Re: Who sunk Dutch trawler Protinus 19.03.1940
 

Kari,

This incident may be in connection with Protinus. But there is some points, which led me to think it was not.

1) these were indeed brushes with British trawlers, and one He111J of 3./KuFlGr 806 was lost to AA fire as a result. The German crew was rescued by Dutch motor-cutter the same day, which means there were enough ships in the vicinity also to rescue the crew of the trawler the same day, if it was lost on this date

2) 3./KuFlGr 806 claimed only a near miss, as KTB SKL says, so trawler 'obviously sunk' is more a wishful thinking. And it contradicts survivor's account which stated that attacking aircraft achieved direct hit on the bridge.

3) from survivor's account, the date of loss was 19 March

So evidence on hand is not enough to state Protinus was sunk by 3./KuFlGr 806. Until aditional information surfaced, it looks far more probable to me that Protinus was sunk by British aircraft

Re: Who sunk Dutch trawler Protinus 19.03.1940
 

Hi,

KTB of 3./806 mentions two attacks on English fishing ships but no direct hits were observed. One ship was probably hit.
One crew observed some ship`s remains with 1 survivor.

Regards

Robert

Re: Who sunk Dutch trawler Protinus 19.03.1940
 

Robert, many thanks!

It seems we can completely rule out this action by 3./KuFlGr 806 as the cause of loss

Re: Who sunk Dutch trawler Protinus 19.03.1940
 

Dutch newspapers of that time also give conflcting accounts. In one article in the Leeuwarder Courant of 30-03-1940 one can read that according some crew the trawler had hit a mine. After having abandoned ship and after three days the fishermen were strafed by a German airplane, resulting in two dead.

And on 01-04-1940 the Oprechte Haarlemsche Courant gives another version, also according some of the survivors. The trawler was bombed by a German airplane, with two dead, while two more succumbed in the lifeboat. Here no mine and no strafing....

Interestingly, in this latter newspaper the crew described the noise of the bomber as a "shrill, whistling sound". Then it returned and made an attack in a "almost daredevillish, steep dive" The bombs missed, but two 30-cm bombs of the second attack, again in a steep dive, hit the steering house, killing two fishermen. The other crew never saw them again.
Date and time is given as 20 March 1940 and around 17:30 hrs. when the crew saw the airplane appear. At first the crew paid no special heed because it had happened before that aircraft had flown over. But this one circled the trawler some five times before commencing the attack in above mentioned fashion.

I'm no expert on German airplanes, let alone that I'm familiar with this case, but the combination of a high pitched sound and a steep dive may point to a Ju-87?


Regards,

Leendert

Re: Who sunk Dutch trawler Protinus 19.03.1940
 

If this was on 20.3.40 the ship would be sank by He 111 of II./KG26:
German report states that at 18.50 hrs a French fishing ship was attacked in LQ 05E/4872 and hit with one SD50 bomb.

Regards

Robert

Re: Who sunk Dutch trawler Protinus 19.03.1940
 

According to the KTB of Seenotzentrale (Luft) Nord no missions were flown by X. Fliegerkorps on the 18. or 19. March 1940 due to weather conditions.
The only exception was a weather aircraft on 18.3.40. Also seaplane operations were limited due to the ice condition in the North Sea off the coast of Germany.

Re: Who sunk Dutch trawler Protinus 19.03.1940
 

Ju88 was the only German type operating over the North Sea at the time capable to perform something of a kind

Robert, do you have further details? As far as I know on 20 March both I./KG 26 and II./KG 26 operated against British convoys between Norway and Britain far to the north. British naval trawler Windermere was damaged by bomb north of Kinnaird Head in this action. I've translated the page below using google, so, if I'm not mistaken, it gives the location as 51N
http://www.scheveningen-haven.nl/inf...ijst=50&af=IJM
I know that single aircraft of KGr 100 and KG 26 sometimes operated over the area around 51N in March, and French nationality of a trawler under attack could be a clue. Interestingly, and to complicate matters further, it shows the date of loss as 20 March, but says the crew was rescued six days later, which, knowing the date of the rescue was 25, means the loss was on 19 March

Re: Who sunk Dutch trawler Protinus 19.03.1940
 

Just for the record, another trawler from IJmuiden (Erin, IJm. 12), reported a strafing by a multi-engine German aircraft on 17-4-1940 (16 hrs.) at 58.50 N and 2.20 E. The captain was absolutely sure it was a German a/c, having noticed the swastika on the vertical stabilizer. No injuries were sustained by the crew.
Although not thread-related, it gives an impression that the fishing vessels of (then still) neutral countries also had every reason to watch out.

Source: article in the 22-04-1940 issue of the Amsterdam newspaper Het Nieuws van den Dag.

Regards,

Leendert

Re: Who sunk Dutch trawler Protinus 19.03.1940
 

Position 58.50 N, 2.20 E is the area roughly between Peterhead and Stavanger, certainly a hot spot during the Norwegian campaign. Back to Protinus, area around 51 N is roughly the area between Thames Estuary, Scheldt Estuary and Pas-de-Calais. If the position mentioned is true, it's unusual area for Luftwaffe anti-shipping operations at the time, although there were few. And it also makes the possibility of the attack by Allied aircraft highly improbable, as any surface craft sailing in those waters in March 1940 was almost certainly Allied or Neutral. With any evidence lacking, that version with the mine is also worth consideration. So, at present, the case is beyond solution

Re: Who sunk Dutch trawler Protinus 19.03.1940
 

Hi Andrei,

I have no further details.

Regards

Robert