Axis airmen rescued by German U-boats

[RT]

Thks Rainer,

Just to add the Kennz. for 4.June 8L+LK

Rémi

[Rainer]

U-564 (Oblt Reinhard Suhren) rescued all four crewmen of a Junkers Ju 88 in the Baltic Sea off Gotenhafen on 22 May 1941. Unfortunately these are all details available about this incident as it happened while the U-boat was still in training.

1941-05-22?, ?, Ju 88?
cause?, loss 100%
4 crewmen survived

[Rainer]

U-105 (Krvkpt Heinrich Schuch) rescued all seven crewmen of a Dornier Do 24 in M.Qu. BE 6724 (approx. 46°21'N, 15°25'W, about 330 nautical miles north-west of Cape Finisterre, Spain) at 1330hrs on 5 February 1942. The U-boat had survivors from the German blockade runner SPREEWALD aboard, one of them urgently needed medical aid so the flying boat was sent to pick him up, but crashed during landing. The crew was taken off and the aircraft scuttled.

1942-02-05, 1. Seenotstaffel, Do 24 T-1, 23, KK+VB
Crash landing at sea, loss 100%
7 crewmen survived

[Rainer]

U-86 (Kptlt Walter Schug) rescued three crewmen of a Heinkel He 111 from a rubber dinghy in the Bay of Biscay in M.Qu. BF 4372 (approx. 47°39'N, 08°15'W, about 200 nautical miles west of Lorient, France) at 0931hrs on 14 February 1942. The survivors stated their aircraft had been shot down on 13 February and the U-boat searched in vain for a second rubber dinghy.

1942-02-13, 8./KG 40, He 111 H-6, 4380, F8+ES (or F8+CS ?)
Crashed in Pl.Qu. 14 West 0986, loss 100% (shot down by ?)
Flugzeugführer Uffz Maye or Mayer, Kurt, survived (rescued by U-86)
Bordfunker Gfr Gruber, Herbert, survived (rescued by U-86)
Bordmechaniker Gfr Hoffmann, Siegfried, survived (rescued by U-86)
Bordschütze Ogfr Bahm, Ludwig, survived (rescued by ?)

[Rainer]

U-587 (Kptlt Ulrich Borcherdt) rescued five crewmen of a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 from a rubber dinghy in M.Qu. BE 6789 (approx. 45°39'N, 15°05'W, about 300 nautical miles north-west of Cape Finisterre, Spain) at 0100hrs on 15 February 1942. As the U-boat was at the begin of its patrol, the survivors were transferred to the homebound U-130 three days later, this proved to be their luck because U-587 did not return from patrol. The airmen stated that they made a strafing run on a three-masted sailing ship on 13 February, but were hit during the approach by heavy AA fire that killed the commander and forced the Fw200 to ditch.

1942-02-13, 3./KG 40, Fw 200 C-4, 0102, F8+FL
Shot down by shipborne AA fire, loss 100%
Fw Hinze, Kurt, +
Three crewmen lightly injured
Two crewmen survived

[Rainer]

U-331 (Kptlt Hans-Diedrich Freiherr von Tiesenhausen) rescued five crewmen of an Italian bomber from a rubber dinghy in the Mediterranean Sea in M.Qu. CO 9225 (approx. 31°57'N, 26°18'E, about 30 nautical miles north-east of Sidi Barrani, Egypt) at 2020hrs on 15 February 1942. The survivors stated that their aircraft had been shot down by three Curtiss fighters after a successful attack on a cruiser.

1942-02-15, 205a Squadriglia, SM.79, ?
Shot down in aerial combat, loss 100% (shot down by 3 Hurricanes of 30 Sqn RAF (Sgt Marrack, Sgt Bate, Sgt Lawrence) while attacking the returning Malta convoy MW-9)
Capitano Marini, Marino survived
Flugzeugführer Angelini, survived
Bordfunker Caponi, survived
Bordschütze Italo, survived
Fotograf Ugo, survived
Bordmechaniker 1o Aviere Motorista Colucci, Giuseppe, +

[Rainer]

Originally Posted by Larry Hickey

Ranier,

All of these fit into either the Phoney War or Scandinavian Campaign period, which is of high interest for the EoE Project. Do any photos exist of any of these rescues or actions to help illustrate these incidents?

None that I know of. I think its unlikely that photos exist of the rescues that took place in 1939/40 because most were made at night and U-boats on war patrol seldom had a camera aboard - except if they had a war correspondent aboard or one of the officers was a keen photographer. However, the rescue of airmen by a U-boat was a rare occurrence so I doubt that photos were taken during any of them.

[Rainer]

U-431 (Kptlt Wilhelm Dommes) rescued all six crewmen of a Dornier Do 24 and three airmen of a Junkers Ju 88 from their rubber dinghies in M.Qu. CO 5393 (approx. 34°09'N, 24°26'E, about 50 nautical miles south of Crete) at 2250hrs on 15 June. The flying boat had crashed when it tried to rescue the crew of the Junkers earlier that day.

1942-06-14, 3./KG 54, Ju 88 A-4, 140216, B3+TL
Cause?, loss 100% (apparently lost while operating against the Malta convoy "Vigorous")
Flugzeugführer Lt Müller, missing (possibly Lt Müller, Wilfried, +; body recovered by Italian torpedo boat on 19 June)
Uffz Kurtz, survived
Uffz Springmeier, survived
Gfr Scheer, survived

1942-06-15, 7. Seenotstaffel, Do 24 T-2, 0031, CH+EW
Crash landing at sea during rescue mission, loss 100%
Uffz Forster, survived (possibly Bordmechaniker Uffz Forster, Adolf)
Uffz Fuhrmann, survived
Uffz Westerkowsky, survived (possibly Bordschütze Uffz Westerkowsky, Alfred)
Ogfr Jedermann, survived (possibly Bordfunker Ogfr Jedermann, Ernst)
Ogfr Ritzrau, survived (possibly Flugzeugführer Ogfr Ritzrau, Wilhelm)
Ogfr Wallraff, survived (possibly Bordmechaniker Ogfr Wallraff, Karl)

This incident was already discussed in the following thread: http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=43671

[Rainer]

U-83 (Kptlt Hans-Werner Kraus) rescued all six crewmen of a drifting Dornier Do 24 and the pilot of a Bf 109 in M.Qu. CO 5688 (approx. 33°03'N, 23°54'E, about 60 nautical miles north of Tobruk) at 2300hrs on 15 June. The flying boat had rescued the fighter pilot, but crashed on take-off earlier that day and was scuttled by the U-boat after all men were taken off.

1942-06-14, 7./JG 53, Bf 109 F-4/Trop, 10163, Weisse 6 + I
Cause?, loss 100% (possibly shot down during aerial combat with a Beaufighter of 252 or 272 Sqn RAF or the South African fighter pilot Lt Van der Spuy)
Lt Hesse, Heinrich, survived

1942-06-15, 7. Seenotstaffel, Do 24 T-2, 0049, CM+IO, Pl.Qu. 23 Ost 3402
Crashed on take-off at sea during rescue mission, loss 100%
Flugzeugführer Ofw Sost, Hans, survived
Ofw Jänsen, survived (possibly Bordmechaniker Ofw Jansen, Peter)
Uffz Förster, survived
Ogfr Münch, survived
Ogfr Möller, survived (possibly Bordmechaniker Ogfr Moller, Robert)
Ogfr Schulz, survived (possibly Ogfr Schulz, Willi)

This incident was already discussed in the following thread: http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=43671

[Martin Gleeson]

Rainer,

Great information, thanks for your work.

I believe the Biegel of 2./KuFlGr 906 rescued by U-30 on 29 March 1940 must be Fw. Hans Biegel 73563/45. The latter was Bordmechaniker on board a BV 138 of 2./KuFlGr 906 which had to ditch off the Blasket Islands, Ireland on 25 November 1940. He and the other three survived and were interned. One would have to consider Biegel a very lucky man !
For more see Dennis Burke's excellent website at ;
www.csn.ul.ie/~dan/war/crashes.htm

Are you planning to do anything similar for Allied airmen rescued by U-boats ?

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.