1940 &
Operation Sealion
Großmann's unit was set to be in the first wave of Operation Sealion. He deployed on the German amphibious craft - the Siebelferry - kitting out in Antwerp and patrolling the English Channel in preparation for the invasion of England. But before that he attended NCO school and made his way to occupied Belgium.
Waiting for Sealion
Ernst relaxing in Knokke, Belgium
Promoted and deployed
Ernst took this photo during the transit through Belgium
In March, Ernst was promoted to Obergefreiter (Corporal); soon the "Phoney War" gave way to the invasion of France. While his comrades were sent into combat he attended NCO candidate school in the Augsburg Flak Kaserne where he learned to lead men in combat and sat in a classroom for lectures in Rassenkunde (Race Theory/Eugenics), a mandatory part of Nazi leadership training. This reveals the extent to which National Socialist ideology was embedded in the Wehrmacht’s training pipeline. Even in a technical branch like the Flak artillery, junior leaders were indoctrinated in the racial pseudo-science that underpinned the regime’s worldview. This training was designed to harden the soldier psychologically against the "enemies" of the Reich, framing the war not just as a conventional conflict, but as a racial struggle. On July 12, the course concluded with an inspection by Oberst (Colonel) Stahel (later a General and war criminal for his actions during the Warsaw Uprising). Ernst passed and was promoted to Unteroffizier (Sergeant). This promotion was a turning point. He was no longer just a technician; he was a leader, responsible for the lives of a gun crew. His graduation coincided with the end of the Battle of France and the beginning of the next phase: the assault on Britain.
Gosselies
First operational deployment
He received his orders to deploy and by August 1940, Großmann was stationed in Belgium, first seeing combat on August 24th when he noted engaging two Bristol Blenheims while in Gosselies/Charleroi defending the Brussels airport.
Battle of the Barges
The RAF comes hunting
In August, the unit moved to the coast, taking up positions in Knokke, a Belgian seaside resort near the Dutch border. This relocation placed Großmann on the front lines of the "Battle of the Barges." The Royal Air Force, realizing that the Germans were assembling an invasion fleet in the Channel ports, launched a concerted bombing campaign. Bomber Command targeted the concentrations of river barges and shipping in Ostend, Zeebrugge, and Antwerp. His diary turns kinetic:
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Aug 21: "Shot at three flights in the afternoon."
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Aug 23: "Morning Bristol Blenheim shot down, 4 overflights."
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Sept 12: "Shot down Bristol Blenheim."
These entries document the intense, low-level air war over the coast. The Bristol Blenheim, a light bomber used by the RAF for daylight raids against shipping, was vulnerable to Flak. His unit, equipped with 88mm and lighter 20mm/37mm guns, was engaged in direct combat; the abstract drills of Heilbronn had become the concrete reality of killing.
Right: Ernst took this photo while stationed in Knokke, Belgium.
Directive 16
From there he was off to Antwerp where the Luftwaffe was attempting to solve a problem the German Navy could not: how to transport an invasion army across the English Channel. With France defeated, Hitler issued Directive No. 16 on July 16, 1940, ordering preparations for the invasion of England, codenamed Unternehmen Seelöwe (Operation Sealion). The plan called for a massive amphibious assault across the English Channel. However, the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) had been severely depleted during the invasion of Norway and lacked the surface fleet necessary to protect the crossings or the landing craft to transport the army.
The Flak arrives at Gare du Nord, Brussels. Ernst took this photo in 1940 of his unit coming into Brussels as they prepare to deploy on the invasion ferries.
Germany's amphibious assault craft
This strategic vacuum forced the Wehrmacht to improvise. The Luftwaffe, under Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, took on an expanded role. Not only was it tasked with achieving air superiority (the Battle of Britain), but it also began to develop its own naval transport capabilities to supplement the Navy. Großmann was assigned to 1 Batterie Flak Abteilung 253 Schwere stationed on a Siebelfähre (Siebel Ferry) at Haven 206 (Pier 206) next to the Oosterweelbrug in the Leopolddock of Antwerp. The Siebelfähre was an improvised amphibious catamaran made of bridge pontoons powered by aircraft engines. His ferry was a "Heavy Flak" variant, armed with 88mm guns to protect the invasion fleet from Royal navy destroyers and planes. By December that unit was reorganized and he remained on the ferry as part of 2 Batterie Flak Abteilung 402 Schwere.
A fully loaded heavy flak Siebelferry with Flak Abteilung 1/253 (later 2/402) preparing to deploy from Zeebrugge.
Kesselring
Exercise and Inspection 11 Dec 1940
Großmann’s photos from this period are historically significant as they capture the improvisation of the German war machine as it attempted to develop a German amphibious force. He was there when Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring (photo right) boarded Großmann’s specific ferry to inspect the fleet and observe an exercise in amphibious warfare. Ernst stood on the deck, watching the high command evaluate the very vessel he was supposed to ride to England. He later noted that if the invasion had launched, he would have died in the first wave; the ferries were slow and vulnerable and the English would defend to the last man. But Sealion was indefinitely postponed, and he spent his first wartime Christmas in Belgium and the winter and early spring on his frozen catamaran ranging from Zeebrugge to Calais guarding the skies over the English Channel.
