Company Bruno

Part of: Battle of the Scheldt Estuary
( World War II )

The port of Antwerp on November 30, 1944

date	16th bis 17th September 1944
place	Antwerp ( Belgium )
output	German victory
consequences	Destruction of the Kreuzschanzschleuse

Parties to the conflict
German Reich NS German Empire	United Kingdom United Kingdom United States United States
Commander
Hans Prinzhorn
Troop strength
10, including 6 combat swimmers
losses
No

The company Bruno was the code name of an operation that aimed to blow up the Kreuzschanzschleuse (Kruisschans) in Antwerp by German combat swimmers from the small combat units of the Navy . The commando operation took place on the night of September 16-17, 1944 and was successful.

Initial situation, planning and course

At the end of August 1944, the German front in France had largely collapsed. The Allies had broken out of their beachheads in Normandy in the course of Operation Neptune and advanced through northern France and Belgium as part of their offensive without significant resistance . There they occupied Antwerp on September 4th after a short battle. This opened up the most important transshipment port in Europe to the Allies. Although the dock port was relatively far on the upper reaches of the Scheldt , it was still influenced by the tides . Therefore, locks ensured that the water level in the harbor basin remained constant and that it could be used continuously by ships that had to pass through this bottleneck.

The German port commander of Antwerp, frigate captain Joachim Szyskowitz, was killed in the intended destruction of the port locks and was posthumously honored for this act with the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and the promotion to sea captain . Friedrich Böhme, chief of the command staff west, turned to the command of the small combat units (KdK). The KdK then dispatched Marine Einsatzkommando 60 (MEK 60) under its commander Hans Prinzhorn, which arrived in Utrecht a little later . This was sent because a direct attack by means of warships and aircraft was considered impossible due to the massive allied security precautions. Therefore the combat swimmers of the Kriegsmarine should be used.

Prinzhorn's plan was to use two lens- type explosive devices provided by the K-Flotilla 216 to bring combat swimmers at night, coming from the Scheldt estuary, near the 35-meter-wide lock gates and drop them there. They should then swim the rest of the way with the torpedo mine they were carrying, or to-mine for short. The To-Mine was a so-called GS mine , which was the standard torpedo mine of the Kriegsmarine in World War II. Depending on the design, their length was about 1 to 1.50 meters. Their explosive capacity was between 500 and 1500 kilograms. The modified GS mine was carried by an elongated float made of aluminum that was filled with ammonia gas. This caused the To-Mine to float close to the surface of the water with an underdrive generated between 30 and 40 grams and so could be handled relatively easily by the combat swimmers. When they arrived at their destination, the combat swimmers were supposed to place the mine filled with 1,000 kilograms of explosives on the bottom of the floor and activate the time fuse. To increase his chances of success, Prinzhorn ordered two to-mines and formed two command units. The commando units consisted of a squad leader, a boat helmsman and three combat swimmers who sat on a silenced lens . The to-mine was towed. The planned operation on September 12, 1944 had to be postponed and a repeated operation on the following day failed due to too strong a countercurrent.

The foggy night of September 16-17 was determined to be the new attack date. Other sources name the night of September 15th to 16th. While the command lens 2 under Prinzhorn got lost in the fog on its approach and could not find the lock, the command lens 1 was able to bring itself successfully near the lock. The group leader was Erich Dörpinghaus, who was later also the head of operations for the destruction of the Remagen bridge . His remaining command consisted of the combat swimmers Karl Schmidt, Hans Greeten and Rudi Ohrdorf. The approach of the lens went unnoticed and about 1000 meters from the target, the distance could only be estimated due to the fog, the swimmers were let into the water. After overcoming several network closures and a temporary lack of orientation, the lock gate could finally be found. Schmidt and Ohrdorf sunk the To-Mine on the sole base and activated the 150-minute timer. About 90 minutes or 75 minutes after the start of the mission, the information fluctuated between these two values, the combat swimmers returned to their command lens and were able to escape undetected.

consequences

On September 17, 1944 at 5:00 a.m. the mine detonated and damaged the sluice gates so badly that it severely hindered the Allied supply traffic for several weeks. As a result, the transshipped capacity fell by up to 90 percent compared to the time immediately before the lock was blown up. This gave the German associations a breathing space, which they used to reorganize and position themselves.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Lawrence Paterson: Weapons of Despair - German combat swimmers and micro-submarines in World War II. 2009, pp. 132-137.

↑ ^a ^b ^c Helmut Blocksdorf: The command of the small combat units of the navy. 2003, pp. 181-182.

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Cajus Bekker: Lone Fighters at Sea: The German torpedo riders, frogmen and explosive device pilots in World War II. 1968, pp. 125-127.

^ Cajus Bekker: Lone Fighters at Sea: The German torpedo riders, frogmen and explosive devices in World War II. 1968, pp. 134-135.

^ VE Tarrant: The last year of the German Navy May 1944 to May 1945. 1994, p. 133.

^ Cajus Bekker: Lone Fighters at Sea: The German torpedo riders, frogmen and explosive devices in World War II. 1968, p. 132.

Remarks

↑ (born November 13, 1896 in Frankfurt am Main ; † September 11, 1944 in Antwerp) joined the Imperial Navy on January 4, 1915 and served in the escort flotillas. In April 1917 Szyskowitz was promoted to lieutenant z. S. promoted. In the course of demobilization after the First World War , he was discharged from the Navy on September 14, 1919. From June 1, 1943 to September 4, 1944 he acted as port commander of Antwerp. Syskowitz was seriously wounded while attempting to blow up the Kreuzschanz lock. He died of these injuries on September 11, 1944 in the naval hospital in Antwerp.

swell

Cajus Bekker: Lone fighters at sea: the German torpedo riders, frogmen and explosive device pilots in World War II. Gerhard Staling Verlag, Oldenburg 1968.

Helmut Blocksdorf: The command of the small combat units of the Kriegsmarine 1st edition, Motorbuch Verlag, 2003, ISBN 3-613-02330-X .

Lawrence Paterson: Weapons of Despair - German combat swimmers and micro-submarines in World War II. 1st edition, Ullstein Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-548-26887-3 .

VE Tarrant: The last year of the German Navy May 1944 to May 1945. Podzun-Pallas Verlag, 1994, ISBN 3-7909-0561-5 .

[Paterson-1] Lawrence Paterson: Weapons of Despair - German combat swimmers and micro-submarines in World War II. 2009, pp. 132-137.

[4] (born November 13, 1896 in Frankfurt am Main ; † September 11, 1944 in Antwerp) joined the Imperial Navy on January 4, 1915 and served in the escort flotillas. In April 1917 Szyskowitz was promoted to lieutenant z. S. promoted. In the course of demobilization after the First World War , he was discharged from the Navy on September 14, 1919. From June 1, 1943 to September 4, 1944 he acted as port commander of Antwerp. Syskowitz was seriously wounded while attempting to blow up the Kreuzschanz lock. He died of these injuries on September 11, 1944 in the naval hospital in Antwerp.