Command Atlantic, December 1943.

[sergey]

Colleagues.

Is there any information about the counteraction of Command Atlantic aircraft to Allied air attacks on blockade runners in the Bay of Biscay in late December 1943? I read that the Pietro Orseolo was sunk by Beaufighters off Lorient on December 18th, that the Germans repelled bomber attacks on the Osorno on December 25th with anti-aircraft artillery, and that the Alsterufer was bombed to bits on December 27th, like a target practice. Furthermore, on December 28th, the German force attacked by Allied ships and aircraft in the Bay of Biscay had no air cover. Were the Germans really that badly off with aircraft in the area at that time?

sergey

[Chris Goss]

This is covered in my book on the Fw 200 and also the book on KG 40. Weather was very bad, few I./ZG 1 missions could be flown which left it to KG 40's Fw 200s, He 111s , 129's BV 222s and FAG 5's Ju 290s. Nick Beale will no doubt have this chapter and verse

[sergey]

There was bad weather on December 27 and 28, but the British attackers made no mention of German fighters on December 18 and 25.

[Chris Goss]

Only fighters able to get that far out might have been I./ZG 1 and 7./ZG 1 and they did not get involved in anything if they were flying at all. I have the reports for those dates and could have a closer look but doubt it would reveal anything of note

[sergey]

On December 24 (I previously wrote the 25th by mistake), Halifaxes of 502 Squadron attacked Osorno and its escort nine times between 17:00 and 19:08 (detected at 45º30´N 10º48´W). There is no mention of German aircraft, although this is not far from German airfields.

[Chris Goss]

Fighter sweeps by ZG 1 were in the morning and another fighter sweep by 4 Fw 190s was also AM and returned early due to bad weather. It would appear from Luftflotte 3 that few if any German aircraft were airborne late afternoon/evening over Biscay region. It would also appear that 502 Sqn had to find the ships by using radar and conditions were hazy/it might be getting dark which would explain why no day fighters. Only night fighter unit was Kdo Kunkel and that makes no mention/had limited number of aircraft

[sergey]

The first sighting was on December 24th visually, although the cloud cover was 5/10 with a base of 3000 feet.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Chris Goss

Nick Beale will no doubt have this chapter and verse

This coming from the man who literally wrote the book!
From Air Operational Watch reports in National Archives HW 13/37:

24 December: 8 sorties by 1./128 from Brest (Fw 190s) and 14 by Ju 88s of I./ZG 1; from KG 40, 6 He 177s and 9 Fw 200s; 1 Ju 88 heard between 2115 and 2310 BST, thought to be Kdo. Kunkel night fighter; 1 Ju 88 of 1.(F)/123 on reconnaissance.

25 December: 7 Fw 200s up from 1030 BST, staying in the air for 12 hours. "Escort to the blockade-runner Osorno reported at 0414/25 continuous bombing, and requested fighters from first light. Continuous fighter escort was not possible due to the situation with reard to forces available, but the following were to operate: 14 Ju 88s up at about 1100, 10 Ju 88s up at 1445 … returning 1830 … Close escort by Fw 190s was also intended for the ships as soon as they should come within s/e fighter range, which was expected to be about 1500."

26 December: Bf 109s to cover the Gironde Estuary for the arrival of Osorno.

27 December: reconniassance for Alsterufer started on the 26th and continued on the 27th but the Allies don't seem ot have detected any Ju 88 fighter activity. However the reports says: A ship tought to be Alsterufer was sighted by Coastal Comman at 1030 in 46º 50' N, 19º 29' W, course East, 15 knots and was shadowed. At about 1700 a Liberator of 311 Squadron made an attack evidently on this ship and has reported that the ship was set on fire and sank, about 70 survivors seen in 4 lifeboats.
28 December: reconnaissance for the blockade runner carried on so it seems the Germans didn't know it had been sunk.

On 3 December, Flifü Atlantik had 16 (7) Fw 200s; 26 (11) He 177s; 64 (32) Ju 88 fighters; 9 (6) Fw 190s. For reconnaissance 7 (3) Ju 290s and 9 (2) Ju 88s. Kdo. Kunkel had 7 (0) Ju 88 night fighters.

If you want more from the German side you can get the Kriegsmarine diary for December 1943 here: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-zmsbw/so...s/id/1/rows/10
Each month can be downloaded in pdf format and is searchable, so you can just search for Osorno and Altersufer and see what comes up.

[sergey]

Nick, thank you very much!

[Chris Goss]

There were very few fighter assets in western France in Dec 43. Basically the single-seaters were 12./JG 2 and 1./128 but these tended to be further north and they could not go too far west. Thus the Ju 88C-6s and R-2s were the only credible fighters that had the range out into the Bay of Biscay