Raid on Suez September 11, 1941

[ewstone]

Hello,

I've have been researching my family history, specifically the loss of a great uncle aboard a freighter called the SS Arkansan, which was sunk June 15th, 1942 in the Caribbean by the U-126.

I recently came across a newspaper article that stated the Arkansan was previously caught in a Luftwaffe attack in the Port of Suez the evening of September 11th, 1941. No one was reported killed aboard ship, but some were injured by "shell fragments" (and apparently later sued the ship owners).

Can anyone here point me in the right direction as to which Luftwaffe units were involved in this attack, and if any German documentation (KTB's, etc...) would have survived, and if so how to aquire them. I'm familar with ordering U-boat KTB's from the U.S. National Archives and Torpedo Reports from Germany.

I hope this is enough information to go on.

Thank you for your time.

Eric

[Jaap Woortman]

During that time frame Luftwaffe operations in the eastern part of the Mediterranean were flown under command of Fliegerkorps X of General Geisler.

Jaap

[ewstone]

Jaap,

Thank you very much.

Eric

[Darius]

Hello Eric,

not exactly what you want, but http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/41-09.htm for September, 10th:

3.– 10.9.1941
Rotes Meer
Dt. Luftangriffe mit Ju 88 der I. und II./LG.1 auf Schiffsziele vor Suez. Am 3./4.9. wird die brit. Harpalycus (5629 BRT) schwer beschädigt, am 5./6.9. wird der mit Kriegsmaterial beladene US-Frachter Steel Seafarer (5718 BRT) 200 sm südl. von Suez versenkt und am 10.9. der panam. Frachter Honduras (4524 BRT) beschädigt.

Greetings

Darius

[ewstone]

Hello Darius,

Thanks for the response. Are you the same Darius that visits the uboat.net forum?

The text and link are in the same "ballpark" but I'm not sure if any of the ships listed were caught in the same raid as the Arkansan. I know Steel Seafarer was caught in the Red Sea on it's way to Suez earlier.

Both Steel Seafarer and Arkansan (among others) as "pre-war" losses were part of the growing debate for arming merchant ships and declaring war on Germany.

This was really a tangent I was on to find out a little more of the history of the ship our Great Uncle was lost on. It's highly likely that he wasn't even on Arkansan during the Suez raid. I'm awaiting his merchant marine service records, which will hopefully clear that up.

It was really the ship I was interested in. As an American flagged ship (lights blacked out) she wasn't really supposed to be in Suez, purportedly delivering supplies to British forces before our entry in the war. The law suit, by the way, was from a crewmember who claimed he wouldn't have been injured if the lights were on, or if they had evacuated to shore:-D He lost the case.

To be more specific, I was just hoping to find out a few details:
1. confirm date of attack.
2. was it really Luftwaffe assets or could it have been Italian?
3. what units were involved?
4. what aircraft types were involved and how many?
5. what were the results of the raid (i.e. ships sunk/damaged, shore damage, aircraft lost, etc...)

I hoped the squadron(s) info would lead to the rest, but unfortunately the clue provided about Fliegerkorps X and General Geisler led mostly to the Invasion of Norway, not latter actions.

Hope this helps clear up my intentions.

Thanks again,

Eric

[Darius]

Are you the same Darius that visits the uboat.net forum?

yes