War in the Kattegat 1939-1945.
A article in seven parts.
Part 3: 1941
As for the war in the Kattegat, this year was relative calm. Otherwise, in 1941, the Allies began deploying larger four-engine bombers with greater range and higher bombing capacity than before. Following pressure from the German and British sides, Sweden allowed foreign planes to pass over Swedish territory without being fired upon.
On January 18, the German transport ship Godfried Bueren sank after striking a mine south of Läsö. On May 18, the German battleship Bismarck left Germany on its first mission. The aim was to sink Allied ships in the Atlantic together with Prinz Eugen.
On May 20, they passed together with the destroyers Z-10, Z-16 and Z-23 north through the Kattegat, where the Swedish ship HMS Gotland spotted them outside Vinga and announced what they had seen to the Swedish military command in Stockholm. The message was intercepted by the British, who took up the hunt for Bismarck, which was sunk just over a week later, on 27 May.
HMS Gotland.
On September 19, the fishing vessel Bunte Kuh sank after striking a mine placed by British aircraft.
On December 7, the German ship Bahia ran aground off Varberg. The ship was repaired but torpedoed in April 1944 by a British submarine and sank.
The German ship Bahia.
