This is an audiotaped interview with OTTO KRETSCHMER (122-LIFE-1985) done with STEVE AMES (2331-1992) during the 1993 SHARKHUNTERS Convention in Chicago at a surprise birthday party for Mrs. Kretschmer. This tape was transcribed by HELEN FARRELL (1133-1989).

I joined the German Navy in 1930 and became an officer in 1934. When the German - British Naval Agreement was made in 1935, I was Second Torpedo Officer in the Cruiser KÖLN. This meant that before I was Gunnery Officer, I was a Torpedo Weapons Officer.

I had an opportunity to have a job in small ships - torpedo boats, destroyers or submarines, which could be built after the British - German Agreement on 1935. But, of course, I had to join the Submarine School from which I was appointed First Lieutenant in a submarine of the 1st Submarine Flotilla in Wilhelmshaven, made of TYPE VII and TYPE IX boats.

I was 1st Lieutenant in U-35 (TYPE VII-A) which had to go to Spanish Waters in the International Non-Intervention Forces, composed all European countries which had the task of seeing to it that there was no outside interference during the Spanish Civil War.

Returning to Germany in 1937, I became Commanding Officer of U-23 (TYPE II-A) and two years later, when the war started, I was still in command of that boat and after two years of training, I was ready for combat.

About July of 1939, there were submarine exercises in the Baltic Sea, down from the Gulf of Finland to the German Baltic coast. Afterward, there was a critique held by the C in C of the German Navy, Admiral Raeder in Swinemünde, at the mouth of the River Oder. Now, after the critique, there was a reception held for the officers at which Admiral Raeder talked about politics and what was expected to become of the Navy. Also of the German-British Naval Agreement of 1935, and also of the Agreement of 1936 which stipulated the form to be used in submarine warfare.

Now, during these talks, Admiral Raeder was open for questions, one of which was - ‘Would there be a war?’

He answered that this was a good question, and one that he had put to Hitler, the C in C of the German Armed forces. In addition, he told the Führer that if such a development should take place, that he (Hitler) should bear in mind that neither the Navy in any case, and equally, all of the other armed forces, were ready for war.

Hitler had answered ‘There will be no war against Britain and France.’

Also, remember war games in the thirties never had Great Britain as an enemy. France maybe - even Russia maybe - or Poland maybe .... never Britain. Also, we knew that Hitler himself was an Anglophile who had also offered to the British Government, that Germany would have forces prepared to assist the British Government in defending the British Empire.

Now, some time later, my Flotilla (the WEDDIGEN Flotilla) had been in Swedish waters where we had been told by the Swedes that in London, trenches would be dug against air forces attacks from the outside etc and that there would come a war, and we would be inflicted with war.

We replied that we did not know anything about it. But, coming back to the Baltic port of Memel, we were recalled to our home port (Kiel) for mobilization. We took on live torpedoes, and the Flotilla headed for assigned stations in the North Sea.

We were not particularly afraid, because we knew that there would be no war against Britain or France. It would be like a year ago or before that, which was followed by Munich. The Munich Agreement was just a gesture.

Being at sea, we were informed by the Commander in Chief of our navy, that Britain and France had declared war. There was of course, fighting in Poland. Admiral Raeder’s order of the day read:

THE NAVY WAS NOT PREPARED BUT NEVERTHELESS, THE FLEET WILL HAVE TO FIGHT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE GERMAN TRADITION OF FIGHTING TO THE LAST SHELL AND TORPEDO, AND TO SINK WITH FLYING COLORS

So, that was what we were to carry out. Submarines were to fight in accordance with the terms of the German-British Agreement of 1936, which meant PRIZE WARFARE, and the exercising of the right of visit and search, followed by the question of how to dispose of a ship’s cargo that was contraband when there was no chance of getting a ship into a German port such as in the Atlantic and far north - - not very probable.

Also it didn’t work because very soon, the British armed all their merchant ship using naval gun crews to man the ship’s guns who in turn, immediately attacked us.

So the Prize Rules were simply unenforceable. In addition, the British would broadcast our position for the whole world to hear.

Therefore, the rule of search and seizure was no more and we were told that if we met armed merchant ships, we could regard them as warships.

Of course, in the opening days of the war, the sinking of the (British) passenger liner ATHENIA, with a heavy loss of life, caused outrage world wide even though it was not really the fault of the submarine (U-30 TYPE VII-A) inasmuch as the ATHENIA was running blacked out at night, and zig-zagging like a warship. So, she could be attacked. But after that, the world’s mass media objected so strongly that we were immediately ordered not to attack any passenger vessels running singly or in convoy. So, they had to be spared.

America was in an agitated states of course, and not even Hitler wanted to widen the European war into a world war. So he ordered everything that would appear as a German attempt to widen the war into a world war to be avoided.

Now first, from the American side, came the term WESTERN HEMISPHERE. President Roosevelt did not want the war to extend into the Western Hemisphere. In Europe, in Germany at least, it was not clear what the Western Hemisphere was. I had learned the Northern Hemisphere runs from the pole to the Equator; and the Southern Hemisphere the other way.

But no one knew what was the Western Hemisphere. Where did it start? And where did it end? So we could only judge that the middle of it might be America and on both sides, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It might be an area that might be regarded as the Western Hemisphere.

We of course, did not penetrate that far to the west, but American Naval forces of the Atlantic Fleet did. Fifty destroyers (Four Pipers) were given by the United States to augment Britain’s anti-Submarine forces, and while they appeared very new, they did not appear to be well trained by the British crews, as we would have expected.

But American vessels escorted convoys coming from America to Britain, at least as far as Iceland. Most of the convoys of course, went on the shortest route from one continent to another, which took them very close to Greenland and Iceland.

We were forbidden by the highest authority, to attack these American forces. But they soon attacked us with depth charges and all we could do was go deep each time without firing our torpedoes. I know that by mistake, the USS REUBEN JAMES (DD 245) had been sunk by a German submarine (U-552 TYPE VII-C) under ERICH TOPP.

Of course, other equally important restrictions were our bad torpedoes. But everyone knows about that. I think the British torpedoes were not so very good. And American torpedoes were not so very good. So all nations had troubles with their torpedoes. And all the nations’ admirals thought their submariners were incompetent.

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