Siegfried was a "
wolfpack" of German
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...
s that operated during the
battle of the Atlantic in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
Service history
''Siegfried'' was formed in October 1943 to operate against the North Atlantic convoy routes and comprised 18 boats.
It consisted of seven boats from the disbanded group
''Schlieffen'', plus eleven others from bases in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. All the reinforcements were commanded by new skippers; six from Norway were also new boats, while the five from France were experienced boats with new commanders.
The ''Siegfried'' boats had fuel problems, so a re-fueling group was established north of the Azores, of three tankers and a flak boat as escort.
''Siegfried'' was deployed to intercept east-bound convoys in mid-Atlantic, planning to attack while travelling towards the re-fueling group and home bases in France. However the Allies became aware of ''Siegfried''s position, and diverted their east-bound HX and SC convoys out of harm's way, leaving a massively re-inforced west-bound convoy,
ON 207 to run into ''Siegfried'' as bait.
Three ''Siegfried'' boats were destroyed in engagements with ON 207's escorts (, , and ), while the re-fueling group was attacked by USN hunter-killer groups centred on the escort carriers and .
Two ''Siegfried'' boats ( and ) and one tanker () were destroyed and the flak boat () was damaged and forced to return to base.
''Siegfried'' was re-configured after these actions to form three sub-groups (''Siegfried 1-3'') and spread a wider net; further re-arrangements followed throughout November and December. None of these were successful, as the Allies were able to divert convoys around the patrol lines or steer through the gaps.
U-boats involved
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Re-fueling group
* (
U-tanker)
* (
Type XB provisional tanker)
* (Type XB provisional tanker)
* (
Flak boat)
The name
''Siegfried'' was named for the legendary German hero
Siegfried
Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace".
The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...
whose story is told in the ''
Nibelungenlied
The ( gmh, Der Nibelunge liet or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of Germani ...
''
References
*
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siegfried
Wolfpacks of 1943
Wolfpack Siegfried