The 3 Fighters

Of course, guess the other members would've appreciated it too.

14 - 03.20.1941
North Sea
14.3. British bombers sink at position (14.3. a reference to the KMs grid referencing system) the German freighter Wirma (3232 GRT) north of Juist. Merchant Vessel norwegian Varangnes Esbjerg (2228 GRT) sinks off the Norwegian coast after collision with patrol boat Ger V 1106. British torpedo planes of the RAF Coastal Command (probably Beaforts) put two torps into the Borkum and Ger Widar freighter (5972 BRT) and before the Ameland Block Breaker and also sink Stolzenfels (7512 GRT).


03/16/1941
Waters around the UK
In air raids in the west of Britain ger aircraft, especially the He 111 KG.27, in St. George's Channel sink the motor tanker Rotula (7981 GRT), the Port Townsville (8661 GRT), the Dutch. Prins Frederik Henrik (1288 GRT) the day before damaged British Empire Frost (7005 GRT) in the Bristol Channel the Castle Hill (690 GRT) in the English Channel at Lands End the norwegian Nurgis (700 GRT)and the the Aberdeen trawler (163 tons), Sunk also in the Irish Sea, the Dutch. Perseus (1307 GRT), the British Stan Leigh (1802 GRT), Bianca, the trawler (174 tons) and Exeter (165 GRT) north of Ireland at 16.3 Lady Lillian's Ocean Going Trawler (581 GRT).

Damaged in air raids on the St. George's Channel, the Empire Simba (5691 GRT), on 10.3. the Norwegian Bur (4343 GRT) and the Dutch. Libra (391 GRT), and in the Bristol Channel on 13.3. the British Ngatira (525 GRT).

In air raids in the North Sea sink Ger aircraft of X. Fl.-Korps and the K.Fl.Gr.706 at 3.3. vor Lowestoft the minesweeping trawler Cobbers (276 GRT) and the Flashlight (934 GRT) Artemisia (6507 GRT). Damaged east of the Aberdeen- tankers in ballast Atheltemplar (8949 GRT) north of Kinnaird Head, the Forthbank (5057 GRT) east of Cromer the Br Essex Lance (6625 GRT) and at the front of the Humber estuary, the Norwegian Tyr (4205 GRT).

18.3.1941 North Sea attack of the 1st S flottilla with S 26, S 29, S 39, S 55, S 101 and S 102 into the Humber mouth. S 102 (Oblt. zS Töniges) sinks the french Daphne II (1970 BRT).

19.3.1941 RAF Bomber Command attacks Bremen and Wilhelmshaven . The fast steamer lying in Wesermünde, the Bremen (51731 BRT) is destroyed by fire. At position 18./19.3. air attacks of the RAF on Kiel and Wilhelmshaven. In Kiel, the Germania shipyard is damaged, but damage to U-Boat production is slight.

19./20.3.1941 LW attacks on London (heaviest attack since the 29.12.1940) sets fire to and destroys Freighter Nailsea Meadow (4962 BRT) and severely damages Larrinaga (5780 BRT). Both ships were at anchor at the tiome of their attack

22.3.1941 Biskay start of a (massive???) operation. U-boat-assemblies against a breakthrough of the battle ships multitude Scharnhorst and Gneisenau to Brest. In the following subs are involved Torbay, Tuna, Taku, L 26, L 27, H 31, H 32, H 33, H 44, H 50, Undaunted, Sealion, Sturgeon, Sunfish, the Polish Sokol, and the Dutch O. 9, O. 10 and O. 24.

23.3.1941 (following successful location by aerial recon....i think????) North Sea attack by 1st (Kptlt. Birnbacher) and 3rd S flottillas (KKpt. Kemnade) against the convoy FS. 41 near Great Yarmouth. The 1st S flottilla with S 26, S 29, S 39, S 55, S 101 and S 102 misses the convoy. An attack by S 61 (Oblt. zS of Gernet) and S 31 (Oblt. zS Meyer) on the destroyer Worcester fails.

27.3.1941 Biskaya. Minelayer (Minenleger) Abdiel and the Minenlege destroyers Intrepid, impulsive and Icarus of the 20th destroyer flottilla lead under the cover through the 5th Destroyer flottilla (Capt. Lord Louis Mountbatten) with the destroyers Kipling, Kashmir, Kelly, Kelvin and Jackal on a minelaying operation that establishes fields "GV", "GX" and "GY" in order to prevent a return of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. They are too late, these ships are already in Brest harbour.

29.3.1941 North Sea LW Airplanes of the X FK sink the armed yacht Mollusc (598 BRT), near the Hebrides, the Nor. Leo (1367 BRT), near the Orkneys Trawler Elmira (197 BRT), at the at the Firth of the Forth, the Somali (6809 BRT) and at Lowestoft the tanker going in ballast Oiltrader (5550 BRT) and before the Humber estuary, the Trawler Kimberley (190 BRT). The Dutch Alioth (5483 BRT) is damaged through air attack.


29.3.1941 waters around Great Britain in air attacks in western Great Britain dt sink. Airplanes in the St. -Georgs-Channel that set fire ("roasted"????) . Millisle (617 BRT), (and sink) at posn 22.3. the St. Fintan (495 BRT) and at the 26.3. the Kabelleger Faraday (5533 BRT), in the Irish Sea (irises lake???) at pos'n 27.3. the Meg Merrilies (642 BRT) and in the Bristol channel the London II (1260 BRT), at pos'n 28.3. the Dutch Antwerp (364 BRT) and that roasted. Trawler Kestrel (75 BRT), at the 29.3. the Trawler Exeter (165 BRT). Damaged at the 22.3. the Norw. Inger (1418 BRT) (in "Smalls skirt"????) at pos'n 26.3. the Norw. Knoll (1151 BRT) in Lundy Iceland.

In air attacks in the Channel, Ger Airplanes sink in (country End???) at pos'n 20.3. the Pol. Cleszyn (1386 BRT) and outside Plymouth the tug (tractor???) Sir Bevois (338 BRT) and the Marinetrawler Asama (303 BRT) and Gullfoss (358 BRT).

31.3.1941 RAF Bomber Command attacks the battle ships lying in Brest with 109 bombers unsuccessfully

April 1941

[4.6.1941 The Bay of Biscay at this time was dominated by Brit Subs and wre concentrated on the port of Brest. Older brit boats H. 31, H. 32, H. 50 and Dutch. Boats O. 9 and O. 10 were withdrawn due to defects and fuel shortages. They were replaced by Brit. U-boat Tigris (LtCdr. Bone) which sank after several Torpedo attacks, on the escort tanker Thorn (ex-norw. Ruth 5486 GRT) (Transcribers note: carrying fuel for the Battle squadron) , The ship was sunk by torpedo and artillery. - The RAF Bomber Command carried out further attacks in Brest targetting the german BATTLESHIPS scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Bristol Beauforts of the RAF Squadron 22 obtain a torpedo hit in Brest on the battle ship Gneisenau (Comment...thats allowed since I am doing the translating....seems very strange, considering the claims of air superiority, air superiority, for the LW at this time!!!!!!)

4.9.1941 Baltic Sea / North Sea the swed. Lidingö (5895 GRT) damaged by brit. air laid mines. (The last mines laid by the LW were in February. Ship found and assisted in shallow water freighter will be salvaged and towed to malmö for repair. Air mine degausser (Transcribers Note: or minesweeper ...I am not sure) also saves the small fuel tanker Sund (517 GRT) in the Elbe river

8.4.1941 RAF bomber Command flies a heavy attack on Kiel. Targets are varied, but most important are among other things the admiral Hipper and admiral Scheer

11.4.1941 In another air raid of Brest, RAF bomber Command obtains 4 bomb hits on the battle ship Gneisenau (where is german air superiority??????)

04/13/1941 BC and 2 Gp carry out renewed attacks on the Ger battleships at Brest. Attacks are also made to the submarine base and the airfield at Lorient forcing the FW 200s to redeploy to Merignac near Bordeaux, the new base for the the long-range bombers of the type Fw 200-equipped I / KG .40 of the "Atlantic pilot leader" (Col. Harlinghausen). (Translators Comment: Doesnt look like air superiority for the germans to me.....a redeployment of a strategically important asset further out of the operational zone is not a mark of an air force in control of those skies....).

14/04/1941 LW air attacks at Falmouth on the FF sloops Conquerant and Suippe, with the latter destroyed

14.4.1941 Destroyer Mansfield (KKpt. Ulstrup) makes a high speed run from Lerwick (Shetland) into the Lopphavet (north Norway) and destroys a fish factory in the Öksfjord

16./17.4.1941 air raid on London, England. 681 Ger a/c drop 890 t HE and incendiary bombs 151 t. (i believe the docklands were heavily damaged....again)

04.17.1941 Mining operations by the 1st North Sea S-Flotilla (Kptlt Birnbacher) from Cromer (42 mines), the 2nd S-Flotilla (KKpt Petersen) at Cross Sands lightship (24 mines) and the 3rd S-Flotilla (Kptlt Kemnade) before Haisborough sand (32 mines) are laid, but with no immediate success.

At this time, in the same area, these flotillas attack a nearby convoy whilst this operation is still in progress attacks by Ger 2nd flotttila, S 41, S 42, S 43, S 55 and S 104 on a British convoy from Great Yarmouth FS.64 S 43 (Oblt.zS Feldt) sinks the British Effra (1446 GRT) and S 104 ( Oblt.zS Roeder), the Dutch. Nereus (1298 GRT), S 55 (Lt.zS Howaldt) and S 42 (Oblt.zS Meentzen) jointly attack and torpedo the British Eskburn (472 GRT) and Ethel Radcliffe (5673 GRT).

The 3rd S-Flotilla with S 35, S 34, S 61, S 31, S 60 and S 58 is engaged briefly by three British MGB shifted on the 6/4/41 (??) to Felixstowe MGB Flotilla.

4.19.1941 Submarine blockade of Brest reduces submarines blocakding Norway to just the Free French Minerve (Oblt. Sonneville) sights a convoy off Stavanger, but is unable to inflict any damage.

19. /4.20.1941 aerial war England 712 German bombers drop 1026 t of HE and 153 t incendiary bombs on London.

21.- 4.24.1941 Heavy LW air raids on Plymouth-Devonport . 354 German aircraft throough 3 consecutive nights drop a total of 403 t HE and 92 t incendiary bombs. The Destroyer Depot ship Maidstone (688 GRT) is damaged by a hit in the engine room.

4.22.1941 In the Porsangerfjord German Munitions ship, norw. Freighter blenheim (1807 GRT) explodes and sinks killing 138 German soldiers.

22.- 4.24.1941 Baltic sea the German freighter Obra (ex-dan. Jylland, 551 GRT) stumbles onto a minefield laid by BC near Greifswald. Other casualties are suffered, including the German Freighter LAVINIA (968 GRT) at LIGHTSHIP Kiel

24. /4.25.1941 RAF Bomber Command strikes Kiel and Wilhelmshaven, damage described by Germans as slight.

24.- 4.29.1941 North Sea He 115 of the 3. /K. fl.gr.506 strikes near Sunderland. Sinks the the brit. Patia Katapultschiff (catapult ship???) (5355 GRT).

Further air strikes by German aircraft, are carried out, principally by Ju88s of 1. /K. fl.Gr.506, east of Dundee . sinking the the brit. Bolius and spot the Marie Dawn (2157 GRT) This unit undertakes strike near Great Yarmouth , the brit. Empire Strait (2324 GRT) is damaged. During the attack on a convoy near the Tyne river, the brit. Kalua with (722 GRT) is sunk, the brit. Corglen (2822 GRT) and norw. Askeladden (2498 GRT) are both severely damaged.

4.29.1941 minelaying by of the 3. S-flotilla (Kptlt. KEMNADE) outsidee Hammond Knoll (24 mines) is unsuccessful (no details given)

l. S-Fl. (Kptlt. Birnbacher) with S 26, S 27, S 29, S 39, S 40 and S 55 into the sea area nordwest of . Cromer S 26 (Oblt.z.S. Fimmen) and S 29 (Oblt.z.S. v. mirbach) attack convoy EC.13 and sink The brit. Ambrose Fleming (1555 GRT).

28.4.1941 waters around Great Britain use of air mine: German airplanes sow more than 450 air mines. Focal points are the Thames, Tyne, Humber and Mersey Estuaries. – Casualties from German air laid mines include: at position 7.4. Elisabeth (945 BRT) the armed yacht Torrent (336 BRT), at the Humber the tanker going in ballast Ahamo (8621 BRT), at Harwich the norw. Profit (1608 BRT), and at Milford Haven the Dutch Minesweeping trawler Caroline. — Damaged at Aberdeen Melrose Abbey (1908 BRT) and at live pool the Dutch Virgo (397 BRT).

Other German aircraft armed with bombs sink: at St. Abb`s Head the Mineweeper trawler Cramond Iceland, east of the Humber estuary the Fermain (759 BRT), East of Scotland the Cairnie (250 BRT), North of Cromer the Salvus (4815 BRT) and west of whale(???) the Trawler Whitby (164 BRT), east of Aberdeen the Rattray Head (496 BRT) and the St. Clement (450 BRT), southeast of Lizard Rocks the Minesweeping trawler Rochebonne, at Eddystone lighthouse Dudley Rose (1600 BRT) and the norw. Tanker busts (5187 BRT), at the pos'n 12.4. the belg. Freighter Arbel (901 BRT), north of the Hebrides the norw. Favorite (2826 BRT) and an American Freighter (1548 BRT), Anglesea rose (1151 BRT) and the norw. Bolette (1167 BRT). — (this vessel was damaged) Damaged, (the following were sunk) northeast of Harwich the Glenfinlas (7572 BRT), in the humber estuary the Chaucer (5792 BRT) east of Wick (Scotland) of the tanker British Workman (6994 BRT), west Hartlepool the "however" (huh?) hall (1516 BRT) in the Humber estuarythe Cormarsh (2848 BRT).

On that 12th and 13.4. Germans Airplanes in the Bristol channel attacked (and except where noted, sunk) Dartford (4693 BRT) and baron Belhaven (6591 BRT), at position 17.4. He of 115 the K.Fl.Gr.406 in the Bristol channel attacked Tanker Scottish Musician (6998 BRT) (damaged I believe)

Parsifal, fascinating posting; always thought provoking. I'm really enjoying reading this.

I've just a couple of points to add, totally off topic though. The Channel Dash, for the propaganda coup that the KM claimed that it was, was really an admission of defeat because the ships were being attacked so frequently by the RAF. Moving them north basically sealed their fate; Keeping them at Brest was wholly advantageous for the role for which they were being used, as commerce raiders (both ships as a pair sank the greatest tonnage of any KM surface vessels; individually the Admiral Scheer sank the highest tonnage) for which direct access to the North Atlantic was much less hazardous than going through the North Sea around the UK and Iceland, as they had to once in German ports.

Gneisenau never sailed again under her own power; whilst being modified to take the same twin 15 in gun turrets as fitted to the Bismarck and Tirpitz, she (actually 'He'; German warships were always male, not traditionally female) was again bombed and was moved further east. Both Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were classified by the KM as battleships; the Brits have always classified them as battlecruisers, but the intention was always that they were to be refitted with 6 X 15 in in place of the 9 X 11 in guns. Interestingly, Gneisenau's removed 11 in gun turrets still survive, high up a cliff face in Norway.

Tomo, regarding the Hurricane losses in the Far East; we've covered this before. The reasons why the Japanese had such a big success rate had little to do with the individual aircraft types being used. The Allies had no form of early warning, inexperienced pilots, they faced overwhelmingly superior numbers and they suffered from lack of supplies or replacement equipment. Kiwi ace Geoff Fisken later claimed that the Brewster Buffalo was easily a match for the Mitsubishi Zero when the tubby fighter's advantages were exploited.

Nighty night folks

May 1941

5.2.1941 North Sea the german picket boat V 808 / Hindenburg sunk by Coastal Command

5.3.1941 North Sea LW aircraft near the North sea Wash sink the Norw. Sitona (1143 BRT) and Trajan (1347 BRT). Further air attacks in the Humber estuary leave the Royston (2722 BRT) and the Mine sweeper trawler Susarion on fire. .

4./5.5.1941 RAF Bomber Command attacks the KM warships in Brest harbour with 93 airplanes.

7.5.1941 LW Air attacks against brit harbours and shipping stepped up. LW suffer a serious setback, when in one of the first uses of the the new BM 1000 aerial mine, one mine falls on land, and does not detonate. Because also its detonation- mechanism is damaged, the mine can be defused and examined.

7.5.1941 after the radio traffic of a Ger. Weather observation ship Munich are intercepted, RN carries out a board capture and search of the ship. Under leadership of VAdm. Holland with the cruisers Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham and the destroyers Nestor, Bedouin, Eskimo and Somali move to the position of WBS 6 near the Jan Mayen island. In bad visibility German ship is surprised, the destroyer Somali (Capt. Caslon) goes along side and captures important key documents, v. a. that "weather short keys 1940", an extraordinarily valuable source for so-called. "Cribs". The documents are brought on board the (HMAS) Nestor at Scapa Flow and permit the RN in the month of June to decode the radio traffic "of waters domestic after the key" (i think that means "able to decode the Domestic Traffic signal code, or something similar) . The newly introduced key "kernel fleet" on the other hand, used for fleet operations, never is broken because it is not used frequently enough.

5.8.1941 LW undertakes heavy and highly effective air raids over Liverpool resulting in the loss of 18 British merchant ships with GRT of 35,605 grt, including the brit. (Ex-dan.) freighter Europe (10,224 GRT) and the brit. Munitionstransporter Pakistan (7649 GRT). The explosions from this ship cause further damage. A further 25 ships with 92,964 grt will be seriously damaged, including the brit. Tanker San fabian (13,031 grt), the Destroyer Hurricane (???) , is heavily damaged, not returning to service until until January 1943 . 69 Of 144 Loading docks are damaged, temporarily decreasing the transshipment capacity of the port to a quarter of ful capacity - On the 3. /4.5 . With 204 aircraft bombing raids on Belfast. From the 5.-7.5 improved night attack capabilities with 618 aircraft on Glasgow-Clydeside . By German air raids in May, 2120 dead and 5207 injured of the Brit. Civilian population. Germ. Aircraft sink outside dartmouth the brit.Jean-frédéric Geleitfahrzeug (ex-french, 329 t).

9.5.1941 RAF bomber Command raids hamburg and Bremen with 359 airplanes, the heaviest raid to date on on Germany. — German night defenders amount to 120 airplanes on cover. 157 Explosive bombs and 540 Incendiaries (Brandschüttkäsen???) are dropped

11.5.1941 LW delivers one of its last heavy air attacks with 507 airplanes on London. Approximately 200 fires, (5 covers????) and , 35 factories destroyed or heavily damages. — RAF bomber Command attacks Hamburg with 110 airplanes - light damage.

10./11.5.1941 North Sea a night air attack on the mine ships Cobra and Versailles transferring after shipyard refit time (and/or Indienststellung????) from Rotterdam to Swinemünde is unsuccessful

16.5.1941 Brit. A/C hit German shipping in the North Sea the Norwegian coast near Feiestein UJ 173/ Mob Fd 32: In the attack, UJ 179 is hit and heavily damaged, it is eventually repaired and returned to serrvice. Torpedo airplanes in the Germans bay north of Norderney the Coastal Command hits and sets fire to Swedish ore freighter Ossian (1796 BRT) and German freighter Boltenhof (3307 BRT) Attacks are carried out by Blenheims which also bomb the norw. Steamer Gol (displacement not given but other sources suggest about 2000GRT) in Attelnos (Norway). The ship is run ashore to prevent a loss

18.5.1941 North Sea Numerous attacks LW A/C of the X. Fl. corps and the K.Fl.Gr.706 on the ship traffic at the English east coast: Humber estuary Tanker British Statesman (6991 BRT) and San Roberto (5896 BRT) and the freighter Tower Field (4241 BRT) (damaged) must be brought in. At the 12.5. ships in ballast of are set on fire. Fowberry tower (4484 BRT), near the Humber estuary Richard de Larrinaga (5358 BRT), this ships sinks. . At the Tyne Estuary Loitinge (2468 BRT) damaged . At posn 17.5. the Royal Navy supply ship is s sunk on its return voyage from Scapa Flow, south of Aberdeen. this ship is naemed Archangel (2448 BRT) and eventually sinks near Moray Firth. North of Blyth. Eskburn (472 BRT) is bombed and damages.

1-27.5.1941 waters around Great Britain LW A/C of different units carry out anti-shipping attacks in the Bristol- and St. Georgs-channels. West. of Newquay (Cornwall) the Tregor (222 BRT), off the island of Bardsey (whale) the Trawler forts Rona (203 BRT), in Bishops skirt the Hegerin (483 BRT), Milford Haven the Matronna (2846 BRT) and off Newquay the norw. Royksund (695 BRT). He 115 the 1./K.Fl.Gr.406 west of Newquay sink the armed navy yacht Viva II (521 BRT) and damage by fire outside Milford Haven Motor ship Caithness (4970 BRT).

1-31.5.1941 In waters around Britain LW airplanes sow 275 aerial mines in british coastal waters; priorities are v. a. the Thames estuary and harbor on the west coast. Some mines are laid in the Thames estuary on 19 and 30.5 . The brit. Winkfield (5679 GRT) and Westavon (2842 GRT) are lost to these mines, whilst the the brit. Dixcove (3790 GRT) is damaged on the 19.5.

Prsifal, To add to your post No.85; on 10.05.41 Rudolf Hess arrived over Scotland, parachuting from his Bf 110 and landing near Eaglesham, south west of Glasgow.

When Winston Churchill first heard this revelation, he was on his way out for the night and his response was; "...Hess or no Hess, I'm off to see the Marx Brothers!"

I had forgotten about hess's little trip. Thanks for reminding me

What my intention with all this work is to show a couple of things really. I wanted to show that there was a lively amount of activity both by mercantile forces and air forces. Both sides were putting considerable effort into force projection. Both sides were inflicting losses on each other. There was importance to controlling the coastal waters around Europe for both sides. For the british, the waters around Britain were particularly important. Control of these coastal waters gave a pathway for invasion, in either direction, more immediately the British were suffering rupturing losses to their merchant marines in the near waters of Britain. It was a priority to stop this.

For germany, the control of the coastal waters was mostly about freedom of action for their naval forces. Secondly, they too seemed to have considerable reliance on seaborne traffic, and even though they were suffering fewer losses, they simply couldnt afford the loss rates they were suffering.

On the basis of what was happening, between January and May 1941, I would have to say neither side and air superiority over the oceans, but both were making more than just an incidental effort towards trying to achieve just that. I plan to continue this detailed analysis of losses through to the end of 1941, to see just how much change occurred in the "Battle of the Atlantic Coast". We will see who was left in control of the "region" and know if that level of control constituted "air superiority" by the scale of losses they were inflicting and suffering. If there is no improvement in loss rates into 1942, it may be that neither side had control of these seas from the air.....we will see however.

Parsifal; It's fascinating reading nevertheless. You have lined yourself up a considerable workload and I applaud your efforts. The Hess reference was not to point out what you had missed, but that May 1941 was full of interesting/intriguing activity; the sinking of the Hood and Bismarck too, but these were certainly not coastal and don't warrant inclusion in your list.

Beside this, Hess was actually tracked on radar at RAF Ouston and plotted as Raid 42, and as he crossed the UK coast was spotted by the Observer Corps. As his flight path took him closer to the west coast of Scotland, a (not sure, maybe more) Defiant was scrambled from RAF Ayr, but did not manage to intercept the lone Messerschmitt. Apparently a Czech Hurricane pilot remembered some time after the incident that he was recalled to base after intercepting a lone Bf 110 that afternoon, but by the time Hess reached Scotland it was already night fall. He landed (parachuted) at around 22:35 and surrendered himself as "Alfred Horn". Strange little man.

June 1941 (Part I of II)

1.6.1941 North Sea and Baltic Sea the newly set up dt. 4th S flottille (Kptlt. Bätge) merges with the older boats S 19, S 20, S 22, S 24 and S 25 in Rotterdam. Simultaneously transfer that 1., 2nd and 3rd S boat flottillase out of its North Sea bases into the Baltic Sea after Swinemünde to the preparation of the operations in the expedition against the Soviet Union.

2.6.1941 RAF Bomber Command attacks the Wilhelm-canal.

2.6.1941 LW receives reports mid East coast of an aircraft carrier with escort, believed to be the HMS Indomitable. Because the He115s of 3./Kü.Fl.Gr.506 do not respond, a single He of 111 the torpedo school of the Air Force in Großenbrode is the only aircraft to attempt attack. no results. He115s eventually join the attack In the attack, the "carrier", with is found in reality to be Marmari, 7924 BRT) which is damaged by a torpedo hit. The ship is attacked the next night in an attack by the newly formed 4th S Flotille (Kptlt. Bätge) through the fast boats S 22 (Oblt.z.S. Karcher) and S 24 (Oblt.z.S v.) with torpedoes, suffers further hits, and sinks — On the same day some Ju of 88 the 1./Kü.Fl.Gr.506 sink the escort. Beaumanoir (2477 BRT) and damage the Trawler Ben Screel (195 BRT).

3.6.1941 LW A/C nth of Cape Wrath carry out night strikes (Scotland) that sinks Prince Rupert city (4749 BRT). Near to St. Kilda (Hebriden) belg. Trawler John (197 BRT) is also sunk.

9.6.1941 North Atlantic Fw 200 of the I. /KG 40 NW. of the the Faroe Islands sinks the brit. Fischfrachter Diana (942 GRT) and Finnish freighter Fenix (1894 GRT) bound for Petsamo (almost a friendly fire incident).

13.6.1941 LW air attacks in the Channel sink the following in the channel south of . St. Alban's head, the brit. Dagmar (844 GRT), in the St. Georgs-Channel the brit. Baron Carnegie (3178 GRT) and at posn 13.6 . the brit. St. Patrick (1922 GRT). Also west of the Scillies the brit. Kingstown (628 GRT) is sunk whilst the the norw. Bokn (698 GRT) is damaged by bombing raids near St. Ives (Cornwall).

13.6.1941 In the North Sea an attempted breakout by the Pocket Battleship Lutzow (Kpt.z.S. Kreisch) into the Atlantic, is defeated. From Shortly before midnight at Posn 12.6 night capable search aircraft of Coastal Command (ASV radar equipped I suspect) shadows the keeping the cruisers position and its 5 escorting destroyers Hans Lody, Friedrich Eckoldt, Karl Galster, Z 23, Z 24, in contact, near the Lindesnes lighthouse, 2 hours later Beaufort-Torpedoflugzeuge (Squadron No.42 RAF coastal command) a Beaufort piloted by F/Sgt Loveitt achieved a Torpedo hit amidships. (Note Mission aborted). The torpedo hit causes malfunctions in the ships machinery, and the hull is pierced the cruiser runs into the Baltic Sea back and reaches Kiel in the afternoon where it remains under repair until January 1942

13.6.1941 North Sea LW Attack convoy north of Blyth and sink Royal Fusilier (2187 BRT), the belg. Logger Cor Jesu (94 BRT), south of Aberdeen Queensbury (3911 BRT) and the norw Cable Lawn (4767 BRT) and nörth of Whitby Morwood (2056 BRT). Damaged near Peterthead, the norw. Distance Bank (4333 BRT) the navy transport Thorpebay (2183 BRT) returning empty to Tyne after Scapa Flow, the Trawler Remagio (174 BRT) the Clearpool (5404 BRT) outside Scarborough, at pos'n 11.6. the Westburn (2842 BRT) outside Hartlepool, Dalemoor (5796 BRT) (sunk) and Empire Creek (332 BRT) south. of Aberdeen.

14.6.1941 The Baltic German Minenschiffe of 2. Group (head Minenschiffsgruppe Nord, FKpt. of Schonermark) consisting of the Tannenberg, Mmer and Hanseatic city of Danzig, and 3. Group (KKpt. d.r. Dr. Ing. K. -F. Brill) Cobra, Kaiser and Queen Luise depart Gotenhafen to the for the the Finnish archipelagoes (tricky tricky....warships deployed from a neutral port.....I wonder if the Swedes had any knowledge of this..... ).

14.6.1941 RAF Bomber Command attacks with 110 aircraft the German battleships in Brest.

13.6 .1941 Baltic Sea / Arctic Sea transfer Soviet submarines on the Weißmeer-channel of the Baltic fleet transfer to to North -Flotte : K-23 (13.6 . -30.9 . ), K-21 (15.7 . -24.10 . ), S-101, S-102, L-20, L-22 (5.8 . -8.9 . ), K-22 (22.8 . -30.10 . ), K-3 (23.8 . -8.11 . ). (What are the Soviets doing????)

15.6.1941 RAF Bombers west of Texel sink the Ger. Freighter Hans Brage (2095 GRT).

22.6.1941 LW recon flights into the North Ocean over Zapolyarny. At pos'n 18.6. Soviet Flak batteries open the fire on a LWt. Me 110: The SU Submarine M-176 puts to sea in order to cover Zyp Navolok.

17.6.1941 North Sea mine operations of the 4th S flottille (Kptlt. Bätge) in the Cross Sands fire ship (10 mines) and Cromer (6 mines). On these mines are sunk probably at position 21.6. Gasfire (3001 BRT) and Kenneth Hawksfield (1546 BRT), at the 23.6. are sunk Cover Trader (717 BRT). In the Humber estuary Korvette Pintail is believed to have hit airborne Mine and sinks.

19.– 21.6.1941 admiral N. G. Kuznetsov upgrades the Red Navy's war alert status, on the basis of detailed messages over German attack preparations for the The Soviet Baltic and Northern Fleets are ordered to "alarm step 2" by Kutsenov and at pos'n 21.6. and 23/37"alarm step 1" from. Kuznetsovs directive careful instructions are issued to avoid provocation of the Germans to avoid provocation, that could give the German side pretext for an attack.

19.– 21.6.1941 Baltic Sea in the nights of the 18./19., 19./20. and 20./21.6. the KM put. Mine ships of the 1st group (F.d.MinSch, Kpt. z. S. Bentlage) Prussia, grill, Skagerrak and Versailles as well as 6 boats of the 5th M flottille between Memel and Öland, laying the the mine barriers "Wartburg I—III" (1150 EMC and 1800 explosive buoys), to prevent advances by the Baltic Fleet. Over water military forces into the middle Baltic Sea are on stanby for Soviet break out attempts. At the same time from the evening of 18.6.41 west of Libau sowj. Cruiser Kirov is detected but has disappeared by the time of hostilities. At the pos'n 19.6. the Sovietsj run Submarine S-7 of Tallinn to the Irben Finn. Minenlegers put to sea and lay mine barriers in Manni and Jussarö

20.– 30.6.1941 North Sea / English Channel Lw naval air strikes carried out at night. They sink, at Peterhead the Marine trawler Resmilo (258 BRT), north of of Cromer the Dutcvh. Schieland (2249 BRT), at pos'n 23.6. Trelissick (5265 BRT) is sunk as well as the Marinetrawler Nogi (299 BRT), at pos'n 25.6. Nth of Doggerbank they sink Dashwood (2154 BRT), at Smith`s Knoll the Marine trawler Tranio (275 BRT) and the Dutch Montferland (6790 BRT) and Barrhill (4972 BRT), in the same night before Great Yarmouth the Marinetrawler Force (324 BRT) and at the 29.6. südl. Aberdeen that roasted. Cushendall (626 BRT). Damaged become at the 20.6. in the Thames mouth the Cormount (2841 BRT), at the 21.6. before Hartlepool the Dorine (3176 BRT), at the 21./22.6. before Great Yarmouth the norw. Skum (1304 BRT), at the 23.6. in Immingham that Camroux II (324 BRT) and nördl roasted. Cromer the Tolworth (1352 BRT), at the 25.6. before Hartlepool the Levenwood (803 BRT), at the 29.6. in Smith`s Knoll that roasted. Empire meteor (7457 BRT) and at the 30.6. in Haisborough of the high lake tractors Empire Larch (487 BRT). — In the canal dt damage. Airplanes at the 20.6. in the island Wight that roasted. Tankers Inverarder (5578 BRT), that mounted and brought in becomes after that after Southampton.

20.6.– 11.7.1941 Norway: KM. 6th destroyer flottille consisting of Karl Galster, Hermann Schoemann, Friedrich Eckoldt, and (from 1.7.) Hans Lody and Richard Beitzen transferred to operate from Trondheim, Narvik and Tromsö and Kirkenes . (They escort supply ships north) The Troßschiff Westerwald (10,848 BRT escorted by the destroyers) is heavily damaged at posn 21.6. in an air attack by the RAF into in the Skagerrak. The new destroyer Z 25 is spotted contacted sth of Haugesund is hit, and is heavily damaged.

24.6.1941 North Sea / channel the KM. 4th S flottille (Kptlt. Bätge) is transferred from Rotterdam to Cherbourg leaving no fast boat deployment in the North Sea. The redeployment is intended principally to increase attacks on ship traffic in the Channel.

25.– 28.6.1941 North Ocean Cruiser Nigeria with 3 destroyers Bedouin, Jupiter and Tartar intercept the KM weather observation ship WBS 3/ Tepid Castle (344 BRT), whose weather messages are used to provide location by HF/DF. In thick fog, the Tepid Castle first is tracked down at the 28.6 in the island Jan Mayen and from there is further shadowed by the destroyer Bedouin resulted. Using artillery gunfire the other Ships force the Tepid Castle, directly on to that Destroyer. Ship surrenders (alert signals are jammed) Tartar goes along side for board capture and search. German ship does not scuttle. valuable key documents are recovered. Mostly Radio codes that assist codebreaking efforts at Bletchley Park which increase the ability to permit to decypher the messages out of the key circle "domestic waters" also in the month of July. Yet out of fear that the ULTRA secret might be compromised by future interceptions of this type, , attacks of this type in the future are forbidden.

June (Part II of II)

27.6.1941 Biskay the KM Blockadebreakerr Regensburg (8068 BRT, Kpt. Harder) safely arrives at Bordeaux. from the Japanese port of Dairen in the Japanese occupied Mandschuko.

27./28.6.1941 Brit. Bombers attack Bremen, Cuxhaven, Emden and Wilhelmshaven.

30.6.1941 RAF bomber Command carries out a day attack with Halifax bombers on Kiel

1-30.6.1941 waters around Great Britain, German airplanes lay 600 air mines in British coast waters ; focal points are the Thames and the Humber with respectively more than 200 mines in each area. Mines are also dropped on the west coast before Milford Haven. Losses include the pilot boat nr. 10, in the North Sea east of the Humber mouth the Royal Scot (1444 BRT) and at the "Fischlogger" (????) Audacious, outside Harwich the Minesweeping Sisapon and in the channel south of the isle of Wight the norw. Aia (933 BRT). Damaged near liverpool that Myrmidon (6278 BRT), near Hartlepool Ilse (2844 BRT) and in the Thames mouth the norw. Tanker Leiesten (6118 BRT).

July Part I

1.– 29.7.1941 waters around Great Britain LW. Airplanes sink in the North Sea north of Cromer the Homefire (1262 BRT), at Flamborough Head the Marinetrawler Akranes (358 BRT), at Sunderland the Snaefell (466 BRT), north of Hartlepool the Fishing Trawler Isabella Fowlie (196 BRT) and NW. the Orkneys the fish steamer Strathlochy (212 BRT) and near the Tyne estuary the Adams it Beck (2816 BRT). Damaged nordwestl. of Cromer out of a south going convoy Birgitta (1303 BRT) and the North Devon (3658 BRT), east of the the Humber mouth the Scorton (4813 BRT), südl. of the Tyne the Elizabete (2039 BRT), NE of Middlesbrough Mine layer Emerald Queen (481 BRT) and at Humber mouth the Umvuma (4419 BRT).

At the west coast of Great Britain, LW south of Cardiff sink the Lunan (363 BRT), in the Bristol channel the Fowey Rose (470 BRT, through He 115 with air torpedo), NW of Trevose the norw. Svint (1174 BRT) and the Farfield (468 BRT). Damaged west of Pembroke the norw. Tanker Ferncourt (9918 BRT). An attack by 6 He 115 of Kü.Fl.Gr.406 on a convoy in the Strait of. St. Georgs Khannel unsuccessful, a success message of the flyer leader Atlantic over 5 sinking this day, up to the Svint, turns out to be incorrect.

1.– 31.7.1941 waters around Great Britain German airplanes lay 200+ air mines, almost exclusively in the Thames mouth. Losses to mines are the Collingdoc (1780 BRT) Damaged the auxiliary ship Goldfinch (454 BRT) and in the North Sea westl. Cromer at the 11.7. the River Trent (246 BRT) (presumably from a mine sown earlier) .

2.7.1941 heavy cruiser prince Eugen is damaged in a bombing raid of the RAF on Brest through a hit into the fire control center and the command headquarters (60 dead). The attack encounters is a "nerve center" of the ship, the heavy artillery no longer usable. The repairs last – including the necessary final adjustment between fire direction and artillery – to the 4th of February 1942 (!), 8 days before start of the canal breakthrough (Op. "Cerberus", s.d.). (translators note: RAF raids are increasing in intensity, size and effectiveness. Except fo flak, there has been no LW opposition to these critical raids for some months)

4.7.1941 Brit. Bombers carry out a day attack on Bremen.

5.– 30.7.1941 Biskaya Submarines operate in the Biskaya against an outbreak of the Km heavy Warships of Brest into the Atlantic and on suspicious french Fishery vehicles. Tigris (Cdr. Bone) sinks the ital. Submarine Bianchi, the poles. Sokol misses at the 7.7. a large ship, and Sealion (Cdr. Bryant) sinks with artillery several franz. Fisherman boat. Also the franz. Trawler St Pierre Robert (162 BRT) is sunk. Tuna (LtCdr. Cavenagh Mainwaring) is erroneously attacked by CC a/c but is missed: at the 10.7. a submarine (U 203 or U 124) are also attacked and damaged. in vain the "pinch" (???) tanker Benno (former norw. Oil Jacob) (is attacked and missed?) The franz. Fish steamer Virgo Fidelis (129 BRT) is damaged through an unexplained detonation under the Keel, is set on beach and becomes a total loss. At pos'n 30.7. Seawolf misses (LtCdr. Raikes) with a torpedo the returning U 562 near Lorient.

5.– 31.7.1941 North Sea CC air mining operations: Airplanes sink in the Weser mouth Freighter Stig Gorthon (2262 BRT) , in Terschelling the Ger. Freighter Hans Christophersen (1599 BRT) and near Esbjerg. the Ge. Fish steamer Thrilling Strokes (238 BRT), Damaged near the Emsmündung the Ger. Asia (believed approx 5500 GRT) and north of Helgoland the dän. Knut Willemoes tonnage unknown).

Losses incurred through direct bomber attacks: near Ijmuiden the swedish Ore freighter Aspen (1305 BRT). At pos'ns 7.7. and 19.7. (netherlands coast) the freighters Delaware and Hermann Fritzen (estimated 7500 GRT combined) damaged, but brought in to Hoek van Holland. Also the Ger. Inga Essberger is damaged in the Elbmündung through bomb hits.

9.– 22.7.1941 English Channel mine operations of the 4th S flottille (Kptlt. Bätge) on the 9., 20th and 22.7 into the maritime areas southeastern and southwestern the isle of Wight are unsuccessful


10.7.1941 (I could not translate this, but it is something to do with Signals intell....The German entry says: "Die dt. B-Dienst entschlüsselt einen Funkspruch der brit. Admiralität, der wegen der Angabe von U-Boots-Positionen Rückschlüsse auf die »Ultra«-Entzifferung zulässt. Die alliierten Kenntnisse werden jedoch brit. Erfolgen bei der Funkpeilung zugeschrieben und die "Unentschlüsselbarkeit" der Enigma von Experten des deutschen Nachrichtendienstes bestätigt." Anyone who speaks German is welcome to translate for me.....

10.7.1941 BC bombs Cherbourg. Supply tanker Schlettstadt damaged.

12.7.– 1.8.1941 general situation / North Ocean RAdm. Vian flies as a special delegate of that. Admiraly by Catalina to Archangelsk and from there to Moscow. Discussions about the stationing of air and naval forces in Murmansk result initially in the transfer from the biscay station of the Tigris and Trident. More transfers follow

16.7.41 7 Freighters are heavily damaged in a daylight attack by the RAF on Rotterdam (Comment: English sources say that 4 of these ships totalling about 12000BRT were never returned to service)


19.7.1941 Biskaya on the basis of "ultra" -information concerning a returning Blockadebrecher British submarines and the Polish submarine Sokol are concentrated before the Gironde estuary. Submarine Tuna shoots (LtCdr. Cavenagh Mainwaring) a torpedo Sechserfächer on the tanker Jacob (8306 BRT) which is being escorted by Mineswepers M 18, M 25, M 27 and M 30: The torpedoes fail, however the escorts fail to recognize the exploding torpedo as a torpedo, they erroneouslty think it an exploding mine detaonation.

19.– 24.7.1941 Torpedo airplanes of the 42nd Sq. RAF west of Sirevaag sink the the Picket boat NK 08 / (former norw. Whale catcher Firern). Brit. Bombers then sink in Narvik harbour the Ger Vehicle Wandsbek (2388 BRT) and the norw route steamer Vestkyst I (370 BRT) near Skadberg .

20.– 24.7.1941 Biskaya ger. Battle ship ScharnHorst leads, under escort by the destroyers Erich Steinbrinck, Friedrich it, Bruno Heinemann, Z 23 and Z 24 after four month harbor refit time in Brest for the first time for combat manouvres and practice shoots since March . Upon return to her Berth at La Pallice, the battleship is heavily damaged in a bombing raid by the RAF

20.– 27.7.1941 Channel at pos'n 20.7. the Ger . Sea Caribbean supply tanker is damaged by RAF Airplanes and forced to return to Boulogne (heavily damaged....i do not think she puts to sea for at least a year..... . At pos'n 27.7. KM destroyer transferring from western France to germany for refit is damaged and forced into in Calais (from RAF air attack). RN MTB attacks fail to inflict further damage.

22.7.– 4.8.1941 North Ocean RN Carriers carry out attacks against Kirkenes and Petsamo. 22.-25.7. : A task group is formed for the operation in Seidisfjord (Iceland). At the same time the destroyer Achates is heavily damaged through mine. 26.7. : The mine cruiser used as a fast transport for one of the first supply runs to Archangel with the destroyer Anthony as escort (but initially is the advance element of the TG) . Later the Force P follows (RAdm. Wake Walker) with the aircraft carriers Furious and Victorious, the heavy cruisers Devonshire and Suffolk and the destroyers echo, Eclipse, Escapade, Intrepid.

28.7. : (Beölung??) (From the cruiser force?) the destroyers Icarus and Inglefield of detached and meet with the tanker Block Ranger.

parsifal said:

2.7.1941 heavy cruiser prince Eugen is damaged in a bombing raid of the RAF on Brest through a hit into the fire control center and the command headquarters (60 dead). The attack encounters is a "nerve center" of the ship, the heavy artillery no longer usable. The repairs last – including the necessary final adjustment between fire direction and artillery – to the 4th of February 1942 (!), 8 days before start of the canal breakthrough (Op. "Cerberus", s.d.). (translators note: RAF raids are increasing in intensity, size and effectiveness. Except fo flak, there has been no LW opposition to these critical raids for some months)

Click to expand...

First I must thank you for the effort going into this, its really interesting.

Re the debate over the control/influence the Luftwaffe had over Europe the last entry is telling.

Thanks again

Thankyou, hope the material is of interest.


Re, the attacks on the Battlesquadron....yes I agree the fact that these attacks by the RAF went unparried and ultimately led to a strategic retreat, and then the permanent loss of one of the battleships is a significant indication that control of the skies over the channel and the French coast was , and had, being lost. Moeover these were strategically significant.

July Part II

30.7. : Adventure is (detached from the TG) and rendezvous with sowj. Destroyers Sokrushitelny and Gorodetski and escort the british ship to Archangelsk led where it arrives at the 31.7.. The TG divides itself with a carrier apiece and arrives at the launch point (Some time on the 31st) LW recon becomes aware of the british forces at sea . Victorious, launches 20 Albacore torpedo airplanes and 9 Fulmar fighters to the attack which commences on the Ger shipping and naval units lying in Kirkenes. Training ship Bremse and other ships. Through Flak and airplanes of the 6./JG.5, 11 torpedo airplanes and 2 Fighters are claimed . Damages only slight on the attacked ships.

(The raid on Kirkenes was a disaster. The Luftwaffe had been alerted and had their Bf 109 and Bf 110 fighters in the air and waiting. Victorious launched two sub flights consisting of a total of 12 Albacores from 827 Squadron, eight Albacores from 828 Squadron, and nine Fulmars from 809 Squadron.The Fulmars, unfortunately, were unable to rendezvous with the Albacore squadrons, who were then left without fighter protection. The Albacores had to attack by flying over the mountains and the fjord rather than attacking from the sea. There were only four cargo vessels within the harbour. The aircraft released their torpedoes quickly to get away from anti-aircraft fire, sinking one 2,000 long tons (2,000 t) vessel and setting another on fire and causing minor damage ashore. One Bf 109, two Bf 110s and one Ju 87 were claimed shot down for the loss of 11 Albacores and two Fulmars with a further eight Albacores damaged. Incomplete German loss records confirm the loss of at least one Bf 110 to a Fulmar and one Ju 87 to an Albacore.

Of Furious, 18 Albacore, 4 Hurricane hunters and 6 Fulmar to the attack start on Petsamo. Because in the harbor no ships are found, the association attacks country goal. At the same time a fighter and a torpedo airplane get lost.

(The German site is incorect in its information. There were no Sea hurricanres on the Furious. Furious attacked ships in Petsamo launching nine Fairey Albacores from 817 Squadron, nine Fairey Swordfish of 812 Squadron and six bomb armed Fairey Fulmars from 800 Squadron. In the end, the harbour was almost entirely empty and the raiders claimed sinking only one small steamer (approximately 500BRT) and the destruction of several jetties. One Albacore and one Fulmar were lost due to enemy action and one more Fulmar was lost due to engine failure prior to the attack).

Still, in the context of whether the germans held air superiority over the Atlantic coast, it is highly significant that the RN felt sufficiently secure to undertake a raid of this kind. If the Germans held air superiority, as has been claimed in this thread, the RN could not have even considered this attack. note also that the Germans did not attempt any retalitory action against the TG....they could only undertake air denial operations over the target, in a defensive fashion. That is, by definition something other than air superiority.....

23.7.1941 Channel the German Picket boat V 1508 / rough III SW of. Boulogne is sunk by torpedoes fired by RN MTBs and sinks.

23.– 24.7.1941 North Ocean the sowj. Destroyers Grozny, Sokrushitelny and the Minenleger Kanin put a defensive barrier with 275 mines in the entrance to the white sea.

24.7.1941 In the heaviest daylight attack to date in western France, the RAF with 149 bombers again hits the Ger Battle ships Gneisenau (Brest) and Scharnhorst (La Pallice). The Latter receives cause 5 hits, that heavily damages the electric directions of the ship. Fighters (finally) and flak shoot down 10 Halifax bombers claimed - my English sources give a different view sources over La Pallice and erroneously one Fw returning by the clarification flight 200.

The English version of this raid is reproduced in wiki, which says, On 24 July, RAF B-17s and B-24s (this is incorrect, the raids were undertaken by Halifaxes....B-17s provided some recon support, and there were no B-24s involved) attacked the ship while she was anchored there. The bombers scored five hits in an almost straight line on the starboard side, parallel to the centerline. Three of the bombs were 454 kg (1,000 lb) armor-piercing bombs, and the other two were 227 kg (500 lb) high-explosive bombs. One of the 227 kg bombs hit the deck just forward of the starboard 15 cm twin turret next to the conning tower. It passed through the upper and middle decks before exploding on the main armored deck, which contained the blast. The joints with the torpedo bulkhead were weakened enough to cause leaking. The second 227 kg bomb fell forward of the rear main battery turret and penetrated the first two decks. It also exploded on the armored deck, though it tore a small hole in it. The explosion caused splinter damage and disabled the ammunition hoists for the 37 mm anti-aircraft guns.

Two of the 454 kg bombs hit amidships between the 15 cm and 10.5 cm gun turrets; both failed to explode and penetrated the ship completely. The first went through each deck and exited the ship through the double bottom, while the other was deflected by the torpedo bulkhead and penetrated the hull beneath the side belt armor. The third 454 kg bomb hit abaft of the rear 28 cm turret, about 3 m (9.8 ft) from the side of the ship. It too failed to detonate, and passed through the side of the hull, which was not protected by the main armor belt. These three hits caused significant flooding and caused an 8 degree list to starboard. The forward and rear gun turrets were temporarily disabled, along with half of her anti-aircraft battery. Two men were killed and fifteen were injured in the attack. Damage control teams managed to correct the list with counter-flooding, and although draft increased by 1 m (3.3 ft), Scharnhorst left for Brest at 19:30. On the morning of 25 July, one of the escorting destroyers shot down a British patrol plane. The ship reached Brest later that day and went into dry dock for repairs. While the damage was being repaired, a new radar system was installed aft, the power output for the forward radar was increased to 100 kW, and the 53.3 cm torpedo tubes were installed. Some sources claim 17 bombers were lost, others as few as six. The defenders lost at least two fighters


27.7.– 6.8.1941 North Ocean Brit. Force K (RAdm. Vian) with the cruisers Nigeria and Aurora and the destroyers Punjabi and Tartar depart Scapa Flow to Spitzbergen on another raid of shore installations. Weather station on the bear island is evacuated and destroyed. An attack against from Norway by the LW fails to find the TG

August


1.– 6.8.1941 North Ocean Brit. Force K (RAdm. Vian) with the cruisers Nigeria and Aurora and the destroyers Punjabi and Tartar evacuates and destroys a norwegian weather station on the Bear island being used by the germans. . A planned bombardment of the norweg. Coast is discovered by LW air recon and abandoned. (finally some evidence of LW air superiority)

1.– 16.8.1941 North Sea LW Airplanes report frequent and strongly exaggerated successes on the English east coast. In the the Tyne estuary the Trident (4317 BRT) and near Cromer the Cordene (2345 BRT) are sunk. Damaged in air attacks at Great Yarmouth the Koolga (1110 BRT), north of Cromer the tankers Gold Shell (8208 BRT), north of Great Yarmouth the Glendalough (863 BRT), east of Sunderland the Eaglescliffe hall (1900 BRT) and near Lowestoft of the navy tug Ness Point.

2./3.8.1941 Brit. Bombers attack Hamburg and Kiel.

10.8.1941 Norway / North Sea KM. Auxiliary minesweeper M 1102 / H. A. W. Müller is sunk through air attack near Lindesnes. — 2 dän. Fishing vessels (about 100 tons each) are also sunk when they hit air laid mines. — CC carries out an air attack on a Ger. escorted Coastal Convoy V 1506 is sunk. nominally 6. Bombers shot down (unconfirmed) (in fact there are no recorded losses that day) .

11.8.1941 An attack carried out in poor weather near Dungeness by the 4th S flottille (Kptlt. Bätge) on a convoy results in light damage to the Freighter Sir Russell (1548 BRT). KM S 49 (Lt.z.S. Günther) is sunk in spite of bad weather.

12.8.1941 norw. Freighter Cito (124 BRT) is sunk by a Ger. Mine barrier in the Sognefjord friendly fire incident)

13.8.– 4.9.1941 9th U flottille with the french Minerve and Rubis, the Dutch O. 14 and Fr Rubis (Kptlt. Rousselot) operates off western Norway. The Rubis lays mines puts at the 21.8. a mine barrier and sinks the Finn (unreported but believed to be 2400BRT) at the same day Freighter Hogland (4360 BRT) nw of Egeröy. The barrier is eventually cleared by the KM 11th M flottille.

14.– 26.8.1941 RAF Coastal Command underttakes attacks that sink the freighter Lotte Halm (1193 BRT) north of Borkum. Near Emsmündung the finn Freighter Wisa hits a mine, and is damaged. it is towed to Emden for repairs. NW of Hoek van Holland the Ger Freighter Stadt Emden (City of Emden) are hit by bombs from Coastal Command and heavily damaged (I can find no other references to this ship....i suspect she was scrapped due to the damage she sustained) .

17.– 28.8.1941 waters west of Great Britain German airplanes sink south of Kinsale Trawler Juliet (173 BRT) and damage near Blyth the Kindersley (1999 BRT) as well as the tanker Lonovania (8149 BRT) near Milford Haven .

19.8.– 3.9.1941 North Ocean Brit. Operations in the North Ocean. Force K (RAdm. Vian) with the cruisers Nigeria and Aurora, the destroyers lcarus, Antelope, Tartar, Eclipse, Anthony, the fast Transport Empress of Canada as well as the fleet tanker Oligarch from Scapa Flow with 2000 troops and base personnel to Archangel . (unsure of the translation herebut i think the Task Group separates and some ships undertake a bombardment of some facitlies in Norway. They then regroup ....at least thats what i think it says....the actual german entry is ....Brit. Operationen im Nordmeer. Am 19.8. läuft Force K (RAdm. Vian) mit den Kreuzern Nigeria und Aurora, den Zerstörern lcarus, Antelope, Tartar, Eclipse, Anthony, dem Truppentransporter Empress of Canada sowie dem Flottentanker Oligarch von Scapa Flow nach Spitzbergen aus, um norweg. und sowj. Kolonien zu evakuieren und die Industrie-Anlagen zu zerstören. Nigeria und Empress of Canada transportieren die 2000 Personen umfassende russ. Kolonie nach Archangelsk, werden dabei ab dem 25./26.8. von Kanin Nos aus von den Zerstörern Sokrushitelny und Grozny geleitet, und vereinigen sich am 1.9. vor Barentsburg wieder mit der Aurora. Zusammen mit 3 von Norwegen kommenden Kohlendampfern, 1 Eisbrecher, 1 Schlepper, 1 Walfang- Mutterschiff und 2 Fangbooten kehrt der Verband am 3.9. nach England zurück.)

They are joined also by the Sov DDs Sokrushitelny and Grozny, and near arentsburg with the Aurora. Together with 3 tramp steamers coming , 1 Icebreaker , 1 tug, 1 Whaling mother ship and 2 "capture" boats, the group returns to England.

the first Murmansk convoy "Dervish" runs (Capt. Dowding) with 7 trade ships and under security of 4 AS Trawlern, and for some of the time the destroyer Electra, Active, impulsive and the minesweepers Halcyon, Harrier, Salamander depart Hvalfjord (Iceland) from and at pos'n 31.8. receives additional escort from the SU Destroyers Sokrushitelny, Grozny, Kujbyshev, Uritski from Kanin and travelled through the White Sea to Archangel . Distant Cover was provided by RAdm. Wake Walker with the carrier Victorious, the cruisers Devonshire, Suffolk and the destroyers Eclipse, Escapade and Inglefield

20.8.1941 North Sea an attack by the 4th S flottille (Kptlt. Bätge) with S 20, S 48, S 49 and S 51 on a Convoy near Cromer results in S 48 (Oblt.z.S v. me stream) torpedoing poln. Czenstochowa (1971 BRT) and Dalewood (2774 BRT).

20./21.8.1941 North Sea after weeks of delay, (and bickering) between the KM and the LW over the deployment of the new type FAB XI mine with combined acoustic and magnetic ignition the first air launched mines of this type are deployed. Possibly 1st victim is the Brit Skagerak (1283 BRT) near Harwich

22./25.8.1941 Germany / Coastal warfare on the 22.8. the BdU (???) reports it is necessary in the coastal operations directorate (Skl), that "in view of the reinforced defense and air superiority of the opponent for a decisively successful convoy attack presently about the triple number of boats as earlier". (I could not understand the full meaning of this diary entry, but it appears to be a decision to reinforce the med with additional U-Boats, given the Allied air and naval superiority in the central baasin at that time. The Axis were at that point on the southern front suffering an absolute drubbing in their convoys to north africa, and saw a key to victory in the deployment of additional U-Boats to the TO. this drew immediate criticism from Donitz, but it does not appear to be the decision of hilter as is so often portrayed ).

September Pt I

Situation general 1.9.1941 / radio clarification the Britons new indicator tables introduce for the long subtraction chalkboards, but a methodical mistake eases the task for the German B service of decoding that "Naval Cypher No. 3" for the convoy control.

1.9.1941 Channel. Air attack on a KM. Picket boat V 1512. The ship is heavily damaged and escorted to Barfleur

1.– 30.9.1941 waters around Great Britain LW. Airplanes sow altogether 555 air mines. Results are the Trawler Ophir II (213 BRT) sunk outside the humber estuary, 7.9. and at pos'n 8.9. the auxiliary ship Corfield (1791 BRT); anear Cromer the Birtley (2873 BRT) and in the mouth of the Clyde the tugr Flying Kite (260 BRT), near Harwich the Bradglen (4741 BRT), in the southern St. -Georgs-Channel the Portsdown (342 BRT), in the Thames mouth the tanker Vancouver (5729 BRT) and north of the mouth of the Mersey the Trawler Murielle (96 BRT). Damaged Clyde mouth the tug Atlantic **** (182 BRT), and nördl. Harwich the belg. Tanker Pontfield (8290 BRT), tjhis ship eventually scuttles, Milford Haven the Daltorhall (7253 BRT) and in the Bristol Channel the Oriole (489 BRT).

2.– 28.9.1941 North Sea / Norway attacks by RAF Coastal Command on ship traffic. In norw. Waters at pos'n 2.9. the Ger Oslebshausen (4989 BRT), in Stavanger with air torpedo the finn. Tauri (2517 BRT), . At the pos'n 17.9. the small norw Tanker Vard is damaged by bombs. — In the sth end of the North Sea at pos'n 15.9. the Ger. Johann Wessels (4659 BRT) is sunk, Narvik isd atrtacked by bombers.´

Sinkings due air mines: At the 2.9. Peter Wessels (135 BRT) is lost as well as the rescue tug the Osterems. At the pos'n 19.9. östl sinks. The Grenaa (Kattegatt) is sunk off Denmark, the fish steamer (262 BRT) is sunk. At the 28.9. the norw. Aspe (xxx BRT) is believed sunk. The Ameland Dorch is lost to an aerial mine hit and sufferes immediate dmage


3.– 11.9.1941 North Ocean / Norway British commandoes undertake a commando raid against Spitsbergen (cf. 19.8.- 3.9.) the cover group leads under RAdm. Wake Walker with carrier Victorious and the cruisers Devonshire, Suffolk on that 3rd and 7.9. with carrier airplanes undertaking 2 attacks against Tromsö. The success remains low. Torpedoes airplanes of the Victorious sink the a norw freighter outside the Vestfjord. Coastal steamer Baroey (424 BRT), In the Commando Raid 30 Ger Soldiers and 120 norw. civilians either surrender or come volumtarily . RAdm. Vian brings cruisers Nigeria and Aurora to the norwegian Coast and interceptsd near the the Porsangerfjord a small Ger. Convoy. The cruisers destroy the artillery school ship Bremse (KKpt. v. Brosy stone mountain †). The transport Trautenfels (6418 BRT) and Barcelona (3101 BRT) with about 1500 men of the 6th Geb. -Div. on board manage to escape. The cruisers escape under cover of bad weather to Scapa Flow on.

here is a short English version of this operation.....
Originally a ground force of two battalions had been allocated to the landings, but this was reduced to one on confirmation that the Germans had not yet garrisoned the area. The troops mainly comprised elements of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade, under Brigadier A E Potts, with 3 Field Company, RCE attached, a party of Norwegian servicemen based in the United Kingdom. There was demolition and logistic support from British Army units including a detachment from the Kent Fortress Royal Engineers, a unit with demolition experience. This was a total force of 645 All Ranks, including 527 Canadians.

The liner Empress of Australia acted as the troopship, escorted by Force K: two Royal Navy cruisers, HMS Nigeria (flagship) and Aurora and three destroyers: HMS Icarus, Anthony and Antelope; Philip Vian remained in command. The force sailed on August 19.

The troops landed on the 25 August and, as hoped, met no opposition throughout and were enthusiastically greeted by the islanders. When the demolitions at Barentsburg were complete, some 2,000 Soviet miners and their movable belongings and equipment were taken to Arkhangelsk, in Russia, on the RMS Empress of Canada, escorted by Nigeria, where a group of nearly 200 Free French were found waiting. These French had escaped from German prison camps and were duly taken on board for passage to the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, the rest of Force K and the demolition parties had moved on to Longyearbyen.

On 1 September the ships returned from Arkhangelsk and all forces ashore embarked together with some 800 locals and 15 sled dogs. Two radio stations were destroyed which, up to this point, had continued to broadcast normally and even falsely reported fog to deter any German observation planes.

The demolition teams completed all their tasks destroying the mines, equipment not taken away, and 450,000 tons of coal and 275,000 Imperial gallons of fuel, oil, petrol and grease. 1,000 tons of steam coal was left in case needed by Allied ships who may stop there in the future. The only "casualties" occurred when the rearguard at Barentsburg had accessed the vodka stores and had to be carried aboard.

The allied force sailed for the United Kingdom on 3 September, with the three captured colliers, an icebreaker, a whaler, a tug and two sealers. Vian was alerted to the presence of a German convoy. The destroyers continued to escort the convoy to Britain while the two cruisers intercepted the German ships at Hammerfjord on 7 September and engaged its escort, sinking the German training ship Bremse, however three transports managed to escape. During the action, HMS Nigeria's bow was seriously damaged, reportedly by ramming the Bremse, although later analysis suggested that a mine was the cause.

The ships which made the excursion on to Russia had made a 7,000 mile round trip from the United Kingdom

For those interested here is a link that gives details on the landing operations
http://www.lonesentry.com/manuals/commandos/spitsbergen.html

Operation "Strength" : Carrier Argus, accompanied of the cruiser Shropshire and the destroyers Matabele, Punjabi and Somali, deliveres 24 Hurricane fighters of the 151st Fighter Wing to the the Kola Fjord Murmansk. 24 additional airplanes are delivered dismantled and are transferred by steamer to Arkhangelsk and from there until 11.9. further after Vaenga. Mine cruiser Adventure delivers a load mines to Murmansk

For more detail on this operation, use this link http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/sheppard/hurricanes/index.htm

Relevant part about the operations of the Argus are :

Back on board HMS Argus on 6th September, the pilots were given there final briefings. If there was to be any problems taking off the following day, then the whole mission might have to be abandoned as HMS Argus was extremely low of fuel.
On 7th September the pilots were awoken at 0200. There were problems with fog and the captain had already turned around to get back into clear sea so the Hurricanes could take off. It still meant they had to fly through the fog towards Russia.
The first six Hurricanes of 'A' Flight, 134 Squadron were taken on deck and assembled. At the end of the 400' runway was a 3 foot high wooden ramp used for the Queen Bee aircraft. A lot of the pilots were quite nervous as this was there first carrier take off and to reduce weight, only six Browning Machine guns were fitted.
The ramp at the end was also causing a bit of consternation as well. S/Leader Miller in the first Hurricane took off at 0700, skipped over the ramp, dropped and flew off. Next was F/Lt V Berg O/C 'A' Flight in Z5206. Speeding down the flight deck he hit the ramp and damaged his undercarriage and was unable to retract. Sgt B Campbell in BD823, one of the Australians was next and he also damaged his undercarriage. The next three pilots of 'A' Flight took off with no further problems. Following this six came the 6 Hurricanes of 'B' Flight, 134 Squadron, then 6 of 'A' Flight, 81 Squadron and finally 6 of 'B' Flight 81 Squadron. By 08.15 all the Hurricanes were off on there flight to Vaenga, 15 miles NW of Murmansk.
The problems did not end there, at this Latitude the magnetic compass did not work very well so a destroyer was laid off and pointed the Hurricanes in the direction on Vaenga. The cloud was very low with mist and the flight was at sea level. After about half an hour they flew out into bright sunshine. Twenty minutes later a dark smudge appeared on the horizon which was Russia and little while after that they were circling the airfield at Vaenga. Vaenga was already a well established airfield, even if was only a scraped and flattened area within hilly areas. Flight time was about 70 minutes. The two Hurricanes with the damaged undercarriage were already sitting on there bellies; not a good impression for the Russians but both would be repaired within ten days.

1.– 17.9.1941 North Ocean allied submarine-operations. Operating out of Polyarnoe(????) Trident and Tigris U boots. At pos'n 3.9. the Ger U 566 misses the Trident as she is returning to base. Near Breisund, Tigris sinks (Cdr. Bone) the norw. Steamer Richard With (905 BRT) but misses two convoys in the Lopphavet.

4.– 8.9.1941 Norway the heavy cruiser admiral Scheer transfers under escort of 3 torpedo boats temporarily to Oslo. Bombers of RAF 2 Group unsuccessfully try to bomb the ship whilst in harbour. However it does return to Swinemünde.

Thanks Parsifal!
very interesting, one point re your message #89, Gotenhafen is Gdynia not Göteborg, so no blame to Swedes.

Juha

Thanks, I struggle just to make some sort of translation. any translational corrections are much appreciated

Hello
a little extra info on the attacks on Kirkenäs and on Petsamo on 30 July 41 by FAA planes from HMS Victorious and HMS Furious.

The war diary of the Admiral Polar Coast report of attack on the 30th July 41 states that between 30 and 40 British and Russian aircraft attacked Kirkenes and Petsamo, the Germans give the types as Swordfish and Hurricanes. The ship A.S.S Bremse in Kirkenes was reported lightly damaged and no casualties sustained, 8 torpedos were seen to be dropped. In Petsamo the Norwegian steamer Rodvær of 74 BRT was hit by torpedo and sank, damage to the quays are mentioned too. The Germans claimed 31 aircraft destroyed! 25 to fighters, 2 to flak, 2 to the ship M.R.S Bali, 1 to M.A.A 513 and 1 to the motor minesweeper R-152. Four men from R-151 were killed including her captain. Later in the day 17 prisoners were reported to be taken, giving the name of their ship as HMS Victorious. Later on The Germans reported having found the British fleet of '10 units' including 1 or 2 cruisers and 1 or 2 aircraft carriers. At 1310hrs on the 31st a Do18 reported 1 carrier, 2 light cruisers and 3 destroyers at 74 deg. N 28 deg. E, course 330 at high speed.

IIRC ultimate PoW number was 25

In fact even if Task Group was seen beforehand the attacks on Kirkenäs and Petsamo surprised LW, but Germans were lucky, some 109s and 110s of JG 77 were in air ready to escort a Ju 87 formation to its attack against Soviets.

IMHO the attack had a little connection with the air superiority argument, it was Barents Sea coast and the German land and air units there were operating against SU, not against Western Allies, the big Arctic convoy battles laid still in unknown future.

Juha

Thanks Juha, basically agree, it would be hard to argue that either side held air superiority in the far north. Additional aircraft would have been needed to establish that.

There were no Hurricanes embarked on either carrier, so this is either an error or misidentification , or they were Soviet manned Hurricanes.