U-Boote en Méditerranée. Tome II

With the Allies having taken over the whole of North Africa in May 1943, the U-Boats' mission in the Mediterranean changed. From now on, they had to protect 'Fortress Europe' against future Allied landings. Five submarines left against the Allied landing in Sicily in July 1943, which was not stopped. In the Toulon and Pola arsenals, the submarines received a new double platform at the rear of the kiosk to increase their anti-aircraft armament with 8 x 20 mm guns. In September 1943, six experienced commanders set sail to try to stop the Allied landing at Salerno, with some success. The use of acoustic torpedoes from November onwards also enabled them to sink more enemy warships. In December, the construction of a submarine base in Marseille was stopped by a massive bombardment... At the beginning of 1944, the submarines of the Grande Bleue fight against the ships supplying the allied bridgehead of Anzio, a 17th "Mediterranean" Knight's Cross is awarded. On 16 May 1944, a 62nd U-Boat passes the Strait of Gibraltar again, it will be the last reinforcement... The submersibles, uncovered in Toulon harbour waiting for a schnorchel, were progressively put out of service by American bombings... Only one of them left Toulon to face the allied armada gathered for the landing in Provence on August 15th. Three U-Boats, equipped with the schnorchel and sheltered in the Eastern Mediterranean, still survive until September 1944...