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:

L.I. Wiebe managed to bring U-358 up dynamically; that is 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 effected at sea and the patrol area reached eventually. Unquestionably, most U-Boats would have been lost under those circumstances and become a statistic instead so Fritjof Wiebe climbed even higher yet in the crew’s estimation, as very few Directing Engineers were able to come dynamically up to the surface as he was able to manage.

After extensive overhaul and repairs as well as adding new equipment and electronic gear, U-358 left St. Nazaire again on its fifth patrol on 14 February 1944. Again the Mid-Atlantic area was assigned as operational place and U-358 was ordered to become a participant of U-Boot Group and patrol line ‘PREUSSEN’, the very last group operation in the Atlantic, consisting of 16 boats including U-358 and which reached her assigned position on 22 February 1944. Group ‘PREUSSEN’ was dissolved after a few days and the various U-Boats ordered to proceed individually for further operations and searches.

Just prior to terminating this groupline operation, the British Code Cracking Command at Bletchley Park had determined the location of Group ‘PREUSSEN’ and U-358 was therefore located by the British Escort Group One when it had barely traveled northward again, on a line extending from about Madeira to Southwestern Ireland. EG #1 consisted of the new frigates HMS AFFLECK and HMS GORE with HMS GOULD and HMS GARLIES as second pair. 1944 was a leap year and these four frigates discovered U-358 on the basis of these ‘ULTRA’ direction orders from London at 0542 on 29 February 1944. HMS GARLIES made the initial SONAR contact, as U-358 had immediately dived deep. At 0555, a series of combined ‘HEDGEHOG’ and then depth charge attacks was started, patterned after the creeping silent attack program of Captain Walker. The depth charges were set between 500 and 850 feet, and the exploders covered first with heavy lubricating grease and soft soap in order to delay their explosions even further so that they dropped somewhat deeper yet than the setting allowed.

Twelve such combined creeping attack patterns were fired off during the morning and afternoon with the final salvo being fired at 1713 hours. Because no results could be ascertained, the Escort Group Commander ordered a temporary stop to further attacks, as the frigates were running low on depth charges and HEDGEHOG projectiles. It was assumed that U-358 would have to come to the surface after dark, and so sharp watches were arranged to catch the U-Boat at that moment after noticing its air pressure generated ascent. But Rolf Manke and Fritjof Wiebe did not fall into that trap. They decided to stay deep instead for as long as oxygen supply and breathable air as well as batteryload would permit. Naturally, all steps were taken to husband and use air and electricity as sparingly as possible.

Finally, on 1 March 1944 when it became light again, further combined depth charge and HEDGEHOG attacks were made, starting at 0757 and throughout that morning and afternoon periodically. In the early afternoon, the Escort Group Commander released frigates HMS GARLIES and HMS GORE to rush to Gibraltar for refueling and new loads of HEDGEHOGs and depth charges. Furthermore, the sea and weather was getting rougher and though U-358 was running deep and silently, the frigates HMS AFFLECK and HMS GOULD with experienced veteran crews, kept contact despite heavier seas and increasing wind.

Suddenly at 1938 hours with dark already descending anew, the frigate screens indicated that U-358 was surfacing, even though they could not detect any air pressure noises or bubbles, as Wiebe brought U-358 again to the surface dynamically and slowly. At 1929 hours, a T-5 acoustic torpedo hit the frigate HMS GOULD unexpectedly broadside and she started sinking almost immediately, her tonnage being 1,600 tons.

At 1933 hours, the frigate HMS AFFLECK discovers the surfacing bridgetower of U-358 in the wavy seas and immediately started a general artillery and flak gun rapid fire attacks, as U-358 was now about 450 meters (1,500 feet) away from HMS AFFLECK. While only superficial damage was done to U-358 by this barrage, the Commander Rolf Manke was instantly killed, as he was the first man on the bridge. A few more sailors managed to get out of the conning tower when HMS AFFLECK fired a set of depth charges under U-358 while approaching with emergency speed, destroying U-358 quickly yet the artillery fire continued also and made it impossible for many crewmen to get out under such circumstances. While a handful managed to swim away, not including Fritjof Wiebe, that fabulous Directing Chief Engineer, who remained below decks with his ‘black gang’, also known as ‘underworlders’ or stokers, even if coal was not used for ship engines any more. In fact; never for submarines, the name was retained as naval tradition.

Frigate HMS GOULD sank virtually at the same time as U-358. Consequently, the frigate HMS AFFLECK first concentrated to rescue as many men of her crew as was possible in these fierce and heavy seas, and only after this was accomplished with strenuous efforts did they proceed onwards towards the few drifting men that had escaped from U-358 after it went to the bottom. Swimming in such cold and heavy seas allows people only a very short time to survive before the conditions kill them. So only one single man was eventually picked up by the frigate HMS AFFLECK. He was Matrosen Gefreiter (Sailor First Class) Alfons Eckert, one of the original crew members since the boat’s commissioning. He was put into a hot water tub and filled with rum to regain his body temperature. He was taken to Gibraltar as Prisoner of War, the sole survivor from U-358 ...... but fifty men died.

Capt. Stephen Roskill, official historian of the Royal Navy for the 1939 - 1945 War at Sea mentions this sinking in the Official British Naval History of the Sea War: “The hunt took over 38 hours and was the longest uninterrupted U-Boat pursuit of the entire sea war. One must recognize the opponent’s steadfastness and grim determination and his preference to fight to the bitter end rather than to surface and surrender. Furthermore, in the process still taking one of the pursuing hunters with her into the deep.”

This is also the sole instant where it is documented that an almost finished U-Boat torpedoed one of the chasing destroyers successfully with an acoustic torpedo before sinking herself.

Like that later famous song with Mary Hopkins’ unique voice said: “Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end.”

I dip my hat to these remarkable men led by Rolf Manke and Fritjof Wiebe, even if they did not manage to jump off the ‘Old Reapers’ shovel one more time and so remained at sea for ever and ever. For the record, it should be shown that Rolf Manke sunk 5 ships with a total of 16,747 tons including a 50% share of WENTWORTH. This places Manke is position #221 of commanders with confirmed sinkings based on actual results, rather than claimed or reported sinkings and also excluding ships that were damaged but did not sink, getting towed in somehow. This is amongst 519 U-Boat commanders who did actually sink any kind of ships, some of them commanding several different U-Boats; while over 800 did not sink anything at all whatsoever. Naturally, a considerable number of these U-Boats and their captains did not have the operational possibility to sink ships, as they were always employed as school and training submariners only in the Baltic and many others were only engaged in group operations or geographical areas that simply did not generate opportunities to torpedo anything or even drop mines where they might bring results. Other boats were pure transport or resupply/refueling U-Boats, some of them not even having torpedo tubes to start with. However, that is quite another story all together and will be covered some other time.

The British frigates fired between them, sixteen salvos of 24 hedgehogs each & over 460 depth charges in addition without actually damaging U-358 at all, no doubt thanks to Wiebe’s smart maneuvering and skillful evasion of sonar contacts.”