U boot german1/10/2023 ![]() The danger then existing in the Atlantic was evident when only five of those boats survived to reach the Indian Ocean. Available intelligence suggested that the Indian Ocean might indeed offer new opportunities, so in June 1943 the first 11 U-boats of Group Monsoon left their bases in Europe and proceeded east. This change in Japanese attitude coincided with a difficult time for U-boats in the Atlantic and a corresponding desire by Donitz to seek areas where Allied defences might be weaker. Recognising a need to put more pressure on Allied sea communications, the Japanese proposed greater German efforts in the northern part of the Indian Ocean, and offered the Germans the use of their submarine base at Penang. ![]() Consequently they could not readily be spared for remote operations in the Indian Ocean. Japanese submarines were undertaking fewer operational patrols and were primarily engaged in transport duties in the Pacific. But as the war drew on into 1943, and both Germany and Japan found themselves on the defensive, the situation changed. ![]() The first voyages by U-boats into the Indian Ocean therefore remained tentative and were confined to the area around the Cape of Good Hope. When the Axis partners finally agreed to delineate boundaries in August 1942, the German zone of operations was limited to the waters south and west of 20°S and 85☎. Japan too, was at first less than supportive of a free-ranging German presence, regarding the Indian Ocean as being in their own sphere of influence. While distant operations by the Hilfskreuzers, or surface raiders, were still reaping success, there was no urgent need to augment them and in any case the BdU (Commander-in-Chief Submarines), Admiral Karl Donitz was unwilling to transfer the scarce, long-range Type IX U-boats away from the critical Atlantic battles. U-boats in the Far EastĪlthough Germany began developing plans for U-boat operations in the Indian Ocean early in the Second World War, it was not until late 1942 that practical action was taken. Note the emblem visible on the front of the conning tower depicting a chimney sweep which was adopted as a bringer of good luck. Elsewhere, Allied anti-submarine measures had largely driven the once feared ‘grey wolves’ from the shipping routes, but Timm had just detected a large concentration of shipping at the eastern entrance to Bass Strait and no escorts were apparent. Korvettenkapitän Timm was actually making his observation while operating off the Australian east coast where he believed he had at last found another safe hunting ground for the U-boat arm. In December 1944, however, U-862 was not in the Atlantic, and although planned to be part of a larger offensive, the U-boat was in reality quite alone. For the Allies it was a major disaster, for the U-boat commanders it would become regarded as the second ‘Happy Time’ of the Battle of the Atlantic. In the four months it took for the Americans to introduce effective anti-submarine measures, 137 ships of almost one million tons would be lost. In the first two weeks of the campaign, a mere five U-boats sank 25 allied ships totalling 200,000 tons. The Paukenschlag, or Operation DRUMBEAT, alluded to above by the commander of U-862, was the code name for the German U-boat offensive against the American Atlantic coast that began in January 1942. ![]() Korvettenkapitän Heinrich Timm, Commanding Officer U-862, December 1944. If we could only have had more boats it would have led to a Paukenschlag like that off the coast of America. ![]()
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