Attack on Aruba
The island of Aruba.
| date | February 16 , 1942 |
|---|---|
| place | near Oranjestad (Aruba) , Aruba , Willemstad , Curaçao , Caribbean Sea , Gulf of Venezuela , Aruba |
| output | Victory of the Axis powers , attack by the Axis powers, interruption of oil production. |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
|
Netherlands: ~ 300 artillery pieces , ~ 6 ship artillery pieces , three coastal batteries , ~ 3 patrol boats USA: 1 Light bomber |
Germany: 5 submarines Italy: 2 submarines |
| losses | |
|
six sunk Allied oil tankers, |
Germany: |
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The attack on Aruba , carried out by German and Italian submarines , took place on February 16, 1942. It led to the first bombardment of America by the Axis powers during the Second World War and served to interrupt the Allied fuel production, which is important for successful Allied warfare . The small islands of Aruba and Curaçao , about 27 km north of Venezuela , were the sites of the world's largest oil refineries at the time .
background
The islands of Aruba and Curaçao were Dutch colonies as part of the Netherlands Antilles . When the demand for oil increased because of the war, a conflict over the interruption or conquest of the oil resources was inevitable. Both refineries on Aruba and Curaçao were shelled with artillery by submarines of the German Navy . In early 1942, several Axis submarines patrolled the southern Caribbean with the aim of attacking Allied convoys and disrupting oil production. U 156 , a Type IX C long-range boat , reached the waters southwest of Aruba on February 13, 1942. Its commandant was the then Lieutenant Werner Hartenstein , who was also in command of the Neuland Group , a wolf pack of five German and two Italian submarines. His intention was the area near Oranjestad , educate and then the country's oil tanks of the Lago Oil & Transport Co. Ltd. to attack.
Initially, Hartenstein coordinated an attack on targets between Aruba and Maracaibo to stop the production of jet fuel. U 156 was ordered to attack the refineries, while the six other boats were to attack any merchant ships that could be found. The other boats were U 502 , U 67 , U 129 and U 161 . The strength of the Italians' association is unknown, with the exception of two submarines assigned to the German association. The other six boats searched the Gulf of Venezuela to southwest Aruba and nearby waters for oil tankers.
The attack
On February 16, 1942, U 156 approached the refineries after observing the area for a few days. In front of their destination were two flat-keeled steamers : the Pedernales and the Oranjestad , both oil tankers under the British flag. At 01:31 a.m. U 156 appeared near the port of San Nicolas, but in the open sea, and attacked the two anchored British tankers. Hartenstein ordered the launch of a torpedo from a bow tube on the Pedernales . The torpedo attack was successful and the Pedernales was hit in the middle of the ship. The oil- laden steamer immediately went up in flames and eight of the 26 crew members died. Her captain Herbert McCall was wounded. The Oranjestad then began to raise anchor in order to escape. However, she did not manage to do this in time and was hit by a second torpedo from U 156 . The Oranjestad also went up in flames and sank an hour later. 15 of the 22 crew members died in this attack.
At 03:13 am, U 156 attacked the Texaco- owned Arkansas oil tanker , which was docked at Eagle Pier next to the Eagle Refinery. Only one torpedo was enough to set the Arkansas partially to the bottom of the port. However, the damage was limited and did not cause human sacrifice. U 156 then continued to run around Aruba and the commander ordered an artillery attack to be prepared on the oil tank in sight. U 156 had a 105 mm and a 37 mm deck gun . However, the operator of the 105-mm gun forgot to remove the water seal, so that when Hartenstein gave the order to fire, two adjacent shooters were shot in the face. A man operating the gun was seriously wounded and one foot had to be amputated. His comrade was also seriously injured and died several hours after the attack. Hartenstein ordered the attack to continue with the 37 mm gun.
Several shots were fired at the oil tank and at least one hit. The bullet made a large dent in the tank, but did not tear a hole or explode the tank. The Dutch riflemen saw the muzzle flashes of the U-156 cannons and fired in their direction without hitting them. When Hartenstein noticed that the 37mm was too small a caliber to effectively attack the tank, he ordered to dive and move away from the refinery. However, he stayed nearby, always on the lookout for other targets, such as merchant ships. Meanwhile, the other six Axis submarines were also searching for oil tankers and patrolling the area. U 502 under Lieutenant Jürgen von Rosenstiel had contact with at least three Allied ships in the Gulf of Venezuela that day. Two British oil tankers, the Tia Juana and the San Nicolas , were sunk, as was the Venezuelan steamship Monagas .
U 67 under Kapitänleutnant Günther Müller-Stöckheim also attacked two tankers off Curacao that morning. Stockheim fired two torpedoes each from the bow at the tankers in the port of Willemstad . All four either missed the target or did not explode. Stockheim tried again and fired two torpedoes from the stern at the Dutch Rafaela . One shot hit and severely damaged the ship. U 67 then disappeared and did not notice that a Douglas A-20 of the United States Army Air Corps had already started the chase. The aircraft threw its entire load of flares and bombs on the submarine, which was still on the surface, but they missed U 67 , which was able to dive and escape.
During the attack on Aruba, it was mainly smoke and poor lighting that prevented the coastal artillery from firing at U 156 . The flames of the burning merchant ships were so high that they could, according to reports, be seen well from Curaçao.
The other four submarines were unsuccessful in attacking Allied ships that morning. The Dutch patrol boats did not attack either.
aftermath
After the attack, the Axis boats moved towards Martinique , where they delivered two of their wounded for medical treatment. A total of four Allied ships were sunk. The Pedernales , Arkansas, and Rafaela were later lifted and repaired. During the attack by U 156 on Arkansas , a torpedo reached Eagle Beach and initially remained there without detonation. On February 17, four Dutch soldiers died in the torpedo explosion while trying to investigate it. At least 47 Allied sailors from the Pedernales , Oranjestad and Arkansas died and several were injured.
The American Associated Press journalist Herbert White was on the island during the attack with an investigation team led by Lieutenant General Frank Maxwell Andrews . Both men witnessed the attack. Andrews later published a report on the inspection of the island:
We see further opportunities for attack in Curaçao and Aruba in South America. Up to these points, the pipelines connected to the major South American oil fields have been expanded. Great ingenuities can be found here, out in the ocean, where, as described to me by a man who had already told the President, they lie like sore thumbs - defenseless, a standing invitation to attack.
When the battle near Aruba was over, the US military, with the permission of the Dutch government-in-exile, sent a large occupation force to protect the islands and their refineries from further attacks by the Axis powers. Curaçao was shelled again on April 19, 1942.
References
See also
literature
- Franz Kurowski : Knight's Cross Holders of the U-Boat Service. Schiffer Publishing Ltd, Atglen PA 1995, ISBN 0-88740-748-X .
- Richard Woodman: The Real Cruel Sea. The Merchant Navy in the Battle of Atlantic, 1939-1943. Murray, London 2004, ISBN 0-7195-6403-4 .
Web links
- Shells at Aruba, Time Magazine. February 23, 1942
- Pedernales, The Phoenix of Aruba
- Aruba in detail, the history of Aruba in detail
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. Mittler, Hamburg a. a. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0509-6 .