Operation Kiebitz

Operation Kiebitz
Part of theAmerican TheaterofWorld War II
HMCSRimouski,seen here between 1944 and 1945, was theflagshipin the operation that foiled the German escape attempt.
Location	Canada
Target	Camp 30,Bowmanville,Ontario
Date	September 1943
Executed by	Nazi Germany
Outcome	Failed

Operation Kiebitzwas a failed German operation duringWorld War IIto organize the escape of four skilledU-boatcommanders from a Canadianprisoner of warcamp inBowmanville,Ontario.The subsequent counter operation by theRoyal Canadian Navy,OperationPointe Maisonnette,became a key engagement in theBattle of the St. Lawrenceand was also successful in thwarting the Germans' plan.

Prisoner escape plan

The plan was developed by theKriegsmarinein 1942 and was to be executed in September 1943. Horst Elfe,captainofU-93;Hans Ey, captain ofU-433;Otto Kretschmer,captain ofU-99;and Hans Joachim Knebel-Döberitz,executive officerofU-99,would escape fromCamp 30in Bowmanville and make their way 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) through eastern Canada to northernNew Brunswick,where they would rendezvous with a U-boat offPointe de MaisonnetteonChaleur Bay.Knebel-Döberitz was the formeradjutantof AdmiralKarl Dönitzand, along with Kretschmer, was thought to be the primary reason behind this risky operation. Had it been successful, it would have been sensationalpropagandamaterial for the German war machine.

Coded messages were sent by mail through theInternational Committee of the Red Crossto the German prisoners at Camp 30 in Bowmanville, east ofToronto.These messages were intercepted by Canadian military intelligence and Canadian police who were screening all prisoner communications. The Canadian authorities did not tip off the prisoners that their plans were detected as the Royal Canadian Navy was hoping to get a rare chance to seize a German U-boat in Canadian waters, a feat that would have been an intelligence coup for theAlliednavies.

Tunnelling

The military,Royal Canadian Mounted Police( "Mounties" ) and camp guards monitored the German prisoners as they began to secretly dig several tunnels, at least one of which would eventually lead outside the camp boundaries. The tunnellers also created a crude railway that could haul the soil out of the tunnel, allowing the work to proceed more quickly and efficiently. At one point the excavated dirt from one of the tunnels collapsed part of the ceiling in a camp building where it was being hidden. The camp guards, aware of the ruse, did not stop the project.

As the date of the escape attempt drew closer, the Mounties and military guards moved in and seized the prisoners as they sought to implement their plan and collapsed the tunnel. In desperation, one of theKriegsmarineofficers,Wolfgang Heyda,captain ofU-434,managed to escape over the camp walls using a crude zip-wire on electrical cables. Heyda eluded search parties and the massive police response and somehow made his way onCanadian National Railwayspassenger trains from southern Ontario to Pointe de Maisonnette. Heyda arrived at the location at the appointed time only to be arrested by Mounties and naval personnel, who were waiting to co-ordinate a surface task force that would attempt to attack and/or seize the U-boat.

OperationPointe Maisonnette

In order to capture the U-boat, the Royal Canadian Navy and theCanadian Armyestablished a portable surfaceradararray on shore at thePointe de Maisonnette (New Brunswick)lighthouse, which would be used to locate the submarine by a task force of several warships centred onHMCSRimouski.Rimouskiwas outfitted with an experimental diffuse lighting system that was considered revolutionary at the time. She and the rest of the task group, under the command ofDesmond Piers,were hidden nearby to wait for the German submarine.

U-536,which had been tasked with picking up the escaping naval officers, arrived off Pointe de Maisonnette at the appointed time on the night of September 26, 1943. The Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Army personnel on shore signaled with a light that the escapees were to have used. However the U-boat commander was suspicious, particularly after his hydrophones picked up the sound of the Canadian task group nearby. He opted to remain submerged and began to evade the Canadian warships, which searched throughout the night and attempted unsuccessfully to attackU-536withdepth charges.

Despite evading the Canadians' trap in Chaleur Bay that September,U-536was sunk the following month northeast of theAzoresby one British and two Canadian warships, claiming 38 lives.

In fiction

The events of Operation Kiebitz inspired theSidney ShelleyPOW novelThe Bowmanville Breakin 1968. A 1970 film adaptation of the book titledThe McKenzie Breakmoves the string from Canada toScotland.The film features the escape of approximately thirty U-boat men (who murder several of their fellow prisoners to facilitate the escape), and all but the leader and a few others successfully make it to the waiting submarine before it is forced to flee due to the presence of an Allied torpedo boat. In the book, Operation Kiebitz (which is referred to by name) is meant to liberate thirty German submariners rather than four, but their tunnel prematurely collapses, so only three men make it to the rendezvous point. The escape of the empty-handedU-536is included, but a second submarine is also present in the book, and battles with the Allied ships and planes while theU-536escapes. The antagonist of the story and leader of the escape is based on Kretschmer, which is especially notable in the book. In both versions, the escape is being done less for propaganda reasons and more to give the Nazis experienced submarine crewmen for the losing war effort. In the book, it is hoped that their contributions might help Germany sue for peace on better terms, while in the film, the plan's leader seems to arrogantly believe that they can change the scope of the war.

See also

• Great Papago Escape

References

• "Operation KIEBITZ and Operation POINTE MAISONNETTE".Reference page at the Quebec Maritime Museum.Archived fromthe originalon 2008-01-08.Retrieved2008-06-08.
• Greenfield, Nathan M (2004).The battle of the St. Lawrence: the Second World War in Canada.Toronto: HarperCollins. p. 286.ISBN9780002006644.
• Hodgson, Lynn Philip (2004).Bowmanville - Camp 30 - Word of Honour.

External links

• OPERATION KIEBITZ