Operation Stonewall

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Operation Stonewall was an Allied naval and air operation in the Second World War from 26 to 27 December 1943, to intercept blockade-runners sailing to German-occupied France through the Bay of Biscay. Operations Barrier and Freecar, by the Allied navies and the Brazilian Air Force, had taken place in the south- and mid-Atlantic. The ships were tracked by OP-20-G (US Navy) and British (Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park) code-breakers, which decrypted Japanese machine cyphers and German Enigma machine transmissions to U-boats (Shark cypher) and blockade-runners (Sunfish cypher). At the west end of the Bay of Biscay, Royal Navy and Allied ships, with Coastal Command aircraft of Operation Stonewall hunted the blockade-runners, assisted by convoy Escort Groups and support groups diverted from nearby convoys. Osorno and Alsterufer were the first two blockade-runners of the late 1943 – early 1944 season. Osorno evaded interception and was escorted into the estuary of the Gironde by German destroyers and torpedo boats (small destroyers). On 27 December, Alsterufer was spotted by a fighter from an American escort carrier, then attacked by Australian, British and Canadian, Coastal Command, Sunderland flying boats but suffered little damage. At 4:07 p.m. Liberator GR Mk V "H" of 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron made a low-altitude attack on Alsterufer with rockets and bombs, setting the ship on fire. Alsterufer sank the next day and 74 survivors were rescued 48 hours later by Canadian corvettes. The German destroyers and torpedo boats that had escorted Osorno to port sailed to rendezvous with Alsterufer, the Germans being unaware of the bombing of the ship. Using Enigma decrypts of their positions, the German ships were bombed by US Liberators and then intercepted by the cruisers HMS Glasgow and Enterprise of Operation Stonewall. In the Battle of the Bay of Biscay one of...