Operation EXTERMINATE

Operation EXTERMINATE

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History

During night on 23/24 October 1944 at 21:15 German corvettes UJ 202 and UJ 208 (former Italian Gabbiano class corvettes, the RN Melpomene and RN Spingarda) discovered British torpedo boats waiting in ambush near northwest cape of Å krda island waiting for German convoy (LCT's F 522, F354, F 433, F 554, motor sailing boats Antionio and Toni) evacuating German troops from Zadar to Rijeka which appeared right in the middle starting a messy night battle which left 11 Germans dead and 34 wounded. German vessels with exception of F 433 which capsized and sunk near Dolin island suffered only minor damage. Germans claimed 8 British torpedo boats although this claim is exaggerated losses were sufficient to start work on operation Exterminate to sink the two troublesome corvettes.

On 1 November three British destroyers arrived at Ist island with two, Hunt class destroyers Wheatland and Avon Vale, tasked with carrying out operation. Lieutenant-Commander Morgan Giles, commander of British naval forces in east coast of Adriatic, was in charge of operation.

On the same day German commander of the Northern Dalmatia, Captain Weygold issued orders for operation Wikinger - evacuation of all remaining naval assets from Å ibenik. Plan was for German convoy to leave Å ibenik at 17:00 on 2 November in two groups - group A was made of same LCT's as in battle on 23/24 October, while group B was made of 2 assault and 10 engineer lading crafts. Escort arriving from Rijeka was to be provided by corvettes UJ 202 and UJ 208, minesweeper R 187, torpedo boats TA 20 and TA 21 and four motor torpedo boats from 3rd flotilla also divided into two groups.

German plan had to be postponed for 24 hours to carry out necessary preparations. Refueling complications forced TA 20 to be late and TA 21 was left in port, this left escort group weakened and divided into three smaller groups with corvettes in front followed by R 187 and TA 20 last.

British destroyers which were landing reconnaissance group on Pag island received reports from torpedo boats of approaching German corvettes and immediately moved southwest from Pag and after ten minutes engaged enemy ships some 10 nautical miles west of Novalja.

At 20:15 Germans detected radio signals and launched flares but quickly succumbed to overwhelming fire power. Around 20:50 UJ 2020 capsized and sunk while UJ 208 was in flames and exploded at 21:43. R 187 noticed combat and managed to withdraw safely while TA 20 arriving at 21:55 attempted to engage but by 22:30 it was also sunk. R 187 managed to link up with convoy from Å ibenik and escort it safely to Rab island.

Order of Battle

Axis Order of Battle

Aftermath

With loss of major naval units German navy was no longer in power to oppose growing strength of Yugoslav Partisan Navy.

References

Jovan VasiljeviÄ‡: ObraÄun na Jadranu

Todor RadoÅ¡eviÄ‡: Ofanziva za osloboÄ‘enje Dalmacije