Loss of U-756 |
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| U-756 (Kapitänleutnant Klaus Harney) was indisputably lost with all hands in the North Atlantic some time between 1 and 3 September 1942. After the war the assessment concluded that she had been sunk on 1 September in an attack at 1827z by Catalina "B" of 73 Squadron USN in position 58° 08'N, 27° 33'W. That conclusion was, however, quite wrong, for B/73's attack was actually on U-91 (Walkerling), as a comparison of that U-Boat's war diary with the attack report clearly indicates. U-91 suffered slight damage. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| U 756, who had left Kiel for patrol on 15 August 1942, made her last signal on 1 September, timed 0015B. She reported having been driven off by an escort while executing a daylight attack and was counter-attacked but in pursuit of the convoy, whose position at 2400 on 31 August was given as AK 3771 (the convoy in question was SC 97). In the absence of any further signals from U-756, BdU requested her on 3 September to report her position, to which there was no response. BdU thus posted her missing with effect from that date. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| U-756 was undoubtedly the U-boat detected at 0050z on 1 September by HMCS MORDEN's radar and subsequently sighted on the surface at close range traveling in the direction of the convoy. The MORDEN, who at the time was on the port leg of a zigzag two miles astern of SC 97, set course to ram but was foiled in this manoeuvre by the U-boat's diving. The corvette thereupon made three depth-charge attacks, the first by eye and the other two on asdic contacts. Contact was lost after the third attack. Although, in the opinion of the MORDEN's CO, it was difficult to imagine the U-Boat could have avoided being hit by the depth-charges, on the evidence then available to it, the U-boat Assessment Committee found it impossible to determine the result of the attack and thus assessed it as "insufficient evidence of damage". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The evidence for the present assertion that the U-boat attacked by the MORDEN must have been U-756 is quite conclusive. From an examination of the war diaries of the other U-Boats operating against SC 97, all of whom returned from patrol, it is apparent that none of them was the corvette's target. The sighting, moreover, some distance astern of the convoy, would, in the light of the signal mentioned, be consistent with U-756's expected position at the time in question. There are in addition good grounds for concluding that the MORDEN's attack sank the U-boat. If U-756 had escaped destruction, she would on surfacing almost certainly have made a signal, whether damaged or not, since she would once more have lost contact with the convoy. That her loss could alternatively have been due to an attack by one of the other air or surface escorts can be discounted, as the identity of the U-boat in each attack on a definite "submarine" target has been established: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| it is thus proposed to record that U-756 was sunk on 1 September 1942 by HMCS MORDEN in 57° 41'N, 31° 30'W. It should be noted, however, that this position is almost certainly inaccurate, being too far to the westward, as the result of navigational, typing or draughting error (at 0800A on 1 September the position of the convoy, whose average speed was 7.2 knots, is recorded as 58° 14'N, 29° 18'W, which is consistent with the positions given in the other escort's reports of proceedings and also accords with the position of the convoy as reported in U-756's last signal). | ||
| Naval Staff Duties | ||
| (Foreign Documents Section) | ||
| Ministry of Defence | ||
| September 1987 | ||
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