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[edit]Luftwaffe
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A specialist Luftwaffe unit, Kampfgeschwader 100 (KG 100) had been transferred from Italy to a base near Marseilles in July 1943 having received more than fifty Sonderkampfflugzeuge, Dornier Do 217 bombers. Dornier Do 217 E 5 aircraft, equipped to use the Henschel Hs 293 (Hs 293) a wireless guided glide-bomb, went to II./KG 100 and Dornier Do 217 K 2 bombers, adapted to use the Fritz X guided bomb, going to III./KG 100. Both Gruppen went into action in July 1943 against shipping in the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean. On 25 August, Heinkel He 177 bombers of II./KG 100 carrying Hs 293 glide-bombs over the Bay of Biscay, near-missed HMS Bideford and on 27 August sank HMS Egret and damaged HMCS Athabaskan.[1]
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The German aircraft comprised eight Dornier Do 217 E 5s of II./KG 100 with Hs 293 glide bombs in the first wave, then 17 Heinkel He 111 torpedo-bombers of I./Kampfgeschwader 26 (KG 26) and Junkers Ju 88 torpedo-bombers of III./KG 26 in three waves at about 1,000 ft (305 m).[2][3][4][5] The Americans sent out friend or foe signals to the approaching enemy, but when one of the aircraft was identified as German, Hartman ordered the escorts to open fire. As the German aeroplanes came within range, the escorts and the transports opened fire with machine guns, anti-aircraft guns and naval gunfire. Seconds later, the Germans began bombing and launching torpedoes. Beatty (Commander William Outerson), first observed machine-gun fire at 18:03 and picked up five incoming aircraft followed by a bomb explosion at 18:04. At 18:05, she opened fire on two more Ju 88 torpedo planes, 16,000 yd (15,000 m) away, which were trying to pass themselves off as friendly.
Most of the attacking aircraft seemed to be after Tillman but the captain steered his ship through the bombing. The first aircraft sighted by Tillman was a Dornier, which dropped a glide-bomb about 1,000 yd (900 m) off the beam while under fire from the destroyer's main battery. When the projectile was 600 yd (550 m) from the ship, machine-gun fire from Tillman struck the bomb and it fell into a steep dive, crashing 150 yd (140 m) off the port side. The bomber was then struck and blown up by Tillman's 5-inch (130 mm) guns while another bomb exploded 500 yd (460 m) off the starboard beam. Tillman escaped being hit but concussion damaged the destroyer's fire-control radar and aft plates. At 18:13, one of the German torpedo bombers launched a torpedo at Beatty from 500 yd (460 m) which struck the after engine room near frame 124. The explosion blew a relatively small hole in Beatty; 11 men were killed, one died later of wounds and a third sailor, Radioman 3rd Class Samuel Poland was blown overboard along with a K-gun and a depth charge, which did not explode. One officer and six men were wounded and Beatty slowly began to sink at 27° 12'N, 06° 16'E, 40 nmi (74 km; 46 mi) west-north-west of Philippeville.[6] Damage control parties were sent out to patch the torpedo hole and extinguish fires while others jettisoned topside weight, ammunition and even the tow cable. The engine room flooded and the electrical systems failed. One of the magazines flooded, leaving Beatty with a list of twelve degrees to port. The destroyer remained afloat for over four hours before her crew abandoned ship at 19:00 and she broke in half and sank at 23:05 at 37º 10'N, 06º 00'E.[3] The wounded were transferred to Parker.
SS Monterey, 18,017 GRT, (Captain Elis R. Johanson), was a War Shipping Administration (WSA) allocated Ocean Steamship Co. ocean liner, operated as a troopship, was armed with 20 mm anti-aircraft guns.[7] One torpedo-bomber attacked Monterey but her gunners shot it down before a torpedo could be dropped. The aircraft began to lose altitude and as it passed over Monterey, it tore off some radio equipment. Johanson later received the Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal. Santa Elena 9,135 GRT (William C. Renaut), a WSA allocated Grace Line liner converted to a troopship, was hit twice at 37° 12'N, 06° 16E and sank hours later at 37°13′N 6°21′E / 37.217°N 6.350°E while being towed into Philippeville Harbor. Santa Elena was carrying 1,965 Canadian troops and nurses.[8] Four crew were killed and the American armed guard on board freed several men who were trapped below, there were 2,163 survivors.[9] The Dutch troopship MS Marnix van sint Aldegonde, with 2,924 troops on board, was severely damaged but with none killed.[10] Aldegonde stayed afloat long enough to make it to shore, where she grounded and sank in Philippeville's outer harbor as her commander was trying to beach her. Thousands of soldiers, merchant sailors and US Navy sailors went into the water. The other damaged Dutch ship was the steamer SS Ruyz; one man was killed but the ship made it to port.
At around 18:30, a German bomber close to SS Almanzora, was hit by concentrated fire form the armed transport, the aircraft struck abreast of No2 hatch, port side. A portion of wing landed on the bow, the pilot's log book and other items from the cockpit were later discovered and handed to Military Intelligence at port. Both transports were seriously damaged but sustained enough to cause a sinking. The Germans dropped dozens of glider-bombs and torpedoes but most of them failed to hit further targets. At least four hits were made on the convoy which destroyed six aircraft in return, an estimated ten German aviators were killed. British and Greek forces sustained no damage or casualties. Colombo steamed ahead of the center column of ships and provided accurate anti-aircraft fire, shooting down at least one German aircraft. Davison destroyed one German aircraft. By 18:20, all of the torpedo bombers and glide-bombers had left. Seventeen Americans and Dutchmen had been killed and at least nine others were wounded. Hartman reported that the German aircraft conentrated on the escorts so they could attack the transports unopposed but because the Allies returned fire accurately, the Germans suffered many losses and only six vessels of 41 were damaged.
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[edit]- ^ Hinsley 1984, pp. 338–339.
- ^ Hinsley 1984, p. 338.
- ^ a b Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 286.
- ^ Shores & Massimello 2018, p. 303.
- ^ Molony 2004, p. 560.
- ^ Brown 1995, p. 100.
- ^ Jordan 2006, pp. 404, 593.
- ^ Hague 2000, p. 174.
- ^ Jordan 2006, pp. 394, 585.
- ^ Jordan 2006, pp. 281, 552.