U 338

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U 338
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Type : VII C
Field Post Number : M 06256
Shipyard: Nordseewerke Emden GmbH
Construction contract: November 21, 1940
Build number: 210
Keel laying: April 4, 1941
Launch: July 11, 1942
Commissioning: June 25, 1942
Commanders:

Manfred Kinzel

Calls: 3 activities
Sinkings:

4 ships (21,927 GRT)

Whereabouts: Sunk in the North Atlantic on September 20, 1943

U 338 was a German type VII C submarine ofthe Kriegsmarine .

The story of U 338

Construction and commissioning

U 338 was laid on April 4, 1941 at the North Sea Works in Emden . It was launched on April 20, 1942 . An accident occurred: U 338 slipped prematurely from the slipway due to an accident and sank a 200-ton floating dock. From then on, the team named their submarine "Wilder Esel" (due to the "boisterous" behavior of the boat). The first officer on watch, Oberleutnant zur See Herbert Zeissler, then drew up a corresponding drawing, which from then on was used as the boat's coat of arms on the tower.

U 338 was put into service on June 25, 1942 . The commandant was first lieutenant in the sea, Manfred Kinzel, who was promoted to lieutenant captain on August 1, 1942 .

Calls

After about eight months of training in the 8th submarine flotilla , the boat left for its first venture on February 23, 1943. From March 1943 it was subordinate to the 7th submarine flotilla, a front flotilla that was stationed in Saint-Nazaire . U 338 was assigned to the "Striker" group, which attacked the Allied convoy SC 122 in March 1943 according to the pack tactics developed by Karl Dönitz . This convoy left New York Harbor on March 5th . Commander Kinzel successfully attacked several ships of the convoy SC 122 .

On March 17, 1943, U 338 sank four ships with 21,927 GRT from the convoy SC 122 : At three o'clock in the morning Kinzel torpedoed the British steamer Kingsbury (4,898 GRT). Three crew members and one passenger were killed ( location ). 44 survivors were picked up by the Zamalek and taken to Scotland on March 22nd. The Zamalek also rescued 25 survivors of King Gruffydd (5,072 GRT), which was also sunk by Kinzel , and 24 crew members were killed in the sinking ( Lage ). The third ship sunk by Kinzel that day was the Panamanian steamer Granville (4,071 GRT). Thirteen crew members, including ten machinists, were killed ( location ). 34 men were picked up by the British corvette HMS Lavander and brought to Liverpool on March 23. In addition, Kinzel sank the Dutch steamer Alderamin (7,886 GRT) ( Lage ). In addition, the British steamer Fort Cedar Lake (7,134 GRT) was torpedoed, which was later sunk by U 665 .

During the march back, U 338 was attacked by an airplane on March 20 in the Bay of Biscay . The attacking Halifax of the 502nd Squdr. shoot down. On March 24, 1943, after almost a month at sea, the boat entered Saint-Nazaire.

On June 15, 1943 U 338 ran from Saint-Nazaire for the second venture. Two days later it was attacked again from the air. Here the chief helmsman Paul Trefflich was killed. Three other crew members were wounded. U 338 had to march back badly damaged and returned to Saint-Nazaire on June 21, 1943.

modification

In Saint-Nazaire, significant changes were made to the boat's anti-aircraft armament. As with many other boats, the rarely used 8.8 cm deck gun was removed from the U 338 . Instead, the submarine was given an additional winter garden , an extension of the bridge in the form of a step, which was installed at the rear of the tower. Overall, the rear part of the bridge was also widened. The individual 20-mm flak was replaced by two 20-mm double mounts, and a 20-mm quadruple flak found its place in the so-called winter garden . Such a serious change was made in several Type VII C submarines in response to the increased air strikes after the introduction of radar on the British side. Instead of the quadruple, some boats received 37 mm anti-aircraft guns, which proved to be more useful with the increasingly thick armor of the aircraft.

On the U 338 , a twin machine gun , consisting of two MG 151s , was attached to the front of the turret on an additional step on the front of the turret , which was seldom the case . The anti-aircraft armament had to be reinforced, but it reduced the speed when underwater.

Further missions

On August 25, 1943 U 338 left for its last venture. It was assigned to the submarine group "Leuthen", which was assigned to the convoy ON 202 .

Sinking

Since September 20, 1943, there has been no trace of this boat. Originally it was assumed that U 338 was attacked by a B-24 Liberator with a so-called "Fido" torpedo, an acoustically guided air torpedo, when it surfaced . But this attack was aimed at U 386 , which escaped undamaged.

Investigations by the German side have shown that U 338 was attacked by the Canadian corvette HMCS Drumheller on the evening of September 20, 1943 . This had been attached to the submarine after the position report of a B-24 Liberator. The corvette fired at U 338 with its on-board gun, so that it had to submerge quickly. The submarine was located under water with Asdic , an underwater location device that worked with high-frequency sound waves. Before the Drumheller could start the first depth charge, however, it was shaken by a violent underwater detonation. Presumably, while diving away , U 338 had fired a T-5 torpedo (" Wren "), which was searching for its target acoustically, at the corvette.

It must be assumed that U 338 was sunk either by its own torpedo or by the artillery fire of the corvette. 57 ° 20 ′  N , 30 ° 0 ′  W.

crew

commander
  • Kptlt. Manfred Kinzel †
Officers on watch
  • Oblt.zS Herbert Zeissler (June 1942 - July 1942), died in 2009 in Magdeburg
  • Lt.zS Otto Dekow †,
  • Lt.zS Gerald Göhring †,
  • OFhr.zS Karl-Heinz Zapel †
Senior Engineers
  • Ol (Ing) Ernst Flemming †,
  • OMasch Heinrich Hessling †,
  • OMasch Wilhelm Wyss †
Ship doctor
  • MarOAssA Dr. Hans-Heino Claessens †
Chief helmsmen
  • OStrm Paul Trefflich † (-17 June 1943 / see list of fallen soldiers),
  • Strm Werner Braun †
team
  • MaschGfr Bergt, Rolf, * April 14, 1924
  • MtrOGfr Böttcher, Paul, * October 1, 1921
  • Strm Braun, Werner, born November 8, 1916
  • MechGfr Brinkschmidt, Hans-Günther, born February 3, 1924
  • MaschGfr Brix, Leopold, * February 23, 1924
  • MarOAss doctor Dr. Clässens, Hans-Heino, * March 23, 1916
  • Lt. Dekow, Otto, born April 13, 1918
  • MaschMt Delli, Erwin, * February 13, 1921
  • BtsMt Drott, Fritz, * January 3, 1919
  • MechMt Fischer, Karl-Heinz, born April 7, 1921
  • Oblt. (Ing) Flemming, Ernst, born January 15, 1920
  • Lt. Göhring, Gerald, born February 10, 1922
  • MechOGfr Grießhammer, Max, born January 7, 1923
  • MtrOGfr Günther, Hans, * December 21, 1923
  • OMasch Heßling, Heinrich, * August 30, 1911
  • MaschOGfr Höhne, Harry, * September 4, 1921
  • OMaschMt Horn, Karl, * January 17, 1918
  • FkMt Jacob, Franz, born October 7, 1921
  • MaschOGfr Joswig, Hans, * July 27, 1922
  • MaschMt Kießling, Werner, * October 16, 1920
  • KptLt Kinzel, Manfred, * March 27, 1915
  • MtrGfr Knoppe, Rudolf, * December 17, 1923
  • BtsMt Kolletzki, Alfred, * January 2, 1920
  • MtrGfr Kohne, Willi, * July 18, 1923
  • FkGfr Krajnicki, Rudi, born March 18, 1925
  • MtrOGfr Kreuzer, Theobald, * January 21, 1924
  • BtsMt Kunze, Josef, * October 16, 1920
  • MtrGfr Lindinger, Georg, born April 8, 1924
  • MaschOGfr Lissi, Heinrich, * August 13, 1920
  • MtrOGfr Maske, Günter, * October 29, 1923
  • MtrOGfr Meichssner, Karl, born September 29, 1923
  • MaschOGfr Mergen, Alois, * April 21, 1923
  • MaschOGfr Obermeier, Heinz, * July 1, 1924
  • MaschOGfr Örtel, Hans. * April 4, 1923
  • FkMt Paul, Walter, * May 17, 1919
  • FkOGfr Peperkorn, Dietrich, born November 24, 1921
  • MaschMt Preuß, Otto, born October 11, 1920
  • MtrOGfr Rodner, Josef, * December 13, 1922
  • MtrOGfr Schneider, Heinz, * September 17, 1923
  • MtrOGfr Schnitzler, Peter, * June 4, 1924
  • MtrOGfr Schönhardt, Erwin, * February 6, 1923
  • MechOGfr Schramme, Gerhard, * December 9, 1923
  • MaschOGfr Schröder, Herbert, * December 23, 1921
  • MaschOGfr Schulz, Franz, born March 1, 1923
  • MaschOGfr Skriewe, Alfred, * May 13, 1923
  • OMaschMt Stodt, Walter, * October 18, 1916
  • OMaschMt Weise, Herbert, * October 13, 1918
  • MaschOGfr Westerheide, Walter, born April 30, 1924
  • OMasch Wyss, Wilhelm, * December 10, 1914
  • OFähnr Zapel, Karl-Heinz, * December 17, 1914
  • MaschOGfr Zeltner, Wilhelm, * April 5, 1924

Single loss:

  • OStrm Trefflich, Paul, * February 4, 1914

(Fallen in the plane attack on June 17, 1943 in Biscaya)

literature

  • Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Maling's German submarines 1939–1945. 5th edition. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 .
  • Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing before Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The abbreviation "SC" stood for "slow convoy" and denoted convoys with a large number of ships, which therefore advanced comparatively slowly
  2. ^ A b Ian M. Malcolm: "Shipping Company Losses of the Second World War. Book II", Moira Brown, Dundee 2020, ISBN 978-1-65661-255-7 , page 13
  3. ↑ Photo with text: Robert Stern: Type VII U-boats. Arms and Armor, London 1991, ISBN 1-85409-011-9 , p. 105; also Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966. Karl Müller, Erlangen 1996, ISBN 3-86070-036-7 , in the middle part of the picture (without page numbers) between pp. 208 and 209.