Irish Airman's Burial Site Found in Northern Russia-- Part 1: Edmund Seymour Burke

From the Feb. 15, 2021 Irish Central "Discovery of  Irish airman lost at sea during the Second World War" by Shane O'Brien.

When Irish fighter pilot Edmund Seymour Burke's plane  went down near Norway, his family had no idea what happened to him.  They knew that he had died, but nothing beyond that.

His plane was based on the aircraft carrier HMS Furious and he helped protect ships bound for Russia from German attack.  The Germans had also established naval bases in several nearby Norwegian fjords which made any effort to rescue Burke and his leading airman James Beardsley too dangerous when their plane went down on July 30, 1941.

The two men were seen getting into a dingy, but the Furious had to leave  because of the presence of German planes and submarines in the vicinity.

That was the last anyone knew of them.

--GreGen

HMS Venturer (P68)-- Part 3: The Battle Is Joined

The HMS Venturer was sent to Norway on the basis of Enigma decrypts, to seek, intercept and destroy the U-864  which was in the area.

It was carrying 65 tons of mercury as well as Junkers Jumo 004B jet engine parts (used in the Messerschmidt ME 262 jets) to Japan in a mission code-named Operation Caesar to prop up Japan's faltering war effort.

The two submarines met in February 1945.

On February 9, the U-boat's engine noise was heard by the Venturer, which spotted its periscope.  What transpired after that was an unusually long engagement for a submarine and one in which neither crew had been trained.  The Venturer's commander, Lt. J.S. Launders waited 45 minutes from that contact before going to action stations.

He was waiting for the U-864 to surface and present an easier target.  Upon realizing that they were being followed by a British submarine and that its escort ship wasn't going to come, the U-864 started zig-zagging underwater in evasive measures.  The Venturer also dove.  The cat-and-mouse continued for awhile,  with both subs occasionally raising their periscopes to check out what the other one was doing.

--GreGen

HMS Venturer (P68)-- Part 2: Sank Two U-boats

The HMS Venturer was the lead ship of the "V" Class of submarines.  She was built at the Vickers-Armstrong Yard in Barrow-in-Furness.  Construction commenced  in August 1942 and launching was 8 months later, May  18943.  She was commissioned  19 August 1943.

At duty station off Norway, she kept watch on coastal traffic and U-boats entering and leaving their base.

She also sank the German U-771 on November 11, 1944.

But, her most famous voyage was her 11th, out of the British submarine base at Lerwick in the Shetland Islands, under the command of 25-year-old Jimmy Launders.

This was the first time in the history of naval warfare that  one submarine intentionally sank another submarine while both were submerged.

--GreGen

HMS Undaunted at Normandy

From the D-Day Overlord site.

The HMS Undaunted had only been in British service for just over three months at D-Day.

Its first action was escorting a convoy to destroy the German battleship Tirpitz in Norway.

In May 1944, it joined Bombardment Force K, which became part of Bombarding Force G  as part of Operation Overlord.  It escorted convoys across the English Channel on the night of 5 June 1944,heading for Gold Beach.  On D-Day it participated in fire support of English troops.

On June 7, the Undaunted embarked General Eisenhower, Admiral Ramsay and part of Overlord's staff to Portsmouth.  It then patrolled  on the Bay of the Seine and across the English Channel while occasionally pursuing its mission fire to the benefit of land forces.

--GreGen

Hans-Gunther Lange's U-711

From Wikipedia.

Some more on the death of Hans-Gunther Lange back in April 2014 which I wrote about earlier today.

Laid down in Hamburg, Germany on 31 July 1941.  Type VIIC U-boat.  Launched 25 June 1942.  Commissioned 26 September 1942.  Went on 12 war patrols and sank one ship, one warship and damaged another warship.  Hans-Gunther Lange commanded the ship its whole career.

The U-711 sank the HMS Bluebelle on 17 February 1945 for its biggest victory.

Sunk May 4, 1945 in Arctic Ocean  near Harstad, Norway, by aerial bombs from British escort carriers HMS Searcher, Trumpeter and Queen.  There were 40 deaths and 12 survivors.

  On the day it was sunk, the U-711 had been damaged earlier during an attack by Avenger aircraft from the escort carriers in Operation Judgement which was aimed at sinking the German depot ships Black Watch and Senje.

Only a few hours before the attack, Lange had received orders from Germany for all U=boats to cease attacks on Allied shipping.  The 40 crew members who died that day had gone on board the Black watch and died when it was sunk.

--GreGen

The Paperclip Becomes a WW II Symbol

From Gizmodo "How the Humble Paperclip Became a Secret World War II Symbol."

In April 1940, Germany invaded Norway and soon occupied it. By 1945, some 400,000 German troops were stationed there.

In Autumn 1940 students at Oslo University began wearing paperclips on their lapels as a non-violent symbol of resistance. Eventually, paperclip jewelry became popular.

Why was the paperclip chosen? Some say it is to exhibit the binding together of the resistnce. Others believe that Johan Vaaler of Norway, the supposed inventor of the paperclip was the reason. The Germans eventually discovered the symbolism in the paperclips and wearing one became a criminal offense.

Mama Don't 'Low No Paperclips 'Round Here.  --GreGen