Operation Details

RV-3

'RV-3' was a Soviet combined air and sea operation against the German convoy routes round the extreme north of German-occupied Norway (10/26 April 1944).

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The operation began with an unsuccessful attack by the aircraft of the 46th Ground Attack Regiment in three waves with 19 Ilyushin Il-2, 16 Curtiss Kittyhawk, 14 Bell Airacobra and six Yakovlev Yak-1 warplanes on a German convoy. At Kirkenes two German freighters were damaged by near-misses from low-flying aircraft.

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On 12 April the submarines S-14, S-103 and M-104 departed their base in the northern USSR, followed on 13 April by S-104 and M-105, and on 20 April by M-119. On 18 April M-105 attacked a freighter off the Syltefjord but without any useful result.

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In an attack by motor torpedo boats, including TKA-13 and TKA-203, on a German convoy off the Petsamofjord on 22 April, the Soviet craft launched their torpedoes too early and their targets were therefore able to evade them.

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On 23 April the 46th Ground Attack Regiment’s aircraft attacked a convoy, losing the regimental commander.

Basic Overview

Theater

Nations Involved

Protagonists Antagonists