MV Deucalion - Operation Pedestal August 1942

[James Farrimond]

Good afternoon gentleman

Can anyone tell me whether any particular a/c laid claim to dropping the aerial torpedo which sunk the MV Deucalion a she participated in Operation Pedestal to Malta on 12th August 1942?

I know that Ju 88s from KG 54 and KG 77 were involved but I imagine as a torpedo was the culprit it might have been dropped by an He 111 from 6/KG 26?

Cheers

James

[AndreasB]

According to this the torpedo bombers came from the school in Grossetto?

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=175142

All the best

Andreas

[Paul Thompson]

Originally Posted by James Farrimond

I know that Ju 88s from KG 54 and KG 77 were involved but I imagine as a torpedo was the culprit it might have been dropped by an He 111 from 6/KG 26?

Hello James,

The only frontline Luftwaffe torpedo-bomber units in the area as of 10 August were Stab I./K.G. 26 – 4 aircraft and 3 crews assigned to torpedo training at Grosetto and 6./K.G. 26 – 10 aircraft in the same location. The successes are usually assigned to 6./K.G. 26, perhaps by default, rather than based on a specific report.

As the following thread on the Marinearchiv forum from 2010 shows, it is difficult to disentangle whether some of the torpedo-bombers were in fact on the strength of I./K.S.G. 2, the torpedo school:
http://www.forum-marinearchiv.de/smf...topic=12859.15

Another thread on the same forum, a recent one from autumn of last year, is highly interesting. A relative of the 6./K.G. 26 pilot who was killed in the attack on the Pedestal convoy wrote that the pilot was assigned to the school, while the unit history reports that the aircraft had a double unit assignment - III./K.G. 26 (I./K.S.G. 2)

It is also mentioned there that a thrid edition of the KG 26 unit history by Alexander Steenbeck may be forthcoming, at an unknown date: "Geplant war noch eine 3. Auflage, Zeitpunkt ungewiß, wenn überhaupt."
http://www.forum-marinearchiv.de/smf...?topic=27199.0

The consensus appears to be that 6./K.G. 26 was the unit involved, see an Italian-language discussion from 2007:
http://it.cultura.storia.militare.na...l-mediterraneo

Francesco Mattesini, the Italian naval historian, wrote that 6./K.G. 26 operated together with aircraft of the torpedo school, but the issue remains unresolved:
http://www.feldgrau.net/forum/viewto...21511&start=30

Warm regards,

Paul

[Chris Goss]

From what I can see, there were 10 He 111s of 6./KG 26 at Grosseto which were operationally ready. 6 He 111s attacked evening of 11 Aug 42, 7 attacked the following evening, 6 attacked on 13 Aug 42 and three the next day

[Paul Thompson]

Originally Posted by Chris Goss

6 He 111s attacked evening of 11 Aug 42, 7 attacked the following evening, 6 attacked on 13 Aug 42 and three the next day

Are you looking at reports of OB Süd, Chris?

[Chris Goss]

No Thiele's book so he must have had access to these reports

[Paul Thompson]

Originally Posted by Chris Goss

No Thiele's book so he must have had access to these reports

Yes, he probably did. I am not sure 6./K.G. 26 was operationally ready, but in any event it flew missions against the convoy!

Warm regards,

Paul

[Nick Beale]

There's a report on TNA HW13/26 which mentions that "All a/c of Air Transport Control were employed to bring 25 torpedoes from KALAMAKI to Sicily for the torpedo-Staffel which was being transferred from GROSSETO."

This is based on an ULTRA, ref. "1282/T5, T8" (which, in common with every other 1942 signal, I don't have). According to the TNA catalogue it would be MSS/1282, on file HW5/121.

[Paul Thompson]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

There's a report on TNA HW13/26 which mentions that "All a/c of Air Transport Control were employed to bring 25 torpedoes from KALAMAKI to Sicily for the torpedo-Staffel which was being transferred from GROSSETO."

Thank you very much, Nick! Do you have a suggestion as to what German unit was hiding under the name "Air Transport Control"? The relevant ULTRA intrecept is also referenced in DEFE 3/769, as this Marinearchiv thread (already referred to above) shows:
http://www.forum-marinearchiv.de/smf...?topic=27199.0

I am not quite sure why the He 111s were confused with Ju 88s, perhaps this was a clerical error.

I have sent you a PM.

Warm regards,

Paul

[Nick Beale]

I'm clueless about 1942 in the MTO but I'd imagine it was a translation of something like Luft Transport Führer — whoever was organising the supplies to North Africa, perhaps?