U-boote en Méditerranée - 1943-1945

The U-boat missions in the Mediterranean changed after the Allies had made themselves master of all North Africa. Henceforth, they had to protect “Fortress Europe” against the Allied landings to come. Five submarines went out against the Allied landings in Sicily in July 1943 but could not prevent them. In the Toulon and Pola arsenals, a new double rear platform on the conning tower was added to the submarines to increase their AA armament with eight 20-mm cannon. In September 1943, six experienced captains set out to try and stop the landings at Salerno and there were successes. The use of acoustic torpedoes from November onwards enabled them also to sink more enemy warships. In December construction work on a submarine base in Marseille was stopped by a massive air raid. At the beginning of 1944, the Mediterranean submarines were struggling against the ships supplying the Allied bridgehead at Anzio. A 17th Mediterranean Knight’s Cross was awarded. On 16 May 1944, a 62nd U-Boat got through the Straights of Gibraltar; it was the last reinforcement. The unprotected submarines in the port at Toulon waiting for snorkels were progressively put out of action by successive American air raids…A single submarine only set out from Toulon to counter the landings in Provence on 15 August 1944. Three U-boats equipped with a snorkel and hiding in the eastern Mediterranean survived until September 1944.