Operation Wunderland
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Operation Wunderland (German: Unternehmen Wunderland) was a large-scale operation undertaken in summer 1942 by the Kriegsmarine during the Second World War in the waters of the Northern Sea Route close to the Arctic Ocean. The Germans knew that many ships of the Soviet Navy had sought refuge in the Kara Sea because of the protection that its ice pack provided during ten months of the year. The naval operation to enter the Kara Sea during the summer thaw and destroy as many Russian vessels as possible was named "Operation Wunderland".
On August 16, 1942, the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer, under Kommodore Meendsen-Bohlken, left Narvik and entered the Barents Sea. Along with it went U-boats U-601 (Captain Grau) and U-251 (Lt. Captain Timm), as well as destroyers Friedrich Eckoldt, Erich Steinbrinck and Richard Beitzen.
On 19 August, they rounded Cape Zhelaniya and entered the Kara Sea which was fairly free from ice during the short summer. On August 20 the plane on board Admiral Scheer flew to Kravkova Island in the Mona Islands and spotted three groups of Soviet ships there, with icebreakers Lenin and Krasin among them. Fog and ice floes, however, prevented the German warships from approaching. When they arrived at the Mona Islands, the Russian ships were gone. Then Admiral Scheer turned to the northeast and sped towards the Nordenskiöld Archipelago.
Despite this initial setback, on 24 August U-601 sank the Soviet steamer Kuybyshev (2,332 BRT). On the 25th Admiral Scheer fell upon the Russian icebreaker Sibiryakov (under the command of Captain Kacharev) right off the northwest coast of Russky Island at the northern end of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago. After putting up resistance, the Sibiryakov was sunk in an unequal battle. Looking for Soviet convoys to destroy, Admiral Scheer headed back to the Mona Islands, but not finding any ships there, it sailed again to the Nordenskiöld Archipelago, trying to straddle the two convoy routes coming from the Vilkitsky Strait. Since it was not able to find any more Soviet ships, Admiral Scheer decided to head southeast towards Dikson Island in order to attack the Soviet military installations there. With its powerful guns it caused heavy damage ashore at Dikson and badly damaged the ships Dezhnev (SKR-19) and Revolutsioner which lay anchored in the harbour. Finally, on the 30 August Admiral Scheer returned to Narvik.
On September 8, U-251 surfaced close to Uyedineniya Island and destroyed a Soviet weather station with gunfire.
Among the Kriegsmarine vessels operating in the Barents Sea during the "Wunderland" operation, submarine U-209 (Lt. Captain Brodda) sank on 17 August a transport convoy of the Soviet Secret Service (NKVD) composed of cargo ships Nord and Komsomolets and light vessels Sh-III and P-IV west of the Yugorsky Strait. Apparently there were 328 political prisoners of the NKVD on board, out of which 305 men were killed through artillery fire or drowning. Meanwhile, on 20 August, U-boat U-456 (Lt. Captain Teichert) tried to sink the Soviet icebreaker Feodor Litke (SKR-18/) off Belushya Guba with torpedoes but was unsuccessful. Other U-boats U-255 and U-209 emerged and bombarded Soviet targets in Mys Zhelaniya and Khodovarikha on 25 and 28 August respectively.
[edit] Conclusion
Operation Wunderland was only moderately successful. Owing to bad weather conditions and the abundance of ice floes, the vessels taking part in Operation Wunderland did not venture beyond the Vilkitsky Strait. Therefore the Kriegsmarine campaign only affected the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea. By mid-September it had to be stopped because of the freezing of the sea surface with thick pack-ice, especially in the Kara Sea, which freezes much earlier because it is not affected by the warmer Atlantic currents.
[edit] References
- German Naval Warfare in 1942: [1]
- Sinking of Sibiryakov: [2]
- Attack at Cape Zhelaniya: [3]
- More links (in Russian): [4] and [5]
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