U-boote en Méditerranée - 1941-1943

During the summer of 1941, the British decimated the convoys that were crossing the Mediterranean to supply Rommel’s Afrikakorps. The German Navy (Kriegsmarine) was called in to the rescue. The first U-Boats passed through the Straits of Gibraltar at the end of September 1941. After their combat mission against the Royal Navy ships which were supplying Tobruk, they put in in their first strongpoint, the Greek island of Salamine, near Athens. In November 1941, the grey wolves sank a battleship and an aircraft carrier and the first “Mediterranean” Knight’s Crosses were awarded. From December onwards, the Italian arsenals at La Pezia and Pola welcomed some of the 20 submarines of the new 29 U-Flotille. Rest facilities were also created for their crews who, during their stopovers, discovered Rome, Venice or Pisa… During the first ten months of 1942, following the destruction of a lot of Royal Navy ships and attacks on Allied convoys supplying the island of Malta, the balance of power now went in favour of the Axis powers. But in November 1942, the U-Boats were unable to stop the Allied armada which landed in North Africa. This operation marked the turning point in the Battle of the Mediterranean. Installing a special platform behind the conning tower for extra AA machine guns at La Spezia was not enough in the struggle against the more and more omnipresent Allied aircraft. In May 1943, Toulon became the main base for the U-Boats which then suffered their blackest month when the Afrikakorps capitulated.