Hitler’s U-Boat War- The Hunted 1942-45

by Clay Blair

  United States Navy. Anti-Submarine Bulletin. (“Yellow Peril,” so-called because the cover is yellow.) A monthly publication, June 1943 to May 1945, and a 44-page “Summary.” World War Two Command File, Boxes 259 and 260. “Summary” only on microfilm. (NRS 1973-4.) A once highly classified account of the Battle of the Atlantic, containing technical details about Allied and Axis weaponry, statistical charts of shipping losses, etc. An invaluable source similar to the British Monthly Anti-Submarine Report. (See Public Record Office.)

  War Diary, Eastern Sea Frontier. December 1941 to September 1943. World War Two War Diary Collection. (7 Microreels, NRS 1971-48.) Index, 12/41 to 12/44. (Microreel NRS 1988-23.)

  War Diary, Fleet Air Wing 7. World War II. (Microreel NRS 1971-102.)

  War Diary, Fleet Air Wing 15. World War II. (Microreel NRS 1974-54.)

  War Diary and History, U.S.N. Parol Squadron VP 83 (in May 1943, redesignated VB 107), 9/15/41-10/1/45. Prepared by Boyce S. McCoy.

  War Diary (Kriegstagebuch or KTB) of the Commander in Chief, Submarines (Des Fuhrers/Be-fehlshabers der Unterseeboote, or FdU/BdU). In English. GNR Boxes T-40 to T-44. (5 Microreels, KTB, nos. 1-5.) Also available in German on microfilm at NARA: See Mulligan guide.

  The KTB of BdU stops at 1/15/45. However, as Mulligan points out on p. 2 of his guide, reports of U-boat operations from 1/15/45 to 4/21/45 may be found elsewhere (in German) on microreels 3900 and 1755-1759, 1995. Also, there is a missing section, 10/16/43 to 10/31/43, in the BdU/KTB. The original is held by the Bundes-Abt. Militärchiv in Freiburg, Germany, item RM 87/32. This missing section can also be partly recovered by consulting the U-boat summaries in the SKL War Dairy (see below) for that period.

  War Diary (KTB) FdU U-boats Italy/Mediterranean (Italien/Mittelmeer) 12/8/41 to 12/31/43. In English. GNR Boxes T-45 to T-48. Also available in German on microfilm at NARA: See Mulligan guide.

  War Diary (KTB) FdU U-boats Italy/Mediterranean (Italien/Mittelmeer) 7/15/42 to 12/31/42 (period preceding and following Torch). In English. NARA, RG 457, NS A Historical Collection, NR 3547, Box 110.

  War Diary (KTB) FdU U-boats Italy/Mediterranean (Italien/Mittelmeer) 1/16/44 to 9/7/44. Rough translation into English. GNR Box T-60. Also available in German on microfilm at NARA: See Mulligan guide.

  War Diary (KTB) FdU Norway (Norwegen) 1/18/43 to 10/15/44. In English. GNR Boxes T-49 to T-53. Also available in German on microfilm at NARA; See Mulligan guide.

  War Diary (KTB) Naval Group Command, West. 6/1/44 to 6/30/44. (Period of the Normandy Invasion.) 124 pp. In English. GNR Box T-82 TR-5. (Microreel NRS T-7.)

  War Diary (KTB) of the Operations Division (der Seekriegsleitung, or SKL) Part A Naval H.Q., Berlin 1939-1945. Boxes T-l to T-39 In English, but with significant gaps. (16 Microreels, TM 100A to TM 100P) Also available in German on microfilm at NARA: See Mulligan guide.

  —. Extracts 11/5/42-11/12/42 re U-boat Ops in Mediterranean vs. Torch, 30 pp. In English (filling

  a gap). GNR Box T-82 TR-1.

  —. Extracts of Appendix, “Supplement to the Submarine Situation”: 10/1/42 to 12/31/42

  re U-boat Ops in South Atlantic versus Torch 11/8/42 to 11/16/42. In English. 5 pp. GNR BoxT-92.

  War Diaries (KTBs) of U-boats. Extracts in English:

  In addition, there are brief extracts or summaries from U-boat war diaries, in English, that are not on microfilm:

  Wehr, Oskar, Konteradmiral. Proceedings of the court-martial of him and others for German torpedo

  failures. 5/27/41. About 250 pp. In German. (Microreel NRS T-26.) Weichold, Eberhard. “Axis Naval Policy in the Mediterranean, 1939-1943.” 130 pp. In English. GNR

  Box T-76.

  “German Naval Defense [in 1944] Against the Allied Invasion.” 195 pp. In English. GNR Box

  T-74. (Microreel NRS T-32.)

  “Survey from Naval Point of View of the Organization of the GAF for Ops over the Sea

  1939-1945.” In English. GNR Box T-75. (Microreel NRS T-41.)

  “War at Sea in the Mediterranean.” 2/26/47. Essay. 80 pp. In English. GNR Box T-75. (Microreel NRS T-47.)

  Whitehead, Thor. “Iceland and the Struggle for the North Atlantic 1940-1941.” MA thesis, University of Georgia, 1972. (Microreel NRS 516.)

  Worthington, Joseph M. “A Biography of [Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet] Admiral Royal E. In-gersoll, U.S. Navy” 2 vols. Typescript. 1,009 pp. (2 microreels, NRS 1971-129.) Contains copies of numerous official dispatches re Atlantic Fleet Ops and convoying (etc.) from King to Ingersoll and vice versa and between King and others.

  ALSO AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION (NARA)

  Apart from the foregoing, there are literally tens of thousands of primary documents and microfilms of primary documents at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) that deal with the U-boat campaigns of World War II. These include, significantly, microfilms of the entire German naval archives, captured at Castle Tambach (near Coburg) by Allied ground forces in April 1945 and removed to England and microfilmed.

  The documents relating to the U-boat war at NARA are filed in various categories known as record groups. Because of the vast sizes of these groups, a researcher must be rigidly selective and focus narrowly on those documents that are obviously of exceptional value. In our many visits to NARA, two able officials guided us in our searches and helped arrange the copying of thousands of pages and numerous microreels of documents: John E. Taylor, archivist, and Dr. Timothy P. Mulligan, a specialist in captured German and related records.

  Among the captured German records at NARA, those of particular value are the war diaries (Kriegstagebuchs or KTBs) of the three major U-boat commands (Atlantic, Mediterranean, Norwegian) and of 889 individual U-boats. The bulk of these records, known as Microfilm Publication T 1022, was reproduced in 1945-47 by the U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence on 147 rolls of microfilm. These microreels (in German) may be purchased singly for a modest fee. Dr. Mulligan has produced an invaluable guide to these microreels (and instructions for ordering same) that can be obtained at NARA (see Mulligan in Books section). As related, the KTBs of the Atlantic U-boat command (as well as that of SKL, Berlin) are available in English on paper and microfilm. The KTBs of the Norwegian and Mediterranean U-boat commands are available in English on paper (but not microfilm).

  The KTBs of the U-boats that survived and returned to base are especially valuable. They include a day-by-day account of the patrol, attacks on enemy shipping, Allied counterattacks, unusual events, meetings at sea with other U-boats, and verbatim official radio messages to and from the boat. A detailed “shooting report” for each torpedo expended is usually appended to the patrol report. The last voyages of many U-boats that failed to return have been summarized (and hypothesized) by U-boat Control based on orders and radio messages, sinking reports, interception of Allied ASW reports, and so on.

  Note: Some of the following listed record groups at NARA, which we searched, contain copies of declassified Admiralty documents emanating from the Naval Intelligence Division (NID) that London passed to Washington during the war years.

  RECORD GROUP 38 (OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS)

  Apart from the material transferred from NHC:

  Chart Room Files.

  Various boxes. These chronological files contain copies of the entire wartime operational communications of the Commander in Chief (COMINCH) Ernest J. King, both incoming and outgoing. Of particular interest, of course, are the messages pertaining to U-boat operations, convoy composition, convoy routing, convoy escorts, and other aspects of the Battle of the Atlantic. Seldom cited by naval historians, these documents are of unsurpassed value for insights into American, British, and Canadian thinking about the U-boat war, specific policies adopted, steps taken, and warship movements.

  We limited our search of these documents to the periods 1/1/42 to about 6/1/42, when Drumbeat, the German U-boat campaign in the Americas, was in progress, and 2/1/43 to 4/1/43, when the Atlantic Convoy
Conference convened. Naval historians who have castigated Admiral King for his alleged indifference to German U-boat depredations in American waters will be surprised at the wealth of information in these files that supports a contrary case.

  OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE (ONI)

  NAVAL ATTACHE REPORTS 1944-47: BOXES I TO 16 AND 214, 327,469.

  These documents, especially those from USN officers in London (COMNAVEU and COMTWELFTHFLEET), contain a great deal of technical and operational information about U-boats and ASW derived from British sources, including British interrogations of U-boat POWs. Of exceptional interest:

  Box 3: British summaries of information on U-boats, 1944-45.

  Translation of a German handbook for the tactical use of the German Naval Acoustic Torpedo (GNAT or T-5 Wren), 10/5/44.

  Minutes of the “GNAT Panel” meeting of 10/17/44.

  Box 4: Radar detection of the Schnorkel.

  Box 5: British investigation of the characteristics of the German Naval Acoustic Torpedo (GNAT), 1/16/45.

  U-boat Flotillas and Personnel per February 1944. (A total of 365 U-boats assigned by number and skipper names.)

  Box 6: Further British investigation of German Naval Acoustic Torpedo (GNAT), 2/17/45.

  Box 7: Minutes of the British Aircraft Anti-U-boat Committee, 2/8/45, 3/20/45, and 4/5/45.

  Box 15: “Estimate of Russian Exploitation of German Submarine Types” (XXI, XXIII, Walter boats, etc.), 4/19/48.

  Box 16: Summary Report of Type XXI and other U-boats.

  U-230 U-562

  U-343 U-565

  U-410 U-586

  U-421 U-642

  U-455 U-952

  U-466 U-967

  U-471 U-969

  Box 469: Summary of information on German U-boats (less torpedo data). Extraordinarily thorough 37-page document (or “handbook”) prepared by E.G.N. Rushbrooke, Director of Naval Intelligence, Admiralty, 11/29/43.

  Handbook for the operations of the Type XXI U-boat. 42 pp. In English, 7/10/44.

  Report on the capture in Toulon, France, of prefabricated sections and machinery sufficient to assemble two Type XXIII U-boats, 2/2/45.

  Subject File, 1942-1945, OP16Z (from Algiers to British N.I.D./1 PW.) British Final Reports. Box 2.

  History, sinking, and technical details of thirty-six U-boats destroyed by British forces, based on information obtained from POW survivors—the final British “post mortems.” U-boats covered in this series:

  Note: Duplicates of some of these documents may be found in RG 80 and RG 165 (see Mulligan guide) and at PRO (see below).

  Subject File, 1942-1945, OP16Z (BAD Correspondence 1943-1944). Report re German code “Ireland” in POW mail, 10/12/43. Box 2. 2 pp.

  Subject File, 1942-1945 OP16Z (Naval Messages to PW Special, 1945). Box 13.

  Memo on the code used in correspondence by German U-boat prisoners of war in World War II. 1. Plus appendix of sample correspondence, 7/27/45. In addition, boxes 214, 327, and 469 contain information about:

  U-300

  U-575

  U-732

  Special Activities Branch, OP16Z. Interrogation Reports (final and rough).

  1. History and technical details of forty-six U-boats destroyed by American forces and one (U-168) by Dutch forces, based on information from POW survivors. In most cases the final reports duplicate the American “post mortems” listed above (noted below in parenthesis) but in many cases the roughs contain interesting additional information and photos. (See also Record Groups 59, 80, and 165.) The destroyed U-boats dealt with in this category are:

  2. History and/or technical details of ten U-boats that surrendered to American (US), Canadian (C), or Argentine (A) authorities after cessation of hostilities:

  U-190 (C) U-873 (US)

  U-234 (US) U-889 (C)

  U-530 (A) U-977 (A)

  U-805(US) U-1228 (US)

  U-858(US) U-1230(US)

  RECORD GROUP 59 (U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE CENTRAL DECIMAL FILES)

  Items 862.30/7-1045 through 8-2145 and 862.30/8-445 through 8-2145 contain information about two U-boats that surrendered in 1945 in Argentina. These were:

  U-530

  U-977

  RECORD GROUP 80 (GENERAL RECORDS. SECRETARY OF THE NAVY)

  Box 2334. “Official German Naval Reaction to the Subordination of the German Navy to the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces.” Historical essay based on interrogations of Grand Adöiral Karl Dönitz, VAdm. Otto Schniewind, VAdm. von der Borne, and Otto Mejer. 17 pp. N.d. (Postwar.)

  Various boxes in this record group contain some information on U-boats. These boxes have been identified as such: 665, 666, 1679, 1829, 1830. U-boats covered:

  RECORD GROUP 165 (WAR DEPARTMENT GENERAL STAFF)

  Records of the G-2 (Intelligence) Division (MIS-Y). Boxes 364,441 to 571, 599 to 621,640, 645, 669, 712, 724 to 735, 745, and 746. Records and documents re U-boats, ships, and naval material based on interrogation of or eavesdropping on German POWs. (Some of these reports duplicate or supplement previously described American or British “post mortems”) U-boats and Italian submarines covered:

  In addition, the following boxes contain documents of unusual interest:

  724: Bound Volume, tabbed.

  Tab A: An Appreciation of the Air Effort Against Submarines [U-boats] prepared by U.S.A.A.F. Eighth Air Force January 1943. 25 pp.

  Tab B: U.S.A.A.F. Anti-Submarine Command Monthly Summary, January 1943. 36 pp. Technical and attack data, history of the command and Track Charts of convoys SC 104 and SC 107, etc.

  “Schnorcher: report on by USN OP16Z. 2/15/45. 28 pp.

  727: POW Interrogations 5G-55NA #643 from U-118 8/23/43. 11 pp. Description of Enigma machine (Schluessel “M”) and operating instructions; description of U-boat’s Array Sonar (Type G.H.G. with 48 sensors); description of U-boat radio equipment and antennae.

  745: Digests of U-boat [Technical] Information from German POW Sources. Digest 1 (12/4/43) to Digest 59 (6/25/45). About 200 pp.

  746: Intelligence Report of 1/21/46 re why it was a mistake to transfer all naval armament production to Speer’s ministry in June 1943. Based on interview with Hans Günter Mommsen (chief, Naval Maténels).

  RECORD GROUP 218 (U.S. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF)

  Joint New Weapons Committee Subject File: May 1942-1945. Boxes 1 and 18.

  Box 1: Correspondence re ASW between Dr. Vannevar Bush, director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development (or his surrogates) and the JCS. 1/4/43 to 3/5/43.

  Box 18: Draft manuscript: “Trends in Submarine Warfare.” Typescript. 42 pp. N.d. (circa July 1942). An American summary of ASW weaponry of the past, present, and immediate future and recommendations for lines of R&D to pursue.

  Report: “Carriers for ASW Equipment” 14 pp. 7/18/42. A summary of USN ships and aircraft capable of ASW and the weaponry they carry, together with an analysis of U-boat characteristics and operations.

  RECORD GROUP 238 (WORLD WAR II CRIMES)

  This group contains the official documents of the War Crimes Trials at Nuremburg. We confined our research to two boxes, 25 and 75.

  Box 25: “Jackson Files” (main office files of the U.S. chief prosecutor, Robert H. Jackson). Interrogation summaries and analysis: Defendants Dönitz through Ribbentrop. See Dönitz.

  Box 75: “Defense Document Books”: Bormann, Dönitz, Franks. See Dönitz documents, Folders #1 and #2.

  RECORD GROUP 243 (UNITED STATES STRATEGIC BOMBING SURVEY. OR USSBS)

  Final Reports 92 to 100, with support documents. Boxes 47, 49, and 50.

  Box 47: Final Report 92. “German Submarine Industry.” 108 pp.

  Exhibit M-l, M-2, and M-3: Allied aircraft attacks on U-boat yards at Hamburg, Bremen, and Kiel. ‘

  Box 49: Final Report 92all. Bombing of Submarine Base, Brest, France. 10 pp.

  Box 50: Final Report 92al7. Interviews of German submarine builders. See transcripts of four such interviews:

&
nbsp; Karl Dönitz on 6/28/45.

  Eberhard Godt on 7/15/45.

  Otto Merker (chief, naval shipbuilding) on 6/20/45.

  H. Günter Mommsen, (naval materiels) on 6/28/45.

  Minutes of the [German] Central Planning Committee for 5/4/43 (Dönitz presentation re U-boat war and supply lines) and 12/21/45 (Speer presentation re electric motor production) and brief excerpts from other meetings. Excerpts of speeches by Speer re “electro” U-boats on 8/3/44 and 1/13/45.

  RECORD GROUP 457

  This collection contains all the documents relating to the Allied penetration of German naval Enigma that have been released to the public by the National Security Agency (NSA) through 1998. The documents include not only translated Enigma decrypts but also technical and historical studies of the U-boat war based on the decrypts, the daily exchanges of U-boat information between the USN, RCN, and RN Submarine Tracking Rooms, daily and weekly summaries of U-boat activities, and the like.

  We used two separate and indispensable guides to these documents: a general guide prepared by the Modern Military Branch at NARA (36 pages, n.d.) and a meticulous computerized guide cataloged and indexed by U-boat subject matter, prepared by Irwin G. Newman, a declassification consultant and archivist for the U.S. Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association (64 pages, dated 9/11/92).

  Documents of this group that were exceptionally helpful:

  DOCUMENTSHORT TITLE

  SRH 003 Influence of U.S. Cryptologic Organizations on the Digital Computer Industry, Samuel S. Snyder. 38 pp.

  SRH 008, SRH 009, History of Communications Intelligence in the Battle of the Atlantic.

  SRH 024, SRH 025 4 vols. 720 pp. (See also microreel NRS 78.)

  SRH 019 Axis submarine blockade running, 942-A4. 33 pp.