Attack on U-boat, 10 June 1944
 

Hi,

On 10th June 1944 a Liberator from 206 carried out a joint attack on U-821 with two Tse-tse Mosquitos from 248 Sqn.

I have details of the Mosquitos part in this engagement. Does anyone have details on the crew of the Liberator and its code/letter?

Thanks,

Alex

Re: Attack on U-boat, 10 June 1944
 

U 821
10 June 1944.
11:45 hrs Bay of Biscay West of Brest 4831N/0511W Depth Charge and Machine Gun fire from Liberator K/206 Squadron (F/L. ADS Dundas)
50 crew killed and 1 rescued.
I have Mosquitos S, T, V and W of 248 also involved.

Regards
Peter Clare

Re: Attack on U-boat, 10 June 1944
 

Hello Alex,

F/L. A.D.S.Dundas and crew in "K" : EV943 were patrolling the western flank of the invasion area when a radar contact turned out to be a U-boat on the surface with a Mosquito overhead carrying out dummy attacks to keep it occupied. The Liberator ran in over the target and dropped five depth charges with no apparent results. The next six straddled the U-boat which slid down stern first, leaving three of the crew in the water.
From the U-boat website, U-821 was lost this date with only one survivor, 50 were lost .
It is possible there is photos of EV943 that would show if the Squadrons code "PQ" were also worn by her. Others in the squadron did so, M,L and Y.
Alex, I will forward to you a scan of the sub under attack by EV943 from Famous Maritime Squadrons of the RAF vol1. page 83.
The above also came from the same source.

Happy New Year Alex to you and Your's.

Alex

Re: Attack on U-boat, 10 June 1944
 

Hello Alex,

F/L. A.D.S.Dundas and crew in "K" : EV943 were patrolling the western flank of the invasion area when a radar contact turned out to be a U-boat on the surface with a Mosquito overhead carrying out dummy attacks to keep it occupied. The Liberator ran in over the target and dropped five depth charges with no apparent results. The next six straddled the U-boat which slid down stern first, leaving three of the crew in the water.
From the U-boat website, U-821 was lost this date with only one survivor, 50 were lost .
It is possible there is photos of EV943 that would show if the Squadrons code "PQ" were also worn by her. Others in the squadron did so, M,L and Y.
Alex, I will forward to you a scan of the sub under attack by EV943 from Famous Maritime Squadrons of the RAF vol1. page 83.
The above also came from the same source.

Happy New Year Alex to you and Your's.

Alex

Re: Attack on U-boat, 10 June 1944
 

Hi,

Many thanks for the details of the Liberator, much appreciated.

No Tse-tse were involved in the initial attack, my mistake.

Later in the day four FBVI's from 248 Sqn were in the same area when they came across a motor launch that was resuing survivors from the U-boat. They carried out strafing attacks and one Mosquito was shot down. Not far from the scene were two Tse-tse, MM425/L (Fly Off Roberts/Wt Off Winsor) and NT225/O (Sqn Ldr Atkinson/Fly Off Upton), which were on an anti-submarine patrol.

These came over and attacked the launch as well. Both carried out several attacks and Sqn Ldr Atkinson claimed two hits out of eight rounds fired. Fly Off Roberts claimed five hits out of nine fired. They literally blew the launch to pieces, destroying it. There was one survivor from the launch and one from the U-boat.

Alex

Re: Attack on U-boat, 10 June 1944
 

I just thought I'd add that the likelyhood of the PQ code being in use on June 10 to my knowledge is very slim. At this time Coastal Command still used the number system introduced in the beginning of 44. IIRC the Squadron codes were reintroduced towards the very end of June or beginning of July. Unfortunately I can't remember the date.

Kyrre