It is a sabotage device known as 'Tench'.
Hi Bonnex,
ineresting, always something new. Why did I not hear/read anything about TENCH before. It's not even listed in Himmler's "The Foreign Sabotage Devices", only one page in the navy demining manual. Also nothing in the pertinent english literature. Do you have any detailed info about this ?
Regards,
Bellifortis.
I am not sure why the Himmler folk decided to leave out Tench from their weighty tome. It would seem that several nautical 'devices' were not sufficiently worthy of their interest to get a mention in the book. Perch (aligned with Tench but initiated by a countermining pistol), 'M' mine, mobile limpets and charge containers for underwater attack vessels do not feature (not in my copy anyway).
I will post some Tench material when I get the chance.
Hi N.,
really interesting. Do you know if there were any results, the "user" achieved, with the items delivered to him ? While I'm at it, I have a question regarding your speciality of Handgrenades. Who was the inventor of the "Bouchon"-Handgrenade-Fuze ? Meanwhile this fuze is near to universal on most new handgrenades.
regards,
Bellifortis.
The M Unit Type B was developed for use with moored mines and it was a component in the Mine M Type R. I have handled an M Unit (see below) but I don't know what is in it. The case is Bakelite and about 12 cms long.Strange, that the devices used, did not work. We know, from other operations, that the countermining pistol worked. The "Magnetic Firing Unit M Type B"(Is there any more detailed info on the construction of this device available ?) which had been developed for another project (Do you know which other project is meant ?), sounds like it was tested and that it worked. Thank you N. and Tom for your interesting input.
Regards,
Bellifortis.