MTB 763 & 770 ... action 23 Feb, 1945

Motor Torpedo Boats (MTB)
half12
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MTB 763 & 770 ... action 23 Feb, 1945

Postby half12 » Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:26 pm

Hello,

23 Feb, 1945 : Free French Ship "La Combattante" hit a German mine in the North sea, and sunk.
Most of the crew was rescued by MTB 763 & MTB 770.

see : http://hmscavalier.org.uk/L19/

I am looking for informations and pictures of these MTBs ...

Best regards .. Herve

Admin
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Re: MTB 763 & 770 ... action 23 Feb, 1945

Postby Admin » Wed Aug 24, 2016 2:04 am

23 Feb, 1945 : Free French Ship "La Combattante" hit a German mine in the North sea, and sunk.
Most of the crew was rescued by MTB 763 & MTB 770.
MTB 770 & MTB 763 had been on patrol with La Combattante on the night in question, and Lieutenant Marquis, Senior Officer on MTB 770 had been resting on his bunk, when he felt rather than heard the explosion. On reaching the bridge the Number Three gunner shouted and pointed to the presence of a periscope cutting through the water. 770 gave chase, but with no ASDIC, and with men in the water around whom depth charges could not be used, soon abandoned the chase and commenced rescue work instead. There was no hard evidence at the time, either way, to indicate whether La Combattante had been sunk by mine or by torpedo, and at the subsequent Court of Enquiry into the sinking, the matter of the periscope which had only been briefly glimpsed, was not pressed. However, German records after the war did indeed confirm the ship was sunk by a torpedo fired by a two-man, midget submarine of the Seehund class*.

(*It would seem this understanding on the part of Lieutenant Commander H D Marquis has been countered by more recent research pointing to the presence of mines sown by E-boats, but the matter still appears somewhat inconclusive.)
MTB-770-1.jpg
MTB 770 at Oulton Broad, Lowestoft, November 1944 (Photo: © H D Marquis)
MTB-770-3.jpg
The crew of MTB 770 in June 1945 just before the boat was paid off. Front row from left: PO Callahan, PO Cuthbertson, Sub-Lieut Widdows, Lieut H D Marquis, Sub-Lieut Johnson, Wiggins, CPO James (Photo: © H D Marquis)
MTB-770-4.jpg
The commemorative plaque presented to the crew of MTB 770 by the surviving crew of La Combattante (Photo: © H D Marquis)


half12
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Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2016 3:34 pm

Re: MTB 763 & 770 ... action 23 Feb, 1945

Postby half12 » Wed Aug 24, 2016 3:10 pm

Hello,

Many thanks for the documents from H D Marquis archives. Pictures of MTB and crew, exactly what I was looking for ...

Is it possible to find something similar for MTB 763 ?

The plaque is a very interesting piece of memorabilia... please find her "sister" for MTB 763.
Image

Best regards .. Herve

Admin
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Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:40 pm

Re: MTB 763 & 770 ... action 23 Feb, 1945

Postby Admin » Fri Aug 26, 2016 11:01 am

Sorry Herve, I don't have anything relating to MTB 763 at the moment. Thanks for the other plaque. Who has that do you know?

jpfoynes
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Re: MTB 763 & 770 ... action 23 Feb, 1945

Postby jpfoynes » Sun Apr 14, 2019 3:45 pm

If still interested, I have some notes and photos of the "Combattante" sinking given me by one of her survivors, Rear-Admiral (then Lt) Jacques Zang, of the French Navy. I did also correspond with Mr Maquis, though he his letters wouldn't add to your contributions so far. The destroyer's captain, Pepin Lehalleur, was one of those rescued by MTB, along with Zang.


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