page_title: Axis naval activity in Australian waters
section_title: The German submarine offensive (September 1944 – January 1945)
hierarchical_section_title: Axis naval activity in Australian waters / 1944–1945 / The German submarine offensive (September 1944 – January 1945)
context_page_description: Although Australia was remote from the main battlefronts, there was considerable Axis naval activity in Australian waters during the Second World War. A total of 54 German and Japanese warships and submarines entered Australian waters between 1940 and 1945 and attacked ships, ports and other targets. Among the best-known attacks are the sinking of HMAS Sydney by a German raider in November 1941, the bombing of Darwin by Japanese naval aircraft in February 1942, and the Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour in May 1942. In addition, many Allied merchant ships were damaged or sunk off the Australian coast by submarines and mines. Japanese submarines also shelled several Australian ports and submarine-based aircraft flew over several Australian capital cities.
  The Axis threat to Australia developed gradually and until 1942 was limited to sporadic attacks by German armed merchantmen. The level of Axis naval activity peaked in the first half of 1942 when Japanese submarines conducted anti-shipping patrols off Australia's coast, and Japanese naval aviation attacked several towns in northern Australia.
context_section_description: On 14 September 1944, the commander of the Kriegsmarine—Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) Karl Dönitz—approved a proposal to send two Type IXD U-Boats into Australian waters with the objective of tying down Allied anti-submarine assets in a secondary theatre. The U-Boats involved were drawn from the Monsun Gruppe ("Monsoon Group"), and the two selected for this operation were German submarine U-168 and German submarine U-862. An additional submarine—U-537—was added to this force at the end of September.
  Due to the difficulty of maintaining German submarines in Japanese bases, the German force was not ready to depart from its bases in Penang and Batavia (Jakarta) until early October. By this time, the Allies had intercepted and decoded German and Japanese messages describing the operation and were able to vector Allied submarines onto the German boats. The Dutch submarine Zwaardvisch sank U-168 on 6 October near Surabaya and the American submarine USS Flounder sank U-537 on 10 November near the northern end of the Lombok Strait. Due to the priority accorded to the Australian operation, U-196 was ordered to replace U-168. However, U-196 disappeared in the Sunda Strait some time after departing from Penang on 30 November. The cause of U-196's loss is unknown, though it was probably due to an accident or mechanical fault.
  The only surviving submarine of the force assigned to attack Australia—U-862, under Korvettenkapitän Heinrich Timm had left Kiel in May 1944 and reached Penang on 9 September, sinking five merchantmen on the way. She departed Batavia on 18 November 1944, and arrived off the south west tip of Western Australia on 26 November. The submarine had great difficulty finding targets as the Australian naval authorities, warned of U-862's approach, had directed shipping away from the routes normally used. U-862 unsuccessfully attacked the Greek freighter Ilissos off the South Australian coast on 9 December, with bad weather spoiling both the attack and subsequent Australian efforts to locate the submarine.
  Following her attack on Ilissos, U-862 continued east along the Australian coastline, becoming the only German submarine to operate in the Pacific Ocean during the Second World War. After entering the Pacific U-862 scored her first success on this patrol when she attacked the U.S.-registered Liberty ship Robert J. Walker off the South Coast of New South Wales on 24 December 1944. The ship sank the following day. Following this attack, U-862 evaded an intensive search by Australian aircraft and warships and departed for New Zealand.
  As U-862 did not find any worthwhile targets off New Zealand, the submarine's commander planned to return to Australian waters in January 1945 and operate to the north of Sydney. U-862 was ordered to break off her mission in mid-January, however, and return to Jakarta. On her return voyage, the submarine sank another U.S. Liberty ship—Peter Silvester—approximately 820 nmi (940 mi; 1,520 km) southwest of Fremantle on 6 February 1945. Peter Silvester was the last Allied ship to be sunk by the Axis in the Indian Ocean during the war. U-862 arrived in Jakarta in mid February 1945 and is the only Axis ship known to have operated in Australian waters during 1945. Following Germany's surrender, U-862 became the Japanese submarine I-502 but was not used operationally.
  While Allied naval authorities were aware of the approach of the German strike force and were successful in sinking two of the four submarines dispatched, efforts to locate and sink U-862 once she reached Australian waters were continually hampered by a lack of suitable ships and aircraft and a lack of personnel trained and experienced in anti-submarine warfare. As the southern coast of Australia was thousands of kilometres behind the active combat front in South-East Asia and had not been raided for several years, it should not be considered surprising that few anti-submarine assets were available in this area in late 1944 and early 1945.
caption: Two Type IX submarines similar to those dispatched to operate against Australia
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