Rainer, et al:

The following is an excerpt from "Unknown Waters" by Alfred S. McLaren, Captain,
USN (Ret) published 2008:

"Interestingly enough, the only material in existence concerning submarine opera-
tions in Siberian waters was the Office of Naval Intelligence Review's 1951 four-
part series, "German U-boats in the Arctic." My officers and I had studied the material very closely to glean every conceivable lesson from the great number of
patrols the German submarine force had conducted in these waters during each summer and early fall of 1941 through 1944.

"As we surveyed the [Vilkitsky] Strait's eastern approaches at periscope depth throughout 11 August [1970] and into the early morning hours of 12 August, I
recounted to those on watch some of the hair-raising exploits of the brave German
submariners who had operated in these waters some twenty-five years earlier.
During an exceptionally mild-ice summer, three Type VIIC U-boats, U-302 (Sickel),
U-354 (Herbschleb), and U-711 (Lange) of Group Viking of the 13th U-boat Flotilla, based at Trondheim, Norway, on patrol in theKara Sea during late August
1943 trailed a Soviet convoy into the Vilkitsky Strait. U-301 and U-354 sub-
sequently sank one ship each of the small convoy. A month later,U-302, U-354, and U-601 (Grau) of this same group returned to patrol the western entrance of
these straits in hopes of intercepting another convoy. During the following
summer of a much less favorable ice year, three more Type VIIC U-boats of Group
Gryphon of the 13th Flotilla, U-711 (Lange), U-739 (Mangold), and U-957 (Schaar),
succeeded in reaching Cape Chelyuskin on 18 September 1944 while attempting to
reach an assembly point for Soviet coastal convoys at Nordwik Bight to the east
of Chelyuskin. Only heavy drift ice prevented them from going farther.

"Seasoned German Arctic U-boat veterans, including Hans-Gunther Lange of U-711, who made the longest uninterrupted patrol in the Kara and "West Siberian" seas
from 22 July to 30 September 1943, were a confident lot. They considered that
'a submarine is never helpless in the ice because it can submerge, proceed under
the ice. select an open area with the aid of its high-angle periscope, come to
the surface, recharge the battery with the diesels, and submerge again.' They also observed that 'the sea is always calm in the drift ice even if a gale is blowing' and that 'there are always clear lanes in the drift ice which permits
boats to proceed.' In spite of this, on 18 September 1943, U-957 (Schaar),
during the course of a submerged approach on the small convoy mentioned earlier,
'found she could hardly use her periscope and had to steer by bearings taken with
the sound detector.'

"Despite all caution, the German's attack periscope was bent by the drift ice. The U-boat continued with the aircraft periscope, however, and reached a position
for attacking, but missed one of the steamers. The torpedo detonated, probably
hitting the ice, after which the escort vessels started a wild chase in the ice,
in the course of which the second periscope was also bent. Completely blind, the
boat retreated submerged. By trimming down the stern, the captain cautiously
probed the underside of the ice with the bow from time to time. Eventually he
surfaced in the drift and pack ice and reached open water laced with drift ice near Russki Island off the western entrance to Vilkitsky Strait. The outer caps
of the bow torpedo tubes were buckled.

"Certainly the one lesson that stood out from the rest was how vulnerable a sub-
marine's periscopes and masts could be to even the slightest contact with ice.
Even the smallest, most innocent-looking fragment of ice could destroy a periscope and should be considered very dangerous."

Hope this helps,

ROBERT M.