This month, VINCENT shifts his focus to the midget submarines and he tells us that K-Flottille 261 consisted on 20 BIBER one-man submarines and the Flottille was commanded by Korvettenkapitän Hans Bartels. The Flottille arrived in Fecamp, Belgium on 28 August 1944.

Over the night of 29/20 August, 18 BIEBER sailed on a mission and all 18 returned safely. While they claimed one LIBERTY ship and a landing craft were sunk, there was no confirmation and there was no official Allied report of such an attack.

31 August – K-Flottille 261 was forced to abandon Fecamp, and they destroyed most of their boats and abandoned. The few remaining boats were taken away were later destroyed in a night battle with an Allied armored column. This was end of K-Verband actions in the Normandy area.

Advanced base was prepared at Poortershaven and Hellevoetsiuis at the head of the Waal/Maas estuary. Rotterdam was the main base and had 30 BIBER and 30 MOLCH were assigned there. Another 60 MOLCH and 30 BIBER were sent to Assens from Heligoland and Groningen. Another 60 arrived in January 1945. Over the night of 22/23 December 1944, 18 BIBER sortied from Poortershaven and Hellevoetsiuis. The group was jumped by MTB boats from the Royal Navy and four were sunk immediately, one struck a mine and one returned damaged. The other twelve were never heard from again. They did manage to sink the 4,700 ton ship ALAN A. DALE.

On the night of 23/24 December 1944, 11 BIBER sortied on their mission – none were seen again.

On the night of Christmas Eve 24/25 December 1944, 3 BIBER sortied on missions – none were seen again.

By the end of 1944, 31 BIBER were lost and only one merchant ship was sunk. The Allies only claimed 8 of the BIBER boats that went missing. It is probable that the others foundered and sank. 27 December 1944 – 14 BIBER were preparing to sortie on their mission when two torpedoes were accidentally fired in the lock. 11 BIBER were destroyed but the remaining 3 departed on their mission – none returned. BIBER #90 however, was found adrift by HMS READY off the North Foreland two days later. The operator was dead at the controls.

HMS READY attempted to tow the boat to Dover, but the weather went sour and the BIBER sank. A week and a half later, the BIBER was recovered and an autopsy was done on the operator and it was learned that he died from – carbon monoxide poisoning! His own BIBER had killed him.

By the end of 1944, only 20 BIBER remained at Rotterdam.

On the night of 29/20 January 1945, 15 BIBER sortied from base:

• One sank after colliding with ice floes,
• Five returned with ice damage,
• One was found beached after looking for targets from 64 hours at sea,
• Five did not return.

On a mission on 3 February 1945, both Flotillas of MOLCH and BIBER were attacked by air forces. No BIBER were hit but the damage to the installations was so badly damaged that operations in February were suspended.

In January, there were only 15 sorties with 10 units lost. February was no better as they had 14 sorties and 6 units were lost. They did not manage to sink any shipping during those months.

On 6 March 1945, there was another torpedo accident in port at Hellevoetsiuis that destroyed 14 BIBER and damaged 9 others.

6 March 1945 – 11 BIBER sortied, none returned. Their fates:

• One was captured by a British minelayer off Breskens,
• Four were found abandoned along the coasts at Knocke, North Breveland, Domberg and Zeebrugge,
• One was sunk by gunfire 8 March off Westkapelle,
• Five merely disappeared.

Over the night of 11/12 March 1945, 15 BIBER and 14 MOLCH sortied. Here are their fates:

• 13 BIBER did not return,
• 9 MOLCH did not return,
• 2 units were sunk by RAF on 11 March off Schouwen,
• 4 units were by minelayers off Westkapelle,
• 4 units sunk by shore batteries on 12 March off Flushing and Breskens,
• 1 was sunk by a SPITFIRE on 12 March off Walcheren,
• 1 was sunk by HMS RETALICK early hours of 13 March

On the night of 23/24 March 1945, 16 BIBER departed on patrol.

• Seven returned,
• 4 units were sunk by HMS RETALICK,
• 1 was abandoned on Schouwen,
• 1 was sunk by a BEAUFIGHTER of 254 Sqdn off Goree,
• No trace was found of the remaining three units.

In March of 1945, there were 56 sorties by BIBER and MOLCH. 42 units were lost and no Allied ships were sunk.

There will be more information on these K-Verband units in KTB #180 but it is already quite apparent that survival chances were extremely slim in these little submarines. Our friend GERRY RICHTER (214-LIFE-1986) drove a BIBER after being radio operator on U-81 when they sank the carrier HMS ARK ROYAL.