9. U-Flotilla
The 9th Submarine Flotilla , or 9th U-Flotilla for short , was a military association of the German Navy during World War II .
history
The flotilla was set up in Brest in October 1941 under the command of Lieutenant Jürgen Oesten and was operational in April 1942. U 213 was the first boat to arrive in Brest on March 20, 1942. The flotilla consisted largely of type VII boats . She had her greatest successes in the North Atlantic , where numerous convoy ships that were on the way to and from Great Britain were sunk.
The flotilla symbol, the laughing sawfish , was based on a figure by the draftsman Hans Kossatz . The artist was a friend of the flotilla chief Korvettenkapitän Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock , who brought the symbol into the flotilla when he took command in May 1942. The badge (known from the movie Das Boot ) previously adorned the tower of U 96 , which he commanded from September 1940 to March 1942. Kossatz had painted the laughing sawfish on the tower by hand at the time.
After the danger increased that the base in Brest could be taken by the American forces , the submarines belonging to the flotilla were relocated to bases in Norway between August and September 1944 . The last boat to leave the French base on September 4th of the same year was U 256 , with Korvettenkapitän Lehmann-Willenbrock, and arrived in Bergen on October 17th . This was the end of the 9th U-Flotilla. All remaining boats were then incorporated into the 11th U-Flotilla , which was stationed in Bergen.
Flotilla Chiefs
- October 1941 to February 1942 - Lieutenant Jürgen Oesten
- May 1942 to September 1944 - Corvette Captain Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock
Boat types
Number of boats assigned: 84
Used submarine types
| Submarine type | Boats |
|---|---|
| VII C | U 89 , U 90 , U 91 , U 92 , U 210 , U 211 , U 230 , U 232 , U 240 , U 244 , U 248 , U 254 , U 256 , U 273 , U 279 , U 282 , U 283 , U 284 , U 302 , U 309 , U 347 , U 348 , U 365 , U 377 , U 383 , U 388 , U 389 , U 403 , U 407 , U 408 , U 409 , U 412 , U 421 , U 425 , U 438 , U 443 , U 447 , U 450 , U 473 , U 480 , U 482 , U 591 , U 595 , U 604 , U 605 , U 606 , U 621 , U 631 , U 633 , U 634 , U 638 , U 659 , U 660 , U 663 , U 664 , U 709 , U 715 , U 739 , U 744 , U 755 , U 759 , U 761 , U 762 , U 764 , U 771 , U 772 , U 951 , U 954 , U 955 , U 966 , U 979 , U 984 , U 989 |
| VII C / 41 | U 293 , U 296 , U 317 , U 997 , U 1165 |
| VII D | U 213 , U 214 , U 215 , U 216 , U 217 , U 218 |
Web links
- 9th U-Flotilla on uboatnet.de, accessed on December 12, 2008
- 9th U-Flotilla on uboat.net, accessed December 12, 2008
Individual evidence
- ^ Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Maling's German U-Boats 1939-1945 , 5th edition, Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7