Kriegsfischkutter Rückzug der 15. deutschen Armee Scheldemündung 1944

[Arjan]

You are absolutely right Urs great work ! it is definitely the King Christian x Bridge built in the late twenties of the previous century I think. I found a Danish clip of its inauguration. A screenshot from almost the same camera angle :





Clip of the inauguration of this bridge :

https://www.denmarkpaafilm.dk/klip/kong-christian-xs-bro-indvies

I think this means that KFK 55 was sent to the Baltic Sea at some point in 1944 but later returned to the North Sea ? Or perhaps KFK 55 was built in the Baltic Sea region (Denmark or Germany). I don't know at what date the 8.6cm RAG (two of which can be seen in pics of KFK55) became a standard fitting but I assume that was at some time in 1944.

By the way, a Danish article about a KFK wreck in the Baltic Sea :

https://www.seawarmuseum.dk/Ny-Viden--Artikler/S%C3%B8krigen-under-WW2/Kriegs-Fischkutter-KFK--jagten-p%C3%A5-en-identitet


Gruss,

Arjan

[Arjan]

This Polish site has some interesting info on the fate of KFK 52 M3662 which I can support by a more elaborate account from a book I have about the liberation of my home region East Zeeuws-Vlaanderen.

https://www.naszbaltyk.com/sylwetki-statkow/2688-wykaz-polskich-kutrow-4-superkutry-typu-kfk

A translation in Dutch of the excerpt that deals with KFK 52 :

1) M 3662 (KFK 52?) , opgeleverd 24.06.1943
St. Pieter in Hemixen bij Antwerpen (bezet Nederland), opgeleverd 24.06.1943
Kenmerken in 1943: waterverplaatsing 110t; 24.00(totaal)/20.57(lw)×6.40×2.75m; 1 dieselmotor, 220 pk; 9w; 1×37-kanon, 4×20-kanon; bemanning 18 man.
24.06.1943: opgeleverd als M 3662 (KFK 52?) , Duitse vlag,
                ingedeeld bij Marine Gruppen Kommando "West"
19.09.1944: aan de grond gelopen in de buurt van Terneuzen in Nederland, verlaten door de bemanning.
20.IX.1944: M 3662 (Pools leger)
                veroverd in de omgeving van Terneuzen in Nederland door soldaten van het 10e Regiment Bereden Schutters van de 1e Pantserdivisie.
†21.IX.1944: in de omgeving van Terneuzen vernietigd door Duits veldartillerievuur.
OPMERKING: De nummertoewijzing van het KFK-voertuig wordt verondersteld.

Lebenslauf from HMA :

- 24.06.1943 - 36.Minensuchflottille: M 3662 [G]
- 03.09.1944 - Flottille verlegt nach und nach in die Ostsee [3]
- 04.09.1944 - Gruppe D (Oblt.z.S. Feller) [3]
- 05.09.1944 - Übersetzverkehr auf der Schelde [3,259]
- 19.09.1944 - Verlust durch Artillerietreffer im Hafen Terneuzen [G]

KTB der 36. Minensuchflottille [2]

- 24.06.1943 - Übernahme in die Gruppe D (Lt.z.S. Feller) [2]

Account from the book "De maand der Bevrijding september-1944" :

On 20 September the 2nd Squadron of the Polish 10th Armoured Regiment had reached Ossenisse (east of Terneuzen) and they discovered a German patrol vessel that had been abandoned. Lieutenant Sachse and his driver Corporal Kwiecinski boarded the ship and informed their regiment. The ship wouldn't move because the diesel engine(s) didn't work. The ship was armed with 20mm guns, machine guns and mines (depth charges ?).The German flag was still flying at the mast. With the help of mechanics they managed to start the diesel engine and after enlisting a local Dutch fisherman they sailed to Terneuzen the next day. The Poles had also fabricated their own flag with the number 45  which was the code number on all the vehicles of 10th Armoured Regiment.

The only thing in this account that doesn't make sense is that they mention diesel engines (plural) whereas a KFK only had one engine. The destruction by artillery fire in Terneuzen is not mentioned in the book.

Edit: The account is a bit unclear perhaps also due to the fact that the Polish text was translated into Dutch but artillery fire from South-Beveland is mentioned and apparently it set the boat on fire but this was still on 20 September and it is mentioned that the next day (21 September) they sailed to Terneuzen. Apparently the flag the Poles had made was kept and it was nicknamed the pirate flag.

By the way, it is also mentioned that Polish tanks shelled three boats filled with German soldiers which had become stuck on a sand bank. The boats were fired at from a distance of 3 km.

Arjan

[Darius]

Hallo Arjan,

vielen Dank für den Hinweis auf die poln. 1. PzDiv.

Leider ist der Abschnitt "C - Unit Chronicles and War Diaries" bei https://pism.org.uk/online-document-catalogue/ aktuell nicht erreichbar ... bzw. habe jetzt gesehen, dass nach Umschalten auf "Polnisch" (Symbol oben links) zumindest Inhaltsverzeichnisse / Findbücher aber erreichbar sind.
Evtl. sind dort Scans der KTBs der beiteiligten Einheiten zu finden.
  Hier https://forum-marinearchiv.de/smf/index.php?msg=445024 hatte ich mal die Rolle C.72 gefunden gehabt

--> Suche mit "1st Armoured Division" liefert https://pism.org.uk/?s=1st+Armoured+Division, u.a.
C.72    War Diary of the 8th Rifle Battalion, 1st Armoured Division. 1.XII.1944 – 8.II.1945

Einige der Filmbeiträge aus dem Archiv sind auf dem YouTube-Kanal zu finden - habe hier zum gesuchten Sachverhalt nichts gefunden [... es gab aber einen interessanten Beifang - den poste ich dann wo anders im Forum].



Darius

[Arjan]

Much obliged Darius !  I have edited my previous post because I had omitted some details from the account in the Dutch book. Again I think some details may also have been lost due to the translation of the Polish texts into Dutch. Perhaps the plural form of "engine" is also due to a translation error.

Gruss,

Arjan

[Arjan]

The book "De maand der Bevrijding September 1944" that contained the account about the supposed capture of KFK 52 by the Poles was published in 1975 and I doubt if it was really about KFK 52 as the Polish website I mentioned earlier suggests.  For one thing the dates do not match and there is also the repeated mention of more than one ship engine. In another old book I have (""Vijf woelige jaren") a big captured German "Tankschiff" is mentioned that was brought into Terneuzen harbor by a Dutch fisherman under a Polish flag ....... I have not been able to find any evidence to support either of these claims. 

I'm more inclined to believe the account of KFK 52's fate in the quite recently published book (2022) "The army that got away. The 15.Armee in the summer of 1944". In this account the dates match those of the Lebenslauf of KFK 52 (HMA):

- 24.06.1943 - 36.Minensuchflottille: M 3662 [G]
- 03.09.1944 - Flottille verlegt nach und nach in die Ostsee [3]
- 04.09.1944 - Gruppe D (Oblt.z.S. Feller) [3]
- 05.09.1944 - Übersetzverkehr auf der Schelde [3,259]
- 19.09.1944 - Verlust durch Artillerietreffer im Hafen Terneuzen [G]


Apparently KFK 52 was sunk by artillery fire from the Polish 1st Motorized Artillery Regiment. More specifically by self propelled 25-pounders nicknamed Sextons :

THE POLISH ARMY IN THE NORMANDY CAMPAIGN, 1944. Image: IWM (MH 1410) IWM Non Commercial License

These Sextons had taken up positions north of Axel (my place of birth) on 19 September and had been shelling Terneuzen all night.

Apparently there were more mistakes in the original Polish reports/accounts. For instance it was claimed that Generalleutnant  Neumann of 712.Infanterie Division had been killed during the shelling of 4 barges stuck on a sand bank. This proved not to be the case, General Neumann was very much alive.

Arjan