First wave of auxiliary German raiders

First wave of auxiliary German raiders

[Diagram by types of ship][Diagram by Task Groups]

Start: Sunday March 31, 1940

Ending: Saturday November 22, 1941

First wave of raiders, sent by Germany against the allied shipping. The first to leave is the Atlantis on March 31, 1940 in the middle of the phoney war. The Komet is the last to go on July 9th. The ships operated upon all oceans of the globe: the Atlantic (mainly Central and South Atlantic), the Indian Ocean, the Pacific and evant the Antarctic. Outside the Widder, forced to come back after only five months, because of technical problems, the others would continue to operate well beyond the end of the year 1940.
The first to go was also the last to come back, or better said, not to come back. At at time when her companions had long returned to port, the Atlantis was sunk in the South Atlantic on November 22, 1941. Her complement spend more than a month before reaching back France in submarines.

Place: North Atlantic

Type: Raider operation

	Allies	Germany
Forces	Victors against German raiders. Victims of the "Atlantis". Victims of the "Orion" (two more were sunk with the "Komet"). Victims of the "Widder". Victims of the "Komet". Two of the victims must be shared with the "Orion". Victims of the "Thor" during her first journey. Victims of the "Pinguin". The total is bloated by the 14 whale catchers, that were taken in two days. Four ships were sunk by her mines.	Raiders: 6 auxiliary cruisers.
Losses	1 auxiliary cruiser, 94 merchant ships, 540 189 tons lost. 2 auxiliary cruisers damaged.	2 auxiliary cruisers lost.

Webmaster's question(s) and remark(s): I am not sure to have fully reconcilied the ships listed and their tonnage.

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