Good evening all. I have a report from a Luftwaffe airman who served in a maritime bomber unit. In the report for a sortie on the night of 10-11th May 1941 he mentions attacking a merchant ship of about 6,000t at a height of 30 to 40m at night with the bomb missing the ship by just a few metres with the ship stopping in the water after the explosion. He gives a Luftwaffe map coordinate that places the attack about 12 miles from Milford Haven. This was how it was reported in the daily Luftwaffe Command briefing: I have not found any mention of a merchant ship being sunk on that date or in that location but would anyone know if their are any British reports of ships being attacked and damaged at this location on the night of 10-11th May?
Might be worth trying the local newspaper archives - Pembroke Dock's night of terror when 30 people were killed THE Pier Hotel, a prominent landmark on the corner of Tremeyrick Street and London Road, was destroyed in the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) ‘blitz’ on Pembroke Dock on the night of May 11/12 1941. TD
He 115 of 1./K.Fl.Gr.406 sink the armed naval yacht Viva II (521 BRT) west of Newquay on 8.5. and damage the British motor vessel Caithness (4970 BRT) off Milford Haven on 11.5. source: Seekrieg 1941, Mai Caithness: Motor Vessel CAITHNESS built by William Doxford & Sons Ltd. in 1935 for B. J. Sutherland & Co. Ltd., Newcastle, Cargo
Capture of U.110 and German Enigma, May 1941 (its a Naval diary for 1941, not just this title) Sunday, 11 May British steamer CAITHNESS (4970grt) was damaged by German bombing in 52-03N, 5-24W (52.05N 5.4W) TD
Some background knowledge about the organisation of the naval aviation groups, although the term "organisation" is vastly overused here: The deployment of German naval air forces was generally severely impaired by the constant disputes between the Ob.d.L. (Göring) and the Ob.d.M. (Raeder) over their authority of disposal. At first it was about the right to assign combat missions to naval aviation units. In the opinion of the Ob.d.L., these were to be limited to reconnaissance, escort and sea rescue tasks. With the conversion of coastal aviation groups to wheeled aircraft, the dispute further escalated from mid-1940 onwards. As a result, the Ob.d.M. was forced to keep its scarce assets somehow halfway operational for its purposes through constant organisational regroupings and renamings: So for example in Oct ´41 the 2./906 became 2./506 and switched it´s Ju 88 for He 115 from the latter unit The former 2./506 in turn became 2./906, received the Ju88 and was imediately thereafter remaned from KüFlGr to KG As far as the planes of the KüFlGr 406 in question are concerned: In early May 1941 Staffel 1./406 was in List (under Gruppenstab 506 in Westerland) undergoing conversion to the BV 138. Whereas Gruppenstab 406 had in May 1941 the following Staffeln with He 115 in Brest: 2./506 1./906 For those who are now confused: this is the highly simplified breakdown ;-)
Many thanks for the replies. I didn't think there would be much chance of getting anything so to get the name of the ship and a newspaper notification is brilliant.
Cargo ship CAITHNESS sailed Milford Haven in convoy OB.321 on 11 May 1941. The ship's rather messy movement card does record an attack on 11 May 1941 - bomb damage. She arrives at Belfast Lough on 12 May and repaired at Belfast on 19 May. There may also be a mention in the ship's official logbook of the attack which should be held at Kew in piece BT 381/1563 Regards Hugh
Thanks for the pointers on those documents. I have just downloaded the movement cards and will bookmark the Ships Log details as I might have a few requests to copy files so will put those together in one order.
Just be careful about ordering the logbook - its for a whole year and has many parts to it and you are only interested in the Narrative and that date range. Regards Hugh