The Final Ambush : An Adapted Battlefield Analysis of the U-576 Attack Upon Allied Convoy KS-520 off Cape Hatteras During the Second World War

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

John Christopher Bright (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Advisor

Nathan Richards

Abstract: The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest largest and most complex military action of the Second World War. The battle involved Allied Axis and neutral nations resulting in both military and civilian casualties. At various times throughout the battle certain areas became centers of activity. One such focal point occurred off Cape Hatteras North Carolina between January and July of 1942. During this time several oceanographic geographic bathymetric meteorological and strategic factors converged and turned the waters off North Carolina's Outer Banks into a battlefield. Using a particular convoy battle the U-boat attack on Allied convoy KS-520 (15 July 1942) as a case study this thesis seeks to adapt terrestrial battlefield survey techniques to analyze a naval engagement. Drawing from the dominant theoretical and methodological framework utilized by the United States Department of the Interior's American Battlefield Protection Program the present study seeks to supplement this framework with the broader application of military science. It is hoped this modification will facilitate greater exploration of anthropological questions in addition to generating an adapted naval battlefield analysis technique capable of conducting similar anthropological inquiry of other Battle of the Atlantic engagements. 

Additional Information

Publication

Thesis

Date: 2012

Keywords

Archaeology, Military history, Battlefield Survey, Battle of the Atlantic, North Carolina, Second World War, U-boat

Subjects

World War, 1939-1945--North Carolina--Hatteras, Cape

World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Atlantic Ocean

Operation Drumbeat, 1942

Naval convoys

Submarines (Ships)--Germany

Military archaeology--North Carolina

Underwater archaeology--North Carolina

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