Peter Hansen (251-LIFE-1987) spent time working for the ABWEHR (the German Secret Service) during World War II and he has information that is known to a mere handful of people. He gives this secret information exclusively to SHARKHUNTERS. Here he tells us:

Whilst most people calculated that Italian submarines or in some cases mines laid by Italian submarines, were in most cases responsible for the occurrences (sinking of Spanish ships in 1936) some people also suspected that RED Spanish submarines or torpedoboats were originators of these incidents! Unquestionably, this was largely the case in most cases, but certainly not all of them.

The operational situation in the fall of 1936 was such: The Spanish government had twelve submarines of different types. Four of them were lost to various causes in 1936. The Italian Navy handed over two Italian submarines to Franco's command during April of 1937, but they were not operationally effective for some time due to lack of experienced crews.

(HARRY'S NOTE - remember these two Italian submarines in Spanish service. They will be mentioned again on the Intelligence Page regarding their possible service AFTER the War.)

The International Commission to police Spanish waters and to control and, if possible, to prevent war material to reach either of the two parties, was established in February 1937 which called for surface fleet patrols along specific sections of the Spanish coast. By and large, the French and British patrolled along the Franco controlled sections and the Italians and Germans along the Republican controlled coast; that is along the Basque section of Northern Spain, and along the Mediterranean sea coasts largely.

Even though the majority of German troops assigned to the LEGION CONDOR, who traveled in civilian clothing as 'tourists' to reach Spain, were Luftwaffe units, both FLAK as well as plane crews who were rotated after six months of front experience. All together, about 17,000 men served this way on Franco Spain's side, including some Army and Tank units with new or experimental equipment but also a small Kriegsmarine unit under the code name of GRUPPE NORDSEE with technical and communications specialists including some B-Dienst radio tracking people to watch the British fleet units and work on their codes.

Mussolini shipped four infantry divisions and also air force units to Franco while the French 'Popular Front' government shipped munitions and weapons across the land border with Spain in large quantities. In addition, the International Communist Parties organized transportation channels to furnish the official Spanish Government over 37,000 volunteers who fought in the so-called International Brigades, most of them not only fanatic Communists, but also experienced fighters from the First World War period.

In addition, Sowjet Russia had at least 3,000 'technical advisors' and commisars in Spain and furnished likewise huge amounts of equipment and weapons that were mostly shipped on Sowjet flag ships through the Dardanelles to Spanish ports.

All this in exchange for the Spanish Treasury's gold!

All major European countries had dispatched warships into Spanish waters already in the late summer of 1936, primarily to rescue and assist their respective nationals that became marooned in Spain where they had arrived either as tourists before the rebellion started, or otherwise lived as business people or were assigned in diplomatic and consular missions.

From that summer of 1936 until the spring of 1939, Germany had at various times and on rotation basis officially twelve torpedo boats operating in Spanish waters, six light cruisers and all three of its pocket battleships also then known as PANZERSCHIFFE. Some of these 'security control' ships were attacked, either by bombing aircraft or with torpedoes by these 'unknown' submarines.

The light cruiser LEIPZIG (top photo) was thus attacked by 4 torpedo boats! Whilst the light cruiser NüRNBERG (bottom photo) was attacked several times at different periods, but not hit. The pocket battleship DEUTSCHLAND was bombed while anchored off the island of Ibiza by two Spanish Republican aircraft of Russian make, and 31 men of its crew killed plus 83 wounded in this attack.

But were there any U-Boats on operational patrol in Spanish waters also? Officially four boats of the Second Flotilla patrolled off the northwestern coast of Spain as assigned by the Control Commission and identified as German - but in fact, altogether 14 different U-Boats operated at different times between 1936 and the summer of 1939 in waters around the Iberian peninsula, several of them on 2 or even more separate patrols including U-33 and U-34, mostly clandestinely with painted over numbers and identity signs frequently showing flags of 'convenience' and actually in many cases, the British Flag! Several operated in those control zones assigned to either the British or French naval forces covertly.

German naval attaches in Madrid and London, and individual U-Boat captains in official function positions were respectively warned by Royal Navy officers that England would consider a secret passage through the Straits of Gibraltar as an unfriendly, if not hostile, act because the Control Commission agreement called for application in advance to get permission to travel through the Straits of Gibraltar by all warships except those under British or Commonwealth flags.

Apparently the OKM in Berlin interpreted this to mean surface warships that could not dive and pass through the Straits of Gibraltar dived and unseen underwater or concealed at night on the surface even.

A certain faction at the OKM and the Fleet Command wanted to test the new electric trackless torpedoes and sonar type of equipment under operational conditions and pointed out that the new U-Boat Force needed long distance operational experience badly. However, Erich Raeder vetoed and blocked these requests. One must also remember in this connection that from 1935 to 1939, Kapitän Karl Dönitz, the FdU (Commander of U-Boats) was directly subordinate to the Fleet Commander and not as other ships to either the Northsea Command or the Baltic Sea Command, thus operating rather independently and detached from other naval forces AND ENVELOPED IN A HEAVY SCREEN OF SECRECY!

Once a number of German ships were operating in Spanish waters, a special command under another admiral was created to control and supervise their activities. As is customary in all navies, such admirals were periodically shifted around amongst various assignments and positions but mostly the following admirals were primarily involved with operations in Spanish waters either directly or indirectly: Hermann Behm, Wilhelm Marshall, Otto Ciliax, Richard Förster, Hermann von Fischel and of course, Erich Raeder. But it was virtually impossible lateron whose brainchild Operation 'URSULA' was. Nevertheless one can't overlook the fact that Kapitän Karl Dönitz was during the entire period, in command of all U-Boats, both those in training as well as those that were considered operational already.

Perhaps if the 'hotheads' had prevailed and a more thorough testing of the new torpedoes had taken place under operational conditions rather than only under torpedo testing command 'swimming pool' conditions, the torpedo disaster of the Second World War could have been prevented or at least minimized, particularly the one during the Norwegian Campaign! But this was not to be the case, alas! Amongst the U-Boats that operated in Spanish waters were TYPE II boat U-14; TYPE I-A boat U-25; and TYPE VII-A boats U-28, U-33, U-34 and U-35.

More Peter's Page: Ursula

German Subs in Spanish Civil War (#111)
German Subs in Spanish Civil War (#112)
German Subs in Spanish Civil War (#113)
German Subs in Spanish Civil War (#114)
German Subs in Spanish Civil War (#115)
German Subs in Spanish Civil War (#116)