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Eisbär (English: Polar Bear) was a wolfpack of German U-boats that operated from 23 to 29 August 1942 in World War II. This pack was assembled to operate in the South Atlantic off Cape Town which was considered to be virgin waters. Some of the most experienced U-boat commanders available such as Harald Gelhaus, Werner Hartenstein and Carl Emmermann were included. They shadowed the Freetown, Sierra Leone to Liverpool Convoy SL-119, and sank only one ship for a total of 5,941 gross register tons (GRT).[1]
U-boats, commanders and dates
edit- U-68, Karl-Friedrich Merten, 25 August–1 September
- U-156, Werner Hartenstein, 25 August–1 September
- U-172, Carl Emmermann, 25 August–1 September
- U-459, Georg von Wilamowitz-Möllendorf, 25 August–1 September
- U-504, Hans-Georg Friedrich Poske, 25 August–1 September
Ships hit by this Wolfpack
editClan Macwhirter
editAt 01:00 on 27 August 1942, the unescorted 5,941-ton British merchant ship Clan Macwhirter, a straggler from Convoy SL-119, was torpedoed and sunk by U-156 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) north-west of Madeira.[2]
References
edit- ^ "Wolfpack Eisbär". Wolfpacks - U-boat Operations - uboat.net. Retrieved 27 January 2010.
- ^ "Clan Macwhirter (Steam merchant)". Ships hit by U-boats - uboat.net. Retrieved 27 January 2010.