German behind the lines commando missions in NA

[Felix C]

Reading A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940-1945: Volume 3: Tunisia and the End in Africa, November 1942-1943 by Chris Shores, etal and there are references to German commandos being air dropped behind Allied lines in North Africa to blow up some RR lines in Algeria/Tunisia.

Anyone have information on this or these missions if there were more than one?
Are these the Brandenburgers or something else?

I could provide more info if needed. I mean as to what was indicated in the text.

[Urmel]

There were more missions. One happened in autumn 1941 in Western Egypt, with a small section being delivered by submarine to blow up the railway. They were all captured by South Africans of 2 SA Division.

[Urmel]

Here's a bit of background on Brandenburgers arriving in NA

https://rommelsriposte.com/2011/09/15/b ... rica-1941/

[Felix C]

Thanks.

[OzSubmariner]

Re: German behind the lines commando missions in NA

Quote

Postby Urmel » 18 Dec 2016, 20:43
There were more missions. One happened in autumn 1941 in Western Egypt, with a small section being delivered by submarine to blow up the railway. They were all captured by South Africans of 2 SA Division.

Hello Urmel,

Do you have any further particulars regarding this insertion mission by submarine? The date or the name/number of the U-Boat, for example?

Much appreciated
Regards
Gus

[Urmel]

Hi

I need to go through my records. Let me see what I can find out.

[Orwell1984]

Re: German behind the lines commando missions in NA

Quote

Postby Urmel » 18 Dec 2016, 20:43
There were more missions. One happened in autumn 1941 in Western Egypt, with a small section being delivered by submarine to blow up the railway. They were all captured by South Africans of 2 SA Division.

Hello Urmel,

Do you have any further particulars regarding this insertion mission by submarine? The date or the name/number of the U-Boat, for example?

Much appreciated
Regards
Gus

It was U-331. See here: http://uboat.net/boats/u331.htm

17 Nov 1941. On 17 November, at the start of her third patrol, U-331 landed eight commandos on the Egyptian coast east of Ras Gibeisa. Their mission was to blow up a railway line, in which they failed. U-331 went on to sink the British battleship HMS Barham on 25 Nov.

Also see here: http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-331INT.htm [Scroll down to appendix b}

(iii) Third Patrol
(a) Departure from Salamis. "U 331" sailed from Salamis on her third patrol at 1900 on 12th November, 1941. Before sailing she embarked a sabotage party, which Tiesenhausen had been ordered to land at a given point on the North African coast, its mission being to destroy a section of British railway line. He was then to wait for them and bring them back to Salamis. The embarkation of the sabotage party had been kept secret from "U 331's" ship's company until the last minute. The party brought its own rubber dinghy, in which it was to be landed.
(N.I.D. Note. The party consisted of:
Leutnant Josef Kiefer, 17th Co., 2nd Batallion Lehrregiment Brandenburg (in command).
Feldwebel Adolf Risch, 1st Co., 1st Battalion Lehrregiment Brandenburg.
Obergefreiter Werner Schoeler, 5th Co., 3rd Battalion Lehrregiment Brandenburg.
Gefreiter, Josef von der Lahr, 5th Co., 3rd Battalion Lehrregiment Brandenburg.
Pionier Josef Handrischik, 5th Co., 3rd Battalion Lehrregiment Brandenburg.
Pionier Otto Pralle, 5th Co., 3rd Battalion Lehrregiment Brandenburg.
Pionier Hermann Boebs, 5th Co. 3rd Battalion Lehrregiment Brandenburg.
At the beginning of August, 1941, these seven men were sent to the H.Q. of the Lehrregiment Brandenburg at Berlin, and practised for a week laying demolition charges beneath a railway line. They drew tropical kit. On 28th August they left Berlin by air for Athens, where they reported to Hauptmann Schiffbager, an officer attached to Abwehr II (Secret Service) at Athens.
They attempted to leave Athens on 31st August by air, but their Do.24 crashed into the quay and the attempt was abandoned. They were then instructed to embark in "U 331" on 12th November.)
(b) Disembarkation of Sabotage Party. On arrival off the given point on the North African coast, the sabotage party was duly landed. One of "U 331's" complement, Matrosengefreiter Wolfgang Eberta, Tiesenhausen's servant, being detailed to assist the navigation of the rubber dinghy and wait until the party re-embarked.
(N.I.D. Note. On the night of 17th November, after waiting off shore for twenty-four hours owing to the heavy sea, "U 331" approached to within one mile of the coast at a point between Ras Gibeisa and Ras el Schaqiq, where demolition charges were to be placed beneath the coastal railway line. The party then boarded the rubber dinghy and proceeded towards shore. Their equipment consisted of:

1 light machine-gun,
5 machine pistols,
9 stick hand grenades,
2 Very pistols,
1 signalling lamp,
4 pairs field-glasses,
3 compasses,
3 knapsacks,
3 demolition mines (later captured).
Meat,
Biscuits,
British money.

A wireless transmitter was left behind, as it was considered too clumsy and heavy. It consisted of a laryngeal microphone enabling softly-voiced sounds to be transmitted.
It was agreed that "U 331" should return to the same position on the following night, where she would fire a green Very light to indicate her presence. The party was to fire red Very lights.
The sabotage party landed safely and set about its work, leaving two men to stand by the dinghy. These two were later surprised by sentries but they overpowered them.
The following night, the party tried to re-embark. The dinghy, however, capsized in the surf, the gear was lost and the Very cartridges were put out of action by the sea water. The party therefore returned to the shore, where they were all captured a few hours later. Ebertz was found to be wearing a British army shirt with von Tiesenhausen's name. The mission was named "Operation HAI")
"U 331" waited all during the night of 18th November for the party to make themselves known, but at daybreak she abandoned hope and proceeded towards Sollum

[Edward L. Hsiao]

Gentlemen,

Anymore information about Brandenburger Commandos dealing with raids behind British lines in the desert? Like blowing up English supply depots?

Edward L. Hsiao

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Edward,

One has to be a bit careful about using published sources on the Brandenburgers. For example, there are stories about a diamond robbery in South Africa and leading an Arab force against the British in Iraq that seem to be largely or wholly fiction. There are also stories about the Brandenburgers taking a leading hand in the capture of Odessa, which actually fell to the Romanians. Likewise failed missions, such as the attempt to seize the Caucasus oil fields intact by coup are turned from failure (the Red Army demolished the wells and the Germans never got them working again) into successes. And who ever hears about the annihilation of the Brandenburger parachute battalion by the Romanians in late August 1944?

Cheers,

Sid.

[Andrew Arthy]

Hi,

In our 'Wüstennotstaffel Part Two' eArticle, http://airwarpublications.com/earticles ... earticles/, Adam Thompson and I mention a nocturnal mission flown by a pair of Fieseler 156s carrying men to sabotage an Allied railhead. This occurred soon after Rommel's Gazala offensive began on 26 May 1942.

Cheers,
Andrew A.
Air War Publications - http://www.airwarpublications.com/earticles

[Felix C]

were the captured German behind the lines raiders treated as POWs or saboteurs?

[Urmel]

POWs, i.e. regular soldiers if they were in uniform. I don't think the category 'saboteur' exists under the Hague Convention. That was an invention of Adolf's mind. The Allied forces did not have a Kommandobefehl.

[stg 44]

POWs, i.e. regular soldiers if they were in uniform. I don't think the category 'saboteur' exists under the Hague Convention. That was an invention of Adolf's mind. The Allied forces did not have a Kommandobefehl.

I've read that the Brandenburgers wore their own uniforms underneath foreign ones they wore as a disguise as a protection. How did the Allies really feel about that though? It should be remembered that they did execute a number of captured Germans for Operation Greif, despite supposedly removing them before attacking:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Greif

Skorzeny's postwar trial set a precedent clarifying article 4 of the Geneva Convention: as the German soldiers removed the Allied uniforms before engaging in combat, they were not to be considered franc-tireurs.

[Urmel]

Americans, a few years later, elsewhere.