Luftwaffe unit on SS Ingo sunk 27 Jan 41

[AndreasB]

Does anyone have information on which Luftwaffe units were on SS Ingo when she was sunk by Swordfish south of Pantelleria on 27 Jan 1941? Also MS Duisburg was damaged either by air attack or by submarine torpedo the next day and I suspect she also carried a Luftwaffe unit.

There were some Luftwaffe soldiers killed in the sinking of Ingo.

Many thanks in advance!

All the best

Andreas

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Hello, an old thread but I searched today this ship and found some data in the "Kriegstagebuch der Seekriegsleitung 1939 - 1945. - Teil A ; Band 17. Januar 1941".

On 27 January:
"Am 26.1 0700 Uhr ist aus Palermo nach Tripolis ein Geleitzug bestehend aus den Dampfern "Ingo" mit deutschem Personal und Material für Flakschutz des Flugplatzes Benina-Bengasi, und Dampfer "Duisburg" mit italienischem Heeresmaterial, gesichert durch das Geleitschiff "Caralis" ausgelaufen. Der Geleitzug wurde 1603 Uhr 10 sm südöstlich Tonne 5 von Kerkanaa-Bank von Torpedo-Flugzeugen und Bombern angegriffen. Dampfer "Ingo" wurde torpediert und versenkt. Besatzung zum größten Teil gerettet. Dampfer "Duisburg" erhielt Bombentreffer. Eigener Jagschutz vom Fliegerkorps X ist, da außer Reichweite des Angriffes,nicht bei der Angriffsposition eingetroffen."

On 28 January:
"Von der Besatzung des Dampfers "Ingo" und den an Bord eingeschifften Soldaten wurden bis auf 3 Maschinisten und 5 Matrosen von "Ingo" und 3 Soldaten des FliegerKorps X alle gerettet.
Angriff auf "Ingo" erfolgte durch 4 Torpedoflugzeuge , die von 3 Jägern begleitet waren. "Duisburg" erhielt 2 Torpedotreffer, es wird versucht den Dampfer nach Tripolis einzuschleppen.

In the German death cards available on fold3 I have been able to identify one dead crew of Ingo (Ingenieur Hans Breckwold) and very probably the three Luftwaffe passengers: Kanonier Eugen Braun, Kanonier Ernst Dümmling and Kanonier Karl Taubenberger, all of 4./Flak Regt 38, were all lost in Mediterranean that day around 200 km SW Malta (so in the good area). One of the two cards for Braun says he died at 1600 hrs, so close of the hour of the attack reported above (1603 hrs).

According to https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de...ter/FR38-R.htm, Flak Regt 38 was in Sicily in January 1941 but the whole regiment then took part to Barbarossa in June and remained on the Eastern front until the end of the war. I don't know if the sinking of Ingo changed German plans regarding this unit (possibly after losing all guns and material during the sinking). In April-May 1941, two batteries of Flak Rgt 25 were flown by air to protect Benina airfield, the planned destination of the Ingo passengers.

[Andy Mitchell]

Andreas,

To confirm Laurent's unit identification, the Loss Return for 31.1.41 has the following

Entry No 1; 27 Jan 1941; 4./Flak-Rgt. 38; Ort - Unbekannt; Untergang des Dampfers "Ingo"; 3 Tot.

[AndreasB]

Excellent info, thanks to both of you!

All the best

Andreas

[Larry deZeng]

Elements of I./Flak-Rgt. 38 (gem mot.) were at Catania/Sicily on 16.1.41, having recently arrived from N France.

See: Gundelach, Karl, Die deutsche Luftwaffe im Mittelmeer 1940-1945, 2 Bde (Frankfurt/M., 1981), and the Gen.Qu.(6.Abt.) Verlustmeldungen for Flak unit losses of 16.1.41.

[AndreasB]

Thank you so much Larry.


All the best


Andreas