Action off Jersey Island at night of August 8/9, 1944

Begonnen von cam, 24 Oktober 2018, 21:46:48

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cam

Hi,

Colleagues,

Found a description of the battle of American PTs with a German convoy near the island of Jersey.
https://www.cios.org.je/news/2015/pt-boats-wreath-laying-ceremony.

Please tell me which German ships participated in this operation.

cam

t-geronimo

It were boats from 46th MS-Flottilla but I have no further details.  :/DK:
Gruß, Thorsten

"There is every possibility that things are going to change completely."
(Captain Tennant, HMS Repulse, 09.12.1941)

Forum MarineArchiv / Historisches MarineArchiv

cam


Arjan

I'm also interested in this action. This is all I could find about M-4626 (formerly known as M-1506 and Ostfriesland) :

https://www.forum-der-wehrmacht.de/index.php?thread/55148-m-1506-ex-ostfriesland-15-minensuchflottille-ich-suche-weitere-infos/&pageNo=1

This is probably more interesting  although it doesn't provide any info on the Kriegsmarine boats involved :

https://www.jerseybunkertours.com/pt509

Gruss

Arjan

TW

#4
Zitat von: cam am 24 Oktober 2018, 21:46:48
Please tell me which German ships participated in this operation.

In the early hours of 9th August 1944 a German convoy consisting of the M4626, two freighters and five heavily armed M class trawlers, left St. Peter Port Harbour, Guernsey.
PT Boat 509, along with boats 500, 503, 506, 507 and 508 were dispatched to intercept and sink the convoy.

Was, bitte, sind M-class Trawlers ?
In irgendeiner Quelle war vom M-class minesweepers der 24. M-Flottille die Rede.
[Mein Irrtum]

Edit: Anbei Passus aus dem KTB SkL (englisch), leider wenig ergiebig.

TW

Here is a better desciption:

On the night of August 8/9, destroyer USS Maloy (DE 791) patrolled a north-south line six miles long, west of the Island of Jersey. PTs 503 (Lt. James A Doherty, USNR), 500 (Lt. Douglas S. Kennedy, USNR), and 507 (Ens. Buell T. Heminway, USNR) were stationed at the north end of the line, and PTs 509 (Lt. Harry M. Crist, USNR) and 508 (Lt. (jg.) Calvin R. Whorton, USNR) at the south. At 0530 the Maloy vectored the northern group to attack a group of six minesweepers moving south toward La Corbiere, the southwestern point of Jersey. The boats, running through a pea-soup fog, were unable to see the enemy and fired their torpedoes by radar, with no apparent results. Half an hour later Maloy vectored the southern pair of boats in to attack.

Lieutenant Crist led them in through fog that limited visibility to 150 yards. PT 509 released one torpedo one-quarter mile off the enemy's port bow. PT 508's radar was not working and the minesweepers were not visible in the fog, so the 508 fired no torpedoes. The boats circled and went in for another attack. PT 508 still did not sight the enemy, but launched one torpedo on radio orders from Lieutenant Crist, who said the enemy ships were dead ahead. As the 508 turned away there was heavy firing between the 509 and a minesweeper on her port bow. The 508 could not engage the enemy immediately, since the 509 was directly in her line of fire. PT 508 heard the 509 report by radio, "I am directly in the middle," but when she had circled to port, could find no trace of the 509. The 508 rejoined Maloy at 0710.

Fifteen minutes later Lieutenant Sheretz got underway in PT 503, with PT 507, to search the southern coast of Jersey for the missing boat. At 0800 the boats picked up a radar target in St. Helier roadstead. Just as they closed to 200 yards, the thick fog bank ledged off and an enemy minesweeper appeared dead ahead and bow on. The 503 fired one torpedo. Both boats opened fire with all guns, scoring many hits on the minesweeper's bridge structure, and retired under heavy return fire. Both PTs were hit. Two men were killed and four were wounded on the 503, and one was wounded on the 507.

https://sites.google.com/site/ussmaloy/home/normandy-more

cam

Arjan, Thomas. Thank you!  top :TU:)

The Americans described this fight well. The bad thing is that there is no German description. It is not known even the composition of the convoy, except for M 4626.

cam

kgvm

Jacques Mordal (Handstreich auf Granville) schreibt nur kurz "Am 9. August war die 46. M.S.F. vor Jersey in hartem Kampf gewesen."

Arjan

I have received some more detailed info from a historian living in Jersey. Casualties/damage on the German side :

"4 were killed including one Army engineer, 1 missing (German Army), 41 were wounded. 3 German minesweepers, which formed part of the convoy on that fateful day, the M4621, 22 and 26 were so severely damaged that they were taken out of service.

The German dead were as follows:
M4626
Chief Boatswain Hans Buchhoilz, Leading Machinist Heinz Hildebrandt
M4622
Leading Seaman Herman Reinhardt
Engineer Battalion 319
Lance Corporal Herman Schwen

All were buried at St Brelade's Military Cemetery, Jersey. In 1962 their remains were transferred to the large German cemetery at Mont-des-Huisnes, near Mont St Michel, Normandy, France. "


Arjan

cam

Thank you, Arjan!  :TU:)

So, already known three ships from the convoy.

cam

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