Wolfpack Eisbär

Last updated May 05, 2019

Eisbär (English: Polar Bear) was a wolfpack of German U-boats that operated from 23 to 29 August 1942 in World War II. This pack was assembled to operate in the South Atlantic off Cape Town which was considered to be virgin waters. Some of the most experienced U-boat commanders available such as Harald Gelhaus, Werner Hartenstein and Carl Emmermann were included. They shadowed the Freetown, Sierra Leone to Liverpool Convoy SL-119, and sank only one ship for a total of 5,941 gross register tons (GRT).^[1]

The wolfpack was a mass-attack tactic against convoys used by German U-boats of the Kriegsmarine during the Battle of the Atlantic.

U-boat is an anglicised version of the German word U-Boot[ˈuːboːt](listen), a shortening of Unterseeboot, literally "underseaboat." While the German term refers to any submarine, the English one refers specifically to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role and enforcing a naval blockade against enemy shipping. The primary targets of the U-boat campaigns in both wars were the merchant convoys bringing supplies from Canada and other parts of the British Empire, and from the United States to the United Kingdom and to the Soviet Union and the Allied territories in the Mediterranean. German submarines also destroyed Brazilian merchant ships during World War II, causing Brazil to declare war on the Axis powers in 1944.

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

U-boats, commanders and dates

U-68, Karl-Friedrich Merten, 25 August–1 September
U-156, Werner Hartenstein, 25 August–1 September
U-172, Carl Emmermann, 25 August–1 September
U-459, Georg von Wilamowitz-Möllendorf, 25 August–1 September
U-504, Hans-Georg Friedrich Poske, 25 August–1 September

German submarine U-68 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 20 April 1940 at the DeSchiMAG AG Weser yard at Bremen as yard number 987, launched on 22 October and commissioned on 1 January 1941 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Karl-Friedrich Merten as part of 2nd U-boat Flotilla.

Karl-Friedrich Merten commanded the U-boat U-68 in Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. He received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Merten was credited with the sinking of 27 ships for a total of 170,151 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied shipping. Merten joined the Reichsmarine in 1926. He served on the light cruisers Karlsruhe and Leipzig during the Spanish Civil War patrols.

German submarine <i>U-156</i> (1941) Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarine built for service during World War II

The German submarine U-156 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine built for service during World War II. The keel for this boat was laid on 11 October 1940 at the DeSchiMAG AG Weser yard in Bremen, Germany, as yard number 998. She was commissioned on 4 September 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Werner Hartenstein. The city of Plauen, Hartenstein's home city, adopted the submarine within the then popular sponsorship programme (Patenschaftsprogramm), organising gifts and holidays for the crew.

Ships hit by this Wolfpack

Clan Macwhirter

At 01:00 on 27 August 1942, the unescorted 5,941-ton British merchant ship Clan Macwhirter, a straggler from Convoy SL-119, was torpedoed and sunk by U-156200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) north-west of Madeira.^[2]

SS Clan Macwhirter was a British cargo steamship. She was built in 1918 as Ypresville in the First World War and sunk by enemy action in 1942 in the Second World War. In her 24-year career she also carried the names Halizones and Willcasino.

Madeira, officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira, is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the north Atlantic Ocean, southwest of Portugal. Its total population was estimated in 2011 at 267,785. The capital of Madeira is Funchal, which is located on the main island's south coast.

Related Research Articles

German submarine U-262 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

German submarine U-509 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 1 November 1940 at the Deutsche Werft yard in Hamburg as yard number 305. She was launched on 19 August 1941, and commissioned on 4 November 1941 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Karl-Heinz Wolff.

German submarine U-504 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 29 April 1940 at the Deutsche Werft yard in Hamburg as yard number 294, launched on 24 April 1941 and commissioned on 30 July 1941 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Hans-Georg Friedrich "Fritz" Poske. Initially attached to the 4th U-boat Flotilla for training, the U-boat was transferred to the 2nd flotilla on 1 January 1942 for front-line service. She was a member of six wolfpacks.

Endrass was a "wolfpack" of German U-boats that operated from 12 to 17 June 1942 in attacking Convoy HG 84 that comprised 23 Allied ships. The group was named after the U-boat commander Engelbert Endrass, who had been killed in action in December of 1941.

Blücher was a wolfpack of German U-boats that operated during the World War II Battle of the Atlantic from 14 to 28 August 1942. They attacked the Freetown, Sierra Leone to Liverpool convoys SL-118 and SL-119, and sank six ships for a total of 41,984 gross register tons (GRT), and damaged one (10,552 GRT). The group was named after Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (1742–1819), a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall in the Napoleonic Wars.

German submarine U-438 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

Hecht was the name of two "wolfpacks" of German U-boats that operated during World War II. The first operated during the Battle of the Atlantic from 8 May to 18 June 1942. They primarily attacked the Liverpool to Halifax convoys ONS 92 and ONS 100, and sank 14 ships for a total of 62,709 gross register tons (GRT).

Hai was a wolfpack of German U-boats that operated from 3 to 21 July 1942 in the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. They attacked the Liverpool to Freetown, Sierra Leone convoy OS-33, sinking eight ships for a total of 61,125 gross register tons (GRT).

Vorwärts was a wolfpack of German U-boats that operated from 25 August to 26 September 1942, in the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. They attacked several convoys, principally Convoy ON 127, sailing from Liverpool to New York, and sank fifteen ships for a total of 79,331 gross register tons (GRT), and damaged nine (81,141 GRT).

Carl Emmermann was a German U-boat commander during World War II. In his time as commander, he succeeded in sinking 27 ships for a total tonnage of 152,080 gross register tons (GRT).

Werner Hartenstein was a German naval officer during World War II who commanded the U-boat U-156. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Hartenstein was credited with sinking 20 ships totaling 97,504 gross register tons (GRT), and with damaging three ships and a destroyer.

German submarine U-652 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 5 February 1940 at the Howaldtswerke yard at Hamburg, launched on 7 February 1941, and commissioned on 3 April 1941 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Georg-Werner Fraatz.

German submarine U-203 was a German Type VIIC submarine U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II.

The Attack on Aruba was an attack on oil installations and tankers by Axis submarines during World War II. On 16 February 1942, a German U-boat attacked the small Dutch island of Aruba. Other submarines patrolled the area for shipping and they sank or damaged tankers. Aruba was home to two of the largest oil refineries in the world during the war against the Axis powers, the Arend Petroleum Maatschappij, situated near the Oranjestad harbor, and the Lago Oil and Transport Company at the San Nicolas harbor. The attack resulted in the disruption of vital Allied fuel production.

German submarine U-105 was a Type IXB U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. She was ordered in May 1938 as part of Germany's naval rearmament program. Her keel was laid down in Bremen in November 1938. After roughly seven months of construction, she was launched in June 1940 and formally commissioned into the Kriegsmarine in September 1940.

Convoy SC 100 was the 100th of the numbered series of World War II Slow Convoys of merchant ships from Sydney, Cape Breton Island to Liverpool. The convoy departed Halifax on 12 September 1942 and was joined on 16 September by Mid-Ocean Escort Force Group A-3. The convoy had been scattered by an equinoctial storm when U-boats found it on 18 September. The ships of Group A-3 were not fast enough to catch surfaced U-boats; and the U-boats sank five scattered ships before losing contact on 25 September. Surviving ships reached Liverpool on 28 September.

Streitaxt (Battleaxe) was a wolfpack of German U-boats that operated during the World War II Battle of the Atlantic from 20 October to 2 November 1942.

References

↑ "Wolfpack Eisbär". Wolfpacks - U-boat Operations - uboat.net. Retrieved 27 January 2010.
↑ "Clan Macwhirter (Steam merchant)". Ships hit by U-boats - uboat.net. Retrieved 27 January 2010.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Wolfpack Eisbär". Wolfpacks - U-boat Operations - uboat.net. Retrieved 27 January 2010.

[2] "Clan Macwhirter (Steam merchant)". Ships hit by U-boats - uboat.net. Retrieved 27 January 2010.