C-13

The sinking of the passenger liner WILHELM GUSTLOFF was a great propaganda coup for the Soviet Union when their submarine C-13 sank this ship. And today, there is no less value placed on the sinking of this ship by various museums in Russia. In one such museum, the Curator himself told us that all 6,000 who perished on that ship the end of January, 1945 were “seasoned U-Boat crews” and so their loss was equal to the loss of 100 combat U-Boats. Those who know anything about this history knew that this was an overexaggeration but Dr. ERWIN SCHATZ (1629-LIFE-1990) took the time to send the accurate number of Kriegsmarine personnel who perished on the WILHELM GUSTLOFF.

918 Kriegsmarine officers and men, mostly from the 2nd ULD (the 2nd U-Boot-LehrDivision or 2nd Submarine Training Division. This is the same group that RITA CLARE (1571-A-1990) served with and although she was not on the GUSTLOFF, two of her girlfriends were - and one of them is still aboard!

173 Merchant Navy crewmen
373 Marinehelferinnen (women assistants on service in the KM)
162 badly wounded soldiers
4,424 refugees; mostly women and children
1 dog named ‘HASSAN’

That is a total of 5,877 people who were lost in the sinking of the GUSTLOFF - and very few qualified U-Boat officers or crewmen. So the thought that 6,000 trained U-Bootfahrer were lost or that 100 combat U-Boat crews were lost is so much propaganda. Now that the war is long since gone, perhaps these museums should work with accurate numbers - but my guess is they will not.

As an aside, paintings of the sinking of the GUSTLOFF shows swastikas on the funnels. As Dr. SCHATZ points out, there were none on this ship as it was a passenger liner, not a military ship.

Go to Jail - Go Directly to Jail Do Not Pass Go
Do Not Salvage that SBD-3

That is pretty much the gist of a newspaper article sent by JAY SORCI (1101-A-1989). A man named Peter Theopanis in an aircraft salvager and he, like so many others, was aware that the bottom of Lake Michigan is littered with the wrecks of military aircraft. During the war years, many pilots took carrier training there, landing on an old converted freighter turned carrier - many dropped their planes into the cold, fresh water of Lake Michigan and it was that very same cold, fresh water that preserved these old wrecks so well.

So, according to the article in the Chicago TRIBUNE, Peter went off to the lake to raise this dive bomber. It was while he was doing contract work for the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida that Peter located this wreck. His job with the Museum, according to an assistant U.S. Attorney, was to locate such wrecks and report back to the Museum. Instead, according to the newspaper article, he salvaged the plane and took it away.

In effect, according to assistant U.S. Attorney Toi Denise Hammond - he stole Government property. Yep, this plane which had lain at the bottom of Lake Michigan for more than fifty years and which the Government had absolutely no plans to raise and restore - is called ‘Stolen Government Property’. If convicted, Theopanis could face a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000 - a quarter of a million dollars! All for salvaging an old World War II wreck the Government didn’t even remember.

We do not mean to comment on the right or the wrong of the situation, but perhaps our Government could find something better to do with its resources. As JAY puts it in the note he included: “What a waste of taxpayers’ money. No wonder we can’t balance the budget.”

USS COBIA to Dry Dock

According to a note received from ROLAND LICHTER (3981-1994), USS COBIA is going from the Submarine Museum in Manitowoc into dry dock at Sturgeon Bay (Wisconsin).

The money for this repair work comes from a state grant. Here is an instance where Government money is well-spent, and we congratulate the state of Wisconsin for their good judgment.

U-44 and UC-44

LCDR JOHN McCARTHY (2751-1993) writes:

“In KTB #112, RON HICKOX (3145-1993) made inquiries re: U-44 (WW I). There were two German submarines that had the hull number 44: U-44 (Wagenfuhr, Captain) and UC-44 (Kurt Tebbenjohann, Captain). Both vessels were sunk in August 1917. U-44 went down on 12 August, 1917 with all hands in 137 fathoms of water. HMS ORACLE was credited. UC-44 was sunk on 4 August, 1917 after being struck by a mine off Waterford, England. KPLT Tebbenjohann was captured. UC-44’s hull was salved and provided the Admiralty with much unexpected food for thought. The bottom line however, appears that neither boat achieved much of a record.”

Buchheim Museum?

MAJOR LOU MARI (536-1988) sent an interesting clipping from the California Stats Zeitung (the California State Newspaper in German) which has an interesting story. It appears there will be a Buchheim Museum in Bavaria. Why is this news, you ask?

Lothar-Günther Buchheim was a sketch artist and photographer with the PK (Propaganda Kompanie) during the war. I have seen some of his sketches and they are quite good. He reportedly kept many thousand photographs from the war years as well. And he wrote the book ‘DAS BOOT’ which became a movie! He also wrote a follow-up book, the title translates something like “Victorious Until Death” or “Winning Until You are Killed” which reportedly was a slap in the face to the memory of GrossAdmiral Karl Dönitz.

As one might imagine, Lothar-Günther Buchheim is not well liked by many U-Bootfahrer. He is disliked by many, despised by others - even hated by some. This will be a controversial museum.