Wolf pack Schlieffen
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Schlieffen was a wolf pack of German U-boats that operated during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II.
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[edit] Service history
Schlieffen was formed in October 1943 to operate against the North Atlantic convoy routes and comprised 14 boats. It consisted of 6 boats from the disbanded group Rossbach, plus 7 others from bases in France and Germany, whilst another, U-455, joined from patrol in the Mid Atlantic.
Whilst moving into position a number of boats came under attack, principally from aircraft from USS Card, which was operating against their re-fuelling operation. The tanker U-488 was attacked on 12 October, but suffered little damage; however U-731, which was also attacked later that day was forced to return to base. On 13 October 2 more boats (U-402 and U-603)were attacked, and both were destroyed. Another 2 boats, U-631 and U-455 collided; both were damaged, and U-455 was forced to retire to base for repairs, while U-631, with her torpedo tubes out of action, was put on observation duties.
From 15 October Schlieffen operated against convoys ONS.20 and ON 206, which were travelling together; U-boats from Schlieffen sank one ship of 6625 GRT, but lost 6 boats (U-470, U-540, U-630, U-841, U-844 and U-964) in one of the most calamitous nights of the campaign for the U-boat arm (U-Bootwaffe,UBW)
Schlieffen was disbanded after this attack, with a number of it boats forming the nucleus of a new group, code-named Siegfried.
[edit] U-boats involved
[edit] The name
Schlieffen was named for Alfred Graf von Schlieffen, the German strategist was a German field marshal and strategist of the 19th Century.
[edit] References
- Jak P M Showell U-Boat Warfare: The Evolution of the Wolf-Pack (2002) ISBN 0-7110-2887-7
- Clay Blair : Hitler’s U-Boat War Vol II (1998) ISBN 0-304-35261-7
