by Clay Blair
MORE GERMAN FAILURES ON THE NORTH ATLANTIC RUN
Twelve Leuthen boats, including Ritterkreuz holder Siegfried von Forstner in U-402, served as a cadre for a new group, Rossbach on the North Atlantic run. Five boats from France and four new boats from home waters soon arrived, bringing the number in Rossbach to twenty-one, equal in size to group Leuthen.
In the last days of September, U-boat Control positioned Rossbach to intercept a westbound convoy, Outbound North 203. Allied codebreakers warned of this new group and land-based aircraft flew out to confirm its position. When one of the aircraft spotted the U-448 and another boat newly arrived from France near the predicted position, Allied authorities diverted the convoy northward of the forming Rossbach patrol line. The convoy eluded the Germans and reached American waters with no losses.
Control next repositioned group Rossbach to intercept two other westbound convoys: Outbound North 204 and Outbound North (Slow) 19, which were expected about October 1. Inexplicably, Control directed one of the Rossbach boats, U-631, commanded by Jürgen Krüger, to send a weather report. Already aware of group Rossbach from Enigma decrypts, Allied authorities DFed U~63Ts transmission and used it as a cover story to attack the Rossbach patrol line. Meanwhile, these two convoys, like the preceding convoy, Outbound North 203, went north of Rossbach and also reached American waters with no losses.
The swarms of Allied land-based aircraft that attacked Rossbach sank four Type VIIs with the loss of all hands:
• The U-221, commanded by Ritterkreuz holder Hans Trojer, age twenty-seven, which sailed from St. Nazaire on September 20. She was sunk in the late afternoon of September 27 by a Halifax of British Squadron 58, piloted by Eric L. Hartley, on patrol over the Bay of Biscay. Hartley dropped eight depth charges that destroyed U-221, but Trojer’s flak set the Halifax on fire and Hartley had to crash-land in the sea. Two airmen perished in the crash, but Hartley, Group Captain R. C. Mead, and four other crew got into an inflatable life raft. Eleven harrowing days later, on October 8, the British destroyer Mahratta happened by and rescued the six airmen.
• The U-336, commanded by Hans Hunger, age twenty-eight, which sailed from Brest on September 14. She was sunk on the morning of October 4 by a Hudson of British Squadron 269 from Iceland, piloted by Gordon C. Allsop. He attacked into flak, firing eight rockets in salvos of two, two, and four. These hit and fatally holed U-336. Allsop saw momentarily “about fifteen” Germans in the heavy oil slick, but by the time he came around for a second pass, they had disappeared.
• The new U-279, commanded by Otto Finke, age twenty-eight, which sailed from Kiel on September 4. Finke landed an agent in Iceland on September 25, then proceeded south to join group Rossbach. On October 4, a Ventura of the U.S. Navy’s newly arrived Iceland-based Squadron VB 128,* piloted by Charles L. Westhofen, found a U-boat (probably U-305) on the surface and drove her under. Westhofen hauled off to trick the U-boat into believing that he was gone for good. However, before he could return, he spotted a second U-boat and attacked into flak with machine guns and depth charges. This was Finke’s U-279, mortally wounded. Westhofen saw the U-boat crew abandon ship and some men in “four or five” rafts. Nothing further was heard from this boat or the crew.
• The new U-389, commanded by Siegfried Heilmann, age twenty-six, which sailed from Trondheim on September 18. On October 4, a B-24 of the Iceland- based British Squadron 120, piloted by W.J.F. McEwen, found U-389 on the surface. McEwen attacked with depth charges and U-389 “split open like a pea pod/’ the plane’s engineer Robert Fallon wrote. The aircrew counted “nine to eleven” Germans in the water. McEwen dropped three one-man inflatable dinghies and two emergency kits containing food, medicine, and so on), but nothing further was heard from U-389 or her crew.
Harassed by ASW aircraft and surface ships, four boats of Rossbach aborted to France:
• A Hudson of British Squadron 269, piloted by H. M. Smith, hit the U-731, commanded by Werner Techand, age twenty-four, wounding him and five other crewmen.
• A “destroyer” caught and depth-charged the U-666, commanded by Herbert Engel, inflicting “severe damage.”
• Rudolf Bahr in U-305 reported serious damage from an aircraft. He was probably hit by U.S. Navy Ventura pilot Charles Westhofen, who afterward sank U-279.
• Hubertus Purkhold in the U-260 reported that two men, including the chief engineer, were critically ill.
Allied aircraft attacked three other U-boats in early October, but all escaped serious damage. One was the new IXC40 U-539, commanded by Hans-Jürgen Lauterbach-Emden, age twenty-four, which sailed from Bergen on September 14. While traveling on the surface contrary to orders in the Iceland-Faeroes gap on September 21, the U-539 had been attacked by an RAF Hudson that dropped three depth charges, but all missed. In the second air attack, on October 4, Lauterbach-Emden reported that he shot down a four-engine “Lancaster” bomber and repelled a “Hudson “ The U-610 reported that she had been attacked by “two or more” aircraft. The new U-275, commanded by Helmut Bork, age thirty-three, reported an unsuccessful attack by a Hudson.
Nine hundred miles to the south of Rossbach, the Type XIV tanker U-460 was under orders to refuel and/or provide medical attention to several boats. As related, these included the new but damaged ex-Leuthen VII U-422, commanded by Wolfgang Poeschel, and two VIIs, U-455 and U-264, that had attempted but failed to enter the Mediterranean via the Strait of Gibraltar. Upon completion of the refuelings, these three boats (as well as the tanker) were to move north to backstop Rossbach.
On the morning of October 4, the American “jeep” carrier Card and her screen, loosely escorting the Gibraltar-bound convoy UGS 19, received intelligence on the proposed U-460 refueling operation. Avenger pilot Robert L. Stearns, who had earlier won a Navy Cross for his roles in sinking the XB minelayer U-118 and U-537, spotted U-460 and the three VIIs, refueling or waiting to refuel. After calling Card for reinforcements, Stearns boldly attacked the four U-boats, dropping a 500-pound bomb. It fell between the tanker U-460 and U-264, commanded by Hartwig Looks, who was in the process of refueling, but it caused no damage.
Three other Card aircraft—two Wildcats and an Avenger—soon arrived. Diving into the heavy flak, the two Wildcats, piloted by Elbert S. Heim and David O. Puckett, attacked the clutch of U-boats, driving under the three VIIs (U-264, U-422, U-455) but Ebe Schnoor in the tanker U-460 remained on the surface, returning fire. After Puckett raked the boat, inflicting heavy casualties, Schnoor dived. When he did, Stearns in the Avenger dropped a Fido and sank U-460 with the loss of all hands. Stearns, Heim, and Puckett each won a Navy Cross for this important kill, which left only one Type XIV tanker in the devastated Atlantic refueler force, U-488.
Later that day, Card aircraft found and attacked Looks in U-264 and Poeschel in U-422. Looks escaped but he had incurred heavy damage and was compelled to abort to France. Wildcat pilots Elbert S. Heim and David O. Puckett and Avenger pilot Robert L. Stearns sank U-422 with machine-gun fire and a Fido. There were no survivors.
The loss of the XIV U-tanker U-460, which was to have gone north to directly support Rossbach, was yet another severe setback for the U-boats on the North Atlantic run. Four Rossbach VIIs, very low on fuel, were left virtually stranded. As a result, the remaining U-tanker, U-488, commanded by Erwin Bartke, who was en route to a position south of the Azores to refuel U-boats going to and from remote areas, was recalled and sent north to support Rossbach. Two of the four stranded VIIs, Manseck in the U-758 and Curio in U-952, could not wait for the tanker and headed for France. The other two, Ritterkreuz holder von Forstner in U-402 and Joachim Deecke in U-584, arranged a rendezvous.
Reinforced to fourteen boats by the arrival of two VIIs from France, U-91 and U-437, on October 6 Rossbach redeployed to intercept two convoys eastbound to the British Isles: Halifax 259 and Slow Convoy 143. Fully aware of the threat posed by Rossbach, Allied authorities diverted Halifax 259 far to the south. Slow Convoy 143, comprised of thirty-nine merchant ships,
was guarded by the reinforced Canadian Escort Group C-2, consisting of nine warships (the destroyer, Icarus, frigate Duckworth, five corvettes, one minesweeper, one ASW trawler) and the Merchant Aircraft Carrier (MAC ship) Rapana. Further reinforced by four destroyers of the British Support Group 10 (Musketeer, Oribi, Orkan, Orwell), the convoy, serving as “bait,” was deliberately allowed to proceed directly at Rossbach.
The wounded Werner Techand in the aborting U-731 was the first skipper to sight elements of Slow Convoy 143. His contact report—an eastbound “destroyer”—brought up seven other boats during the night of October 8-9. Two U-boats sank ships: Erich Mäder in U-378 got the Polish destroyer Orkan, commanded by Stanislaw Hryniewiecki of Support Group 10, and Otto Ferro in the homebound U-645 sank the 5,600-ton American freighter Yorkmar. Only forty-three of about two hundred crew survived the sinking of Orkan.
Rossbach paid a heavy price for these two sinkings. British Swordfish from the MAC ship Rapana and land-based aircraft drove the U-boats off and down and sank three on October 8.
• A B-24 of British Squadron 86, based in Northern Ireland and piloted by John Wright, who had earlier sunk the VII U-456, found and attacked the new VII U-419, commanded by Dietrich Giersberg, age twenty-five. Wright dropped two close shallow-set Torpex depth charges. He reported that U-419 upended and sank stern first and that he saw “fifteen” Germans in the water, but only one survived, the skipper Giersberg who suffered a broken leg but was rescued by the destroyer Orwell of Support Group 10. Forty-eight Germans perished in the sinking.
• Alerted by pilot Wright, another B-24 of British Squadron 86, piloted by Australian Cyril W. Burcher, as well as a B-24 from British Squadron 120, piloted by Dennis C. L. Webber, found and attacked the new VII U-643, commanded by Hans-Harald Speidel, age twenty-six. Burcher, who had earlier sunk the VII U-632, dropped four shallow-set depth charges but saw no firm evidence of a kill. Later, in two attacks, Webber dropped eight depth charges. Returning to the scene, Burcher dropped two more depth charges. These four depth-charge attacks together with machine-gun fire destroyed U-643. Racing to the site, the destroyers Musketeer, Orwell, and Oribi of Support Group 10 picked up the skipper, Speidel, and seventeen other Germans, including a doctor. Thirty Germans perished.
According to the recollection of an officer on Orwell, Ian Wedderburn,* skipper Speidel claimed that machine-gun bullets from one of the B-24s had hit German survivors in the water, and because of that, Speidel was “very bitter.” In response to that published charge, the copilot of Webber’s B-24, John Luker, replied: “It had been recorded that we fired at them [the German crewmen] in the water, but I can categorically deny any such suggestion.” †
• A Sunderland of Canadian Squadron 423, piloted by Alfred H. Russell, found the VII U-610, commanded by Walter von Freyberg-Eisenberg- Allmendingen. In his initial attack, Russell toggled four depth charges, but only three fell These closely straddled the boat near the conning tower, which, Russell said, “lifted fifteen to twenty feet.” When the foam and swirl of the explosions sub sided, Russell saw “fifteen” Germans in the water swimming amid oil and wreck age. None survived.
That same day, October 8, land-based aircraft hit two other boats:
• The new IXC40 U-539, commanded by Hans-Jürgen Lauterbach-Emden. He reported that an (unidentified) B-24 attacked him, dropping two depth charges nearby that caused heavy damage. This was the third air attack on U-539 in eighteen days. It forced her to abort to France, where she arrived on October 20, completing a hazardous voyage of thirty-seven days.
• The new VII U-762, commanded by Wolfgang Hille, age twenty-five. This boat had sailed from Bergen eleven days before, on September 28, and was trying to join Rossbach. The plane was a B-24 of British Squadron 120, piloted by New Zealander Bryan W. Turnbull, who had earlier damaged and forced the abort of U-135. His attack drove U-762 under and a destroyer came up to carry on. Allied authorities assessed the attacks as failures, but Hille had incurred two wounded and damage to a diesel engine, setbacks that took the boat out of action for several days. Control directed Hille to meet and transfer his wounded to Otto Ferro’s homebound U-645, but Hille could not comply because of heavy seas. He hauled west for further operations and treated the wounded himself.
The departures of other boats for France with battle or mechanical damage or fuel shortages and of four VIIs to the arriving XIV tanker U-488 to refuel reduced Rossbach to merely six combat-capable boats. However, the group was soon reinforced by seven boats from France and Norway and by the VII U-455, which came north from its abortive refueling rendezvous with the lost XIV tanker, U-460.
The operational orders (No. 59, dated October 7) for the newly sailed boats contained a new paragraph that to some Allies appeared to confirm in part Hitler’s ruthless desire to destroy Allied merchant-marine crews to the fullest extent possible. It read:
Rescue Ships: A so-called rescue ship is generally attached to every convoy, a special ship of up to 3,000 gross registered tons, which is intended for the picking up of survivors after U-boat attacks. These ships are for the most part equipped with a shipborne aircraft and large motorboats, are strongly armed with depth-charge throwers and are very maneuverable, so that they are often taken for U-boat traps by the [U-boat] commander. In view of the desired destruction of ships’ crews, their sinking is of great value.*
U-boat Control redeployed these fourteen boats, designated group Schlieffen, to intercept the westbound convoys Outbound North 206 and Outbound North (Slow) 20. As this reorganization was taking place in mounting seas, Allied aircraft attacked five more U-boats, and two other boats collided.
• Aware from Enigma decrypts that the XIV tanker U-488 was headed north to backstop the newly forming group Schlieffen, Allied authorities sent the “jeep” carrier Card and her screen to the new refueling rendezvous. On October 12, two Avenger pilots, Letson S. Balliett and W. S. Fowler, found and attacked U-488 with Fidos. They claimed a sinking but the tanker was only badly rattled.
Nearby that same day, three Avengers from Card, piloted by Stewart E. Dory, Stewart B. Holt, and Edward R. Hodgson, found and attacked with bombs and guns the VII U-731, commanded by Werner Techand, who was aborting from an aircraft attack on October 4 and needed to refuel. Techand reported at first that he was “heavily damaged” and “sinking,” prompting Control to order all nearly boats to assist. Later he reported the boat was “fully serviceable,” but he continued his abort to France.
• The next day, October 13, W. S. Fowler in his Avenger found and attacked with a homing torpedo the fuel-low U-378, commanded by Erich Mäder. The tor pedo missed or malfunctioned, and Mäder got away.
The squadron commander on Card, Howard M. Avery, flying an Avenger, took off to assist Fowler in this attack. While proceeding to that area, he sighted Ritterkreuz holder Siegfried von Forstner in U-402, another of the VIIs looking for the tanker U-488 in order to refuel. In response to Avery’s alert, a second Avenger, piloted by Barton C. Sheela, arrived to assist. The two aircraft drove U-402 under, whereupon Avery launched a Fido that destroyed the boat with all hands.*
• In the afternoon of that day, another Avenger from Card, piloted by Harry E. Fryatt, found and attacked with a Fido the U-603, commanded by Rudolf Baltz. The Germans, who survived this attack with no damage, reported that they had set a carrier aircraft “ablaze” but, in fact, they had only severed a hydraulic line. In any case, that proved to be a good hit for the Germans because Fryatt was unable to lower his right landing gear. He crash-landed on Card and hit another Avenger, piloted by Roger Kuhn, who had just landed, and knocked it into the sea. Luckily the four-stack destroyer Barry was able to pick up Kuhn, who was drenched and shaken, but only slightly injured.
• While searching for the U-tanker in heavy seas, the VII U-455, commanded by Hans-Martin Scheibe, collided with the VII U-631, commanded by Jürgen Krüger, age twenty-five. The U-455 incurred such heavy damage that Scheibe was forced to abort to France. Krüger, who was most at
fault, had smashed all four of his bow tubes so badly that he could not use them, but U-boat Control denied him permission to abort and held the boat in the patrol line as a lookout because he carried special direction-finding gear and operators. Those with long memories recalled that Krüger had rammed and sunk U-71 in the Atlantic the previous April, giving rise to the macabre joke that Krüger had become highly effective at ASW.
Ten days out from a refueling stop in Norway, the new IXC U-844, commanded by Günther Moller, age twenty-five, found a convoy on October 15. This was either the expected Outbound North 206 or Outbound North (Slow) 20 or both, for these westbound formations were sailing in close proximity. Composed of sixty-five merchant ships, convoy ON 206 was protected by British Escort Group B-6, commanded by R. A. Currie, augmented by British Support Group 7, commanded by Peter Gretton. The two groups comprised thirteen warships: four destroyers {Fame, Vanquisher, Duncan, Vidette); one frigate (Deveron); seven corvettes, three of which were manned by Norwegians; and one trawler. Composed of fifty-two ships, convoy ONS 20 was protected by British Escort Group B-4, commanded by H. R. Paramor, made up of the first six frigates (destroyer escorts) American yards had built for the Royal Navy, and two trawlers. Number of merchant ships in the two convoys: 117. Escorts: twenty-one.
In the mistaken belief that the T-5 Zaunkönig homing torpedo was a wonder weapon and the new flak arrays were deadly effective, U-boat Control became absolutely determined to massacre these convoys. In keeping with the new antiaircraft policy, Control issued a Hitlerian order: “Remain surfaced! Shoot your way to the convoy with flak!”
The U-boats complied with these orders, but only one boat managed to sink a ship. She was the new VII U-426, commanded by Christian Reich, age twenty-seven, ten days out from a fuel stop in Bergen. His victim was the 6,600-ton British freighter Essex Lance, a straggler from Outbound North (Slow) 20. After Yorkmar, she was the second and last confirmed freighter to be sunk by U-boats on the North Atlantic run in October.