The Attack on Aruba during World War II by GermanU-boats and Italiansubmarines occurred on February 16th, 1942. It resulted in the first Axis shelling of a coastal target in the Americas during the war and the disruption of vital Allied fuel production. Aruba and Curacao, are located roughly 17 miles (27km) north of Venezuela and are small islands home to the largest oil refineries in the world during the war against Nazi Germany.
Background
The Dutch island of Aruba along with it's close neighbor Curacao to the east were two major oil industry locations, as oil was desperately needed by the warring powers, conflict either to disrupt of capture the oil supply was inevitable. Both refineries on Aruba and Curacao were bombarded by German Navy submarines. In early 1942, several Axis underwater vessels patrolled the southern Caribbean with the objective of attacking allied convoys, though naturally the Axis ships engaged in actions of any sort that would hurt the Allies. U-156, a long range boat, entered from the south the waters off western Aruba on February 13th, 1942. She was under CommanderWerner Hartenstein who wanted a reconnaissance of the area before attacking the Lago Company oil tanks near Oranjestad. Hartenstein commanded the Neuland Gruppe, a wolfpack of five German U-boats and two Italian submarines.
Previously the commander had coordinated an attack on oil related targets in between Aruba and Maracaibo in order to disrupt the production of aircraft fuel. U-156 was assigned to attack the refineries while the six other boats attacked merchant ships wherever found. The other submarines were U-502, U-67, U-129 and U-161. Italian forces are unknown with the exception of their two submarines known to have been assigned to the pack. The six other boats patrolled the Gulf of Venezuela, to the southwest of Aruba, and other nearby waters for oil tankers. U-156 was armed with six torpedo tubes, one 105 mm deck gun, and a 37 mm deck gun.
Aruba in the Caribbean Sea.
Attack
On February 16th after observing the area for a few days, U-156 came around to the Lago refinery. There in front of her target were two Lago company flat bottom steamers, the SS Pedernales and the SS Oranjestad, both British owned oilers. At 1:31 am U-156 surfaced in San Nicolas Harbor one mile off shore and attacked the two British steamers at anchor. Commander Hartenstein ordered the firing of one torpedo from his bow tubes at the Pedernales. The torpedo attack was successful and Pedernales was a hit amidship. Loaded with crude oil, the steamer immediately burst into flames, killing eight of her twenty-six crewmen in the process and wounding her captain Herbert McCall. SS Oranjestad then began to lift anchor and steam away but she was too late and was hit by a second torpedo fired from U-156. She to burst into flames and an hour later, sunk at about 230 feet of water. Fifteen of her twenty-two crewmen were killed. At this time several Dutch sailors flocked to their small wooden patrol craft at harbor in order to get them away from the burning oil of the tankers.
At 3:13 am U-156 attacked the Texaco owned tanker SS Arkansas which was berthed at Eagle Piernex t to the Eagle Refinery. Just one of the torpedos struck the Arkansas but the damage was moderate and caused no casualties. Commander Hartenstein did not follow up the attack on SS Arkansas. Instead he steamed further around Aruba and directed his men to take up the deck guns and prepare for a naval bombardment of the large oil tank in view. The gunners did as ordered but the crew of the 105 mm was not thorough enough to remove the water cap from the gun's barrel so when Commander Hartenstein ordered fire, the 105 blew up in the faces of the two gunners. Gunnery Officer Dietrich von dem Borne was wounded badly, one foot having been severed. His comrade and trigger man Heinrich Büssinger was badly wounded as well and died several hours after the attack. The 105 mm deck gun was essentually spiked by it's own crew so Hartenstein ordered the 37 mm to continue in the attack.
A few shots were fired at the oil tank and at least one hit. The shell made a large dent in the tank but failed to puncture the metal or explode. The Dutch gunners at one of their batteries witnessed the flash of U-156's guns and they opened fire in that direction but hit nothing. Realizing the 37 mm was too small of caliber to be effective, Hartenstein ordered his crew to submerge U-156 and steam away from the refinery but remained in the area to hunt merchant ships. Meanwhile, the six other Axis boats patrolled the area in search of oil tankers. U-502 under Captain LieutenantJürgen von Rosenstiel made contact with at least three Allied vessels that day in the Gulf of Venezuela, two British oilers, SS Tia Juana and SS San Nicolas were sunk along with the Venezuelan steamer Monagas.
An American A-20G Havoc during World War II.
U-67, under Captain Gunther Muller Stockheim attacked two additional tankers off Curacao that morning. Captain Stockheim fired four torpedos from her bow at the tankers in Willemstad Harbor. All four failed to hit their targets or failed to explode. Stockheim tried again and fired two more torpedos from his stern at the Dutch Rafaela. One shot hit and heavily damaged the ship. U-67 then slipped away unbeknown to the German boat a United States Army Air CorpsA-20 Havoclight bomber was in pursuit. The aircraft dropped it's payload of both flares and explosives when over the surfaced U-boat but the bombs missed and U-67 submerged and got away. Smoke and the lack of sufficient light prevented the gunners from firing on U-156 off Aruba. The flames from burning steamers around Aruba were reportedly so large that they could be seen easily from Curacao.
The four other U-boats and submarines were apparently unsuccessful in engaging Allied ships that morning.
Aftermath
After the attack the Axis force steamed for Martinique where they offloaded their two casualties for medical treatment. A total of four allied ships were sunk accounting for 14,149 tons. The Pedernales, Arkansas and 'Rafaela survived the encounter, though damaged they were repaired and put back to transporting goods for the Allied war effort. During U-156's attack on Arkansas, one of the miss torpedos slid up Eagle Beach and did not explode. On February 17th, the following day, four Dutch Marines were killed when the torpedo detonated while they were examining it. At least forty-seven Allied sailors from the Pedernales, Oranjestad and Arkansas were killed, several more recieved wounds.
The Gulf of Venezuela, Aruba is located just northeast of the gulf.
The American Associated Press writer Herbert White was on the island during the attack along with an inspection party under Lieutenant GeneralFrank Andrews. Both men witnessed the attack and later General Andrews issued a statement about his inspection of the island. "Looking about for another point of attack, we see Curaçao and Aruba in South America. To these points have been extended the pipelines draining the great South American oilfields. Great refineries are located there, out in the ocean, where, as it was described to me by a man who had reported it to the President, they stand out like sore thumbs—defenseless, a standing invitation to attack."
After the German attack on the Lago oil refinery, the United States military, with the approval of the Dutch government, occupied the islands. The mission of the American occupation force was to safeguard the islands and oil refineries from further Axis attack. Curacao was bombarded on April 19th, 1942.
United States
United Kingdom
Venezuela
Nazi Germany
Italy
Commander Werner Hartenstein
