both land and sea around the Baltic, was centered on this. Lastly, the audiobook edition of this book is read in very robotic manner. It is quite difficult to listen to this book.

The book's strengths, however, greatly supersede these weaknesses. Hence the book not only fills an unexamined niche in the historical record but also would be of interest to students of the Second World War in Europe and to the naval war during this period.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Naval War in the Baltic covers the topic of its title from the build-up to war (both politically and in terms of the key navies in the region) to the aftermath. From the invasion of Poland to the German defensive measures around the Danish straits, the diplomatic contortions of Sweden to maintain its independence in the face of being surrounded by Axis-controlled territory, British minelaying, the desperate actions in the Gulf of Finland and then the desperate defence of the Third Reich and Unternehmen Rettung (the evacuation of more than 2 million people by sea in the face of the Soviet advance), the book contains plenty of detail as well as a good overview of the broad flow of events.

At least to this reader, it was clear these events were more important to the overall pattern of the Second World War than most other works would suggest. It was important to Germany to keep the southern Baltic peaceful to support imports from Sweden and the training of its submarine fleet, motivating efforts to block the Soviet Baltic fleet into the Gulf of Finland, and in the later parts of the war to hang onto the northern Estonian coast for as long as possible so the minefields behind this could be maintained.

It is well illustrated, containing a collection of photographs and maps appropriate to the text, as well as notes and a good bibliography to guide further reading. It is also well written, although being a translated work doesn’t flow quite as smoothly as most (but not all) books written directly in English. Similar to many books on naval history, some of the broader strategic comments aren’t as well informed as the books’ focus. This is no reason not to pick it up though. It’s easily recommended for anyone interested in the topic directly (particularly for those limited to English-language works), as well as those interested in the second world war at sea, or the struggle between Germany and the USSR during the period.

[Laurance · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a thrill of a book. Jam packed with information and a joy to read.
It seems split into two parts. The first looks at the period between 1939-44 and takes a general overview of the Baltic Sea and the events around it, focusing heavily upon German, followed by Sweden and Denmark respectively but that isn't surprising or biased.
The second seems to focus heavily upon the German operations, mainly the heroic evacuation efforts, in the area.
His choice to devote a large part of the book to the final years of the war and the struggle that Germany now faced is warranted. The subject matter is rarely looked at because of the more glamorous land and air war of the Eastern Front but the efforts of the Kriegsmarine in those final days are the stuff of legends. Evacuating many thousands of civilians, despite the collapse of your system around you, the closeness of the enemy, shows equal parts desperation and heroism.
The author does seem to hold to the elite SS and advanced Nazi war machine ideas but not strongly nor in a way that would call into question his beliefs.
The postscript is beautifully done, focusing on the actions of all the nations involved and laying out in plain language their deeds and results. The author deserves credit for not shying away for the more difficult historical topics.
A must read for naval fans, world war two enthusiasts and general history followers.

[Davina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as an audiobook, so I appreciated someone else trying to pronounce all the place names. The Baltic lacks the drama of Sinking the Bismark, or the Arctic Convoys, but was important nevertheless. It's also the first time that I've read something detailing Sweden's role so clearly. And, as a Dane, the author is clear on the difficulties the Danes faces without painting too sympathetic a portrait. It's a very quick read for what it is.