by Clay Blair
One of the Lerche boats, the new IXC40 U-191, commanded by Helmut Fiehn, age twenty-seven, reported that on April 13 he had repelled several attacks by a Sunderland using “both MG C/38” 20mm flak guns. U-boat Control immediately put this news on the U-boat network “in order to give all boats necessary encouragement for similar action.”*
Acting on B-dienst information, U-boat Control formed another new group, Adler (Eagle), to intercept Slow Convoy 125, the first of these convoys to resume departures from Halifax in order to reduce congestion in New York harbor. The group was composed of sixteen boats, all veterans that had sailed from France, including the Ritterkreuz holder Otto von Bülow in U-404. Reading naval Enigma, Allied authorities rerouted Slow Convoy 125 to the south of group Adler and its ships arrived at their destinations without interference from the U-boats.
Based on further information from B-dienst, U-boat Control repositioned Adler to intercept an eastbound Halifax convoy. This interception also failed, but by happenstance, von Bülow in U-404 discovered an opposite-sailing convoy, Outbound North 176. It was composed of forty-six merchant ships guarded by British Escort Group B-4, commanded by E.C.L. Day, comprised of three destroyers (Highlander, Vimy, and the ex-American four-stack Beverley) and five corvettes. U-boat Control directed eight of the northernmost Adler boats to join von Bülow for an attack on this convoy. The remaining six boats of Adler, plus the new U-415, commanded by Kurt Neide, were directed to cadre a new group, Meise (Titmouse).
Several Adler boats attacked Outbound North 176 but only two had any success.
• Siegfried Lüdden in the new IXC40 U-188 claimed sinking three freighters for 18,000 tons plus a hit on a fourth ship. In reality, he sank only one vessel, the Norwegian-manned four-stack British destroyer Beverley, which had earlier incurred heavy damage to her sonar in a collision with the cargo ship Cairnvalona. Beverley could not “hear” and could make only fifteen knots. Four of Beverley’s 152-man crew were rescued; the rest perished.
• Von Bülow in U-404 fired a full bow salvo (two FATs, two electrics) and claimed two ships for 14,000 tons sunk, plus one ship of 10,000 tons damaged. In reality he sank only the 1,900-ton British freighter Lancastrain Prince in ballast.
• Helmut Köppe in U-613 also claimed a sinking from this convoy, but it could not be confirmed.
Racing north at top speed, the veteran Helmut Möhlmann in the Adler boat U-571 came upon a convoy, but it was not the targeted Outbound North 176. Rather, it was Outbound North (Slow) 2, following the same course. Composed of thirty-seven merchant ships, it was guarded by Canadian Escort Group C-l, commanded by A. H. Dobson. Horst Uphoff in the Adler VII U-84 joined Möhlmann to attack. Möhlmann fired four torpedoes and claimed two sinkings for 13,500 tons and damage to another ship. He was credited with sinking the 3,800-ton Norwegian freighter Ingerfire, but no other damage was confirmed. Even so, Möhlmann was awarded a Ritterkreuz.* Uphoff in U-84 claimed one sinking and damage to another ship, but neither claim could be confirmed.
Unaware that the ships under attack by the Adler boats were attached to two separate convoys, Outbound North 176 and Outbound North (Slow) 2, U-boat Control informed Berlin that these boats had sunk nine ships for 56,500 tons and damaged four others. In reality the Adler boats had sunk merely three ships for about 7,000 tons: one by von Bülow in U-404, one by Möhlmann in U-571, and the destroyer Beverley by Lüdden in U-188.
As related, the U-262, commanded by Heinz Franke, en route to the Gulf of St. Lawrence on a secret mission to pick up escaped German POWs, by happenstance found a convoy on April 15. She shadowed for a while, bringing up seven other boats outbound from France, then proceeded to her special mission in Canadian waters. This convoy was Halifax 233, composed of fifty-seven merchant ships, guarded by the last American escort group on the North Atlantic run, A-3, commanded by Paul Heineman, on its last mission. The escort consisted of eight warships: two big Treasury-class Coast Guard cutters, Duane and Spencer; the Canadian destroyer Skeena; and five corvettes, three British and two Canadian.
On the morning of April 17, one of the seven boats, U-628, commanded by Heinz Hasenschar, who was embarked on his third patrol, launched the attack on Halifax 233. He fired torpedoes at two ships and claimed hits on both, sinking one and badly damaging one. In reality he hit only one, the 7,100-ton British Fort Rampart. She fell out of the convoy screened by one of the corvettes, which took off the crew. Hasenschar in U-628 and Rolf Borchers in U-226, making his second patrol, both fired finishing shots and hit Fort Rampart, and she sank immediately.
At that time the veteran cutter Spencer, commanded by Harold Sloop Berdine, was well away from the convoy, pursuing a sonar contact. Upon learning that a ship had been sunk, Spencer rejoined the convoy and soon got a sonar contact five thousand yards ahead. Berdine rang up full speed and dropped two salvos of eleven depth charges each.
The charges closely straddled the IXC U-175, commanded by the promising skipper Heinrich Bruns, who had sunk ten ships for 40,600 tons in two prior patrols. He was attempting a risky daylight submerged attack. The depth charges wrecked U-175 internally and cracked the pressure hull. Flooding fore and aft, U-175 plunged deeper and deeper, out of control. Inasmuch as Bruns appeared to be shocked senseless, at a depth of nine hundred feet the engineer took over and blew all ballast tanks in a last-ditch effort to stop the descent and save the crew.
The Spencer and her sister ship, Duane, commanded by H. B. Bradbury, held sonar contact on U-175 and anticipated her rapid rise to the surface. When she popped up, both vessels opened fire with guns at close range, as did a number of merchant ships in the rear positions of the convoy. A shell from one of the merchant ships hit Spencer, wounding eight men, one fatally. Spencer’s fire at U-175 wrecked the bridge and conning tower and killed the skipper, Bruns, and a half dozen others. Berdine brought Spencer around to a course to ram U-175, but the escort commander, Paul Heineman, perhaps recalling the severe damage her sister ship Campbell sustained in ramming U-606, told Spencer to heave to and put over a boarding party. Commanded by Ross P. Bullard, the party got into the conning tower, but U-175 was rapidly sinking stern first and there was no opportunity to search for documents or souvenirs.
In the meantime the surviving Germans had jumped into the sea and, as Berdine reported, “acted in a very hysterical manner.” Spencer picked up nineteen Germans, Duane twenty-two, altogether forty-one of the fifty-four-man crew. A photographer on Spencer took numerous shots of the bewildered and frightened Germans, including a famous one of a survivor in the water, arms raised in a prayerful plea for rescue.*
Other escorts found and attacked other U-boats. Leopold Koch in the U-382 was hunted and depth-charged for sixteen hours. He incurred such heavy damage that he was forced to abort to France for the second time in as many patrols. Rolf Borchers in U-226 and Hartwig Looks in U-264 reported heavy depth-charge damage but both boats were able to make repairs and continue their patrols.
Upon learning that seven or eight newly sailed, experienced U-boats were gathering around Halifax 233, Allied authorities directed the new British Support Group 3, commanded by J. W. McCoy, to assist. McCoy sailed with four destroyers, recently obtained from the Home Fleet: Offa, Oribi, Penn, and Panther. These powerful vessels raised the escort of Halifax 233 to twelve warships: seven of destroyer class or larger and five corvettes. All had new radar and several had Huff Duff.
With its twelve warships and very-long-range aircraft support commencing on April 18, Halifax 233 was no longer a sensible target. U-boat Control canceled operations and sent the remaining U-boats to a newly forming group, Specht (Woodpecker). Halifax 233 completed its voyage in the British Isles, having lost only the one ship of its fifty-seven, the Fort Rampart. It was a fitting swan song for Paul Heineman and A-3, the last American close escort group to operate on the long-established North Atlantic run.
The seven U-boats from group Adler that cadred the new group Meise (Titmouse) were soon reinforced by the other ten boats of Adler
that had attacked Outbound North 176 and Outbound North (Slow) 2. Control logged that “Italian codebreakers” provided the location and course of Slow Convoy 126, adding that it was “one day behind schedule.”† It was composed of thirty-eight merchant ships, escorted by Richard Boyle’s British close Escort Group 5 (the destroyers Havelock, Volunter, frigate Swale, and five corvettes).
Control positioned Meise to intercept Slow Convoy 126. However, on April 14, Allied aircraft detected two Ritterkreuz holders of group Meise, von Bülow in U-404 and Möhlmann in U-571. This forced U-boat Control to shift the group northeastward where it believed the evading convoy was likely to be found. Six other boats joined the group, bringing Meise to twenty-three U-boats. It was to be supported by Helmut Metz’s new Type XIV tanker U-487, which had sailed from Kiel on March 27 to relieve U-462.
During the shifting about and recomposition of Meise, the newly joined VII U-631, commanded by Jürgen Krüger, which had sailed from France on her second patrol on March 6, rammed the veteran VII U-71, the second-oldest boat in the Atlantic force after the IX U-43. No one was seriously injured in the collision, but U-71 incurred heavy damage. Upon learning of the incident, U-boat Control decided to retire U-71 to the Training Command, along with the IXB U-108 and the VII U-704.* The U-71 aborted then and there and headed for Germany via Norway for emergency repairs. Upon reaching Germany, her skipper, Hardo Rodler von Roithberg, and some of the crew were assigned to commission a new VIIC. The rammer, U-631, made repairs and remained at sea..
It soon became apparent that Slow Convoy 126 had eluded group Meise by going south rather than north as the Germans anticipated. However, the shift of Meise to the north put the group on the paths of three other convoys: Halifax 234, Outbound North 178, and Outbound North (Slow) 4.
One of the newly joined Meise boats, U-306, commanded by Claus von Trotha, found Halifax 234 on April 21. It was composed of forty-three merchant ships and was closely guarded by British Escort Group B-4, commanded by E.C.L. Day, consisting of two destroyers (Highlander, Vimy) and five corvettes. U-boat Control directed all Meise boats that could reasonably do so to close this convoy. Von Trotha brought up six boats, two IXs and four other newly joined VIIs. The IXs were the U-108, commanded by Ralf-Reimar Wolfram, preparing to depart for retirement to the Training Command, and the new IXC40 U-189, commanded by Helmut Kurrer, age twenty-seven. Five other VIIs took up backstopping positions east of the von Trotha group. These included two veteran VIIs recently transferred from the Arctic: U-209, commanded by Heinrich Brodda, and U-378, commanded by Erich Mäder. The other three were new boats from Germany. On one, the U-954, commanded by Odo Loewe, Dönitz’s younger son Peter, age twenty-one, was the second watch officer.
Loewe was an experienced skipper. He had commissioned and commanded the U-256 for one Atlantic war patrol, at the end of which the boat was wrecked by British aircraft and decommissioned in Lorient. He then commanded U-254 for one Atlantic patrol, substituting for Hans Gilardone, who was ill. He sank two ships for about 17,700 tons on that patrol, then returned to Germany to commission U-954. The reason Peter Dönitz was assigned to this particular boat has not been established.
Allied authorities DFed the U-boats massing to attack Halifax 234 and promptly provided the convoy with very-long-range air cover. As a result, the U-boats achieved little. Von Trotha in U-306 sank two big freighters, the 10,200-ton British Amerika and the 7,200-ton American Liberty ship Robert Gray. Loewe in the new, backstopping U-954 damaged the 5,300-ton British freighter Silvermaple. Walter von Freyberg in the newly joined U-610 thought he hit a ship with FATs, but it was not confirmed.
Von Trotha in U-306 continued to deliver what U-boat Control characterized as “perfect shadowing.” His reports kept a dozen boats on the convoy over several days, but intense Allied air cover, the veteran warships of Day’s Escort Group B-4, and Support Group 4 thwarted all U-boat attacks.
The aircraft hit two boats.
• A very-long-range B-24 of Squadron 120 from Iceland, piloted by John K. Moffatt, who had earlier damaged the VII U-594, found and sank the new IXC40 U-189, commanded by Helmut Kurrer, age twenty-seven, merely three weeks out from Kiel. Moffatt reported “about fifty” Germans in the water, but there were no survivors.
• On April 22, another aircraft so heavily damaged the newly refueled veteran, U-134, commanded by a new skipper, Hans-Günther Brosin, age twenty-six, that she was forced to abort to France. She arrived on May 2, completing an arduous but unsuccessful patrol of fifty-eight days. After repairs, she sailed again, a month later.
ANOTHER GREAT CONVOY BATTLE
The experienced VII U-706 of group Meise (Titmouse), commanded by Alexander von Zitzewitz, who had sunk one ship each from Halifax 231 and Halifax 232 on this patrol, found convoy Outbound North 178 on April 21. Composed of fifty-eight merchant ships, it was guarded by British Escort Group B-l, commanded by E. C. Bayldon in the destroyer Hurricane. It consisted of another destroyer, the ex-American four-stack Rockingham; a frigate, Kale; and five corvettes.
At nearly the same hour, the new VII U-415, commanded by Kurt Neide, reported the same convoy. Von Zitzewitz lost it in the foul weather, but Neide hung on and attacked. His torpedoes sank two British freighters, the 4,900-ton Ashantian and the 5,500-ton Wanstead. Helmut Fiehn, age twenty-seven, in the new IXC40 U-191 came up and sank the 3,000-ton Norwegian Scebeli
Neide in U-415, who had been at sea since March 7, broke off operations and headed for France. He met the new XIV tanker U-487 for a small drink of fuel on April 26, then proceeded easterly to the Bay of Biscay. In the early hours of May 1, a Leigh Light-equipped Wellington of Squadron 172, piloted by Peter W. Phillips, got U-415 on centimetric-wavelength radar. Phillips turned on his light and attacked in the teeth of flak, dropping six depth charges, forcing the U-boat under. The flak blew the Wellington’s left tire and upon returning to base, the plane crash-landed, but no one was hurt.
Later in the morning of May 1, a Sunderland of Australian Squadron 461, piloted by E. C. Smith, who had earlier sunk U-465, found U-415 on the surface. As Smith commenced his attack, U-415 dived. Smith toggled a salvo of depth charges at the swirl but these caused no apparent damage.
Still later that day, yet another aircraft found U-415 on the surface. She was a Whitley of British Squadron 612, piloted by Norman Earnshaw, participating in the renewed British Biscay air offensive, Derange. He nursed this slow, clumsy aircraft into an attack glide, notwithstanding heavy flak from U-415, which crash-dived. He then dropped six depth charges at the swirl but these fell somewhat wide. In a second, more calmly conducted run, Earnshaw dropped his last two depth charges and these caused “heavy damage,” Neide reported. However, U-415 could still dive and thus was able to limp into Brest on May 5.
Another Meise boat, the veteran VII U-438, reported another westbound convoy about eighty miles behind Outbound North 178. The U-438 was commanded by a new but experienced skipper: Heinrich Heinsohn, former captain of the Mediterranean boat U-573, which had been hit by aircraft and had limped into Spain, where Heinsohn and his crew had been briefly “interned,” then “repatriated.”
At about the same time another Meise VII, U-613, commanded by Helmut Köppe, reported the same convoy. It was Outbound North (Slow) 4, composed of thirty-two merchant ships, escorted by British Escort Group B-2, commanded by Donald Macintyre in his refurbished destroyer Hesperus. It consisted of another destroyer, Whitehall, five corvettes, and an ASW trawler. The B-2 close escort was augmented by British Support Group 5, commanded by E.M.C. Abel-Smith, consisting of the “anglicized” “jeep” carrier Biter on her maiden voyage, screened by four destroyers. The combined escort thus consisted of thirteen warships: Biter, six destroyers, five corvettes, and an ASW trawler. Sailing from Iceland on April 21, Biter had nine Swordfish biplanes and two American-built Martlets, the British version of the F4F Wildcat.
To mount a better planned and more concentrated attack on Outbound North (Slow) 4, U-boat Control canceled the attack
on Outbound North 178. The new VII U-732, commanded by young Claus-Peter Carlsen, age twenty-three, was the next boat to locate this preferred convoy. Carlsen attempted to attack, he reported, but a “biplane” drove him off. The “biplane” was a Swordfish from the carrier Biter, one of the eleven aircraft of ASW Squadron 811. Then an escort depth-charged U-732, knocking out a periscope and forcing Carlsen to abort to France. Carlsen sank no ships, but his report brought up four other Meise boats, three IXs (the Germany-bound U-108, the experienced U-514, and the newly arrived U-191) and one VII, the U-404, commanded by Ritterkreuz holder Otto von Bülow. Fiehn in U-191 carried out a daylight submerged attack, firing four torpedoes, but all missed. Wolfram in U-108 was subjected to a “fairly long” depth-charge attack, but he continued to shadow.
Donald Macintyre in Hesperus DFed a radio message from Fiehn in the new IXC40 U-191 on April 23. Signaling the corvette Clematis to join him, Macintyre raced down the bearing. Too late, Fiehn saw Hesperus approaching at high speed and dived. In what Macintyre later described as “perfect” sonar conditions, Hesperus got a solid contact. Unfortunately the green and undertrained crew on the newly installed Hedgehog launcher had not yet removed the safety pins and when Macintyre ordered the Hedgehog to be fired, “nothing happened.” While the safety pins were being removed, Hesperus and Clematis both carried out depth-charge attacks. On his second depth-charge run, Macintyre also fired from a torpedo tube an awesome, experimental, 2,000-pound depth charge and then—finally—a full salvo of twenty-four mortar missiles from the Hedgehog. The sonar operator reported two definite Hedgehog explosions, indicating they hit U-191. Nothing further was ever heard from that boat. The Admiralty credited her loss to Hesperus.