Unknown author of the successful attack.

[sergey]

Colleagues. I can't solve yet another mystery of the war. According to German documents, at 5:27 on December 9, 1941, south of Brest, a single British aircraft attacked four German auxiliary minesweepers and sank M 1203 with a direct bomb hit. This is the only British source that mentions this.
German fishing vessel BURGERMEISTER SMIDT (500grt) was sunk by British bombing at Brest.
http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4112-39DEC01.htm
And in the Admiralty War Diaries for December 9, 1941, there's an entry
British Air Activity. S S S S Attacked 5 merchant vessels, 47°34' N.
4°34' W . , 360°, 6. Result unknown.
(A/C. duty J., 0345/9 to 19 Croup.)
https://sccd.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/medi...3638267a3a015b
which suggests that the aircraft belonged to the 19 Coastal Command Group. But these weren't 10, 217, or 502 Squadrons. The difficulty is that no one has claimed responsibility for this attack, which is quite rare. I would be grateful for any help solving this mystery.

[Chris Goss]

What about 22 and 86 Sqns? Sunderlands and Catalinas would not fly that close to land. No mention in Bomber Command. 22 Sqn lost AW203 on this date

[sergey]

No. Not them. The attack took place in the dark, so the plane was probably a Whitley or a Wellington.

[Nick Beale]

You might find something in National Archives HW 13/30: German Naval Air Activity (GNA) (9 Sep 1941–31 Mar 1942) which isn't available to download however.

I haven't looked at 1941 but later files in the series regularly mention Allied attacks on German surface vessels and submarines, usually saying which Squadron was involved and giving the aircraft's fuselage letter.

[Buckeye30]

The Campaign Narrative (Maritime) for July 41--Feb.43 page 128 details the night operations by .......
22/86 Sqns. Beauforts (mining-anti-shipping)
500 Sqn. Blenheims ( e-boats)
59/53 Sqns. Blenheims (armed recce.)
248 Sqn. Blenheims - Beaufighters (e-boats)
407 RCAF Hudsons (shipping-e-boats)


Operations Dec.9 1941 on p.144. These are 16 / 19 (Coastal Command) Groups depending on date. Didn't see any reference to minesweepers but at night (?).


Regards
Nick


https://www.raf.mod.uk/what-we-do/ou...february-1943/

[Chris Goss]

According to Ross McNeil, the 22 Sqn Beaufort took off at 0300hrs (dark) so was the attack 0527hrs or 1727hrs?

[sergey]

Aircraft F/22 (P/O Thornton), takeoff 03:31 - 04:38. No mention of attack. The Germans were attacked at 05:27.

[Buckeye30]

p.183. Units assigned to Biscay by end 1941.
224 Hudson
502 Whitley
86 (part) Beaufort
22 Beaufort. Plus 1 Flight PR Spitfires.
Coastal Command area Biscay, Danish-Norwegian coasts, Western Channel, (19 Group Plymouth).
Bomber Command area Wilhelmshaven-Cherbourg.


Nick

[sergey]

Thanks for the tip. It looks like the unknown hero was Hudson J/224 (f/sgt Crowе).

[Chris Goss]

The pilot of the missing 22 Sqn Beaufort was Plt Off C L Jenkins. Times for Sgt W Crewe (I think that is his name) do not match exactly. He took off at 2246hrs, landed back at Predannack 0530hrs having attacked at 0246hrs. German times were GST (GMT+2) while British times were BST (GMT+1)