Operation Details

Tümmler (ii)

'Tümmler' (ii) was a U-boat wolfpack operation, in concert with 'Unverzagt' and 'Wohlgemut', in the eastern Atlantic off North-West Africa and the western approaches to the Strait of Gibraltar (1/22 March 1943).

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The wolfpack comprised U-43, U-66, U-202, U-504, U-521 and U-558, some of these boats refuelling from U-461, a 'milch cow' boat, between 27 February and 4 March, and for the loss of none of its own number sank two ships (12,354 tons), one in an attack on the ON.165 convoy and the other as an independent sailer.

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On 3 March Oberleutnant Hans-Joachim Schwantke’s U-43 inadvertently sank the 5,154-ton German blockade runner Doggerbank (ex-British Speybank captured the raider Atlantis on 31 January 1941) during the later stages of her return from Japan to Germany but at a time considerably earlier than had been expected, with 7,000 tons of rubber, fish oil and other raw materials.

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On 4 March Kapitänleutnant Carl Emmermann’s outbound U-172 sank the 8,049-ton British City of Pretoria and Kapitänleutnant Werner Henke’s U-515 sank the 8,300-ton British California Star in the area to the west of Spain. An operation by the 'Tümmler' (ii) wolfpack’s boats against a small southbound convoy, sighted by U-43 on 12/13 March, was denied any opportunity for success by the convoy’s strong air escort.

Basic Overview

Theater

Nations Involved

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