Setting the scene:

30 September 1939 – Poland: The fall of Warsaw.

Soon after the fall of Warsaw, Adolf Hitler ordered the German high command to finalise plans for the assault on France. The plan (‘Fall gelb’, case yellow) also included the invasion of the Netherlands and Belgium, the aim of which was to defeat the major part of the allied armies thus hoping to gain Dutch territory.

Initially, the plan of attack was due to take place on 12 November 1939, which was against the advice of a number of generals who advised Hitler to wait until the spring of 1940. However, Mother Nature intervened and Europe experienced one of the coldest winters in many years. This sudden cold weather forced Hitler to postpone his plans and wait for a break in the weather.

The combination of dire weather conditions with blizzards would be a logistic nightmare for the Germans, In addition, on 10 January 1940, an officer of a German airborne division had to make a forced landing in Belgium, who was unable to completely destroy his orders he was carrying, and so revealing, at least in part, the plans of the Germans.

Due to the severe weather being centralised over Europe, Hitler had to postpone his attack 15 times, thereby putting back the German plan of war by at least six months, and in turn forced Hitler to completely revise his attack plans on France.

Finally, on 10 May 1940 the German attack was realised causing a total collapse of allied military resistance in the Netherlands and France. On 22 June 1940, France accepted the German terms.

The Birth of U-81: (U-boat – Unterseeboot, or undersea boat/submarine)

On 25 January 1939, the order came through of an additional U-boat of the German Navy, type VIIC of which U-81 was one of the first. U-81 was eventually laid down on 11 May 1940 at Bremer Vulkan, becoming ‘Werk 9’. Bremer Vulkan was a prominent German shipbuilding company located at the Weser River in Bremen-Vegesack. The company was founded in 1893, but closed in 1997 due to financial and management issues.

It is of interest to note that the Bremen company with the exception of both world wars, only built civilian vessels, and it was not until the 1990’s that the production of Naval ships begun.

U-81 was launched on 22 February 1941 and commissioned under her first commander, Oberleutenant Friederich Guggenberger, on 26 April. Between 16 April and 31 July 1941, Guggenberger commanded U-81 for work up with the 1^st U-boat flotilla, after which she became a front operational submarine of the 1^st U-boat flotilla.

On her second patrol from Trondheim to the North Sea and Atlantic, U-81 experienced her first ‘successful engagement’. Just prior to putting into the French port of Brest, she came into contact with convoy SC-42,(1) where she sank the SS Empire Springbuck. This was a British steam merchant vessel and a straggler from her convoy where all crew, 42, died with no survivors. On the 9 September, the following day, U-81 also sank the ‘Sally Maersk’ (2)

U-81 was one of several U-boats operating in the Mediterranean at this time, however her initial foray and attempt to break into what was known as the ‘Italian Lake’ ended in disaster. On 30 October 1941 she was attacked, suffering major damage, by a British Catalina flying boat of the 209 - RAF squadron as she was attempting to make headway across the Straits of Gibraltar. U-81 subsequently returned to Brest for major repairs.

Notes:

1. Convoy SC-42: Consisted of merchant ships from Sydney, Cape Breton Island to Liverpool and were attacked over a three-night period in September 1941. 16 ships were sunk and four damaged. This was the worst allied loss following the attack on convoy SC-7 the previous year.
2. Sally Maersk: A British motor merchant, sank with 34 survivors on 10 September 1941 by U-81 with two torpedoes.