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:

”Frequently the question is asked -- what turned out to be the longest antisubmarine attack during the Battle of the Atlantic that occurred and during which particular attack operation were the highest number of depth charges dropped on a discovered U-Boat, that are documented. There exists the possibility that in the Pacific one or two Japanese submarines were chased and attacked by American escort forces and that such attacks took slightly longer, but the records are not clear and exact timings were not reflected in same, so that actual hours involved could not be documented fully.

In both cases U-Boats were involved that are not amongst those commanded by well-known captains and highly publicized crews. But after ‘BLACK MAY’ of 1943, also known to many participants that survived as ‘STALINGRAD AT SEA’ with the drastic change in operational condition, hardly any U-Boat was able to sink many ships and it was already a considerable achievement to survive somehow and return from war patrols after that period of time.

U-358 was launched in the Flensburger Schiffbau AG shipyard on April 21st 1942. This was one of the smaller shipyards brought into the TYPE VII-C expanded building program. Those smaller yards had less experienced yardworkers and also less technical equipment than the larger and better-known shipyards like Germania-Howaldt in Kiel, or Blohm & Voss in Hamburg. Consequently U-358 was only commissioned on August 15th 1942 by Kapitänleutnant Rolf Manke, Class of 1935, who was born in Berlin on December 21st 1915. Manke had been transferred to the Sea-Air Arm of the Luftwaffe from September 1938 through July 1941 when he was recalled to the Navy, where already a considerable shortage of qualified subaltern officers prevailed at that time. Manke participated in submarine training courses and weapons training classes from August 1941 through December 1941. Manke was married and had a very young daughter at home.

Thence Manke was posted aboard U-576 as I.W.O. (Senior Watch Officer, or Executive Officer) from January 1942 through May 1942 under Captain Hans-Dietrich Heinicke, Class of 1933. This was followed by Commander’s Training and torpedo firing classes during June and July of 1942. After passing examinations, Manke was posted to Flensburg, in order to take over U-358 still under construction, and commission same as indicated. Generally speaking, Commanders such as Rolf Manke, who had served in Air Force assignments, were not very popular with experienced U-Boat crews, as they had often lost touch with the sea to a degree and had forgotten to realize how comparatively slow a U-Boat traveled while aircraft became faster every week. Such captains were called ‘LUFTKUTSCHE’ or literally ‘Air Coach Men’ or ‘Air Coach Drivers’ by the sailors and stokers. However, Rolf Manke turned out to be one of the exemptions of this rule or expectation, as he was not only an excellent seaman but also a very responsible, cool and collected captain.

U-358 and Manke, and his entire crew, were furthermore mighty fortunate that Oberleutnant (Ing) Fritjof Wiebe was assigned to become L.I. or directing engineer, or Chief of U-358, a veritable master engineering officer of outstanding ability. With other words, the type of Chief Engineer every boat would have loved to have, but fewer and fewer actually did. The shortage of well-trained, competent and experienced L.I.’s or directing engineers could never be fully overcome during the entire U-Boat war, as there was a constant shortage with demand exceeding the limited supply and availability. Wiebe was forced to wear glasses, as he was extremely poor sighted and that was the reason he was not accepted as sea duty officer and only due to his fierce intention to become a Navy officer and his extraordinary smartness, Wiebe even managed to get accepted by the Navy. The story was never contradicted that Wiebe could actually only read the biggest single letter or number on the very top of the eyesight checking test pyramid, but Wiebe had allegedly managed to memorize the entire set of sixteen such Navy pyramid charts and thus passed the eye examination test neatly. Lateron he was ‘forgiven’ because he was such an outstanding and remarkable engineer and officer.

Though both men were professional officers, both also had a very developed sense of humor and an inclination to engage in practical jokes or arranging for sudden unexpected surprises. During the next six months the crew of U-358, consisting largely of newcomers and young ‘greenhorns’ was welded together by Manke and Wiebe passing through the various training and preparation commands and tests in the Baltic. In spite of the demands made upon the crew, both sailors and stokers had grown to like both Manke and Wiebe, the latter in charge of all technical and engine personnel.

Finally, on January 12th 1943, U-358 sailed from Kiel on its first war patrol through the Northsea into the Atlantic Ocean. On January 22nd, attacking Convoy UR.59 off Iceland and sinking the Swedish steamer NEVA of 1,456 tons. On January 26th, U-358 sunk the Norwegian steamer NORTIND of 8,221 tons, which was a straggler from Convoy HX.223, in heavy weather. Then U-358 was directed to proceed to St. Nazaire, France as she had been assigned to the 7th U-Bootflottille located in that port and base, where Manke arrived on March 8th, 1943.

After repairs and reconditioning, U-358 departed again on April 11th for the second war patrol in the Northatlantic. Attacking Convoy ONS.5 on May 5th 1943 and sinking the British steamer BRISTOL CITY of 2,864 tons and torpedoing the British vessel WENTWORTH with 5,212 tons, but this ship remained afloat for a while and was finally dispatched by U-628 under Heinrich Hasenschar, Class of 1936. Consequently each U-Boat was allotted 50% of the tonnage of the WENTWORTH on share basis.

Manke returned with U-358 on May 16th 1943 to St. Nazaire, low on fuel - that is with practically empty fuelbunkers. On June 10th 1943, U-358 departed on its third war patrol to Westafrica off Freetown and Dakar, this voyage lasted until September 1st 1943, but no ships were sighted at all and the war patrol was nevertheless very exhausting due to the heat and dampness of the operational area involved.

On October 25th 1943, U-358 sailed on its fourth war patrol, having by that time already surpassed the survivable percentage then prevailing, by almost 100%. This time Midatlantic locations were involved, but again U-358 did not see or sink any ship whatsoever and reached St. Nazaire again on December 15th, 1943 without any sinking flags on its periscope.

During the previous patrol on her way to Westafrica, U-358 had been caught on June 16th 1943, west of Gibraltar by a group of British destroyers that were missed with a double fan of T-5 GNAT/WREN type of acoustic torpedoes. However, they in turn counter attacked and depth charged U-358 for over 32 continuous hours. Only due to the tremendous ability of Wiebe was U-358 able to return to the surface, after many hours of evasive movements in a depth of from 180 to 220 meters, or 594 to 726 feet!

Wiebe managed to bring U-358 up dynamically - without noisy pressurized air that can be quickly detected by anti submarine ASDIC or SONAR equipment. With other words, coming to the surface quietly and slowly in the dark, thence getting away on electric motors with the last juice in the batteries and only restarting the diesels after gaining a safe distance to do so. Repairs were made at sea and the patrol area was reached eventually. There is no doubt most U-Boats would have been lost under those circumstances.”

Peter's Periscope: U-358: Part 2