Wolfpack Pfeil
 | This article relies on a single source. (November 2014) |
Pfeil ("Arrow") was the name given to two U-boat "wolfpacks" of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Pfeil I (September 1942)
[edit]The first wolfpack comprised 11 U-boats and operated from 12 to 22 September 1942 against Convoy ON 129. The gruppe found the convoy but fog and resolute defence by the escorts defeated the U-boats. The fog lifted on the following day and two of the boats spotted escorts but were diverted and the convoy managed to evade the gruppe. On 18 September, Rear-Admiral Karl Dönitz, the Befehlshaber der U-Boote (BdU, Comamnder, U-boats) cancelled the operation.[1]
U-boats involved
[edit]| U-boat | Flag | Commander | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U-216 |  Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Karl-Otto Schultz | 15−22 September 1942 | |
| U-221 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Hans-Hartwig Trojer | 12−22 September 1942 | |
| U-258 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm von Mässenhausen | 12–22 September 1942 | |
| U-356 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Georg Wallas | 12–22 September 1942 | |
| U-440 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Hans Geissler | 12–14 September 1942 | |
| U-595 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Jürgen Quaet-Faslem | 12–22 September 1942 | |
| U-607 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Ernst Mengersen | 12–22 September 1942 | |
| U-615 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Ralph Kapitzky | 12–22 September 1942 | |
| U-617 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Albrecht Brandi | 12–22 September 1942 | |
| U-618 | Kriegsmarine |
Oberleutnant zur See Kurt Makowski | 12–22 September 1942 | |
| U-661 | Kriegsmarine |
Oberleutnant zur See Erich Lilienfeld | 12–22 September 1942 |
Pfeil II (February 1943)
[edit]The second wolfpack comprised 13 U-boats and operated from 1 to 9 February 1943. This pack attacked Convoy SC 118 that had sailed from New York on 24 January 1943 for Loch Ewe in Scotland. Escort Group B2 (Commander F. B. Proudfoot) with the destroyers HMS Beverley, HMS Vanessa and HMS Vimy, the US Coast Guard cutter USCGC Bibb and the corvettes HMS Campanula and HMS Abelia with the Free French HMS Lobelia and HMS Mignonette and the convoy rescue ship Toward (1,571 GRT). On 2 February 1943, the convoy was about 500 nmi (930 km; 580 mi) to the east-north-east of Newfoundland, in a storm that had scattered the ships over 50 sq mi (130 km2). Gruppe Pfeil was in a line athwart the course of the convoy; U-230 measured a wind speed of 150 mph (240 km/h) and waves supposedly 230 ft (70 m) high. On the night of 4/5 January the convoy passed through the German patrol line unseen. At dawn, 20 nmi (37 km; 23 mi) to the east of the U-boats, someone on the Norwegian Vannik fired a snowflake flare by mistake that was seen on U-187 and reported, the U-boat getting in front of the convoy. The signal was less than twenty seconds long but that was enough for Toward and Bibb to get high-frequency direction finding (Huff-Duff) fixes.[3]
U-boats involved
[edit]| U-boat | Flag | Commander | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U-89 | Kriegsmarine |
Korvettenkapitän Dietrich Lohmann | 1−9 February 1943 | |
| U-135 | Kriegsmarine |
Oberleutnant zur See Heinz Schütt | 3−8 February 1943 | 8 February, damaged by B-24 K 120 Squadron |
| U-187 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Ralph Münnich | 1–4 February 1943 | |
| U-262 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Heinz Franke | 1–7 February 1943 | Sank 2,864 GRT merchant ship |
| U-266 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Ralf von Jessen | 4–9 February 1943 | |
| U-267 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Otto Tinschert | 17 February 1943 | 6 February, damaged |
| U-402 | Kriegsmarine |
Korvettenkapitän Siegfried von Forstner | 1–8 February 1943 | 7 February, sank 6 ships, 37,075 GRT |
| U-413 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Gustav Poel | 1–9 February 1943 | Sank straggler, 5,376 GRT |
| U-454 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Burckhard Hackländer | 1–9 February 1943 | |
| U-465 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Heinz Wolf | 1–8 February 1943 | |
| U-594 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Friedrich Mumm | 1–9 February 1943 | |
| U-608 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Rolf Struckmeier | 1–9 February 1943 | |
| U-609 | Kriegsmarine |
Kapitänleutnant Klaus Rudloff | 1–7 February 1943 | 6 February, sunk by HMS Lobelia |
Raiding success
[edit]Pfeil II was responsible for the sinking of 11 ships (54,326 GRT), plus one ship damaged (9,272 GRT).
Footnotes
[edit]- ↑ Edwards 1999, p. 112.
- ↑ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 196; Blair 2000, pp. 32−33 35−36, 39.
- ↑ Edwards 1999, pp. 141−143.
- ↑ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, pp. 228−229; Blair 2000, pp. 37, 180−183.
Bibliography
[edit]- Blair, Clay (2000) [1998]. Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted 1942–1945. Vol. II (pbk. repr. ed.). London: Cassell. ISBN 0-304-35261-6.
- Edwards, Bernard (1999) [1996]. Dönitz and the Wolf Packs: The U-boats at War (repr. Brockhampton Press, London ed.). London: Cassell Military Classics. ISBN 1-86019-927-5.
- Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (2005) [1972]. Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (3rd rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 978-1-86176-257-3.
Further reading
[edit]- British Vessels lost at Sea 1939–45 (2nd facs. repr. Patrick Stephens, Cambridge ed.). London: HMSO. 1976 [1947]. ISBN 978-0-85-059267-2. original titles, Ships of the Royal Navy: Statement of Losses during the Second World War and British Merchant Vessels lost of Damaged by enemy Action during Second World War
- Douglas, William; Sarty, Roger; Whitby, Michael; Caldwell, Robert H.; Johnston, William; Rawling, William P. (2002). No Higher Purpose: The Official Operational History of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War, 1939−1943 (Part 1). Vol. II. St. Catherine's, ON: Vanwell Publishing. ISBN 978-1-55125-061-8.
- Hague, Arnold (2000). The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945, Its Organisation, Defence and Operation. London: Chatham. ISBN 1-86176-147-3.
- Kemp, Paul (1997). U-Boats Destroyed, German Submarine losses in the World Wars. London: Arms and Armour. ISBN 1-85409-515-3.
- Niestlé, Axel (2014). German U-Boat Losses during World War II: Details of Destruction. Barnsley: Frontline Books. ISBN 978-1-84832-210-3.
- Sharpe, Peter (1998). U-Boat Fact File. Leicester: Midland Publishing. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.
- Woodman, Richard (2004). The Real Cruel Sea: The Merchant Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic, 1939–1943. London: John Murray. ISBN 978-0-71-956403-1.
