Wolf pack Rossbach

"Rossbach" was a wolf pack of German U-boats that operated during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II.

ervice history

"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 found 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 re-inforcement.

On 8/9 October 1943 "Rossbach", attacked convoy SC 143. They sank one ship of 5,612 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

*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

"Rossbach" was a reference to the battle of Rossbach fought by Frederick the Great during the Seven Years War.

References

* Jak P M Showell "U-Boat Warfare: The Evolution of the Wolf-Pack" (2002) ISBN 0-7110-2887-7