Did You Know?
by OBLT Ernst Schmidt (10-1983) Did You Know .....

U-358 suffered the longest continuous hunt and depth charge attack on 29 February 1944? Kapitanleutnant Rolf Manke was the Skipper during this attack which lasted more than 36 hours! The end result was no surprise however, as the boat went down with the loss of all hands, 50 men, on 1 May 1944 under continuous attack of HMS AFFLECK, HMS GARLIES, HMS GORE and HMS GOULD.

U-Boat crews who gave up their boats after 7 May 1945 to the Allies were still taken prisoner of war? The last official group of POWs were released on 10 July 1948 in England.

39,000 U-Boat men served during World War II? Of them about 32,000 died in action. This was the highest casualty rate of any military force in history. While the USNavy Submarine Service suffered the worst casualty rate of any American forces in World War II with one man out of seven not coming home - the numbers were about reversed for the U-BootFahrer - one man out of seven DID come home. Still they stood in line to volunteer for the U-bootwaffe until the final days of the war, a true testament to their honor and bravery.

from the beginning of 1943, German U-Boats almost never came back from their first patrol? In 'Black May' of 1943, the U-Bootwaffe lost 41 boats; nearly as many as the US Navy lost in combat in the entire war! After this time, only about one boat came home out of every ten that went on their FIRST war patrol! And they almost always went down with all hands lost, approximately 50 to 55 men each.