Rossbach was a wolfpack of German U-boats that operated during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II. Seven of its 21 U-boats were sunk and another seven damaged, four of which were forced to return to base, before the wolfpack was disbanded.

Service history

Rossbach was formed in October 1943 to operate against the North Atlantic convoy routes and comprised 21 boats. It consisted of 12 boats from the disbanded group Leuthen, plus 9 others from bases in France and Germany. Whilst forming, several boats from Rossbach were detected and attacked by air patrols; 4 were sunk (GS U-221, GS U-279, GS U-389,and GS U-336) and another 4 were damaged (GS U-260, GS U-305, GS U-666 and GS U-731), forcing them to return to base. A further 3 were damaged, but were able to continue, while 2 more boats arrived from base as reinforcement. On 8/9 October 1943 Rossbach, attacked convoy SC 143. They sank one ship of and one warship but lost 3 boats (GS U-419, GS U-610 and GS U-643) in the engagement. Rossbach was disbanded following this attack; the remaining boats formed the core of a new group, codenamed Schlieffen.

U-boats involved

The name

Rossbach was a reference to the Battle of Rossbach fought by Frederick the Great during the Seven Years' War.