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Wolfpack Rossbach

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Rossbach was a wolfpack of German U-boats that operated during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II. Seven of its 21 U-boats were sunk and another seven damaged, four of which were forced to return to base, before the wolfpack was disbanded.

Service history

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Rossbach was formed in October 1943 to operate against the North Atlantic convoy routes and comprised 21 boats. It consisted of 12 boats from the disbanded group Leuthen, plus 9 others from bases in France and Germany.

Whilst forming, several boats from Rossbach were detected and attacked by air patrols; 4 were sunk (U-221, U-279, U-389,and U-336) and another 4 were damaged (U-260, U-305, U-666 and U-731), forcing them to return to base. A further 3 were damaged, but were able to continue, while 2 more boats arrived from base as reinforcement.

On 8/9 October 1943 Rossbach, attacked convoy SC 143. They sank one ship of 5,612 gross register tons (GRT) and one warship but lost 3 boats (U-419, U-610 and U-643) in the engagement.

Rossbach was disbanded following this attack; the remaining boats formed the core of a new group, codenamed Schlieffen.

U-boats involved

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The name

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Rossbach was a reference to the Battle of Rossbach fought by Frederick the Great during the Seven Years' War.

References

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  • Jak P M Showell U-Boat Warfare: The Evolution of the Wolf-Pack (2002) ISBN 0-7110-2887-7
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