We read in KTB #117 of the fate of U-33, one of the boats in Operation ‘URSULA’. Here is the story of the other boat, U-34.

U-34 was eventually turned over by Ernst Sobe to Wilhelm Rollmann in 1939 who commanded it for an extended period of time, sinking 21 steamers with 96,265 tons alltogether. Thereafter he was assigned briefly to staff duties in U-Boat Command in Kernevel and Paris, before giving command of TYPE IX-D2 boat U-848, which he commissioned on February 20th 1943, after having been awarded the KNIGHTS CROSS of the IRON CROSS already on July 31st 1940.

Pictured here is Wilhelm Rollmann, Class of 1926, started on his first patrol with U-848 proceeding towards South Africa and the Indian Ocean, sunk another steamer of 4,573 tons on November 2nd, 1943 and was destroyed southwest of the island of Ascension in the South Atlantic on November 6th, 1943 with his entire crew.

HARRY’S NOTE - the ship sunk by U-848 was the British steamer BARON SEMPLE. U-848 was sunk by US Army aircraft and US Navy aircraft of VB.107 flying off USS BOGUE.

Rollmann was replaced as captain of U-34 by Eduard Aust, Class of X/39 (39-A) after it was decided to turn it into a school and training boat only in the Baltic, as it was showing gross signs of aging. On August 5th, 1943 U-34 collided with the submarine tender LECH off Memel (Klaipeda) and sunk with the loss of four men. U-34 was raised on August 24th 1943, but declared scrap after investigation, and decommissioned on September 8th 1943.

Eduard Aust thereafter was Captain of U-29 another schoolboat, then U-922 for a shore time to take finally over the command of U-679. On that boat he was killed together with his entire crew on January 9th 1945 in the Baltic Sea off Baltischport on account of depth charges lodged by the Sowjet Russian submarine chaser craft MO-124 north of Pakri Lighthouse.

Suddenly in the late spring of 1939 German papers printed stories about the LEGION CONDOR, the German support body that assisted General Francisco Franco to win the Spanish Civil War. Prior to that time all stories were denied and declared gross inventions of mad press people. Suddenly books galore appeared, detailing the various operations in Spain. Partially as a matter of political demonstrative nature, Hitler ordered a Victory Parade in the Lustgarten in Berlin with music and lots of flag waving, which took place on June 6th 1939. In order not to be outdone, Erich Reader ordered the participating Navy contingent, primarily the crews of U-33 and U-34, to come to Berlin a day ahead and met them at the Training camp Döberitz near Berlin separately, in order to greet them personally and to laud their exemplary actions while in and around Spain. Raeder told them that they had solved extremely difficult tasks with great determination! Only one single German paper printed the speech and mentioned this meeting, which caught the attention of the British Naval Attache immediately who so informed his superiors, British Intelligence and the London TIMES to leak the story.

When in the marching columns of the LEGION CONDOR parade sailors in Navy blue appeared to the complete surprise of all onlookers & press people, they turned out to be the crews of U-33 and U-34, to whom Erich Raeder had spoken the day before.

After the LEGION CONDOR parade activities had finished, Hitler received a small number of officers at the Reich Chancellery to decorate them with the newly created Spanish battle decorations. As the only Navy officer amongst them KorvettenKapitän Harald Grosse was given the SPANISH CROSS in GOLD - but he was not permitted to tell anybody why that was the case. Naturally the usual bunch of Navy rumors went the rounds, but remained largely speculation, even within the tightly knit U-Boat arm. None of the new books or articles mentioned the Kriegsmarine in the Spanish fighting activities with one single word!

There you have the whole story. One must take into consideration the then prevailing zeitgeist and historical condition as they were, rather than as the newspapers might make them out to be in many cases!