Wolfpack Eisbär

{{main|Oberkommando der Marine}}

{{Location map-line|lat=-5}}

From mid-July 1942, to tie down Allied convoy escorts and to sink more ships in distant waters, four to six U-boats and a U-tanker operated in the middle-Atlantic, west of Freetown in Sierra Leone. On 7 August, a U-boat was allowed freedom of manoeuvre to commit reprisals against Brazil for its support of the Allied naval war, despite its neutral status but this gave Brazil a pretext to declare war on 28 August. As in 1941, an extension of operations to the South Atlantic was planned by the Naval War Staff ({{lang|de|Seekriegsleitung}}, SKL) for the summer of 1942, to exert strategic pressure.{{sfn|Rahn|2001|p=385}}

The surprise appearance of a U-boat group off South Africa, was to inhibit the transport of Allied reinforcements to the Middle East and interrupt trade with India. To deny the Allies time for counter-measures, SKL wanted to conceal the voyage of the boats to the south for as long as possible. The U-boat commanders received orders to avoid contact with all merchant ships south of the Equator and only to attack valuable targets such as big warships.{{sfn|Rahn|2001|p=385}}

Rear-Admiral ({{lang|de|Konteradmiral}}) Karl Dönitz the commander, U-boats ({{lang|de|Befehlshaber der U-Boote}} BdU) disagreed with SKL because the strategic pressure that could be exerted was insufficient justification for a long-range operation. Dönitz wanted priority to remain with the tonnage war, with sinkings as the measure of success. The southern voyage of the boat should be used offensively, as far as 15° South. SKL, basing its strategic calculations on the widening war, refuse to relent until 6 September, when {{lang|de|gruppe Eisbär}} received freedom of action against merchant shipping as far as 5° South.{{sfn|Rahn|2001|pp=385–386}}

At a review of naval operations in September 1942, Dönitz described to Hitler the declining prospects for U-boat operations off the east coast of the US, due to the introduction of convoys and increased air reconnaissance. The U-boats were to return to the North Atlantic, the coast of West Africa and to Cape Town in the South Atlantic.{{sfn|Blair|2000|p=9}} In 1941 the Germans had attempted to attack ships around South Africa but were defeated by the interception of German U-boat supply ships. For operations in 1942, Dönitz had available long-range Type IX submarines and supply boats to substitute for commerce raiders used earlier in the war.{{sfnm|1a1=Roskill|1y=1956|1p=269|2a1=Woodman|2y=2005|2p=521}} In mid-August the four Type IXC U-boats of {{lang|de|gruppe Eisbär}} had sailed from France, followed at intervals by a second wave of four of the new and larger Type IXD2 submarines.{{sfn|Beesly|2015|p=158}}

File:Cape of Good Hope Iss059e078303 lrg.jpg

Dönitz and the commanders due to operate in {{lang|de|Gruppe Eisbär}} intended that around 5 October 1942, {{GS|U-68||2}} (Karl-Friedrich Merten) and {{GS|U-172||2}} (Carl Emmermann) would conduct a reconnaissance of Table Bay near Cape Town, getting past the minefield sown by the German commerce raider Doggerbank ({{lang|de|Schiff 53}} earlier in the year and the defensive minefields laid by the British, using captured charts. In the early hours of 8 October, during the new moon, an attack on the expected fifty ships anchored there would be made. Outside the bay, {{GS|U-159||2}}, {{GS|U-504||2}} and {{GS|U-179||2}} would lie in ambush for fleeing ships. The boats might then raid the Indian Ocean, depending on circumstances.{{sfn|Blair|2000|pp=73, 57}}

At the tracking room at the Admiralty, Commander Rodger Winn, kept watch over the deployment of U-boats and on 2 August, before the departure of the four Type IXC U-boats of {{lang|de|Gruppe Eisbär}}, Winn speculated that the U-boats off Freetown and a possible move to Ascension Island might foreshadow a move further south. Winn thought that the departure of {{lang|de|Gruppe Eisbär}} and its Milch Cow support boat, was for operations in far waters; Winn guessed that they were bound for the waters off South Africa. The departure of {{lang|de|Gruppe Eisbär}} in mid-August and the sailing at intervals of four of the new and larger U-cruisers of the Type IXD2 class from 21 September, bore out Winn's analysis when {{SS|Laconia}} was sunk on 12 September and U-156 began signalling for assistance on the international frequency. Survivors rescued by U-boats were transferred to Vichy rescue ships; Winn thought that the attack on Laconia was not conclusive but on 21 September, he warned the Commander-in-Chief South Atlantic, that the arrival of U-boats in the south 'seemed imminent'. On 28 September Winn reported that the whereabouts of the U-boats was unknown but that two fishermen had reported seeing the landing of men from a U-boat about {{cvt|200|nmi}} north of Cape Town.{{sfnm|1a1=Roskill|1y=1956|1p=269|2a1=Beesly|2y=2015|2pp=158–159}}

In early October, in a blunder by the censor, German news reported that U-boats were operating in the Far East. On 5 October, Winn reported that by mid-October, U-boats might operate in the Mozambique Channel and two days later a ship was sunk off Cape Town. The Admiralty and the Commander-in-Chief South Atlantic had reduced the shipping at Cape Town by making Durban, on the east coast, the last stop for ships bound for Britain from the Indian Ocean. For the duration of Operation Torch (8–12 November), ships were routed far to the south of Cape Town and then north-west to Brazil, Trinidad and the US, to join convoys across the north Atlantic.{{sfn|Blair|2000|pp=72–73}} Unknown to the British, {{lang|de|gruppe Eisbär}} was not going to operate as a {{lang|de|rudel}} (pack) in the South Atlantic but to disperse after the raid on Table Bay.{{sfn|Woodman|2005|p=521}}

In late 1942, the demands of Operation Torch, especially the duration of the campaign in Algeria and Tunisia, that ended in May 1943 and required more supplies from more convoys, stretched the Allied escort effort. The west Africa–south Africa–east Africa route continued without convoy for much longer; ships were sent on devious courses to evade U-boats but they had eventually to cross the South Atlantic.{{sfn|Behrens|1955|p=313}} The naval forces of the Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic were not adequate for an anti-U-boat campaign. Four destroyers and a few corvettes were based at Cape Town, some on loan from the Eastern Fleet based at Mombasa. There were not enough escorts or aircraft to convoy ships on the Cape to Freetown route up the west coast of Africa or the Cape to Suez route up the east coast. The British and the Americans diverted twelve British anti-submarine warfare (ASW) trawlers from the Western Approaches and eighteen from US waters, along with six more destroyers and four corvettes from the Eastern Fleet. Four Catalina flying boats of 209 Squadron were transferred to Cape Town and Durban. The transfers took time and the trawlers from US waters did not arrive until December.{{sfn|Blair|2000|p=72}}

{{lang|de|Gruppe Blücher}} attacked Convoy SL 119 and Dönitz, the BdU, diverted the Type IXC U-boats {{GS|U-68|1940|2}}, {{GS|U-156||2}}, U-172 and U-504 of {{lang|de|Gruppe Eisbär}} to join in the attack. U-156 sank {{SS|Clan Macwhirter}} (5,941 GRT) on 27 August and on 12 September sank Laconia and became involved in the Laconia incident. Dönitz was overruled by {{lang|de|Generaladmiral}} Erich Raeder the {{lang|de|Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine}} and SKL. {{lang|de|Gruppe Eisbär}} was redirected southwards to Cape Town, refuelling from the tanker, {{GS|U-459||2}} south of Ascension Island. U-68 had sunk the British ship {{SS|Trevilley}} (5,300 GRT) on 12 September and the Dutch ship {{SS|Breedijk}} (6,861 GRT) on 14 September; {{GS|U-159|1941|2}} took over from U-156.{{sfn|Woodman|2005|p=521}}{{sfn|Jordan|2006|pp=285, 550}} A second wave of four long-range Type IXD2 boats, {{GS|U-177||2}}, {{GS|U-178||2}}, U-179, {{GS|U-181||2}} and an Italian U-cruiser, {{ship|Italian submarine|Ammiraglio Cagni||2}}, were close behind. The rest of the boats had not fired torpedoes leaving the other Type IXC boats with 22 torpedoes each, the IXD2s with 24 each and Cagni with 42).{{sfn|Blair|2000|pp=72, 57}}

File:Map of South Africa.svg

On the night of 6/7 October, U-68 which had been in position for five days, photographing the bay. Emmermann in U-172 had a Metox radar detector and moved towards Table Bay on the surface, placing most of the crew on the deck, wearing life jackets, in case a mine was set off. Emmermann kept the boat on the surface for several hours so that the crew could take turns on deck to watch the peaceful scene as the other boats lay in wait outside the bay. The bay was seen to be empty and covered by searchlights and radar, precluding the likelihood of the attack achieving surprise. Emmermann submerged U-172 before dawn and watched through the periscope in brilliant sunshine.{{sfn|Woodman|2005|p=521}}

Outside the bay, U-159 sank the British {{SS|Boringia}}. The captains of U-68 and U-172 contacted BdU to request that the plan be abandoned but Dönitz wanted them to continue. At midnight on 8 October when the attack was due to begin, Cape Town had not been blacked out and the authorities were ignorant of the attack on Boringia. Having received a garbled reply, Emmermann 'assumed that BdU had agreed to the cancellation and that he had freedom of action' from {{nowrap|4:00 a.m.}} on 7 October.{{sfnm|1a1=Blair|1y=2000|1p=73, 75|2a1=Woodman|2y=2005|2pp=524–527}}

U-172 sank the US ship {{SS|Chickasaw City}} and then the Panamanian {{SS|Firethorn}}. U-172 sank {{SS|Pantelis}} with a torpedo and U-68 used seven torpedoes to sink the Greek freighter {{SS|Koumoundouros}} and the Dutch {{SS|Gaasterkirk}}, both of which managed to transmit distress signals. At dawn the destroyers {{HMS|Active|H14|6}}, {{HMS|Arrow|H42|2}} and {{HMS|Foxhound|H69|2}} and {{HMAS|Nizam|G38|6}}, with the corvette {{HMS|Rockrose|K51|6}} sailed and spent much of the day rescuing survivors. Every aircraft that was airworthy went aloft to reconnoitre. The next morning, when {{SS|Clan Mactavish}} tried to rescue the 28 survivors of Boringia it was torpedoed and another seven members of the crew of Boringia were killed along with 53 from Clan Mactavish. Aircraft on anti-submarine patrol guided {{SS|Matheran}} to the area to rescue survivors who were landed at Cape Town.{{sfnm|1a1=Blair|1y=2000|1p=73, 75|2a1=Woodman|2y=2005|2pp=524–527}}

File:HMS Active (H14).jpg

U-159 had gone into action off Cape Town on and sank the US ship {{SS|Coloradan}} on 9 October then survived a depth-charge attack by a South African aircraft. U-159 moved to the south-east and sank {{SS|Empire Nomad}}, {{SS|Ross}} and {{SS|Laplace}}, all British, by the end of the month.{{sfn|Woodman|2005|pp=526–527}} On 7 November, the US ship, {{SS|La Salle}}, {{cvt|350|nmi}} to the south-east of the Cape of Good Hope, was destroyed when its cargo of ammunition exploded, the sound being heard {{cvt|300|nmi}} away at the Cape Point lighthouse. The next ship sunk was a US schooner, {{SS|Star of Scotland}}, by gunfire, the survivors making a {{cvt|1040|nmi}}-voyage to Angola.{{sfn|Woodman|2005|pp=526–528}}

By this time, U-159 was on the return leg of its voyage and refuelled from U-461 before sailing for St Paul's Rocks, about {{cvt|510|nmi}} to the north-east of Brazil, then raiding along the Brazilian coast. U-159 sank the liner {{SS|City of Bombay}}, from which 120 of the 130 crew and passengers survived, twelve of whom were rescued by {{SS|Star of Suez}}, which U-159 sank on 15 December. {{SS|East Wales}} was sunk on 16 December and then U-159 sailed for Lorient in France.{{sfn|Woodman|2005|pp=526–528}}

On 8 October, U-172 had sunk the Panamanian {{MV|Firethorn}} and the Greek Pantelis. Anti-submarine vessels from Cape Town attacked the U-boat, which escaped with minor damage. On 10 October the troopship {{SS|Orcades}}, en route from Suez to Britain, was sunk in a storm. BdU sent U-172 to Brazilian coastal waters and in mid-November, it sank {{SS|Aldington Court}} and {{SS|Llandilo}} in the South Atlantic, then {{SS|Benlomond}} off the Brazilian coast then sank the US {{SS|Alaskan}} off St Paul's Rocks, before refuelling for the voyage home.{{sfn|Woodman|2005|pp=524–526}}

File:Rochers Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul.png

On 8 October, after U-68 had sunk the Greek Koumoundouros and the Dutch Gaasterkerk, it sank the US tanker {{SS|Swiftsure}} and the British liner {{SS|Sarthe}}. On 9 October, the US ship {{SS|Examelia}} was sunk, followed by the emigré-manned {{SS|Belgian Fighter}}. On 29 October, short of fuel, U-68 began the journey home and on 6 November, about {{cvt|500|nmi}} south of Saint Helena sank {{SS|City of Cairo}} with the loss of 104 crew and passengers. The captain, Karl-Friedrich Merten, surfaced and gave the survivors a compass course for Saint Helena.{{sfn|Woodman|2005|p=523}}

U-504 commenced operations off Cape Town on 17 October then headed up the east coast of South Africa and sank {{SS|Empire of Chaucer}}. All but three of the crew of Empire of Chaucer survived, the captain and 11 men being rescued by Empire Squire, after 23 days fifteen men were rescued by SS Nebraska and another 14 landed at Bredasdorp in the Western Cape, after a two-week voyage. On 23 October, {{SS|City of Johannesburg}} was sunk off East London and on 26 October U-504 sank the US ship {{SS|Anne Hutchinson}}, followed on 31 October by the British {{SS|Empire Guidon}} east of Durban and {{SS|Reynolds}} off Madagascar. U-504 sank the Brazilian {{SS|Porto Alegre}} east of Port Elizabeth on its return voyage.{{sfn|Woodman|2005|p=528}}

File:LocationMadagascar.svg

U-178 sank the troopship {{SS|Duchess of Atholl}} (20,119 GRT) on the voyage to the south by U-178, that rounded the cape and began operations off Durban. After failing to catch a tanker and using two torpedoes to no effect at a freighter, the boat barely escaped an attack from an aircraft. On 1 November the boat attacked and sank what was thought to be {{SS|Laurentic}} (18,700 GRT) but was the British {{SS|Mendoza}} (8,200 GRT) in which 150 of the 400 people on board were killed. Ibbeken circumnavigated Madagascar, sinking the Norwegian {{SS|Hai Hing}} (2,600 GRT) and the 5,200 GRT British ship {{SS|Trekieve}} but serious engine trouble led to less success than anticipated.{{sfn|Blair|2000|p=78}}

U-177 and U-188 reached Cape Town at about the same time and on 2 November, U-177 attacked the Greek {{SS|Aegeus}} (4,500 GRT) with four torpedoes, missing with two, but the two that hit set off the cargo of ammunition and the ship exploded, showering the submarine with débris, injuring a lookout. On 3 November, U-181 sank the American {{SS|East Indian}} with two of four torpedoes, 34 of the crew of fifty being killed. For the next ten days the submarines searched off Cape Town, U-177 attacking the US 2,600 GRT freighter {{SS|Cerion}} after a five-hour chase and missing with five torpedoes. U-177 surfaced and engaged the ship with its deck gun but the Americans fired back and escaped. U-181 sank {{SS|Plaudit}} (Panamanian 5,060 GRT) with three crew killed and 46 rescued on 8 November, the Norwegian vessel {{SS|K.G. Meldahl}} (3,799 GRT) on 10 November and the American {{SS|SS Excello}} (4969 GRT) on 13 November.{{sfn|Blair|2000|p=78}}

File:SAAF-Lockheed PV1 Ventura-001.jpg

U-179 had not been diverted to Convoy SL 119 and on the afternoon of 8 October, while {{cvt|60|nmi}} south of Cape Town, dived to avoid a Ventura maritime reconnaissance bomber of the South African Air Force (SAAF). Before night fell {{SS|City of Athens}} was torpedoed then U-179 dived to {{cvt|80|m}} after seeing another aircraft. The crew of the freighter managed to launch all six lifeboats, that were spotted by another Ventura. Many other ships were under attack and sending distress calls but Active was diverted to rescue the survivors and took on board the crew, less one man, by {{nowrap|11:30 a.m.}} The destroyer got a radar contact {{cvt|2500|yd}} to the south-east, followed by an Asdic contact then a sighting. Active accelerated to {{cvt|25|kn}}, opened fire and then dropped depth-charges that brought the U-boat to the surface, after which it sank out of view. No wreckage was found but a large oil slick formed.{{sfn|Woodman|2005|pp=522–523}}

{{lang|it|Ammiraglio Cagni}} sank the Greek ship {{SS|Argo}} (2,000 GRT) on 29 November but a greater ASW effort being made off the Cape of Good Hope led the commander, Carlo Liannazza, to sail for home, refuelling near the equator from U-459 and returning to BETASOM (Bordeaux).{{sfn|Blair|2000|p=80}}

In 2000, Clay Blair called the {{lang|de|gruppe Eisbär}} operation one of the most successful U-boat efforts of the war. Four Type IX boats sank 23 ships (155,335 GRT) off Cape Town and Durban along with eleven ships (60,829 GRT) in transit to and from the cape for a total of 34 ships (216,164 GRT), an average of 8.5 ships (54,041 GRT) per boat, a greater monthly success than the best month of attacks off the US coast. The U-cruisers that operated off Cape Town and Durban sank 27 ships of 161,407 GRT, an average of 6.75 ships per U-boat (40,350 GRT). The ship sunk by {{lang|it|Ammiraglio Cagni}} raised the total to 28 ships and 163,400 GRT.{{sfn|Blair|2000|pp=80, 77}}

In 2000, Werner Rahn, a German military historian and one of the authors of Germany and the Second World War (1979 to 2008) wrote that though the British had discovered the southward movement of the boats and had taken such defensive measures as they could, like rerouting, the U-boats sank 15 ships (108,070 GRT) in five days from7 October. By November 156,235 GRT had been sunk, 28 per cent of all U-boat sinkings in October. The U-boats began their return journeys from the South Atlantic in early November. {{lang|de|Gruppe Eisbär}} was followed by a second wave of Type IXD2 U-cruisers, with a range of {{cvt|31000|nmi}} at {{cvt|10|kn}} obviating the need to refuel and take on supplies. The U-cruisers sailed along the African coast into the Indian Ocean as far north as Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) and by mid-December 1942, had sunk 25 ships (134,780 GRT). BdU tried to keep a standing patrol in the area for the next few months but the introduction of convoy made it impossible to maintain the rate of sinkings. Rahn wrote that strategically, {{lang|de|Gruppe Eisbär}} and the U-cruisers were at least six months too late. The sinkings off Cape Town and in the Indian Ocean did little to obstruct the reinforcement of the British in Egypt and the offensive that followed the defence of El Alamein because the bulk of it has already arrived.{{sfn|Rahn|2001|pp=387–388}}

In 2005, Richard Woodman wrote that for the loss of U-179 the German long-range submarines exposed the vulnerability of British shipping which was necessarily dispersed all over the globe. The sinking of U-179 was the only result of the anti-submarine warfare effort made in the region because the U-boats did not follow {{lang|de|Rudeltaktik}} (wolfpack tactics) but operated individually.{{sfn|Woodman|2005|pp=528, 523}}

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|20em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Beesly |first=Patrick |title=Very Special Intelligence: The Story of the Admiralty's Operational Intelligence Centre 1939–1945 |year=2015 |orig-year=1977 |publisher=Hamish Hamilton |location=London |edition=ePUB, Frontline Books (Pen & Sword) Barnsley |isbn=978-1-78-438156-1}}
• {{cite book |last=Behrens |first=C. B. A. |author-link=Betty Behrens |editor-last=Hancock |editor-first=K. |editor-link=Keith Hancock (historian) |series=History of the Second World War United Kingdom Civil Series |title=Merchant Shipping and the Demands of War |year=1955 |publisher=HMSO |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/merchant-shipping-demands-of-war |url-access=registration |via=Archive Foundation |oclc=498039}}
• {{cite book |last=Blair |first=Clay |title=Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted 1942–1945 |year=2000 |orig-year=1999 |location=London |publisher=Cassell |isbn=0-304-35261-6}}
• {{cite book |last1=Boog |first1=H. |last2=Rahn |first2=W. |last3=Stumpf |first3=R. |last4=Wegner |first4=B. |translator-first1=Ewald |translator-last1=Osers |translator-last2=Brownjohn |translator-first2=John |translator-last3=Crampton |translator-first3=Patricia |translator-last4=Willmot |translator-first4=Louise |series=Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg (Germany and the Second World War) |title=Der globale Krieg: Die Ausweitung zum Weltkrieg und der Wechsel zur Initiative 1941 bis 1943 |volume=VI |trans-title=Widening of the Conflict into a World War and the Shift of the Initiative 1941–1943 |publisher=Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt for the Militärgeschichtlichen Forschungsamt |location=Stuttgart |year=2001 |orig-year=1990 |edition=eng. trans. Cambridge University Press, London |isbn=0-19-822888-0}}
• {{harvc |last=Rahn |first=W. |c=The War at Sea in the Atlantic and in the Arctic Ocean Part III The Conduct of the War in the Atlantic and the Coastal Area 1. The U-boat War (d) The Fifth Phase, August 1942 – May 1943: Climax and Collapse of the U-boat War |pages=379–388 |year=2001 |in1=Boog |in2=Rahn |in3=Stumpf |in4=Wegner}}
• {{cite web |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |title=WWII U-boat Successes: Ships hit by U-181 |year=2025 |website=U-boat.net |url=https://uboat.net/boats/successes/u181.html |access-date=7 January 2025}}
• {{cite book |last=Jordan |first=Roger W. |title=The World's Merchant Fleets 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships |year=2006 |orig-year=1999 |publisher=Chatham/Lionel Leventhal |location=London |edition=2nd |isbn=978-1-86176-293-1}}
• {{cite book |last=Niestlé |first=Axel |title=German U-Boat Losses During World War II: Details of Destruction |year=2014 |location=Barnsley |publisher=Frontline Books |isbn=978-1-84832-210-3}}
• {{cite book |last=Roskill |first=S. W. |author-link=Stephen Roskill |series=History of the Second World War: The War at Sea 1939–1945 |title=The Period of Balance |volume=II |publisher=HMSO |location=London |year=1956 |edition=3rd impr. |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-RN-II/index.html |oclc=174453986}}
• {{cite book |first1=Jürgen |last1=Rohwer |first2=Gerhard |last2=Hümmelchen |title=Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two |year=2005 |orig-year=1972 |publisher=Chatham |location=London |edition=3rd rev. |isbn=978-1-86176-257-3}}
• {{cite book |last=Woodman |first=Richard |title=The Real Cruel Sea: The Merchant Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic 1939–1943 |year=2005 |orig-year=2004 |publisher=John Murray |location=London |isbn=0-7195-6599-5}}

{{refend}}

• {{cite book |last=Blair |first=Clay |title=Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters 1939–1942 |year=1997 |orig-year=1996 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |location=London |isbn=0-297-84076-2}}
• {{cite book |last=Hague |first=Arnold |year=2000 |title=The Allied Convoy System, 1939–1945: Its Organization, Defence and Operation |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, MD |isbn=978-1-55750-019-9}}
• {{cite book |last=Sharpe |first=Peter |title=U-Boat Fact File: Detailed Service Histories of the Submarines Operated by the Kriegsmarine 1935–1945 |year=1998 |publisher=Midland Publishing |location=Great Britain |isbn=1-85780-072-9}}
• {{cite book |last=Stephenson |first=Charles |title=The Eastern Fleet and the Indian Ocean 1942–1944: The Fleet that had to Hide |chapter=Chapter 9 In the Belly of Death |pages=141–149 |year=2020 |publisher=Pen & Sword Maritime |location=Barnsley |isbn=978-1-526783-62-2}}

• [http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/sl2/index.html Convoy SL.119 convoy.web]

{{Uboat}}

{{World War II}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisbar}}

Category:Wolfpacks of 1942

Category:Naval battles and operations of World War II involving the United Kingdom

Category:1942 in South Africa

Category:Naval battles of World War II involving Germany

Category:Conflicts in 1942