U 413

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U 413
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Type : VII C
Field Post Number : 03 918
Shipyard: Danzig Werft AG, Danzig
Construction contract: August 15, 1940
Build number: 114
Keel laying: April 25, 1941
Launch: January 15, 1942
Commissioning: June 3, 1942
Commanders:
Flotilla:
  • 8th U-Flotilla training boat
    June 1942 - November 1942
  • 1st U-Flotilla Front Boat
    November 1942 - August 1944
Calls: not known
Sinkings:

4 ships (31,509 GRT, 130 dead)
1 warship (1,100 t, 96 dead)

Whereabouts: Sunk south of Brighton on August 20, 1944 (45 dead, 1 prisoner of war)

U 413 was a German class (or type) VII C submarine that operated in the Atlantic as part of the U-Boat War from 1942 to 1944. It sank four merchant ships with 31,509 GRT and one warship with 1100 t, with a total of 226 people died. On August 20, 1944, it was sunk south of Brighton , killing 45 men and only the chief engineer as the only survivor could save himself from a depth of 60 m. He became a British prisoner of war .

Technical specifications

The Danziger Werft AG delivered a total of 42 submarines in the course of the Second World War. U 413 was one of twelve VII -C boats that were built at this shipyard in 1942. Like most German submarines of its time, the U 413 also had a boat-specific mark on the tower , which was worn by the crew on uniform caps or boats in a version made of sheet metal or fabric . It was a rose - a symbol that the crew chose after being inspired by a hit.

Commanders

Gustav Poel was born on August 2, 1917 in Hamburg. He joined the Navy as a midshipman and became a member of Crew 36, the year of training who began a career as a naval officer in September 1936. Following on-board training on the light cruiser Emden and completing the ensign's course at the Mürwik naval school , Gustav Poel was promoted to ensign at sea in 1937 . He was promoted to senior ensign and finally to lieutenant in the sea in 1938. Until 1940, Poel served as a watch officer on U 27 and U 37 . As Oberleutnant zur See , Poel was assigned to the Italian leader of the submarines, Rear Admiral Angelo Perona, in Bordeaux as an assistant to the German liaison officer, Corvette Captain Hans-Rudolf Rösing , until 1941 . He then became an instructor and instructor for tactics in the 25th submarine flotilla.

When Poel took command of U 413 in the summer of 1942 , it was his first frontline deployment in a long time. On February 1, 1943, Gustav Poel was promoted to lieutenant captain. Two months later he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . In 1944 Gustav Poel became company commander at the naval school in Glücksburg and finally saw the end of the war on the staff of the Admiralty of the submarines.

  • April 20, 1944 - August 20, 1944 Dietrich Sachse

Dietrich Sachse was born in Gipstal on August 22, 1917 and joined the Navy in September 1939 as a midshipman. Until the summer of 1942 he served as an officer in the 27th U-Flotilla, a training flotilla stationed in Gotenhafen , in which Italian submarine drivers were also trained. Following the building instruction , Dietrich Sachse became first watch officer on U 413 in June 1942 . His command course he completed in the summer of 1943 in the 24th U-boat Flotilla and then led before he commander of U 413 was from 15 September 1943 to 1 December 1943 U 1162 and December 2, 1943 to March 17, 1944 U 28 .

history

From June to October 1942, U 413 was assigned to the 8th U-Flotilla as a training boat, a training flotilla that was stationed in Danzig from February 1942. From November 1, 1942 until its sinking in August 1944, U 413 belonged to the 1st U-Flotilla , which was based in the Atlantic port of Brest .

Convoy MK 1

HMS Dasher directed MK 1

Gustav Poel had left Kiel with U 413 at the end of October 1942 and, after a short stay in Marviken, reached the North Atlantic in mid-November . On November 14th, he discovered the convoy MK 1 traveling northwards , which consisted, among other things, of troop transports that were returning from an operation in Africa and were covered by strong escorts. These included the escort carriers HMS Biter and Dasher , newly commissioned for the Royal Navy . At around 8:44 a.m., U 413 torpedoed one of the troop transports from the British convoy, killing 114 British soldiers.

  • 14 November 1942 British troop carrier Warwick Castle , 20,107 GRT sunk with torpedo ( location )

On November 19, a light bomber discovered the surfaced boat. Commander Poel immediately launched an alarm, but the detonation of the depth charges that the Hudson threw after the submerged boat damaged the periscope of U 413 . Poehl was forced to break off his patrol, set course for France and entered Brest, the base of the 1st U-Flotilla, on November 25th.

Jaguar and arrow

At the end of January 1943, the submarine command had put together two groups of submarines to patrol east of Newfoundland and southeast of Greenland in search of convoys that were heading from the American coast towards Great Britain. U 413 was assigned to the Jaguar group and on 22 January discovered a straggler from the convoy SC 117 , which Commander Poel sank with two torpedoes.

  • January 22, 1943 Greek steamer Mount Mycale , 3,556 GRT sunk with torpedo, 10 dead, no survivors ( location )

Due to the unsuccessful attack on SC 117 and the convoy HX 223 , which ran parallel about 500 km to the north , the Jaguar submarine group was disbanded on January 27th and most of the submarines withdrew, partly to start their journey home back to the sea area. U 413 was assigned to the newly formed submarine group Pfeil , which attacked the convoy SC 118 at the beginning of February in accordance with the pack tactics . U 413 discovered another straggler from this convoy.

  • February 5, 1943 American steamer West Portal , 5,376 GRT sunk with torpedo

Two weeks later, U 413 returned to Brest.

Convoy ON 178

On March 29, U 413 set out from Brest on its third venture. On April 21, U 706 and U 415 reported the convoy ON 178 , which was on its way from Liverpool to North America. U 415 sank a British freighter and damaged another. This was discovered and sunk by U 413 a few hours later .

  • 21 April British steamer Wanstead , 5,486 GRT sunk with torpedo, 2 dead, 48 survivors

The submarine command canceled the unplanned attack on ON 178 and instructed the boats to participate in a more coordinated attack on another convoy. UU 413 scored no further sinkings on this venture and returned to Brest on June 13th.

New weapons

In the so-called “Black May” of 1943, 43 German submarines were sunk. This made it clear that the submarines of the Kriegsmarine had become obsolete and that their tactics had become ineffective in view of the developments on the Allied side, especially in radar research and weapons development. Until the hoped-for new electric boats were deployed, Karl Dönitz , the new Commander-in-Chief of the Navy , tried to strengthen the defensive power of the existing boats. Various extensions and modifications were tested for this, such as stronger armament, the Naxos radar receiver and experimental coatings of the outer shell, which should make radar location impossible. Also UU 413 was equipped for testing with a new ham radio, which was the 100-200 meter band watch. Gustav Poel, however, broke off the venture after a few days and U 413 returned to Brest on September 18, after only two weeks at sea.

Further sinkings

HMS Warwick , sunk by U 413
  • The British destroyer Warwick , 96 dead, 366 survivors ( location ), which was sunk by U 413 on February 20, 1943.

UU 413 sank under Commander Dietrich Sachse :

  • On the morning of August 19, the British steamer Saint Enogat , 4 dead, 37 survivors ( location ) with 2360 GRT.

Operation Overlord

As soon as the signs increased that an invasion of the French Atlantic coast by the Allies was imminent, the uncertainties on the part of the German submarine command increased, which also acted increasingly contradictory. U 413 was one of the submarines that sailed from Brest on June 6th to attack the Allied invasion fleet . The task for the boats was to take an offensive position between Land's End and Plymouth . There were a total of eight boats, none of which was equipped with a so-called snorkel , which allowed a longer stay underwater, which was essential for a successful submarine operation in a sea area protected by enemy air forces. The German boats stationed on the Atlantic coast with snorkels were instead ordered to take up a defensive position near the coast. The Brest boats first tried to fight the air security of the Allied invasion fleet with on-board artillery, while U 413 got into the detonation radius of several depth charges and was unable to maneuver. After returning to the base, the boat was equipped with a snorkel during the repair work.

Sinking

The hunt for U 413 began on the morning of August 20, 1944. The boat had been discovered and damaged by British hunters the evening before after the sinking of the steamer Saint Enogat , but was able to escape during the night. The further pursuit began when the destroyer HMS Forester next morning Asdic - localization of UU 413 got. The British ship called in three other destroyers - HMS Vidette , HMS Melbreak and HMS Wensleydale - for support. In the early morning the listening device of U 413 had failed, so Commander Sachse only discovered his opponents when they were practically over the boat. Running at a depth of 30 meters at 4 knots, U 413 was permanently damaged by the depth charges of the Vidette and the Wensleydale and sank to the bottom at a depth of 60 meters ( Lage ). The chief engineer , Oberleutnant zur See Karl-Hubert Hütterer, was able to save himself by getting out through the forward torpedo hatch and drifting to the surface of the water. He was rescued from the sea by a Wensleydale dinghy and was taken prisoner by the British . Interestingly enough, in the report of the LI Hütterer, the attack time deviates by three hours from the official report of the British Admiralty. 45 submarine drivers were killed in the sinking of U 413 .

literature

  • Herbert A. Werner: The iron coffins (= Heyne books. No. 5177). Foreword by Hans Hellmut Kirst . Approved, unabridged paperback edition, 10th edition. Heyne, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-453-00515-5 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. Preface by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rohwer, Member of the Presidium of the International Commission on Military History. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1996, pp. 180, 199. ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 2: Submarine construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 1997, pp. 78, 247. ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 3: The German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2008, pp. 193f. ISBN 978-3-8132-0513-8 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 4: The German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2008, pp. 281f. ISBN 978-3-8132-0514-5 .
  • Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maas: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 3: Submarines, auxiliary cruisers, mine ships, net layers. Bernhard & Graefe Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7637-4802-4 .
  • Clay Blair : The Submarine War - The Hunted 1942–1945 . Heyne Verlag, 1999. pp. 154, 156, 225, 233, 349, 403, 500, 515, 583, 587, 682, 716. ISBN 3-453-16059-2 .

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Georg Högel: Embleme Wappen Malings deutscher U-Boats , Koehler (5th edition), Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 , page 118
  2. ↑ The description of the convoy given here corresponds to Clay Blair: The U-Boat War. Volume 1: The Hunters. 1939-1942. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X , p. 155. Some sources give a different name, for example Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: Der U-Boot-Krieg 1939–1945. Volume 3: German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945. 2001, p. 193, “MKF 1X”.
  3. ↑ The corpse of a HMS Dasher crew member who died when the escort sank in 1943 was likely used in the conduct of the secret Operation Mincemeat , which was the inspiration for the film The Man Who Never Was.
  4. ↑ U 415 was badly damaged in the convoy battle that was now developing, broke off the operation and returned to the base.
  5. ↑ Peter Padfield: The Submarine War. 1939-1945. License issue. Bechtermünz-Verlag, Augsburg 1999, ISBN 3-8289-0313-4 , p. 340.
  6. ^ Peter Padfield: Der U-Boot-Krieg 1939-1945 , Bechtermünz for Ullstein Verlag, Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-8289-0313-4 , pages 392-393