by Clay Blair
In the stern battle against the enemy storming us from the west you are in the foremost line, now as before. Even now, when the enemy has succeeded in gaining a foothold on shore and pushing forward to the east, your full cooperation is necessary to relieve the land front.
Always think how much fighting and expenditure of materials, and especially how much blood is necessary to destroy a shipload of men and materials in land fighting. You can do it with a single torpedo hit.
I know what hardiness, toughness and endurance you must bring to bear in order to endure the hardships and unceasing attacks. But I also know that you, my U-boat warriors, carried on by the old spirit of attack, think only of destroying the enemy. Be assured that I follow your battle continually and that you are always in my thoughts.
All thirty of the evacuating VIIs had snorts. Some boats conducted war patrols; others went directly to Norway. Allied forces sank or destroyed ten of these. Three others of this group came to grief shortly after reaching Norwegian waters, making a total loss of thirteen, or 43 percent. The stories of those boats, in brief:
• The U-736, commanded by Reinhard Reff, age thirty, sailed from Lorient on August 5 to patrol the Allied landing area in the Bay of the Seine. When first activated, the snort failed and the boat filled with exhaust gases. Owing to the presence of Allied ASW forces, Reff was unable to surface and many men fell ill.
In the afternoon of the following day, August 6, Reff raised the snort to air the boat and was immediately detected by the British hunter-killer Support Group 2. Reff fired two T-5s at the warships, but both misfired, ran hot in the tubes, and had to be gingerly ejected. The British frigate Loch Killin fired her Squid at U-736 and wrecked her. Reff blew all tanks, came up directly beneath Loch Killin, and hung up. In the battle that ensued, only nineteen of forty-seven Germans survived, including Reff, his chief engineer, Helmut Vater, and the first watch officer, Adalbert Kleinert, all rescued by Loch Killin and Starling.†
• The U-385, commanded by Hans-Guido Valentiner, age twenty-five, sailed from St. Nazaire on August 9 to patrol the English Channel. Upon activation of the snort, it malfunctioned and filled the boat with exhaust gases, felling Valentiner and many crewmen. At about dusk on August 10, Valentiner surfaced the boat, merely seven thousand yards from the sloop Starling, flagship of British Support Group 2. Commanded by N. A. Duck, Starling opened fire, drawing counterfire from U-385’s flak guns. After about a half hour, Valentiner dived and attempted to escape submerged.
When Valentiner resurfaced three and a half hours later, in the early hours of August 11, a Leigh Light-equipped Sunderland of Australian Squadron 461, piloted by Ivan F. Southall, got the boat on radar. The aircraft attacked and dropped six depth charges, which blew off U-3859s rudder, damaged a hydroplane, and caused serious flooding through the stern torpedo tube. Valentiner dived, but foul air forced him to resurface about dawn. Still nearby, the sloop Starling again opened fire, this time at close range, killing the first watch officer and forcing Valentiner to abandon ship and scuttle. The sloop Wren, which had the survivors of U-608 on board, rescued forty-one Germans, including Valentiner. In the postwar years, Southall wrote and published an account of Australian Squadron 461.*
• The U-741, commanded by Gerhard Palmgren, which had put into Le Havre with damage, resailed on the morning of August 8. To mislead Allied agents in that port into believing he was too badly damaged to conduct a patrol, that same day Palmgren put a heavy list on the boat and “limped” back into Le Havre. Then, under cover of darkness in the early hours of August 9, Palmgren resailed to an area off the Isle of Wight.
On the afternoon of August 15, Palmgren sighted a convoy, FTM 69. He fired two torpedoes and hit the LSI 404. Remarkably, the LST survived and was towed to Spithead. Palmgren dived to 190 feet, but the British corvette Orchis, an escort of convoy FTC 68 nearby, raced over and commenced a skilled hunt for U-741. Gaining and holding sonar contact, Orchis, commanded by B. W. Harris, carried out four separate attacks on U-741, two with depth charges and two with the Hedgehog.
These attacks wrecked and flooded the U-boat and trapped about eleven men aft. Two of these, twenty-four-year-old leading stoker Leo Leuwer and another stoker, escaped via the aft torpedo-room hatch. Leuwer survived to be picked up by Orchis but the other stoker died. None of the other forty-seven Germans of the crew was found.
• The U-413, commanded by Dieter Sachse, age twenty-seven, sailed from Brest on August 2 to attack Allied invasion forces off the south coast of England between Portsmouth and Beachy Head. On August 19, Sachse found convoy ETC 72 and shot T-5s. He thought he sank two freighters for 8,000 tons, but only one victim could be confirmed, the 2,400-ton British Saint Enogat.
On the following morning, August 20, a British hunter-killer group comprised of the veteran destroyers Forester, Vidette, and Wensleydale detected U-413 on sonar. Forester attacked with her last depth charges, but they fell wide. Vidette, the only one of the three warships with any charges remaining, carried out a Hedgehog attack. These well-aimed missiles wrecked and flooded U-413 and drove her to the bottom.
The U-boat’s chief engineer, Karl Hütterer, and others sealed themselves in the bow torpedo compartment and flooded it waist-deep. Per escape procedure, Hütterer opened the forward loading hatch. He reached the surface and was later rescued by Wensleydale, but no other Germans survived.
After recovering engineer Hütterer and some oil-soaked scraps of interior wood paneling, the skipper of Wensleydale called off the attack. Although they had no more depth charges, the skippers of Forester and Vidette believed the oil and scraps of wood—and perhaps even Hütterer—were likely released from the boat as a ruse de guerre, and wished to remain in the area until U-413 was forced to surface for fresh air. Their protestations were ignored or dismissed and the hunter-killer group returned to port with Hütterer, who told his interrogators little except that submarine warfare in the English Channel was “lousy.”
• The U-445, commanded by Rupprecht Fischler von Treuberg, and U-650, commanded by Rudolf Zorn, which had brought ammo to Lorient from La Pallice, resailed from Lorient on August 22, direct for Norway. The U-650 reached Bergen on September 22, a miserable voyage of thirty-two days, but Fischler in U-445 did not make it. On August 24, the British frigate Louis, commanded by L.A.B. Majendie, sank the boat in the Bay of Biscay, merely one hundred miles west of Lorient. There were no survivors.
• The U-247, commanded by Gerhard Matschulat, sailed from Brest on August 27 to patrol near the Scillies and Land’s End. In the late evening of the fifth day, August 31, the frigates St. John and Swansea of the Canadian hunter-killer Support Group 9, on ASW patrol near Land’s End, detected U-247 on sonar and commenced a dogged hunt that lasted through the night and well into the next afternoon, September 1.
Attacking that afternoon on a strong sonar contact, St. John dropped five accurate depth charges. The Canadian naval historian Joseph Schull described the “satisfying” result: “There was a huge gush of oil, followed by a mass of letters and photographs, a certificate commemorating the ten-millionth engine revolution of U-247, log books, shirts, socks ... [and other] clothing and German charts.” There were no survivors.
The loss of fthese six boats cost the Germans about three hundred experienced crewmen (sixty-two captured), sufficient to man six big electro boats.
Aware of the concentration of U-boats in Bergen and the shortage of pens, RAF Bomber Command mounted a large-scale attack on that port on the night of October 4. The bombers scored seven direct hits on the U-boat pen, but no bombs penetrated the thick concrete roof. Other bombs, however, sank or destroyed four unprotected Type VIIs that had only just arrived from France, and knocked out the big dock cranes. The bomb damage reduced the capacity for major repairs at Bergen to four U-boats at one time, a devastating setback to future operations.
The four VIIs sunk or destroyed in this attack were:
• The aged U-92, commanded by the new skipper Wilhelm Brauel, age
twenty-nine, which sailed from Brest on August 16. Brauel patrolled to Norway by way of the south coast of England near the Isle of Wight, where, on August 27, he fired a torpedo at an LST, but missed. He arrived in Norway on September 29, completing a voyage of forty-five days. After U-92 was declared a total wreck at Bergen, Brauel and some of his crew returned to Germany to man a big electro boat.
• The U-228, commanded by a new skipper, Herbert Engel, age thirty-two, replacing Erwin Christophersen, age twenty-nine, who returned to Germany to command a big electro boat. The U-228 sailed from St. Nazaire direct for Norway on August 12, skirting the British Isles well to the west. After a voyage of forty days, the U-228 arrived in Bergen on September 20. Engel, who began his U-boat service in April 1940 as a quartermaster on the famous U-48 and rose to command the U-666 for sixteen months, did not command another boat after the destruction of U-228.
• The veteran U-437, commanded by Hermann Lamby, age twenty-eight, which sailed from Bordeaux direct for Norway on the night of August 24. Also skirting well to the west of the British Isles, Lamby reached Bergen on September 22, a voyage of nearly thirty days. Upon destruction of the boat at Bergen, Lamby and some of his crew went on to Germany to man a big electro boat.
• The U-993, commanded by a new skipper, Karl-Heinz Steinmetz, age twenty-three, replacing Kurt Hilbig, who had returned to Germany to command an electro boat, sailed from Brest on August 17. Also skirting well to the west of the British Isles, Steinmetz reached Bergen on September 18, after a voyage of thirty-three days, during which one crewman died of what was diagnosed as “yellow jaundice.” After the destruction of U-993 at Bergen, Steinmetz went to the Submarine School.
Three other VIIs came to grief in Norwegian waters shortly after leaving France. They were:
• The decommissioned veteran (ex-flak) U-256, which was recommissioned and sailed from Brest on September 3. Commanded by Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, who wore Oak Leaves on his Ritterkreuz, the boat had a jerry-rigged snort that enabled her to evade Allied ASW forces. Cruising well to the west of the British Isles, Lehmann-Willenbrock arrived in Bergen on October 17, completing an arduous voyage of forty-five days, during which he maintained absolute radio silence, leading Control to assume that Allied forces had sunk the boat. Lehmann- Willenbrock declared U-256 to be beyond saving and on October 23, she was once again decommissioned, this time in Norway.
• The U-985, commanded by Heinz Wolff, age twenty-six. Wolff sailed from La Pallice directly to Norway on August 30, also by a route which took him well to the west of the British Isles. While approaching the Norwegian coast on October 22, Wolff hit a German defensive mine that caused “immense” damage but no casualties. A German patrol boat towed U-985 into Kristiansand on October 26.
Deemed unfit for further service, she was decommissioned and abandoned. Wolff and some crew went on to Germany to man a big electro boat.
• The U-673, commanded by a new skipper, Ernst-August Gerke, age twenty-three. She, with the decommissioned/recommissioned U-382, newly fitted with a snort and also commanded by a new skipper, Hans-Dietrich Wilke,* age thirty-two, sailed from St. Nazaire on September 14 and La Pallice on September 10, respectively. Both skippers set a course direct for Norway via waters well west of the British Isles, and both reached Bergen on October 19.
Owing to the air-raid damage and crowded conditions at Bergen, Control directed both boats to proceed to the U-boat base at Stavanger, Norway. While making this transit on October 24, Wilke in U-382 rammed and severely damaged U-673, which flooded and beached in Nerstrandfiord. Wilke in U-382 took off the crew of U-673 and later the Germans destroyed the boat. Wilke then sailed U-382 on to the Baltic, where she patrolled against Soviet forces under a new skipper,* Wilke and Gerke were assigned to command big electro boats.
The other sixteen Type VII snort boats that survived the evacuation from France to Norway did so not without difficulties. Twelve carried out brief patrols in the English Channel, Bristol Channel, and North Channel. Three sank ships. The stories of these boats in brief:
• The U-480, commanded by Hans-Joachim Forster, sailed from Brest on August 3 to patrol the south coast of England near the Isle of Wight. Conducting one of the most aggressive patrols of that time (perhaps emboldened by his Alberich antisonar coating), Forster attacked ships on August 18, 21, 22, 23, and 25 and sank or destroyed four. The sinkings included the Canadian corvette Alberni and the 850-ton British minesweeper Loyalty. Alberni plunged under within a few minutes with the loss of fifty-nine men. British PT boats rescued the thirty-one survivors. Forster’s other two victims were freighters: the 5,700-ton British Orminister, and the 7,200-ton British Liberty ship Fort Yale, which beached, a total wreck.
Forster proceeded to Bergen, where he arrived on October 4 to high praise. On October 18, Dönitz presented him a Ritterkreuz, the fourth and last such award to skippers engaged in attacking Neptune forces.
• The U-764, commanded by Hans-Kurt von Bremen, sailed from Brest to the English Channel on August 6. Near Beachy Head on August 20, von Bremen sank the 638-ton British freighter Coral from convoy ETC 72. Thereafter he proceeded to Bergen, arriving on September 19, completing a patrol of forty-five days.
• The U-989, commanded by Hardo Rodler von Roithberg, sailed from Brest to the Bay of the Seine on August 9. He shot at ships on August 23 and 26 and sank the 1,791-ton British freighter Ashmun J. Clough and damaged the 7,200-ton
American Liberty ship Louis Kossuth. Proceeding to Norway, Rodler von Roithberg arrived on September 25 and then took U-989 to the Baltic.
• The VIID (minelayer) U-218 sailed from Brest on August 10 to lay her second minefield since D day. Newly commanded by Rupprecht Stock (from U-214, replacing Becker), the U-218 planted her field off Start Point, near Plymouth in the western waters of the English Channel, on August 18. Thereafter Stock headed for Norway, arriving on September 23, completing a stressful voyage of forty-five days. His minefield inflicted no damage. From Norway, Stock sailed on to the Baltic.
• The U-275, commanded by Helmut Wehrkamp, age twenty-three, who had put into Boulogne on August 1, resailed on August 13. Owing to the heavy Allied ASW forces in the Bay of the Seine, Wehrkamp left that area “early” and “without orders,” Control logged. West of Ireland on September 2, Wehrkamp shot a T-5 at what he reported to be a 12,000-ton ocean liner. Claiming a hit for damage, Wehrkamp asserted as proof that after the explosion, the ship had twice halted temporarily, then headed for the coast. The hit has not been confirmed in Allied records. After a brief pause off North Minch, Wehrkamp arrived at Bergen on September 18, completing a voyage of thirty-seven days.
• The U-714, commanded by Hans-Joachim Schwebcke, age twenty-six, sailed from La Pallice on August 27. Patrolling to Norway by way of the mouth of the Bristol Channel, Schwebcke found no targets. He arrived in Norway on October 24, completing an exhausting voyage of fifty-nine days. The following day he sailed on to the Baltic.
• The U-309, commanded by Hans-Gert Mahrholz, age twenty-five, sailed from La Pallice on August 29. He patrolled off North Channel for five days, but an unidentified aircraft bombed the boat, forcing Mahrholz to abort. He arrived “unannounced” in Bergen on October 9, completing a voyage of forty-two days, then sailed on to the Baltic.
• The U-963, commanded by the returning Karl Boddenberg, age thirty, sailed from La Pallice the same night, August 29, and also patrolled off North Channel. Boddenberg found no targets and went on to Norway, arriving in Bergen on October 7, completing an arduous voyage of forty days. He then sailed on to the Baltic.
• The U-763, commanded by a new skipper, Kurt Braun, age twenty-one, sailed from Bordeaux directly to Norway on August 23. Taking a course well to the west of the British Isles, Braun arrived in Norwegian waters on September 24, a voyage of thirty-three days. That night a Leigh Light-equipped B-24 of British Squadron 224 of 18 Group, piloted by John C. T. Downey, found, attacked, and damaged U-763. After repairs in Bergen and Kristiansund, Braun retur
ned the boat to Germany.
• The U-262, which incurred bomb casualties (three killed, one wounded) and damage in La Pallice on August 18, sailed from there to Norway in company with U-763 on August 23. Still commanded by Helmut Wieduwilt, age twenty-four, U-262 patrolled the mouth of Bristol Channel and to the north of Land’s End, but found no targets. Control speculated in the war log that “the boat did not approach close enough to the convoy routes.” Wieduwilt arrived in Norway on November 1, completing the longest of the evacuation voyages: seventy-one days. He then took the boat onward to the Baltic.
• The U-758, still commanded by Hans-Arendt Feindt, age twenty-two, sailed from St. Nazaire on August 23. Feindt also patrolled the areas at the mouth of the Bristol Channel and north of Land’s End. He found no targets either and after seven fruitless days in those areas, he went on to Norway, arriving at Bergen on October 10, completing a voyage of forty-nine days. From there, Feindt took the boat onward to the Baltic.
• The U-953, newly commanded by Herbert Werner from the U-415, which was mined and destroyed off Brest, sailed from La Pallice on August 31. Werner implied in his war memoir Iron Coffins that the U-953 was the last boat to leave France, but that is not correct. Werner patrolled the mouth of North Channel but was forced to abort after seven days because he could not retract his snort, even by hand. “The Schnorkel routine had become a nightmare,” he wrote. He arrived in Bergen “unannounced” on October 11, Control logged, completing a voyage of forty-two days. Werner then sailed U-953 onward to the Baltic.
• The U-260, still commanded by Klaus Becker, age twenty-four, sailed from La Pallice on September 3. Bedeviled by a defective snort that leaked exhaust gases into the boat, felling many crewmen, Becker chose a course that skirted the British Isles well to the west. He arrived in Bergen on October 17, completing a voyage of forty-five days. Becker then took the boat onward to the Baltic.