by Dick Cole (204-A-1986)
"U-BOAT 977" by Schaeffer, Heinz Hardbound edition first published by Norton, New York in 1952 containing 260 pages, no photographs.
This book is a translation of a book by the captain of U-977, the boat that arrived in Argentina several months after Germany had surrendered. Written shortly after the war, this book has been the subject of much discussion. Schaeffer tells the story of his complete wartime career, but doesn't provide many names, dates or boat identities until he assumed command of U-977 late in the war. He relates more in detail his controversial trip to Argentina, during which he says the boat was submerged for 66 consecutive days. He denies the claim (which continues to this day) that the boat was involved in any sort of special mission transporting Hitler, Hitler's body, Martin Bormann, NAZI relics, treasure etc. to Antarctica or Argentina. Copies of this book should be easy to find, and it is a 'must' for anyone studying the special missions theory.. (HARRY'S NOTE - In my opinion, this story was a deliberate piece of disinformation by Schaeffer. He was known by ERNST SCHMIDT (10-1983) and according to a conversation I had with ERNST many years ago, Schaeffer became an executive with Volkswagen of Argentina after the War. I had tried to locate Heinz Schaeffer several times, but each time his death was reported, we learned that he really was alive, but planted a false story to protect his privacy. I guess that Schaeffer may be dead by now, but am not entirely convinced. Reading our INTELLIGENCE PAGE, you will see how this voyage of U-977 is more and more suspect. U-977 was not the only boat to head for ports around the globe after the end of the War. U-530 under OTTO WERMUTH (1344-1990) came into the same town in Argentine as did U-977, but U-530 arrived there a week or so earlier. We know of another boat that was fully provisioned and fueled for a trip to depart Norway on 10 May, 1945 with Tahiti as her destination. This boat did not depart, as the Skipper nixed the plan. Keep reading our INTELLIGENCE PAGE and you will see how the port used by U-530 and U-977 after the War was not unknown to Germany DURING the War. Why wait for all 119 BOOK REVIEWS to come out in our KTB Magazine? Just send a donation of $25 or more to our COMPUTER FUND and request DICK'S BOOK REVIEWS and you'll receive the complete listing. Back to KTB #111 Table of Contents Back to KTB List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by Harry Cooper, Sharkhunters International, Inc. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com Sharkhunters International, Inc., PO Box 1539, Hernando, FL 34442, ph: 352-637-2917, fax: 352-637-6289, e-m: sharkhunters@hitter.net |