Some months ago, we reported there was yet another boat ready to run from Norway to the South Pacific at the end of the War. We reported that the tanks were filled with fuel - the fresh water tanks as well were filled with diesel fuel, and the sailors romantically dreamed of beautiful Tahitian girls and the life in Paradise when they made their dash a week or so after the end of the War. This boat was U-318, a TYPE VII-C boat.

After this was reported in our KTB, we received a letter from a Member who gave reasons why this could not be true, so we dug in a bit deeper to learn if this was true or just an old story.

Our friend DETLEV ZIMMERMANN (247-LIFE-1987) was crew on U-315 and that boat was in the same U-BootFlotille with U-318, so I asked him what he knew of this. He said that he had only heard such a rumor in the last days of the war, but beyond that, he knew nothing further.

During my last trip to Germany, I looked further and found that our own S.E.I.G. AGENT Vm 1574 was to be the L.I. (Chief Engineer) on that boat! He confirmed that they were planning to go and they were ready with fuel, provisions and some fresh water. So why didn’t they go as planned?

According to S.E.I.G. AGENT Vm 1574, Teddy Suhren, the FdU Nord (Führer der U-Boots or Commander of the U-Boat Flotillas in the North) ordered that no boats could depart, that all must remain as ordered by GrossAdmiral Karl Dönitz - and that he would personally shoot all officers of any boat that tried to escape!