When it was first published in 1953, opinions were sharply divided between those who deplored the apparent extolling of a vicious form of warfare, and this who found in Heinz Schaeffer’s account a revealing picture of the German Navy’s training and methods. U-Boat 977 was the German submarine that escaped to Argentina at the end of World War Two. This epic journey started from Bergen in Norway, where in April 1945 it was temporarily based, and took three and a half months to complete. Because of the continuing Allied naval activity the commander decided to make the first part of the journey underwater. Before surfacing near the west coast of Africa U-977 had spent a remarkable sixty-six days submerged. Heinz Schaeffer, the commander of U-977 wrote a full account of his career that culminated in this last command. It depicts the grueling aspects of a submariner’s life aboard a vessel that was subjected to harsh conditions of the sea and oceans. As an experienced commander Schaeffer took part in many of the decisive U-boat operations in the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. In the final months of the war, and in common with most surviving U-boat commanders, Schaeffer and his crew came under constant attacks from Allied aircraft and surface ships. The final part of U-Boat 977 is Schaeffer’s account of the journey to Argentina and lays to rest some of the more fanciful sorties that followed its arrival.
This is the story of U-977, the German submarine that escaped to Argentina at the end of World War II. Before surfacing near the west coast of Africa, the vessel had spent a remarkable sixty-six days submerged. When it was first published in 1953, opinions were sharply divided between those who deplored the apparent extolling of a vicious form of warfare, and those who found Heinz Schaeffer's account a revealing picture of the German navy's training and methods. The author depicts the grueling aspects of a submariner's life. In the final months of the war, Schaeffer and his crew came under constant attacks from Allied aircraft and surface ships.
This unique account charts the complete story of a single U-boat patrol through the summer of 1942 based around a remarkable collection of photographs that were 'liberated' from a concrete U-boat pen in Brest at the end of the war and which had, until recently, remained hidden in a shoe box. The boat in question, U-564, carried the famous three black cat motif of Reinhard 'Teddy' Suhren who, along with Prien and Kretschmer, was one of the top U-boat commanders during the battles of the Atlantic. This remarkable book provides unique access into both the day-to-day life of a U-boat at sea and into the detailed workings of the Kriegsmarine. Through the successes and trials of U-564 the reader is transported to that vast and watery battlefield that was perhaps the most significant theater of the Second World War.
An exceptional figure in the history of the German Navy, Wolfgang Luth was one of only seven men in the Wehrmacht to win Germany's highest combat decoration, the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds. At one time or another he operated in almost every theater of the undersea war, from Norway to the Indian Ocean, and became the second most successful German U-boat ace in World War II, sinking more than 220,000 tons of merchant shipping. A master in the art of military leadership, Luth was the youngest man to be appointed to the rank of captain and the youngest to become commandant of the German Naval Academy. Nevertheless, his accomplishments were overshadowed by those of other great aces, such as Prien, Kretschmer, and Topp. The publication of this book in hardcover in 1990 marked the first comprehensive study of Luth's life. Jordan Vause corrects the long neglect by providing an entertaining and authoritative biography that places the ace in the context of the war at sea. This new paperback edition includes corrections and additional information collected by the author over the past decade.
Details the service records of some 1,400 officers of the German Kriegsmarine known to have commanded a U-boat between the commissioning of U-1 in June 1935, and the final surrender of U-977 to Argentina in August 1945.
The story of the German submarine U-505 and its dramatic capture by the US Navy during WWII—told by one of its crewmen. Hans Goebeler is known as the man who “pulled the plug” on U-505 in 1944 to keep his beloved U-boat out of Allied hands. Steel Boat, Iron Hearts is his no-holds-barred account of service aboard a combat U-boat. It is the only full-length memoir of its kind, and Goebeler was aboard for every one of U-505’s war patrols. Using his own experiences, log books, and correspondence with other U-boat crewmen, Goebeler offers rich and very personal details about what life was like in the German Navy under Hitler. Because his first and last posting was to U-505, Goebeler’s perspective of the crew, commanders, and war patrols paints a vivid and complete portrait unlike any other to come out of the Kriegsmarine. He witnessed it all: from deadly sabotage efforts that almost sunk the boat to the tragic suicide of the only U-boat commander who took his life during WWII; from the terror and exhilaration of hunting the enemy to the seedy brothels of France. The vivid, honest, and smooth-flowing prose calls it like it was and pulls no punches. U-505 was captured by Captain Dan Gallery’s Guadalcanal Task Group 22.3 on June 4, 1944. Trapped by this “Hunter-Killer” group, U-505 was depth-charged to the surface, strafed by machine gun fire, and boarded. It was the first enemy ship captured at sea since the War of 1812. Today, hundreds of thousands of visitors tour U-505 each year at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Includes photos and a special Introduction by Keith Gill, Curator of U-505, Museum of Science and Industry
Reinhard ‘Teddy’ Suhren fired more successful torpedo shots than any other man during the war, many before he even became a U-boat commander. He was also the U-boat service’s most irreverent and rebellious commander; his lack of a military bearing was a constant source of friction with higher authority. Valued for his good humour and ability to lead, his nickname was acquired because he marched like a teddy-bear. Despite his refusal to conform to the rigid thought-patterns of National Socialism, his operational successes protected him, and he found himself accepted in the highest circles of power in Germany. He was one of the lucky third of all U-boat crewmen who survived the war, largely because his abilities led to a senior land-based command. He was also one of the first to publish his reminiscences, his account being typically forthright – its German title, Nasses Eichenlaub, suggesting that although he was decorated with the Oak Leaves, he was always in hot water. He died in 1984 but interest in his career was revitalized by the discovery of photographs documenting one of his operations in U 564, published with great success in 2004 as U-Boat War Patrol by Lawrence Patterson.
Secrets of the Third Reich's Base in Antarctica A remarkable event occurred in 1999, but only specialists paid adequate attention to it. A research expedition discovered a virus in Antarctica; at that, neither people nor animals had immunity to the virus. After all, Antarctica is far away, for this very reason the virus cannot be dangerous for the rest of the planet, especially the dangerous discovery was deep in the permafrost. However, scientists say that against the background of a global warming threatening the Earth, the unknown virus can cause an awful catastrophe on the planet. Expert Tom Starmerue from the University of New York also shares the pessimistic forecasts of his colleagues. "We don't know what the mankind will face in the South Pole in the nearest time due to the global warming. It is not ruled out that an unbelievable catastrophe may break out. Viruses protected with a protein cover survive even in the permafrost; as soon as the temperature gets warmer they will immediately start reproducing." American scientists treated the Antarctica discovery very seriously and even organized a special expedition that currently tests the ice for unknown viruses in order to develop an antidote in good time. What is the source of the virus in Antarctica where only penguins can survive in the ice? There is no answer to the question, specialists are at a loss. However, several theories concerning the problem have been put forward. We would like to touch upon the most interesting of them. A majority of scientists are inclined to believe that prehistoric forms of life probably survived in the permafrost. There are more versions that are interesting and sometimes quite unusual. Some specialists blame bonzes of the Third Reich for delivery of a secretly developed bacteriological weapon to Antarctica. And this theory arose not in a vacuum. It is known that already in 1938 Nazis suddenly became interested in Antarctica, they organized two expeditions to the area in 1938-1939. At first, planes of the Third Reich took detailed pictures of unexplored territories and then they dropped several thousands of metal pennons with swastika there. The whole of the explored territory was called Neuschwabenland and was considered a part of the Third Reich. After the expedition, Captain Ritscher reported to Field-Marshal Hering: "The planes dropped the pennons each 25 kilometers; we covered the area of about 8.600 thousand square meters. 350 thousand square meters of them were photographed." In 1943, Grand Admiral Karl Donitz dropped a remarkable phrase: "Germany's submarine fleet is proud that it created an unassailable fortress for the Fuhrer on the other end of the world." Submarines were mostly used for transportation of necessary freight to the place. The submarines also received passengers whose faces were hidden behind surgical bands. Wilhelm Bernhard was commander of one of the submarines, U-530; the submarine left the port of Kiel on April 13, 1945. When it reached the shores of Antarctica, 16 members from the crew built an ice cave and put boxes into the cave; it was allegedly said that the boxes contained relics of the Third Reich, including Hitler's documents and personal stuff. The operation was code named Valkyrie-2. When the operation was over on July 10, 1945, the submarine U-530 entered the Argentinean port of Mar-del-Plata and surrendered to the authorities. It is also supposed that another submarine from the formation, U-977, under the command of Heinz Scheffer, delivered the remains of Hitler and Braun to Neuschwabenland. It followed the route of the U-530 submarine and called at Antarctica. The sub arrived in Mar-del-Plata on Aug. 17, 1945.
The inside story of life aboard the deadly Nazi U-Boat that sank forty-nine ships. The history of one of World War II’s most successful submarines, U-124, is chronicled in Grey Wolf, Grey Sea, from its few defeats to a legion of victories. Kapitanleutnant Jochen Mohr commanded his German submarine and navigated it through the treacherous waters of one of the most destructive, savage wars the world has known.
