U boats and seaplanes in the Artic.

German Kriegsmarine 1935-1945.
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tigre
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U boats and seaplanes in the Artic.

Post by tigre »

Hello to all :D; a new topic. AFAIK it was in this theater where cooperation between Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe reached a high degree....................................................

Milk Cows for Seaplanes (Unternehmen Wunderland).

During Unternehmen Wunderland, five seaplanes Blohm und Voss BV-138, able to stay in the air for 12 hours without refueling, were to cover large swatches of sea along the most important shipping routes. However, after all the seaplanes needed resupply and the only way to carry out that was with U boats as milk cows. One of those "cows" was U 255....................

On August 4, 1942 at 20:09 hours U-255 (kplt. Reinhart Reche) sailed from Bergen as part of Group "Nebelkönig". On August 11, 1942 she was conducting reconnaissance of the coast of Spitsbergen Island and on August 12 at 16:00 ran a special task, refueling a seaplane BV 138 at Grid AG81.

However shortly afterwards, U-255 (Kptlt Reinhart Reche) rescued the crew of a Blohm & Voss BV 138 (3./KüFlGr 406, BV 138 C-1, 310117, K6+HL) in Grid AG 8188 (approx. 78°57'N, 20°45'E, about 5 nautical miles south-east of Wilhelmøya, Spitsbergen) at 17:52hrs on 14 August 1942. The U-boat was co-operating with the flying boat since 11 August in preparation of Operation "Wunderland" (attack of the German heavy cruiser ADMIRAL SCHEER on the Siberian sea routes) and had refuelled it on occasion, but on 14 August the flying boat was forced to carry out an emergency landing near the U-boat after two engines failed due to contaminated fuel. It was taken in tow and they moved slowly with intermediate stops along the east coast of Spitsbergen until the BV 138 capsized due to strong winds at 17:10 hrs on 17 August in Grid AG 7969 (approx. 77°27'N, 18°15'E, in the Storfjorden) and had to be scuttled with gunfire. ObltzS Dierschke and Unknown number of crewmen survived.

Sources: http://historisches-marinearchiv.de/pro ... var2=wert2
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showpost. ... stcount=24
http://aviadejavu.ru/Images6/MM/MM-40/0054-01-2-1.jpg
http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/aucti ... b900ab5630

Cheers. Raul M 8).
Attachments
Refueling a seaplane BV 138 in the Arctic Sea..............................
Refueling a seaplane BV 138 in the Arctic Sea..............................
image008.png (188.94 KiB) Viewed 7821 times
Kplt. Reinhart Reche, commander of U-255 ..............................
Kplt. Reinhart Reche, commander of U-255 ..............................
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Serás lo que debas ser o no serás nada. General José de San Martín.
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Re: U boats and seaplanes in the Artic.

Post by tigre »

Hello to all :D; a little more....................................................

Milk Cows for Seaplanes (Unternehmen Wunderland II).

The fact was repeated the following summer during Operation Wunderland II (planned attack with the heavy cruiser Lützow against maritime traffic in the Siberian coast). On August 4, 1943, the U 255 (Oblt.zS Harms), refueled a seaplane BV 138 which the following days on August 5, 6, 7 and 11 carried out reconnaissance flights on the Vilkitsky's road in order to support the group "Viking" with the U 302, U 354 and U 711 and the raid of the Heavy Cruiser Lützow, ready in the Altafjord. However, did not find any convoy.

During these actions U 601 (Kptlt Peter-Ottmar Grau) rescued the crew of a Blohm & Voss BV 138 which was adrift in grid EN 2421 (approx. 76 ° 09'N, 57 ° 10'E, about 30 nautical miles northwest of the island Severny, Novaya Zemlya) at 22:55 hours on 20 August 1943. The seaplane made an emergency landing while returning from a mission to support "Wunderland II" and was taken in tow by the U boat, but the weather worsened and the presence of Soviet patrol aircrafts forced the U-601 to scuttle the aircraft at 03:13 hours on August 21 at Grid EN 2513 (approx. 76 ° 09 ' N, 59 ° 50'E).

Sources: http://historisches-marinearchiv.de/pro ... var2 = wert2
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showpost. ... Stcount = 24
U Boots in Action. Warships No. 1.
PHOTO HUGE LOT, 640 PHOTOS, ALL RELATED MILITARY - eBay (item 110444803874 end time Oct-18-09 174207 PDT).

Cheers. Raul M 8).
Attachments
Refueling a seaplane BV 138 in the Arctic Sea................................
Refueling a seaplane BV 138 in the Arctic Sea................................
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The seaplane and U 255? ......................................
The seaplane and U 255? ......................................
image006.png (753.53 KiB) Viewed 7772 times
Serás lo que debas ser o no serás nada. General José de San Martín.
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Re: U boats and seaplanes in the Artic.

Post by tigre »

Hello to all :D; a little more....................................................

Milk Cows for Seaplanes (Unternehmen Wunderland II).

Again the U 255 (Oblt.z.S. Harms) was involved in a rescue, this time during Operation Wunderland II (planned attack with the heavy cruiser Lützow against maritime traffic in the Siberian coast). This time she rescued the crew of a Blohm & Voss BV 138 in Grid AF 7563 (approx. 78° 33'N, 54° 15'E, about 100 nautical miles south of Franz Josef Land) at 20:10 hours of September 12, 1943.

The aforementioned submarine had established a refueling station in Novaya Zemlya and cooperated with several seaplanes BV 138 during Operation "Wunderland II". In this action one of the seaplanes was lost due to a navigation error and was forced to ditch in the ocean when the fuel ran out at 17:30 hours on September 11. The drifting seaplane was found by the U 307 (Oblt.z.S Friedrich-Georg Herrle) at 16:00 hours on September 12 and taken in tow until relieved by the U 255 at 20:10 hours. Finally she took on board the crew and the BV 138 was sank due to the worsening weather conditions in Grid AF 7275 (approx. 79° 03'N, 50° 45'E) at 15:50 hours on 13 September 1943.

Sources: http://historisches-marinearchiv.de/pro ... var2 = wert2
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showpost. ... Stcount = 24

Cheers. Raul M 8).
Attachments
The seaplane BV 138 being towed by the U-255 in heavy seas.........................................<br />Der Adler - Jahrgang 1944 - Heft 02 - 18. Januar 1944
The seaplane BV 138 being towed by the U-255 in heavy seas.........................................
Der Adler - Jahrgang 1944 - Heft 02 - 18. Januar 1944
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Serás lo que debas ser o no serás nada. General José de San Martín.
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Re: U boats and seaplanes in the Artic.

Post by tigre »

Hello to all :D; just a few explanations on the actions of U 255, when you read Grid AG ....... actually you should read ÄG and when you read Grid AF you should actually read ÄF (with umlaut). Moreover regarding the actions of U 601 where you read grid EN................. actually should be read AT. Cheers. Raúl M 8).
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Re: U boats and seaplanes in the Artic.

Post by tigre »

Hello to all :D; a little more....................................................

Milk Cows for Seaplanes (Unternehmen Wunderland II). Refueling.

Sources: http://aviadejavu.ru/Images6/IN/IN-1001/43-1.jpg
http://www.u-boote.fr/u-255.htm

Cheers. Raul M 8).
Attachments
View from the seaplane..................................
View from the seaplane..................................
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View from the U boat.........................................
View from the U boat.........................................
image027.png (125.53 KiB) Viewed 7643 times
Serás lo que debas ser o no serás nada. General José de San Martín.
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Re: U boats and seaplanes in the Artic.

Post by tigre »

Hello to all :D; a little more....................................................

Milk Cows for Seaplanes (Unternehmen Wunderland II). Refueling.

The U 255 received a special task during Operation Wunderland II, she should establish landing areas for the Bv-138 seaplanes and in order to carry out that orders she sailed toward the northeast coast of Novaya Zemlya near Sporyj Navolok. In that area established three zones: two in grid AT 32 and one in grid AT 31. There she operated from 1 to 28 August, carrying out seven refuelings. Possibly the coasts viewed on the photos above (previous post) were taken in Novaya Zemlya around Sporyj Navolok. One of the main concerns for this operation were the weather conditions and sea state ........... so I imagine they sought places more or less covered from wind and surges...........

Source: http://historisches-marinearchiv.de/pro ... eitung.php
https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6120/6313 ... 5a65_b.jpg

Cheers. Raul M 8).
Attachments
seaplane-submersible cooperation in Novaya Zemlya .................................
seaplane-submersible cooperation in Novaya Zemlya .................................
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Serás lo que debas ser o no serás nada. General José de San Martín.
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Re: U boats and seaplanes in the Artic.

Post by tigre »

Hello to all :D; more....................................................

Milk Cows for Seaplanes (Unternehmen Wunderland).

Sources: https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auct ... b900ab5630

Cheers. Raul M 8).
Attachments
Kplt. Reinhart Reche, CO of U 255.........................
Kplt. Reinhart Reche, CO of U 255.........................
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Serás lo que debas ser o no serás nada. General José de San Martín.
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