World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseM1 was of the 1935 sub-class of the M-class minesweepers of the German Navy. She was commissioned into service in Sep 1938. During the preparations for the invasion of Poland, she ferried 230 naval infantrymen of the German Navy Marinestosstruppkompanie to battleship Schleswig-Holstein, and she was involved in the campaign once the war began. After the end of the Poland campaign, she was relocated to the North Sea. In Feb 1940, she rammed and sank four Danish fishing trawlers; even though some survived the sinking initially, commanding officer Oberleutnant zur See Hans Bartels did not pick up any survivors, thus all of them would eventually be lost. Bartels later reported his suspicion that these fishermen were reporting German movements to the British while flying the flag of a neutral nation. Between Apr 1940 and Mar 1941, Albrecht Brandi was the commanding officer of the ship, followed by Leutnant zur See Dornberger. After the Germans tore up their non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, M1 was a part of the naval component of Operation Siegfried, the occupation of the islands Hiiumaa (German: Dagö), Saaremaa (Ösel), and Muhu (German: Moon) of Estonia. Later in 1941, she operated in the Norwegian Sea and the North Sea, based in Norway. In Apr 1944, Eberhard Kühn took command of the ship. In Jan 1945, she was attacked and sank by Tallboy bombs dropped by Lancaster bombers of No. 9 and No. 617 Squadrons RAF in Nordbyfjord about 40 kilometers (about 20 miles) east of Bergen, Norway; 20 were killed in the sinking, and the wreck sank to the depth of 340 meters (1,120 feet).

Minesweeper M1 Interactive Map

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M1 Operational Timeline

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