Special group of the North Sea outpost flotilla
The special group of the North Sea outpost flotilla , informally known as the Schlieder special group or the S group , was a special unit of the Imperial Navy during the First World War to combat submarines ( U-boat trap ) and to carry out intelligence operations and sabotage such as the Cutting submarine cables . Depending on the location, the units also used Dutch legends .
Tasks and commitment
As far as is known so far, the S-Group was founded in early 1916 within the North Sea outpost flotilla ( flotilla of the North Sea outpost boats ) and was under the leadership of Lieutenant , later Lieutenant for the Sea Viktor Schlieder (April 29, 1889 - March 29, 1917). It consisted of the three outpost boats Bismarck , Kehdingen and Dithmarschen .
The North Sea outpost flotilla itself consisted of the North Sea tender and two semi-flotillas, each with a torpedo boat and 31 armed fish steamers, and operated from Heligoland . Together with other flotillas and divisions, it served the security service in the North Sea , to which the advance guarding of the border areas of the German Bight , the creation and control of mine-free routes, the establishment of new mine barriers , mine clearing , submarine hunting , escort and security of shipping as well as the bringing in and out of all surface and underwater forces through our own and British mine barriers . The flotillas and divisions were all under the command of the Reconnaissance Forces, Vice Admiral Franz Hipper .
The battle on the Dogger Bank on April 27, 1916
On April 25, 1916, the S group steamed onto the Dogger Bank . Its mission was to find opportunities to attack British naval forces , which could possibly follow German units from the attack on Lowestoft , in which several German battlecruisers were also involved. Although the group did not find any British ships, they succeeded on the night of April 27. to capture the British fishing steamer Horus from Grimsby , which was fishing on the Dogger Bank.
While the Kehdingen remained on the prize , Bismarck and Dithmarschen continued their patrol and on April 27, 2 a.m., came across a very low-built British patrol vehicle about 120 meters long and flat stern , on which two guns could be seen. Shortly afterwards they sighted a second guard vehicle. Bismarck and Dithmarschen sat down between the two vehicles in order to be able to unleash torpedoes . However , the torpedoes fired by Bismarck ran under the flat vehicle while she was hit by a torpedo, which, however, did not explode. The Dithmarschen then sank one of the two vehicles with torpedoes, the name of which is still unknown on the German side. According to the captured captain of the Horus , the sunk vehicle was probably a paddle steamer , which provided passenger service between the Thames and Holland in peacetime . At 4.30 p.m. the special group, together with their pinch of Horus, was picked up by the two battle cruisers Derfflinger and Moltke and other units.
Advance against Dogger Bank in August 1916
After returning submarines reported about British fishing steamers operating on the Dogger Bank within fishing fleets against German submarines, a joint meeting of officers of the S-Gruppe and the U-Bootwaffe took place in Emden in early August 1916 . It was decided to carry out a joint operation of the S group with submarines for the first time .
The group ran out of the Ems on August 8, 1916 and met on August 9 at 3:00 pm at position 54 ° 25 'N, 3 ° 10' E with SM U 66 under Lieutenant von Bothmer and SM U 69 under Lieutenant Wilhelms . Here, four in were line abreast propelled submarine hunters British Acacia class sighted. However, due to the glassy sea and too great a distance, an attack was not carried out. The German units advanced as far as the Dogger Bank, but only met Dutch fishing vessels. The submarines drove ahead at high speed and stopped suspicious vehicles while the fish steamers took over the actual control.
Although the company showed that a joint approach by submarines and fish steamers had proven its worth, the trawlers were unsuitable for such far-reaching undertakings due to their low speed. Small cruisers and destroyers should be used for future ventures of this kind .
Use on the Dogger Bank in October 1916
On October 20, 1916, the S-Gruppe ran from the Ems to the northwest to attack British guards on the Dogger Bank and possibly to capture fish steamer. Again a Dutch camouflage was used; the Bismarck carried the Dutch fishing license number PS 98 Martje . On October 22, the three steamers stood at the southeast corner of the bank, some 60 nautical miles north-northwest of Terschelling -Bank- lightship . The sea was calm and the view clear; on the approach, the S group had encountered numerous Dutch fish steamers.
At 7.50 a.m., the fish steamers sighted clouds of smoke in the south, which turned out to belong to two British destroyer groups that were accompanied by small cruisers. At 9:20 am the group of eight British units was trapped. According to the entry in the war diary , Schlieder decided to keep the masking until it was recognized. At 9.30 a.m., a Laforey-class destroyer approaching the Bismarck hoisted the international signal E.C. ( Which ship? ). The destroyer had not manned its guns, which were still covered with the weather protection. Schlieder did not answer the signal, whereupon the destroyer moved away again and finally brought the signal down. At 23.15 the S group ran on Borkum - Reede one.
The sinking of the Bismarck
At the end of March 1917, the special group ran out again to fight submarines and passed through the barrier 19, which was located near Horns Reef and had been laid by the British submarine E 51 on March 17th. Despite a search by the 10th torpedo boat semi-flotilla, the barrier was only partially cleared. On March 29, 3:00 a.m., the Bismarck hit one of the mines laid out there and sank within 15 seconds. With the exception of three men, the entire crew including Schlieder was killed.
The end - other special groups of the North Sea outpost flotilla
After the sinking of the Bismarck , the S group was continued by Oberleutnant zur See Heinrich Woldag (1892-1940), in World War II as captain at sea, in command of the heavy cruiser Blücher . It is unclear which other units were included in the group and which activities they then carried out. The time of their dissolution is also unclear.
From documents of the naval intelligence service of the Royal Navy ( Room 40 ) it has recently become known that in addition to the Schlieder special group, there apparently existed at least three other special groups of the North Sea outpost flotilla, for which there has been no published evidence from the German side. The existence of these groups must be assumed, however, since the British side monitored and decoded the German naval radio with practically no gaps. In the Federal Archives-Military Archives in Freiburg i. Br. Apparently only the war diaries from 1916 as well as reports from the S group have survived.
literature
- Werner Rahn: The influence of radio reconnaissance on German naval warfare in the First and Second World War. In: Winfried Heinemann: Leadership and means of leadership. Potsdam 2011, ISBN 978-3-941571-14-3 , pp. 15-56.
- Jonathan Reed Winkler: Nexus. Strategic communications and American security in World War I. Cambridge, Mass. 2008, ISBN 978-0-674-02839-5 .