THE U-BOAT FLAK STING

While U-boat claims during the Second World War are more often-than-not associated with shipping losses, the U-boat force exacted a terrible toll against patrolling Allied aircraft as Chris Goss explains.

In the deadly U-boat war of the Atlantic, Allied aircraft were pitted against German submarines. Very often, there was a bad outcome for attacking aircraft as the U-boats fought back. We chart what was often an unequal battle and detail the Allied aircraft downed by the U-boat force.

The U-boat war fought in the Atlantic was a bitter one that cost many thousands of lives. Generally, accounts tend to concentrate on the ships sunk and on battles fought by Allied aircraft and naval forces against the U-boats, invariably resulting in the loss of the German submarines and their crews. It wasn’t all a one-sided battle, though, and at the beginning of May 1943, the Befehlshaber der U-boot (BDU), commander-in-chief of the U-boat force, ordered:

“Anti-aircraft submarines are to be tried out against

enemy aircraft in Biscay. The first of these submarines will leave port at the beginning of May. These boats carry strong anti-aircraft armament and have a lightly armoured bridge and weapons. They are to operate on the surface in Biscay with the specialised task of attacking aircraft.”

With this announcement, Großadmiral Dönitz signalled grave concerns about the growing scale of U-boat losses to aircraft and made clear his intent to find a way to turn the tide. What he had in mind might be considered a ‘sting’ operation in which he intended to lure unsuspecting Allied aircraft towards U-boats on the surface. And these U-boats would literally be bristling with all sorts of anti-aircraft defences.

By the very nature of such air attacks, the attacking aircraft would generally engage surfaced U-boats low and at a relatively slow airspeed. Such aircraft presented themselves (potentially) as ideal targets, and if the boats now fought it out on the surface, then the results achieved by what would be designated U-flak boats were predicted to be significant against their unsuspecting attackers.

FIRST TO FALL

The first loss of an aircraft credited to a U-boat, however, occurred on the afternoon of 17 December 1941; this was to U-131, a type IXC U-boat commanded by Korvettenkapitän (Kkpt) Arend Bauman. She was part of Wolfpack Seeräuber (lit: pirate or buccaneer) which comprised eight U-boats and sailed between 14 and 21 December 1941. The primary objective of the Wolfpack was to attack a north-bound convoy: HG76.

The Wolfpack’s first sinking was credited to U-108 on 14 December 1941: a neutral Portuguese merchant vessel, Cassequel, which was not part of the convoy. This was 160 miles south-west of Cape St Vincent. Meanwhile, Convoy HG76 would go on to lose two ships to U-boats on 19 December. But this was at the cost of four U-boats - one of them being U-131.

On the morning of 17 December, U-131 was spotted

by a Grumman Martlet of 802 Squadron, FAA, flying from HMS Audacity. The U-boat was sighted 22 miles off the port side of the convoy and five warships were immediately sent to intercept. By now submerged, the submarine was damaged by depth charges, forcing her to surface. Shortly afterwards, she was strafed by another Martlet of 802 Squadron flown by Sub-lieutenant George Fletcher.

However, the U-boat’s primary defensive armament (a 37 mm and 20 mm gun) succeeded in shooting down the fighter, killing its pilot. George Fletcher had become the first Allied airman to fall to a U-boat’s guns.

Shortly afterwards, U-boat U-131, now trying to flee on the surface, was further damaged by shellfire and at 13.30 hrs she was scuttled with all 47 of her crew being captured.

NO SURVIVORS

Despite America now having entered the war, and the Battle of the Atlantic starting to intensify, relatively few aircraft were shot down by U-boats in 1942. However, this would change dramatically in 1943. At the end of August 1942, however, the BDU had already stated:

“Numbers of enemy aircraft have increased, a great variety of aircraft types have appeared, aircraft are equipped with an excellent radar set against Uboats; all these factors have made the conduct of the U-boat war in the east Atlantic very difficult.”

The BDU then went on to state at the end of March 1943, that:

“During the period November 1942 to January 1943, enemy aircraft anti-submarine activity had little result

but since February 1943, its effect has increased to an alarming extent. It is not known whether this is due to improved detection equipment or to the use of more suitable types of aircraft. The fact is that during the last two months there have been more U-boat sightings by British aircraft and more U-boats have been attacked.”

Despite this, it appears the first aircraft to be shot down in 1943 occurred on 4 February when it is believed that U-519, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Günther Eppen, was attacked and, in turn, shot down its attacker a Wellington of 172 Squadron flown by Pilot Officer John Myers. Myers had taken off from RAF Chivenor, north Devon, at 16.32 hrs and after this, nothing further was heard from the Wellington. Whether Eppen reported the shooting down has not been confirmed, because on 10 February, U-519 was sunk with all hands southwest of Ireland by a B-24 Liberator of the United States Navy’s 2nd Anti-submarine Squadron (AS), 480th Antisubmarine Group (ASG), the aircraft commanded by 1st Lieutenant William Sandford.

Exactly one month later, the first confirmed shooting down of the year occurred and again it was a 172 Squadron Wellington which fell to a U-boat. Flying Officer Gordon Lundon* had taken off from Chivenor at 18.35 hrs and, again, nothing further was heard from Lundon’s crew. However, we know that at 21.31hrs, U-333, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Werner Schwaff, reported being surprised by an aircraft while on the surface in the Bay of Biscay while headed out for the submarine’s sixth patrol of the war.

The first that Schwaff’s crew were aware of the Wellington was when it switched on its Leigh Light (a carbon-arc searchlight carried under the wing) which bathed the submarine in bright light. Despite dropping four depth charges, one of which broke up without exploding and another bounced off the U-boat’s deck causing minor damage, U-333’s two 20mm guns hit the Wellington, setting it on fire. The blazing aircraft hit the sea and exploded 200 metres from them. There were no survivors. Schwaff then submerged and continued with his patrol, returning to La Pallice on 13 April 1943 having sunk the Greek steam merchant ship Carras on 19 March.

There would be one more recorded shooting down in March 1943 when U-338, commanded by Oberleutnant zer See Manfred Kinzel, shot

down a Halifax of 502 Squdaron flown by Pilot Officer Leslie Mcculloch. Again, the Type VIIC’S two 20 mm guns hit the bomber, striking it in the starboard wing and fuselage after which it crashed into the sea. Seven of crew were killed, which included a passenger, Pilot Officer Adam Stuart. Amazingly, Sergeant Harold Taylor survived and was taken to St Nazaire as prisoner, arriving there two days later when U-338 returned from its first patrol having already sunk four ships and damaged another.

TO ‘FIGHT IT OUT’ ON THE SURFACE

These early successes against aircraft should, however, be balanced against how many U-boats were lost during the same period: 18 U-boats were lost on operations during February 1943, eight of them to aircraft, while 15 were lost in March 1943, eight of those also being sunk by aircraft.

April 1943 would see four claims for aircraft shot down, of which only two can be matched against RAF losses. Meanwhile, 16 U-boats were lost in action this month and, yet again, eight of these were due to air attacks.

May, though, saw a big jump in claims for aircraft shot down, with the BDU reporting at the start of the month:

“Air escort, provided by a large number of aircraft operating over a fairly large area round the convoy, has always forced our submarines to lag hopelessly behind the convoy and prevented them achieving any successes, especially when the naval and air escorts cooperated efficiently.

“In addition, enemy air forces have made themselves felt over the approaches to Biscay to a very marked degree - losses and damage in this area have again sharply increased, as during the period before the first improvised radar interception sets were introduced .”

It went on to add:

“Anti-aircraft armament is being strengthened as a counter-measure, but the solution can be considered satisfactory only when the boats’ armament permits them to remain on the surface to fight it out with the aircraft, or at any rate when it is essential for boats attacking a convoy to get ahead to make an attack despite enemy air escorts.”

In addition, the BDU set out its requirement for the U-flak boats (as at the head of this article) and, in the event, it would transpire that the majority of claims against aircraft by U-boats were made by attack U-boats which had chosen to ‘fight it out’ on the surface rather than claims by the U-flak boats.

DEMISE OF THE U-FLAK BOATS

As to the U-flak boats, the first to see active service was the U-441 which had been built as a Type VIIC but was converted to be U-flak-1 (U-256 would become U-flak-2) with an expanded bridge and additional gun platform ahead of the conning tower. It was now armed with two quadruple 20 mm guns and a single 37 mm gun, although some records state the latter was either replaced or enhanced by another two 20 mm guns. The bridge also bristled with MG34 or MG42 machine guns.

The modified U-441, commanded by Kptlt Götz von Hartmann, set sail from Brest on its first patrol as a Flak boat on 22 May 1943. Two days later, she encountered her first aircraft.

At 14 00 hrs on 24 May, Flying Officer Bert Debnam lifted-off his Sunderland of 228 Squadron from RAF Pembroke Dock, Wales, to patrol the Bay of Biscay. At 20.50 hrs, they came across the surfaced U-441 and went into attack just as U-441’s captain had intended.* The trap was sprung and the ‘sting’ was in play. Immediately, the Sunderland flew into a hail of gunfire. Despite being damaged, the Sunderland’s crew dropped their depth charges, although afterwards the flying boat crashed into the sea and exploded, killing all 11 on board. However, the Sunderland had caused sufficient damage to force the U-441 to return to Brest where she arrived on 25 May. She was repaired and immediately sent out again on 8 July 1943 on yet another flak-baiting patrol. This time, however, she fell-foul of her intended prey.

At 10.32 hrs on 12 July 1943, three Beaufighters of 248 Squadron, led by Flight Lieutenant Charles Schofield, lifted off from RAF Predannack, Cornwall, on an offensive patrol, later reporting the following:

“Sighted U-boat, believed to be 740-ton class, two miles to port. All three aircraft immediately turned in line astern and came in to attack. About 15 to 18 people were standing on deck watching Beaufighters approach. U-boat at once opened fire with light gun aft of conning

*This scene is depicted in our front cover artwork by Piotr Forkasiewicz.

■ U-848 comes under attack from three B-24 and one B-25 aircraft on 5 November 1943 in the South Atlantic south-west of Ascension Island. The U-boat was sunk by depth charges and all 63 of the crew were lost. The antiaircraft gunners cower on the conning tower from the attacker’s fire and at least one of them can be seen wearing a steel helmet. Although this U-boat was sunk, an attack by aircraft was by no means always a one-sided contest.

■ Konteadmiral Karl Dönitz seen here visiting the Focke-wulf 200 unit, I/KG 40, in 1941. Dönitz was Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote (BDU) from October 1939 until becoming Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine in January 1943. After January 1943 he still retained practical control of his U-boats.

■ A U-boat seen practicing with a Do 217 of I/KG 2 in the Bay of Biscay during June 1942. Exercises like this enabled the anti-aircraft gunners on U-boats to hone their skills in engaging aircraft.

(Note: this photograph depicts a Martlet of 888 Squadron.) (Colour by RJM)) ■ The first aircraft to fall to a U-boat’s guns was a diminutive Grumman Martlet of 802 Squadron, FAA, flying from HMS Audacity on the morning of 17 December, having been shot down by U-131’s guns after attacking the German submarine.

■ U-995 can be seen today on display at Laboe near Kiel. It survived the war and served with the Norwegian Navy as Kaura but was returned to Germany to become a museum piece in 1971. A pair of twin 20 mm and a single 37 mm Flak guns are mounted on the conning tower bandstand.

■ The Bay of Biscay was a busy and dangerous place. This photograph shows a major action against German vessels on 28 Dec 1943.

■ Another unit active against U-boats was the USN’S Fleet Air Wing 7, based at Dunkeswell in Devon, and which operated the PB4Y-1, one of which is seen here over a relatively calm Atlantic.

■ A Coastal Command Wellington of 311 Squadron. The type was heavily engaged against the U-boats.

■ Aircrew of 248 Squadron in 1943. The three pilots involved in seriously damaging U-441 on 12 July are Flight Lieutenant Charles Schofield (front far left) Flying Officer Pat Payne (2nd left) Flying Officer George Newman (back 2nd from right). Newman was in fact a Frenchman, Lieutenant Claude Serf, but served as George Newman.

■ Liberator I of 224 Squadron flown by Squadron Leader Peter Cundy seen in the USA June 1942. He was involved in sinking U-628 on 3 July 1943. (See also table of losses.)