The stronger the enemy becomes, the more difficult it is to fight and win with him, the more difficult it is to achieve real success, and not to pass off wishful thinking. The commander of the German submarine U 515, Corvette Captain Werner Henke, was the last Kriegsmarine submarine ace whose declared successes in the conditions of the allied superiority at sea were true. Henke's fate is also notable for the fact that the death of this submariner was a direct consequence of one of his greatest successes.
The reward system introduced in the German submarine fleet at the beginning of World War II was effective and simple - Knight's Cross for 100,000 tons of sunk tonnage and Oak Leaves for 200,000 tons. Submarine commanders were motivated to receive the award, which was the hallmark of an underwater ace. But the race for the coveted cross also had a negative side - the so-called overclass. This term, which came from the English-language military history literature, can be translated as "overestimation of the declared results." The more effective the Allied anti-submarine defense became, the greater was the discrepancy between the real and imaginary successes of the Kriegsmarine submariners.
Corvette Captain Werner Hencke, 13.05.1909-15.06.1944
This led to the fact that now, after gaining free access to wartime documents, Dönitz's underwater aces (however, like any other aces, be they pilots, sailors or tankers of any warring army) can be divided into two categories: real and exaggerated. The first includes those boat commanders who fought in the Atlantic in 1939-1943. and really made great strides. The second category included commanders who fought in the period 1944-1945. and often in secondary theaters of war. At the same time, the main number of cases of overestimation of results associated with the use of homing and maneuvering torpedoes and the principle of "hearing an explosion means hit" refers precisely to the last period of submarine warfare.
Werner Henke and the ill-fated "Ceramic"
The personality of corvette captain Werner Henke is interesting, first of all, because he was one of the last real aces to fight in the Atlantic. Henke received the Oak Leaves for the Knight's Cross. These were the last Oak Leaves received in the submarine for real performance - although Carl Emmermann was awarded the same day with Henke, he was presented with this award on his last voyage and did not go out to sea again. Henke continued to fight and drown.
After Henke and Emmermann, only three people received the Oak Leaves: Werner Hartmann, Hans-Günther Lange and Rolf Thomsen. However, the famed Hartmann, former U 37 commander and one of the scoring aces at the start of the war, was honored as commander of submarines in the Mediterranean. The last two, the commanders of boats U 711 and U 1202, were awarded on the same day, April 29, 1945, and received a high award for the absolute over-label in attacks. However, it is possible that their awards were purely propagandistic.
German submarine U 124, known for its emblem - the edelweiss flower. It was on it that Werner Henke served under the command of underwater aces Georg-Wilhelm Schulz and Johann Mohr. Having received his own boat U 515 under the control, Henke made the edelweiss and its emblem. Later, a second emblem was added to it - a hammer
But back to Werner Henke. He grew up as a boat commander under such famous aces as Georg-Wilhelm Schulz and Johann Mohr, with whom he served as officer of the watch on U 124 for a little over a year. Henke began his career as a submarine commander in February 1942. He did not have time to take part in the events that took place off the coast of the United States and in the Caribbean in the first half of 1942, as he took command of a new large submarine U 515 (type IXC) and during this time was engaged in its tests and crew training. However, leaving on his first military campaign from Kiel on August 12, 1942, Henke began to sharply make up for lost opportunities.
During the campaigns he made, without taking into account the fourth, when the boat was damaged by planes and ships of the Allied ASW and returned to the base, and the last, in which it was sunk, he almost never returned to the base without pennants on the periscope, symbolizing sunken ships and ships ...
According to the German wartime version, it was believed that Henke had 28 ships for 177,000 brt. According to post-war research, the commander of U 515 sank 22 merchant ships for 140,196 brt and the British destroyer ship HMS Hecla (10,850 tons). In addition, two ships (for 10 720 brt), as well as a destroyer and sloop (3270 tons), which U 515 inflicted damage of varying degrees of severity, are listed as torpedoed behind him. If we sum up these figures, it becomes clear that the declared tonnage practically corresponds to the actually sunk.
Above the floating base of the destroyers "Hekla", below - the destroyer "Marne" (HMS Marne). On the night of November 12, 1942, west of Gibraltar, Henke attacked and sank the Hekla. The destroyer began to pick up survivors, but received a torpedo that tore its stern. Fortunately, the ship remained afloat and returned to service in January 1944. 279 people out of 847 died on "Hekla", 13 more sailors died on the "Marne"
One of the most famous episodes associated with Henke's combat activities is the sinking of the SS Ceramic liner, used by the British Admiralty as a troop transport sailing between Europe and Australia. This steamer has repeatedly become a target for German torpedoes since the First World War, but fate favored the "Ceramics", its crew and passengers until December 7, 1942. On that fateful night north-west of the Azores, the liner trapped U 515. Henke pursued the ship for several hours, after which, taking a convenient position for firing, accurately determined the speed of the victim (17 knots) and fired two torpedoes, achieving one hit. Thus began one of the worst tragedies of submarine warfare.
The torpedo explosion fell on the engine room, so the ship was deprived of power and power. There was no panic among the passengers, and the crew managed to lower the boats into the water, despite the roughness of the sea and complete darkness. After that, within an hour, U 515 fired three more torpedoes into the liner. The last of them broke the ship into two parts, after which it quickly sank. The survivors were unlucky - the weather turned bad, it started raining and a heavy storm began. The boats were flooded, overturned, and people floated next to them, kept on the water by life jackets.
Henke reported to headquarters about the sinking of "Keramika" and received an order in response to return to the scene of the attack and take the captain on board to find out the route and cargo of his steamer. As the commander of U 515 wrote in the war log: "At the site of the sinking of the ship, a large number of corpses of soldiers and sailors, about 60 life rafts and many boats, parts of the aircraft."Later, the crew of U 515 recalled that Henke was very upset about the picture that opened before him.
The passenger steamer "Keramik" was built back in 1913 and managed to take part in the First World War. He is one of the 20 largest victims of Kriegsmarine submariners in terms of tonnage
The overhead watch noticed a boat with people. In it, women and children were visible, who were waving their hands to the submarine, but at that time a strong storm began, and Henke ordered to pick up the first person who came across from the water. The lucky one was the British sapper Eric Munday, who told the Germans that there were 45 officers and about 1,000 ordinary soldiers on the ship. In fact, there were 655 people on the Keramika: 264 crew members, 14 gunners, liner servants, 244 military personnel including 30 women from Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nurses Service, and, according to tickets purchased, 133 passengers, including 12 children. All of them, except for Mandai, died.
They had no chance to survive the storm, which even experienced sailors called one of the strongest in that area of \u200b\u200bthe ocean. As former navigator of U 515 Wilhem Klein recalled: “There was absolutely no way of saving anyone else — it was still that weather. The waves were huge. I have served on submarines for many years and I have never seen waves like this. "The commander of U 515 had no illusions about the fate of the people in the boats: he understood that his torpedoes had caused the death of many people, and this later became a fatal circumstance for him, leading to Henke's death.
Another famous case involving Henke occurred on the night of May 1, 1943. Then U 515 made one of the most successful individual convoy attacks of the entire war. Seven of the 18 vessels of the TS-37 convoy en route from Takoradi (Ghana) to Freetown (Sierra Leone), guarded by one corvette and three anti-submarine trawlers, became victims of her attack. According to British historian Steven Roskilde, the convoy escort commander delayed sending a message about the presence of a German submarine in the area after intercepting a radio message from it, and as a result, the headquarters was notified only after the convoy was attacked. Three destroyers, sent to reinforce the escort, arrived in time "for the hat analysis." It is also worth noting that on the same cruise, U 515 managed to sink three more ships, and it entered the top ten most productive cruises made by German submarines throughout the war - in total 10 ships with 58,456 brt went to the bottom.
The last moments of the submarine U 515. The picture of the sinking submarine was taken from one of the American ships that sunk it
Werner Henke was in a special account with Grand Admiral Dönitz, as evidenced by a very curious incident that occurred between the underwater ace and the secret services of the Third Reich. On June 24, 1943, U 515 returned to Lorian from a 124-day voyage, the third in a row for the boat. Henke was rapidly becoming the "star" of the German submarine, and his success played into the hands of propaganda. In the first voyage, he reported 10 sunk ships for 54,000 brt (in reality - nine for 46,782 brt and one damaged), in the second he announced the destruction of a Birmingham-class cruiser (in fact, it was the above-mentioned floating base Hekla) , destroyer and liner "Keramik" (18,173 brt). For this Henke was presented to the Knight's Cross and named the most successful commander of the 10th flotilla. The third campaign proved to be the most successful: Henke reported 72,000 grt of sunk tonnage (in reality 58,456 grt).
Werner Henke and the Gestapo
For their achievements, the entire crew received Iron Crosses of various degrees, and Henke flew on July 4 to Hitler's headquarters, where he handed him Oak Leaves. The crew of U 515 received a vacation, and its commander went on vacation to the ski resort of Innsbruck in the Austrian Tyrol, where his wife was waiting for him.
The underwater ace was very proud and ambitious, and being awarded personally by the Fuhrer probably gave him even more self-confidence. As a result, when the ace learned about the persecution by the Gestapo of a family he knew from Innsbruck, in his opinion, innocent, he made a scandal in the reception of Franz Hoffer, Gauleiter of the Austrian Tyrol ( Franz Hofer), where he scolded the secretary of the Gauleiter for the arrest of his acquaintances. However, subordinates of Heinrich Müller did not scare such intercession, and a case was opened on Henk, which began to grow like a snowball.
As a result, when the details of the incident became known to Henke's superiors, the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Dönitz and the commander of the submarine fleet von Friedeburg personally paid Himmler a visit to intercede for the "state criminal." In a letter to Himmler, von Friedeburg apologized for the subordinate's actions, writing that Henke's behavior was a consequence of the stress received during the submarine war, which kept the submariners' nerves at their limit. The admirals assured that the behavior of their officer was not justified and had already received from him complete remorse and regret for what had happened. The all-powerful Reichsfuehrer accepted the apology and ordered the Gestapo to stop the investigation of Henke's case.
Pilots of carrier-based squadron VC-58 from aircraft carrier Guadalcanal pose in front of one of their Wildcats. It was the pilots of the Avengers and Wildcats from the VC-58 together with the destroyers USS Pope, Pillsbury, USS Chatelain and USS Flaherty on April 9, 1944 years north of Madeira, U 515 was sunk - 16 German submariners died, 44 more were captured
It should be noted that the submariners did occasionally have conflicts with the Gestapo. So, the captured crew members of the U 111 boat sunk in October 1941 during interrogation told the British an interesting story:
« According to the story of one of the prisoners of war, the crew of one submarine had a fight with Gestapo agents near a cafe in Danzig. Gestapo agents roughly pushed a man in civilian clothes as he walked past a cafe. As it later turned out, this man was a submarine officer who, without thinking twice, in response gave one of the offenders in the eye, giving him a blanche. Unfortunately for the Gestapo, sailors from the boat where this officer served, who rushed to his rescue, were resting nearby. A fight ensued, which ended after the Gestapo drew their pistols. All sailors were arrested and taken to the nearest police station for investigation. After clarifying the circumstances of the conflict, the police asked the officer to apologize, which would have settled the conflict. However, he refused. The case came to an investigation, which, however, was soon dismissed. The prisoner of war said that if any of the Gestapo during the scuffle had shot at the sailors, he (the Gestapo) would have been dead. "
In addition, another curious nuance arises - Henke's story echoes the story of Herbert Werner in his "Steel Coffins" about a similar incident, where the author of the memoirs tells how he went to the Gestapo to free his father:
« I immediately went to the Lindenstrasse office of the Gestapo, which was not far from our house. The naval uniform and awards allowed me to pass by the guards without any questions. When I entered the spacious hall, the secretary at the table at the entrance asked how she could be useful.
I believed that he rarely had to see submarine officers, and even those whose fathers were behind bars.
I had to wait for a long time to meet with the Obersturmbannführer. There was enough time to think about the plan of the conversation. The secretary then ushered me into a well-furnished office and introduced me to the SS chief in town. So, in front of me was a powerful man who needed to lift a finger to decide someone's fate. This middle-aged officer in gray SS uniform looked more like a dignified businessman than a cold-blooded punisher. Von Molitor's greeting was as unusual as his appearance.
“Nice to see a naval officer for a change. - he said. - I know that you serve in the submarine fleet. Quite an interesting and exciting service, isn't it? What can I do for you, Lieutenant?
I answered him in an icy tone:
“Herr Obersturmbannführer, my father is being held in your prison. For no reason. I demand his immediate release.
The friendly smile on his full face was replaced by an expression of concern. He glanced at my business card, read my name again, and then stammered:
- I was not informed about the arrest of the distinguished sailor's father. Sorry, lieutenant, there must have been a mistake. I'll deal with this matter immediately.
He wrote something on a piece of paper and pressed the call button. Another secretary entered from another door and took a sheet from the chief.
- You see, Lieutenant, I am not informed about each specific case of arrest. But I suppose you came to us only on your father's case?
- Of course. And I consider the reason for his arrest ...
Before I could make a big blunder, speaking bluntly, the secretary walked in again and handed von Molitor another piece of paper.
He studied it for a while, then said in a conciliatory tone:
- Lieutenant, now I'm in the know. Father will be with you tonight. I am sure that three months in prison will serve as a lesson for him. I'm sorry that everything happened like this. But your father shouldn't blame anyone but himself. Glad I could do you a favor. I hope that nothing will overshadow your vacation. Farewell. Heil Hitler!
Getting up quickly, I thanked him briefly. Of course, the SS chief did not render any service to me, it is unlikely that he could ignore my demand to release my father. "
If we compare Werner's story with the incident between Henke and the Gestapo, it seems that Werner greatly embellishes his influence on the Gestapo, especially saying that the latter could not ignore the demand for release. It is unlikely that the Obersturmbannführer was so embarrassed by the visit of a submariner officer that he began to stammer and fawn. Therefore, we will have to leave this story on the conscience of the author of "Steel Coffins", referring it to the list of fables that Werner published in his book.
Werner Henke and death in captivity
Returning to the further fate of Werner Henke, it should be noted that he could not escape the fate of many of his fellow submarine commanders. On April 9, 1944, U 515 was sunk north of Madeira. Henke was captured by the Americans along with most of his crew. USS Guadalcanal commander Daniel Vincent Gallery, who commanded the anti-submarine group that sunk the boat, managed to trick the German ace and his other crew members into cooperating.
Captain Gallery and his senior assistant, Commander Johnson, on the Guadalcanal bridge. German flags represent attacks on boats U 544, U 68, U 170 (damaged), U 505 and U 515
Galleri subtly played on the fears of the Germans falling into the hands of the British, since they believed that they were awaiting a tribunal for the sinking of the Ceramic. As the commander of the Guadalcanal wrote in his memoirs, Henke, in a conversation with one of the guards, said that shortly before the departure of U 515 from Loriana, the BBC radio station transmitted a propaganda message to all German submarine bases. It said that the British had found out: after the sinking, "Ceramics" U 515 surfaced and shot people in boats from a machine gun. Therefore, as stated later in the program, if any of the U 515 crew is captured by the British, he will be tried for murder and hanged if found guilty.
Henke and his people were impressed by the radio broadcast. Despite the fact that there was no shooting at the boats, the crew of U 515 was not at all eager to end up in the hands of the British and go on trial for fictional murder. Having learned about this from the foreman, Captain Galeri decided to use the information:
« Of course, he [Henke] completely denied the shooting of the boats, and it is quite possible that he told this story to make the British look bad. Now the British claim that they never aired such a thing, but they cannot explain why Henke had to invent such a story in 1944. Personally, I do not believe at all in the shooting of boats, but at the same time it seems to me that the British could well have broadcast something like that. In any case, this story told me gave me food for thought. I already realized that Henke is not eager to go to England. I wondered how far I could go with the idea of \u200b\u200bhypothetically sending him there. After weighing all the pros and cons, I decided to try one trick. I have forged a radio message for Guadalcanal, i.e. he himself wrote a fictional text, supposedly coming from the Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet on an official letterhead. The text read: “The British Admiralty requests that you hand over the crew of U 515 to them during refueling in Gibraltar. Given the overcrowding of people on your ship, I allow you to act at your discretion.
When Henke was summoned to the commander of the Guadalcanal and familiarized with this "radiogram", his face died. As Galleri wrote, the underwater ace was brave and tough, but managed to drive him into a "hellish situation." Galleri offered Henke a deal - the German submariners give a receipt for cooperation, and remain in the hands of the Americans. As a result, on April 15, Henke, and then the other members of the U 515 crew, signed a document prepared in advance, in which they promised to cooperate with the Americans in exchange for not giving them to the British:
"I, Lieutenant Commander Henke, swear on my honor as an officer, in the event that I and my crew are placed as prisoners of war in the United States, and not in England, to speak only the truth during interrogations."
It is not known how much Admiral Gallery was bending his soul when he wrote that the British denied the very fact of such a program being broadcast. American historian Timothy Mulligan later wrote that after the return of U 515 to France, German journalists interviewed Henke and the Mandei he had rescued about the Ceramics, using fragments from it in a radio propaganda broadcast that reported the success of German submariners who sank the liner. As Mulligan was able to establish, the answer was not long in coming:
“The Allies responded in March 1943 by airing their propaganda program on behalf of the fictional character 'Commander Robert Lee Norden' (under this pseudonym on the radio was the US Navy Lieutenant Commander Ralph G. Albrecht). Broadcasting on the frequency of German naval receivers, Norden accused Henke of shooting at least 264 survivors from the Keramik and called the commander of U 515 "War Criminal # 1", promising him a tribunal. The fact that this radio broadcast was a fake was confirmed by encryption in May 1944 from a senior US Navy intelligence officer to his Canadian counterpart: "Actually, this whole story is fiction, and as far as we know, he [Henke] drowned." Ceramics "acted quite legally."
It is worth noting that, recovering from the first blow, Henke came to his senses and subsequently refused to cooperate and comply with the agreement he had signed. This presented a serious problem for the Americans. First, Henke was not an ordinary submariner, and his merits and character could make him a leader among German prisoners in the hands of the Americans. Secondly, he was the second underwater ace with Oak Leaves to be captured. The first was the famous Otto Kretschmer, who fell into the hands of the British and became a big headache for them. He organized the trial of officers U 570, who surrendered their ship to the enemy. He actively prepared the escapees from the POW camps and established a coded connection with Dönitz in letters sent through the Red Cross. Having suffered with the rebellious underwater ace, the British transported him to Canada, but Kretschmer distinguished himself there, having arranged a massive hand-to-hand combat between prisoners and guards, which went down in history as the "Battle of Bowmanville".
The Americans understood that Henke could well be as much a cause of trouble for them as Kretschmer was for the British. Therefore, after the refusal of the commander of U 515 from his receipt, the investigators interrogating the German officer decided to intimidate the recalcitrant ace by handing him over to the British, announcing that the day had already been set for his dispatch to Canada. This led to disastrous consequences: Henke decided to avoid the English tribunal by committing suicide. He chose a rather unusual way to part with life.
Freshly fished out of the water, Werner Henke is surrounded by American sailors on the deck of the destroyer Chatelaine. He had just over two months to live
On the afternoon of June 15, 1944, in front of the guards of a prisoner of war camp (Fort Hunt, Virginia), Henke rushed to the wire fence and climbed it, not responding to the warning shouts of the sentries. When the submarine officer was already at the very top of the fence, one of the guards fired. Henke was seriously injured. The Americans tried to save his life, but the underwater ace died in the car on the way to the hospital.
The commander of U 515 died, unaware that the enemy was trying to exploit his delusions about the sunken liner. Even if he fell into the hands of the British, it is unlikely that the latter would have been able to legally charge him with a war crime, despite the great loss of life. The Keramik was a legitimate target for the sub, and machine guns were not fired at the boats. But people who knew Henke described him as a proud and determined man, and, apparently, he decided not to allow himself the dishonor of being hanged. So absurdly ended the life of one of the last real German underwater aces, whom his biographer Timothy Mulligan called the "Lone Wolf".
Literature:
- Hardy C. SS Ceramic: The Untold Story: Includes the Rescue of Sole - Central Publishing Ltd, 2006
- Gallery D. V. Twenty Million Tons Under the Sea - Henry Regnery Company, Chicago 1956
- Busch R., Roll H. J. German U-boat Commanders of World War II - Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1999
- Ritschel H. Kurzfassung Kriegstagesbuecher Deutscher U-Boote 1939-1945. Band 9. Norderstedt
- Werner G. Steel Coffins - Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf, 2001
- Wynn K. U-Boat Operations of the Second World War. Vol.1–2 - Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1998
- Blair C. Hitler's U-boat War. The Hunted, 1942–1945 - Random House, 1998
- http://historisches-marinearchiv.de
- http://www.uboat.net
- http://uboatarchive.net
- http://www.stengerhistorica.com
The role of submarines was highly appreciated by the Germans during the First World War. Despite the imperfection of the technical base, the design solutions of that time were the basis for the latest developments.
The main propagandist of submarines in the Third Reich was Admiral Karl Dönitz, an experienced submariner who distinguished himself in the battles of the First World War. Since 1935, with his direct participation, the German submarine fleet began its rebirth, soon turning into a strike fist of the Kriegsmarine.
By the beginning of World War II, the Reich submarine fleet consisted of only 57 units, which were subdivided into three displacement classes - large, medium and shuttle. However, Dönitz was not embarrassed by the number: he knew perfectly well the capabilities of the German shipyards, capable of increasing productivity at any time.
After Europe surrendered to Germany, England, in fact, remained the only force opposing the Reich. However, its capabilities largely depended on the supply of food, raw materials and weapons from the New World. Berlin understood perfectly well that block the sea routes, and England would find itself not only without material and technical resources, but also without reinforcements that had been mobilized in the British colonies.
However, the success of the Reich surface fleet in the release of Britain was temporary. In addition to the superior forces of the Royal Navy, the German ships were also opposed by British aircraft, before which they were powerless.
From now on, the German military leadership will rely on submarines, which are less vulnerable to aviation and able to approach the enemy unnoticed. But the main thing is that the construction of submarines cost the Reich budget an order of magnitude cheaper than the production of most surface ships, while fewer people were required to service the submarine.
Wolf Packs of the Third Reich
Dönitz became the founder of a new tactical scheme, according to which the German submarine fleet of World War II operated. This is the so-called concept of group attacks (Rudeltaktik), nicknamed by the British "wolf pack" (Wolfpack), in which submarines made a series of coordinated strikes against a previously designated target.
According to Dönitz's plan, groups of 6-10 submarines were to line up in a wide front in a line on the route of the intended route of the enemy convoy. As soon as one of the boats detected enemy ships, it began pursuit, while sending the coordinates and course of its movement to the headquarters of the submarine forces.
The attack by the combined forces of the "flock" was carried out at night from the surface position, when the silhouette of the submarines was practically indistinguishable. Considering that the speed of the submarines (15 knots) was replaced above the rate at which the convoy moved (7-9 knots), they had plenty of opportunities for tactical maneuver.
During the entire period of the war, about 250 "wolf packs" were formed, and the composition and number of ships in them were constantly changing. For example, in March 1943, British convoys HX-229 and SC-122 were attacked by a "flock" of 43 submarines.
Great advantages to the German submarine fleet were given by the use of "milk cows" - supply submarines of the XIV series, thanks to which the autonomy of the strike group during the campaign was significantly increased.
"Convoy battle"
Of the 57 German submarines, only 26 were suitable for operations in the Atlantic, however, this number was enough to sink 41 enemy ships with a total weight of 153,879 tons in September 1939. The first victims of the "wolf pack" were the British ships - the liner "Athenia" and the aircraft carrier "Koreyges". Another aircraft carrier - "Arc-Royal" - escaped a sad fate, as the torpedoes with magnetic fuses, launched by the German submarine U-39, detonated ahead of time.
Later, U-47, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Gunther Prien, infiltrated the British military base Scapa Flow and sank the battleship Royal Oak. These events forced the British government to remove aircraft carriers from the Atlantic and restrict the movement of other large warships.
The successes of the German submarine force forced Hitler, who until that time was skeptical of submarine warfare, to change his mind. The Fuhrer gave the go-ahead for the massive construction of submarines. Over the next 5 years, another 1108 submarines entered the Kriegsmarine.
1943 was the apogee of the German submarine fleet. During this period, 116 "packs of wolves" roamed the sea depths at a time. The greatest "convoy battle" took place in March 1943, when German submarines inflicted heavy damage on four Allied convoys: 38 ships with a total tonnage of 226,432 brt were sunk.
Chronic drunkards
On the shore, German submariners have earned a reputation for chronic drunkards. Indeed, returning from the raid every two or three months, they got drunk in a spray. However, this was probably the only measure that allowed to relieve that monstrous stress that accumulated during their stay under water.
Among these drunks were real aces. For example, the aforementioned Gunther Prien, on whose account 30 ships with a total displacement of 164,953 tons. He became the first German officer to be awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. However, the hero of the Reich was not destined to become the most productive German submariner: on March 7, 1941, his boat sank when attacked by an allied convoy.
As a result, the list of German submarine aces was headed by Otto Kretschmer, who destroyed 44 ships with a total displacement of 266 629 tons. He was followed by Wolfgang Lute with 43 ships with a displacement of 225,712 tons and Erich Topp, who sank 34 ships with a displacement of 193,684 tons.
The name of Captain Max-Martin Teichert stands apart in this row, who on his U-456 in April 1942 arranged a real hunt for the British cruiser Edinburgh, which transported 10 tons of Soviet gold from Murmansk as payment for Lend-Lease deliveries. Teichert, who died a year later, did not know what kind of cargo he had put to the bottom.
The end of success
During the entire period of the war, German submariners sank 2,603 \u200b\u200bAllied warships and transport ships with a total displacement of 13.5 million tons. Including 2 battleships, 6 aircraft carriers, 5 cruisers, 52 destroyers and more than 70 warships of other classes. More than 100 thousand military and merchant sailors of the allied fleet became victims of these attacks.
The most productive group of submarines is West. Its submarines attacked 10 convoys, sinking 33 ships with a total tonnage of 191,414 brt. This "wolf pack" lost only one submarine - U-110. True, the loss turned out to be very painful: it was here that the British found encryption materials for the Enigma naval code.
Even at the end of the war, realizing the inevitability of defeat, German shipyards continued to churn out submarines. However, more and more submarines did not return from missions. For comparison. If in 1940-1941 59 submarines were lost, then in 1943-1944 their number has already reached 513! During all the years of the war, the allied forces sank 789 German submarines, in which 32,000 sailors died.
Since May 1943, the effectiveness of the Allied submarines has increased markedly in connection with which Karl Dönitz was forced to withdraw the submarines from the North Atlantic. Attempts to return the "wolf packs" to their original lines were unsuccessful. Dönitz decided to wait for the commissioning of new series XXI submarines, but their production was delayed.
By this time, the Allies had concentrated in the Atlantic about 3,000 thousand combat and auxiliary ships and about 1,400 aircraft. Even before the landing in Normandy, they dealt a crushing blow to the German submarine fleet from which it no longer recovered.
English Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham said: “It takes the Navy three years to build a ship. It will take three hundred years to create a tradition. " The German navy, the enemy of the British at sea during both world wars, was very young and did not have that much time, but the German sailors tried to create their traditions in an accelerated way - for example, using the continuity of generations. A striking example of such a dynasty is the family of Admiral General Otto Schulze.
Otto Schultze was born on May 11, 1884 in Oldenburg (Lower Saxony). His career in the navy began in 1900, when, at the age of 16, Schulze was enlisted as a cadet by the Kaiserlichmarine. After completing his studies and training, Schulze was promoted to lieutenant zursee in September 1903 - at this time he served on the armored cruiser "Prince Heinrich" (SMS Prinz Heinrich). Schulze met World War I on board the dreadnought "König" (SMS König) with the rank of lieutenant commander. In May 1915, seduced by the prospect of serving on submarines, Schulze switched from the line fleet to the submarine, took courses at the submarine school in Kiel and received under his command the training submarine U 4. Already at the end of the same year he was appointed commander of the ocean boat U 63, which entered service with the German fleet on March 11, 1916.
Otto Schulze (1884-1966) and his middle son Heinz-Otto Schulze (1915-1943) - it can be seen that, in addition to his love for the sea, the father passed on to his sons a characteristic appearance. Father's nickname "Nose" was inherited by the eldest son Wolfgang Schulze
The decision to become a submariner was fateful for Schulze, as serving on submarines gave him much more in terms of career and fame than he could have achieved on surface ships. During the command of U 63 (03/11/1916 - 08/27/1917 and 10/15/1917 - 12/24/1917) Schulze achieved impressive success, sinking the British cruiser "Falmouth" (HMS Falmouth) and 53 ships with a total tonnage of 132,567 tons, and deservedly decorated his uniform with the most prestigious award in Germany - the Prussian Order of Merit (Pour le Mérite).
Among Schulze's victories is the sinking of the ex-liner Transylvania (14348 tons), which was used by the British Admiralty during the war as a troop transport. On the morning of May 4, 1917, the Transylvania, crossing from Marseille to Alexandria guarded by two Japanese destroyers, was torpedoed by U 63. The first torpedo hit the middle of the ship, and ten minutes later Schulze finished it off with a second torpedo. The sinking of the liner was accompanied by a large number of casualties - "Transylvania" was overflowing with people. On that day, in addition to the crew, there were 2,860 soldiers, 200 officers and 60 medical personnel on board. The next day, the Italian coast was littered with the bodies of the dead - U 63 torpedoes killed 412 people.
The British cruiser Falmouth was sunk by U 63 under the command of Otto Schulze on 20 August 1916. Before that, the ship was damaged by another German boat U 66 and was taken in tow. This explains the small number of victims during the sinking - only 11 sailors died.
After leaving the bridge U 63, Schulze until May 1918 headed the 1st flotilla of boats based on Pola (Austria-Hungary), combining this position with service at the headquarters of the commander of all submarine forces in the Mediterranean. The submarine ace met the end of the war with the rank of corvette captain, becoming the holder of many awards from Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey.
In the period between the wars, he held various staff and command positions, continuing to move up the career ladder: in April 1925 - frigatten captain, in January 1928 - captain zur See, in April 1931 - rear admiral. When Hitler came to power, Schulze was the commander of the North Sea Naval Station. The arrival of the Nazis did not affect his career in any way - in October 1934, Schulze became vice admiral, and two years later he received the rank of full admiral of the fleet. In October 1937, Schulze retired, but with the outbreak of World War II he returned to the Navy, and finally left the service on September 30, 1942 with the rank of admiral general. The veteran survived the war and died on January 22, 1966 in Hamburg at the age of 81.
Otto Schulze's sunk ocean liner Transylvania was the newest ship launched in 1914
The underwater ace had a large family. In 1909 he married Magda Raben, with whom six children were born - three girls and three boys. Of the daughters, only the youngest daughter, Rosemary, was able to overcome the age of two; her two sisters died in infancy. Fate was more favorable to the sons of Schulze: Wolfgang, Heinz-Otto and Rudolf, having reached adulthood, followed in their father's footsteps, joining the Navy and becoming submariners. Contrary to Russian fairy tales, in which traditionally "the eldest was a smart fellow, the middle one was this and that, the younger was a fool at all," the abilities of the sons of Admiral Schulze were distributed in a completely different way.
Wolfgang Schulze
On October 2, 1942, an American B-18 anti-submarine aircraft 15 miles off the coast of French Guiana noticed a submarine on the surface. The very first attack was successful, and the boat, which turned out to be U 512 (type IXC), after the explosion of bombs dropped from the plane disappeared under water, leaving an oil slick on the surface. The place where the submarine lay to the bottom turned out to be shallow, which gave the surviving submariners a chance to escape - the bow depth gauge showed 42 meters. About 15 people ended up in the bow torpedo compartment, which in such situations could serve as a refuge.
By the outbreak of World War II, the main American bomber, the Douglas B-18 Bolo, was obsolete and had been driven out of bomber units by the four-engined B-17. However, there was also something to do for the B-18 - more than 100 vehicles were equipped with search radars and magnetic anomalous detectors and transferred to anti-submarine service. In this capacity, their service was also short-lived, and the sunken U 512 became one of the few successes of the Bolo.
It was decided to go outside through torpedo tubes, but there were half as many breathing apparatus as there were people in the compartment. In addition, the room began to fill with chlorine, which was emitted by the batteries of electric torpedoes. As a result, only one submariner managed to rise to the surface - 24-year-old sailor Franz Machen (Franz Machen).
The crew of the B-18 submarine circling over the place of death noticed the escaped submariner and dropped the life raft. Mahen spent ten days on the raft before he was picked up by a US Navy ship. During his "solo voyage" the sailor was attacked by birds, which inflicted significant wounds on him with their beaks, but Mahen fought back the aggressors, and two winged predators were caught by him. Having torn the carcasses to pieces and dried them in the sun, the diver ate poultry meat, despite its nasty taste. On October 12, he was discovered by the US destroyer Ellis. Subsequently, while under interrogation at the US Navy Intelligence Department, Mahen gave a characterization to his deceased commander.
“According to the testimony of the only survivor, the crew of the submarine cruiser U 512 consisted of 49 sailors and officers. Its commander is Lieutenant Commander Wolfgang Schulze, the son of an admiral and a member of the "Nose" Schulze family, which has left a noticeable mark on German naval history. However, Wolfgang Schulze did little to match his famous ancestors. He did not enjoy the love and respect of his crew, who considered him a narcissistic, unrestrained, incompetent person. Schulze drank heavily on board and punished his people very severely for even the smallest violations of discipline. However, in addition to the drop in the crew's morale due to the constant and excessive tightening of the "screws" by the submarine commander, the Schulze crew was dissatisfied with his professional skills as a submarine commander. Believing that fate had prepared him to become the second Prien, Schulze commanded the boat with extreme recklessness. The rescued submariner stated that during the passage of U 512 tests and exercises, Schulze was always inclined to remain on the surface during training attacks from the air, repelling attacks by aircraft with anti-aircraft fire, while he could give an order to dive without warning his gunners, who, after leaving the boats remained in the water under water until Schulze floated up and picked them up. "
Of course, the opinion of one person may be too subjective, but if Wolfgang Schultze corresponded to the characteristic given to him, then he was very different from his father and brother Heinz-Otto. It is especially worth noting that for Wolfgang this was the first military campaign as a boat commander, in which he managed to sink three ships with a total tonnage of 20,619 tons. It is curious that Wolfgang inherited the nickname of his father, given to him during his service in the Navy - "Nose" (German. Nase). The origin of the nickname becomes obvious when looking at the photo - the old underwater ace had a large and expressive nose.
Heinz-Otto Schulze
If anyone really and could be proud of the father of the Schulze family, it was his middle son Heinz-Otto (Heinz-Otto Schultze). He came to the fleet four years later than the elder Wolfgang, but managed to achieve much greater success, comparable to the achievements of his father.
One of the reasons why this happened is the history of the brothers' service until the moment they were appointed commanders of combat submarines. Wolfgang, after receiving the rank of lieutenant in 1934, served on the coast and on surface ships - before being floated in April 1940, he was an officer of the battle cruiser Gneisenau for two years. After eight months of training and practice, the eldest of the Schulze brothers was appointed commander of the training boat U 17, which he commanded for ten months, after which he received the same position on U 512. Proceeding from the fact that Wolfgang Schulze had practically no combat experience and despised caution , his death in the first campaign is quite natural.
Heinz-Otto Schulze returned from the campaign. To the right of him, the flotilla commander and submarine ace Robert-Richard Zapp ( Robert-Richard Zapp), 1942
Unlike his older brother, Heinz-Otto Schulze deliberately followed in his father's footsteps and, becoming a lieutenant in the fleet in April 1937, immediately chose to serve in submarines. After completing his studies in March 1938, he was appointed officer of the watch on the U 31 (type VIIA), on which he met the beginning of the Second World War. The boat was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Johannes Habekost, with whom Schulze made four military campaigns. As a result of one of them on mines set by U 31, the British battleship Nelson was blown up and damaged.
In January 1940, Heinz-Otto Schulze was sent to a submarine commander's course, after which he commanded the training U 4, then became the first commander of the U 141, and in April 1941 he took over from the shipyard a brand new "seven" U 432 (type VIIC). Having received his own boat under his hand, Schulze showed excellent results in the very first cruise, sinking four ships of 10,778 tons during the battle of the "Margrave" group of boats with the SC-42 convoy on September 9-14, 1941. The commander of the submarine forces Karl Doenitz gave the following description of the actions of the young commander of U 432: "The commander was successful in his first campaign by showing persistence in attacking the convoy."
Subsequently, Heinz-Otto made six more military campaigns on U 432 and only once returned from the sea without triangular pennants on the periscope, with which the German submariners celebrated their successes. In July 1942, Doenitz awarded Schulze the Knight's Cross, believing that it had reached the 100,000 ton mark. This was not entirely true: the personal account of the commander of U 432 amounted to 20 sunk ships with 67,991 tons, two more ships with 15,666 tons were damaged (according to the website http://uboat.net). However, Heiz-Otto was in good standing with the command, was brave and decisive, while acting prudently and calmly, for which he was nicknamed by his colleagues "Mask" (German Maske).
The last moments of U 849 under the bombs of the American "Liberator" from the naval squadron VB-107
Definitely, when he was awarded with Doenitz, the fourth campaign of U 432 in February 1942 was also taken into account, with which Schulze confirmed the hope of the commander of the submarine forces that the VII series boats could successfully operate off the east coast of the United States together with the IX series submarine cruisers without refueling. On that cruise, Schulze spent 55 days at sea, sinking five ships by 25,107 tons during this time.
However, despite the obvious talent of a submariner, the second son of Admiral Schulze suffered the same fate as his older brother Wolfgang. Having received command of the new submarine U 849 type IXD2, Otto-Heinz Schulze died along with the submarine on the first cruise. On November 25, 1943, the American "Liberator" put an end to the fate of the boat and its entire crew off the east coast of Africa.
Rudolf Schulze
The youngest son of Admiral Schulze began service in the navy after the outbreak of the war, in December 1939, and not much is known about the details of his career in the Kriegsmarine. In February 1942, Rudolf Schultze was appointed to the post of watch officer of the U 608 submarine under the command of Lieutenant Lieutenant zur see Rolf Struckmeier. On it, he made four military trips to the Atlantic with the result of four sunk ships of 35,539 tons.
Former boat Rudolf Schulze U 2540 on display at the Naval Museum in Bremerhaven, Bremen, Germany
In August 1943, Rudolph was sent to training courses for submarine commanders and a month later became the commander of the training submarine U 61. At the end of 1944, Rudolph was appointed commander of the new "electric robot" XXI series U 2540, which he commanded until the end of the war. It is curious that this boat was sunk on May 4, 1945, but raised in 1957, restored and in 1960 included in the German Navy under the name "Wilhelm Bauer". In 1984 she was transferred to the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, where she is still used as a museum ship.
Rudolf Schulze was the only brother to survive the war and died in 2000 at the age of 78.
Other "underwater" dynasties
It should be noted that the Schulze family is no exception for the German fleet and its submarine - other dynasties are also known in history, when sons followed in the footsteps of their fathers, replacing them on submarine bridges.
Family Albrechtgave two submarine commanders to the First World War. Ober-Lieutenant zur see Werner Albrecht led the UC 10 submarine mine layer on his maiden voyage, which proved to be his last when the mine layer was torpedoed by the British submarine E54 on August 21, 1916. There were no survivors. Kurt Albrecht sequentially commanded four boats and repeated the fate of his brother - he died on U 32 along with the crew north-west of Malta on May 8, 1918, from depth charges of the British sloop HMS Wallflower.
The surviving sailors from the submarines U 386 and U 406 sunk by the British frigate "Spray" leave the ship in Liverpool - for them the war is over.
The Second World War involved two submarine commanders from the younger generation of the Albrechts. Rolf Heinrich Fritz Albrecht, commander of U 386 (Type VIIC), did not make any progress, but managed to survive the war. On February 19, 1944, his boat was sunk in the North Atlantic by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Spey. Part of the boat's crew, including the commander, was captured. The commander of the U 1062 torpedo carrier (type VIIF) Karl Albrecht was much less fortunate - he died on September 30, 1944 in the Atlantic along with a boat during the transition from Penang, Malay to France. Near Cape Verde, the boat was attacked with depth charges and sunk by the USS Fessenden.
Family Franzwas noted by one submarine commander in the First World War: Lieutenant Commander Adolf Franz (Adolf Franz) commanded boats U 47 and U 152, happily surviving until the end of the war. Two more boat commanders took part in World War II - Chief Lieutenant Zur See Johannes Franz, commander of U 27 (type VIIA), and Ludwig Franz, commander of U 362 (type VIIC).
The first of them, in a few days after the start of the war, managed to establish itself as an aggressive commander with all the makings of an underwater ace, but luck quickly turned away from Johannes Franz. His boat became the second German submarine sunk in World War II. After unsuccessfully attacking the British destroyers HMS Forester and HMS Fortune west of Scotland on September 20, 1939, she turned from a hunter herself into a prey. The commander of the boat, together with the crew, spent the entire war in captivity.
Ludwig Franz is interesting primarily because he was the commander of one of the German boats that became a confirmed victim of the USSR Navy in the Great Patriotic War. The submarine was sunk by depth charges of the Soviet minesweeper T-116 on September 5, 1944 in the Kara Sea along with the entire crew, without having time to achieve any success.
The armored cruiser Dupétis-Thuar was torpedoed by the U 62 under the command of Ernst Hasshagen on the evening of August 7, 1918 in the Brest region. The ship sank slowly, which made it possible for the crew to leave it in an organized manner - only 13 sailors died
Surname Hashagenin the First World War was represented by two successful commanders of submarines. Hinrich Hermann Hashagen, the commander of U 48 and U 22, survived the war, sinking 28 ships for 24,822 tons. Ernst Hashagen, commander of UB 21 and U 62, has achieved truly outstanding successes - 53 ships destroyed with 124 535 tons and two warships (the French armored cruiser Dupetit-Thouars and the British sloop Tulip (HMS Tulip)) and the well-deserved "Blue Max", as Pour le Mérite was called, on the neck. He left behind a book of memoirs called "U-Boote Westwarts!"
During World War II, Chief Lieutenant Zur See Berthold Hashagen, commander of the U 846 (type IXC / 40) submarine, was less fortunate. He died with a boat and crew in the Bay of Biscay on May 4, 1944, from bombs dropped by the Canadian Wellington.
Family Walthergave the fleet two submarine commanders in the First World War. Lieutenant Commander Hans Walther, commander of U 17 and U 52, sank 39 ships with 84,791 tonnes and three warships - the British light cruiser HMS Nottingham, the French battleship Suffren and the British submarine C34. Since 1917, Hans Walter commanded the famous Flanders submarine flotilla, in which many German submarine aces of the First World War fought, and ended his naval career in the Kriegsmarine with the rank of Rear Admiral.
The battleship Suffren was the victim of a U 52 submarine attack under the command of Hans Walter on November 26, 1916, off the coast of Portugal. After the explosion of the ammunition, the ship sank in seconds, killing all 648 crew members.
Chief Lieutenant zur see Franz Walther, commander of UB 21 and UB 75, sunk 20 ships (29,918 tons). He died along with the entire crew of the UB 75 on December 10, 1917 at a minefield near Scarborough (the west coast of Great Britain). Lieutenant zur zee, Herbert Walther, who commanded boat U 59 at the end of World War II, did not succeed, but managed to survive until the surrender of Germany.
Concluding the story about family dynasties in the German submarine fleet, I would like to note once again that the fleet is, first of all, not ships, but people. This applies not only to the German navy, but will also be true for the naval sailors of other countries.
List of sources and literature
- Gibson R., Prendergast M. German submarine war of 1914-1918. Per. With it. - Minsk .: "Harvest", 2002
- Wynn K. U-Boat Operations of the Second World War. Vol.1–2 - Annopolis: Naval Institute Press, 1998
- Busch R., Roll H.-J. German U-boat Commanders of World War II - Annopolis: Naval Institute Press, 1999
- Ritschel H. Kurzfassung Kriegstagesbuecher Deutscher U-Boote 1939-1945. Band 8. Norderstedt
- Blair C. Hitler "s U-boat War. The Hunters, 1939-1942 - Random House, 1996
- Blair C. Hitler's U-boat War. The Hunted, 1942–1945 - Random House, 1998
- http://www.uboat.net
- http://www.uboatarchive.net
- http://historisches-marinearchiv.de
Impassive statistics show that during the Second World War, the best submariners were German submariners. They sank 2,603 \u200b\u200bAllied warships and transport ships with a total displacement of 13.5 million tons. As a result, 70 thousand sailors and 30 thousand sailors of the merchant fleet were killed. The ratio of losses and victories, thus, was 1: 4 in favor of the German submarines. Soviet submariners, of course, could not boast of such successes, but they nevertheless delivered big trouble to the enemy. List of German submarine aces who sank ships with a total displacement of more than 100 thousand tons: 1. Otto Kretschmer - sank 44 ships, including 1 destroyer - 266,629 tons. 2. Wolfgang Lute - 43 ships, including 1 submarine, - 225,712 tons (according to other sources, 47 ships - 228981 tons). 3. Erich Topp - 34 ships, including 1 American destroyer, - 193,684 tons. 4. Herbert Schulze - 28 ships - 183432 tons (on his account the first of all ships officially sunk by German submarines - transport "Bosnia" - sunk on September 5, 1939). 5. Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock - 25 ships - 183,253 tons. 6. Karl-Friedrich Merten - 29 ships - 180,869 tons. 7. Heinrich Liebe - 31 ships - 167886 tons. 8. Gunther Prin - 30 ships, including the British battleship "Royal Oak", sunk by him on October 14, 1939 on the roadstead in the main naval base of the British fleet Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, - 164,953 tons. Gunther Prin became the first German officer to receive oak leaves for the Knight's Cross. An outstanding submariner of the Third Reich died very early - on March 8, 1941 (during the attack of a convoy en route from Liverpool to Halifax). 9. Joachim Schepke - 39 ships - 159,130 \u200b\u200btons. 10. Georg Lassen - 26 ships - 156082 tons. 11. Werner Henke - 24 ships - 155,714 tons. 12. Johan More - 27 ships, including a corvette and an air defense cruiser, - 129292 tons. 13. Engelbert Endras - 22 ships, including 2 cruisers, - 128,879 tons. 14. Reinhardt Hardegen - 23 ships - 119405 tons. 15. Werner Hartmann - 24 ships - 115,616 tons.
Also worthy of mention Albrecht Brandi who sunk a minelayer and a destroyer; Reinhardt Suren (95092 tons), which sank the corvette; Fritz Jujulius Lemp (68607 tons), which damaged the English battleship "Barham" and actually sank the first ship of all destroyed by the German submarine fleet - the passenger liner "Athenia" (this happened on September 3, 1939 and was not then recognized by the German side); Otto Schuhart (80688 tons), who sank the British aircraft carrier "Courageous" on September 17, 1939; Hans-Dietrich von Tiesenhausen , who sank the British battleship "Barham" on November 25, 1941.
Only five of Germany's best divers have sunk 174 combat and transport ships allies with a total displacement of 1 million 52 thousand 710 tons.
For comparison: Soviet submarine fleet had 212 submarines in combat by June 22, 1941 (54 submarines built during the war must be added to this). These forces (267 submarines) were sunk 157 enemy warships and transports - 462300 tons (meaning only confirmed data).
Losses of the Soviet submarine fleet amounted to 98 boats (of course, excluding 4 submarines lost by the Pacific Fleet). In 1941 - 34, in 1942 - 35, in 1943 - 19, in 1944 - 9, in 1945 - 1. The ratio of losses and victories is 1: 1.6 in favor of submarines.
The best submariner of the Soviet Navy Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko sunk 4 passenger and commercial vehicles with a total displacement of 42507 tons:
January 30, 1945 - passenger liner "Wilhelm Gustlov" - 25484 tons (on the S-13 submarine); February 10, 1945 - large transport ship "General von Steuben" - 14660 tons (on C-13); August 14, 1942 - transport ship Helene - 1800 tons (on M-96); October 9, 1944 - small transport "Siegfried" - 563 tons (on the C-13).
For the destruction of the liner "Wilhelm Gustlov" Alexander Marinesko "was honored" to be included in the list of personal enemies of the Fuhrer and Germany.
The sunken liner killed 3,700 non-commissioned officers - graduates of the diving school, 100 submarine commanders who completed a special advanced course in boat management with a single Walter system engine, 22 high-ranking party officials from East Prussia, several generals and senior officers of the RSHA, auxiliary service battalion Danzig port from the SS troops numbering 300 people, and only about 8000 people (!!!).
As after the surrender of the 6th Army of General-Field Marshal Paulus, mourning was declared in Germany in Stalingrad, and the execution of Hitler's plans to continue the total submarine war was seriously hampered.
For two outstanding victories in January-February 1945, all members of the Marinesco crew were awarded state awards, and submarine S-13 - Order of the Red Banner.
The legendary submariner himself, who fell into disgrace, was awarded his main award posthumously only in May 1990. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union 45 years after the end of the war.
Without a doubt, Alexander Marinesco deserved to have monuments erected not only in Russia, but also in Great Britain and the United States of America. His feat saved the lives of many thousands of British and American sailors and brought the hour of the Great Victory closer.
Captain 3rd rank Alexander Marinesko tops the list of Soviet submarine aces not in terms of the number of enemy ships destroyed, but in terms of the amount of their displacement and the amount of damage inflicted on Germany's military potential. He is followed by the following most successful divers:
2. Valentin Starikov (Lieutenant Commander, Submarine M-171, K-1 Commander, Northern Fleet) - 14 ships; 3. Ivan Travkin (captain 3rd rank, commander of the submarine Shch-303, K-52, Baltic Fleet) - 13 ships; 4. Nikolai Lunin (captain 3rd rank, commander of the submarine Shch-421, K-21, Northern Fleet) - 13 ships; 5. Magomed Gadzhiev (captain 2nd rank, submarine division commander, Northern Fleet) - 10 ships; 6. Grigory Shchedrin (captain 2nd rank, commander of the S-56 submarine, Northern Fleet) - 9 ships; 7. Samuel Bogorad (captain 3rd rank, commander of the submarine Shch-310, Baltic Fleet) - 7 ships; 8.Mikhail Kalinin (Lieutenant Commander, Submarine Shch-307 Commander, Baltic Fleet) - 6 ships; 9. Nikolay Mokhov (lieutenant commander, commander of the submarine Shch-317, Baltic Fleet) - 5 ships; 10. Evgeny Osipov (Lieutenant Commander, Submarine Shch-407 Commander, Baltic Fleet) - 5 ships.
IN United States Navy The greatest success was achieved by the crews of the submarine "Totog" - she sank 26 enemy warships and transports. In terms of displacement, the best result belongs to the crew of the submarine "Flasher" - 100,231 tons. But the most famous US submariner during the Second World War was Joseph Inright.
NewsInfo based on materials from the site "Russian submarine fleet"
Almost 70 years have passed since the Second World War died down, but even today we do not know everything about some episodes of its final stage. That is why, again and again in the press and literature, old stories about the mysterious submarines of the Third Reich that surfaced off the coast of Latin America come to life. Argentina turned out to be especially attractive to them.
There were reasons for such stories, real or fictional. Everyone knows the role of German submarines in the war at sea: 1,162 submarines left the stocks of Germany during the Second World War. But the German Navy could justly be proud of this record number of boats.
German submarines of that time were distinguished by the highest technical characteristics - speed, immersion depth, unsurpassed cruising range. It is no coincidence that the most massive Soviet submarines of the pre-war period (Series C) were built under a German license.
And when in July 1944 the German U-250 boat was sunk at a shallow depth in Vyborg Bay, the Soviet command demanded that the fleet raise it at any cost and deliver it to Kronstadt, which was done, despite the stubborn opposition of the enemy. And although the boats of the VII series, to which the U-250 belonged, in 1944 were no longer considered the last word in German technology, there were many novelties in its design for Soviet designers.
Suffice it to say that after its capture, a special order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Kuznetsov appeared to suspend the work begun on the project of a new submarine until a detailed study of the U-250. Later, many elements of the "German" were transferred to Soviet boats of Project 608, and later of Project 613, of which more than a hundred were built in the post-war years. The boats of the XXI series had especially high performance, one after the other going into the ocean since 1943.
Doubtful Neutrality
Argentina, having chosen neutrality in the world war, nevertheless took a clearly pro-German position. The large German diaspora was very influential in this southern country and provided all possible assistance to their belligerent compatriots. The Germans owned many industrial enterprises in Argentina, huge land holdings, and fishing vessels.
German submarines operating in the Atlantic regularly approached the shores of Argentina, where they were supplied with food, medicine and spare parts. Nazi submariners were accepted as heroes by the owners of German estates, scattered in large numbers along the Argentine coast. Eyewitnesses said that real feasts were held for bearded men in sea uniform - lamb and piglets were roasted, the best wines and barrels of beer were exhibited.
But the local press did not get any reports about it. It is no wonder that after the defeat of the Third Reich, it was in this country that many prominent Nazis and their henchmen, such as Eichmann, Priebke, sadistic doctor Mengele, the fascist dictator of Croatia Pavelic and others, found refuge and escaped from retaliation in this country.
It was rumored that they all ended up in South America aboard submarines, a special squadron of 35 submarines (the so-called "Fuehrer's Convoy") had a base in the Canaries. To this day, dubious versions have not been refuted that Adolf Hitler, Eva Braun and Bormann found salvation in the same way, as well as about the secret German colony New Swabia allegedly created with the help of the submarine fleet in Antarctica.
In August 1942, Brazil joined the belligerent countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, taking part in battles on land, in the air and at sea. She suffered the greatest loss when the war in Europe was already over, and in the Pacific it was burning down. On July 4, 1945, the Brazilian cruiser Baia exploded 900 miles from its native shores and almost instantly went to the bottom. Most experts believe that his death (along with 330 crew members) was the work of German submariners.
A SWASTIKA ON THE HEAD?
After waiting out the troubled times, making good money on supplies to both warring coalitions, at the very end of the war, when its end was clear to everyone, on March 27, 1945, Argentina declared war on Germany. But after that the flow of German boats, it seems, only increased. Dozens of residents of coastal villages, as well as fishermen in the sea, according to them, more than once observed submarines on the surface, almost in wake formation moving in a southerly direction.
The most keen eyewitnesses even saw a swastika on their deckhouses, which, by the way, the Germans never put on the deckhouses of their boats. Coastal waters and coasts of Argentina were now patrolled by the army and navy. There is an episode when in June 1945, in the vicinity of the city of Mardel Plata, a patrol stumbled upon a cave in which various products were in sealed packaging. Who they were intended for remained unclear. It is also difficult to understand where this endless stream of submarines allegedly observed by the population after May 1945 came from.
Indeed, as early as April 30, the commander-in-chief of the German Navy, Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, ordered the operation "Rainbow", during which all the remaining submarines of the Reich (several hundred) were subject to sinking. It is quite realistic that the commander-in-chief's directive did not reach some of these ships, which were in the ocean or in ports of different countries, and some crews simply refused to carry it out.
Historians agree that in most cases for the submarines observed in the ocean, various boats dangling on the waves, including fishing ones, were taken, or eyewitness reports were simply a figment of their imagination against the background of general hysteria in anticipation of a retaliatory strike from Germany.
CAPTAIN CHINZANO
Still, at least two German submarines turned out to be not phantoms, but quite real ships with live crews on board. They were U-530 and U-977, which entered the port of Mardel Plata in the summer of 1945 and surrendered to the Argentine authorities. When an Argentine officer boarded U-530 in the early morning of July 10, he saw the crew lined up on the deck and their commander, a very young lieutenant, who introduced himself as Otto Vermouth (later the Argentine sailors called him Captain Cinzano) and stated that U- 530 and her team of 54 people surrender to the mercy of the Argentine authorities.
After that, the submarine's flag was lowered and handed over to the Argentine authorities along with the crew list.
A group of officers from the Mardel Plata naval base, which examined U-530, noted that the submarine did not have a deck cannon and two anti-aircraft machine guns (they were dropped into the sea before surrender), as well as not a single torpedo. All ship's documents were destroyed, as was the encryption machine. The absence of an inflatable rescue boat on the submarine was especially noted, which suggested that it was not used for landing some Nazi leaders (possibly Hitler himself).
During interrogations, Otto Vermouth said that U-530 left Kiel in February, hid in the Norwegian fjords for 10 days, then cruised along the US coast, and on April 24 moved south. Otto Vermouth could not give any intelligible explanations about the absence of the bot. A search for the missing bot was organized with the involvement of ships, aircraft and marines, but they did not give any results. On July 21, the ships participating in this operation were ordered to return to their bases. From that moment on, no one looked for German submarines in the waters of Argentina.
THE TALE OF THE PIRATE
Concluding the story about the adventures of German submarines in the southern seas, one cannot fail to mention a certain corvette captain Paul von Rettel, who, thanks to journalists, became widely known as the commander of the U-2670. He, allegedly being in the Atlantic in May 1945, refused to sink his submarine or surrender and simply began to pirate off the coast of Africa and Southeast Asia. The newly-minted filibuster seemed to have amassed a huge fortune for himself. He replenished fuel for his diesels, water and food at the expense of his victims.
He practically did not use weapons, since few people dared to resist his formidable submarine. How this story ended is unknown to journalists. But it is known for certain that the submarine numbered U-2670 was not included in the German fleet, and von Rettel himself was not on the list of commanders. So, to the disappointment of lovers of sea romance, his story turned out to be a newspaper duck.
Constantin RICHES