During the Second World War, the 22. Unterseebootsjagdflottille was established as an integral component of the Kriegsmarine’s coastal security and anti-submarine warfare forces, operating primarily within the Mediterranean theatre under the administrative and tactical framework of the 7. Sicherungsdivision. Formed to combat Allied submarine threats, secure vital maritime supply routes, and protect Axis shipping lanes in southern European waters, particularly around Italy and the Aegean regions, the unit utilized specialized submarine chasers known as U-Jäger to patrol designated sectors, conduct escort duties, and execute depth-charge attacks against hostile contacts. Throughout its operational history, the flotilla was led by experienced naval officers, including Flottillenchef Korvettenkapitän Friedrich Wunderlich and later Korvettenkapitän der Reserve Dr. Horst, who directed various personnel ranging from enlisted sailors to specialized watch officers such as Wachoffizier auf U-Jäger. The unit incorporated a diverse assortment of converted trawlers, patrol vessels, and auxiliary warships, such as designated U-Jäger units, and occasionally integrated specialized elements like the 11. Räumboots-Flottille to reinforce its operational capability against persistent enemy submarine incursions. Operating under increasingly hazardous conditions as Allied air and naval dominance grew in the Mediterranean, crews faced relentless combat environments, heavy Allied counter-attacks, and severe supply shortages during the latter stages of the conflict. Personnel within the flotilla demonstrated tactical endurance while executing escort missions for merchant convoys and troop transports, though many vessels suffered heavy attrition from mines, torpedoes, and aerial bombardments. As the German military position deteriorated across southern Europe and the Mediterranean perimeter collapsed, the flotilla's operational scope receded alongside the wider retreat of Kriegsmarine forces. The unit's existence concluded with the final collapse of Nazi Germany in May 1945, at which point its surviving vessels and personnel were either dispersed, captured, or scuttled, leaving behind a documented operational history preserved within naval archives and wartime logs detailing the desperate coastal warfare waged by the German surface and security forces.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Kapitänleutnant der Reserve Otto Pollmann (1915-1958) was born on 3 March 1915 in Wesermünde and died on 28 February 1958 in Leer. After service in the merchant marine he entered the Kriegsmarine as Funkgefreiter and Reserve-Offiziers-Anwärter on 1 April 1939, serving initially aboard the destroyer Z11 Bernd von Arnim and later with the 12. U-Jagd-Flottille. Promoted stepwise through Matrosenobergefreiter, Steuermannsmaat der Reserve, Steuermann der Reserve and Obersteuermann der Reserve, he became Leutnant zur See der Reserve on 1 September 1942 and took command of the submarine chaser UJ 2210 of the 22. U-Jagd-Flottille in the Mediterranean early in 1943. In a remarkable seven-week period he was credited with destroying four enemy submarines and playing a decisive role in the destruction of a fifth, actions that earned him the Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse on 3 March 1943 and the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 19 May 1943 while still a Leutnant zur See der Reserve. Continuing his aggressive hunting, he raised his claimed total to ten submarines by early 1944, receiving the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 26 January 1944 upon promotion to Oberleutnant zur See der Reserve. Further successes brought his official tally to fourteen enemy submarines sunk or damaged, among them the confirmed destruction of HMS Tigris, and on 25 April 1944 he was awarded the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz as the 461st recipient. Shortly thereafter UJ 2210 was lost, yet Pollmann survived and later commanded in the 11. U-Jagd-Flottille in the Baltic, ending the war as Kapitänleutnant der Reserve and company commander in the Bataillon Emmermann protecting the Dönitz government in Flensburg. After a period of internment he rejoined the Bundesmarine on 1 July 1956 as Korvettenkapitän, serving in staff roles devoted to submarine-hunting doctrine until his death while acting as a NATO liaison officer. His extraordinary record as the Kriegsmarine’s most successful U-Boot-Jäger, achieved with a modest coastal craft against Allied submarines in contested Mediterranean waters, remains one of the most striking individual achievements of the surface forces.
Source :
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/UFlottillen/22.htm
https://wwwstatic.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/km/ujaeger/uj21-23.htm
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