Wolfpack Rossbach
Rossbach was a wolfpack of German U-boats that operated during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II. Seven of its 21 U-boats were sunk and another seven damaged, four of which were forced to return to base, before the wolfpack was disbanded.
Service history
[edit]Rossbach was formed in October 1943 to operate against the North Atlantic convoy routes and comprised 21 boats. It consisted of 12 boats from the disbanded group Leuthen, plus 9 others from bases in France and Germany.
Whilst forming, several boats from Rossbach were detected and attacked by air patrols; 4 were sunk (U-221, U-279, U-389,and U-336) and another 4 were damaged (U-260, U-305, U-666 and U-731), forcing them to return to base. A further 3 were damaged, but were able to continue, while 2 more boats arrived from base as reinforcement.
On 8/9 October 1943 Rossbach, attacked convoy SC 143. They sank one ship of 5,612 gross register tons (GRT) and one warship but lost 3 boats (U-419, U-610 and U-643) in the engagement.
Rossbach was disbanded following this attack; the remaining boats formed the core of a new group, codenamed Schlieffen.
U-boats involved
[edit]- U-91
- U-260
- U-275
- U-279
- U-305
- U-309
- U-336
- U-378
- U-389
- U-402
- U-419
- U-448
- U-539
- U-584
- U-603
- U-610
- U-631
- U-641
- U-643
- U-645
- U-666
- U-731
- U-758
- U-762
- U-952
The name
[edit]Rossbach was a reference to the Battle of Rossbach fought by Frederick the Great during the Seven Years' War.
References
[edit]- Jak P M Showell U-Boat Warfare: The Evolution of the Wolf-Pack (2002) ISBN 0-7110-2887-7
External links
[edit]- Helgason, Guðmundur. "Wolfpack Rossbach". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net.