Anti-aircraft trap

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The flak trap was a special form of the German submarines of the Second World War .

From 1943 the number of losses of the German submarine weapon in the battle in the Atlantic increased enormously. The Allied naval forces used modern hunting methods for anti-submarine defense. These included Asdic devices, Hedgehog water bomb launchers and many new frigates , corvettes and destroyers . The Allied Air Force also played a major role in fighting the German submarines. With long-range aircraft such as the Catalina flying boats, large areas of the Atlantic could be monitored. These planes operated from Iceland, the Azores and Great Britain . Aircraft that were already too outdated for land use at the front, such as the Blenheim bomber, were also used. The German submarine command under Admiral Karl Dönitz was very concerned about the high casualties and so they looked for a means to eliminate the air threat in particular. For this purpose, some Type VII boats were completely converted. Instead of a 2 cm anti -aircraft gun, a 3.7 cm anti-aircraft gun was installed on the tower . The 8.8 cm gun disappeared and was replaced by a Flakvierling . A Flakvierling was also installed behind the tower. The boats equipped in this way were to serve as flak traps.

A total of eight submarines were converted according to this principle in the summer of 1943: U 211 , U 256 , U 263 , U 271 , U 441 , U 621 , U 650 and U 953 . Their mission was to attract Allied air forces. Under normal circumstances, attacked boats should dive away and thus escape the access of the airmen. The anti-aircraft trap was supposed to remain exposed and fight the attacker with the reinforced anti-aircraft armament.

The idea of ​​the flak trap turned out to be a fiasco. Two did not even leave for use and five of the six converted boats did not return to the ports. They were sunk by enemy air forces. U 441 , the sixth boat, reached the port of St. Nazaire in December 1943 . All of the nautical personnel had been killed by a Blenheim bomber and bullet holes had rendered the boat unable to dive. The on-board doctor present had returned the boat with his limited nautical knowledge.

In December 1943, the attempt with flak traps was stopped.

literature

  • Paul Herbert Freyer : Death on all seas. A factual report on the history of the fascist submarine war. 9th edition. Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1982.