(begun in KTB #140 and continued from KTB #141)

These are the memories of a man who was a merchant cadet and seaman before the war; served on merchant ships in the beginning of the war; was interned in the USA and escaped; was crewman on U-405 until just before its destruction; then he was on U-181 and finally -- he saw the surrender of the German and Italian submarines to the Japanese. After the war, he became a successful steamship operator out of Havana, Cuba and is now an American citizen. This is the story of a true sailor.

When Luth finally came to Bordeaux, the crew jubilated. Soon there was a big farewell party for Loth with all the many trimmings typical with his temper and often rather drastic humor which the crew who so had greatly cherished. They would have gone for this man through Hell and fire. We wondered if Freiwald would be able to match up with this somewhat rough Wolfgang Luth, and he did as we would see later.

For the moment, as long as the boat was overhauled in the pens, we enjoyed ourselves to the very best in Bordeaux. Whoever was in this vivacious southern French town where the great cabarets were. We had our battles with the MPs, made horse races on chairs, had the chandeliers swinging and of course set on bar stools, on top of bar counters and behaved like acrobats. We enjoyed the excellent French cuisine and the Bordeaux wines, and treated the many and exquisitely charmed French ladies like queens.

I met the unique Obersteuermann (Chief Navigation Officer) Johannes Limbach, our Third Watch Officer who came back from leave. He was one of the old gang and had been much liked by Luth. When we celebrated ashore, we usually stayed together so to say, to the last drop in the glasses. Once we had to requisition a wheelbarrow to cart Johannes back to the base. Others we carried home on hooked autos. There were never scenes as disgusting as those in the film "DAS BOOT".

In February, 1944, Grand Admiral, Admiral of the Fleet Donitz (called the Lion), visited us and we sat with him after lunch in a large circle of officers and talked to him from man to man or from friend to friend, about our experiences, worries, and new trips.

Mid-March on a sunny afternoon, we started on our long trip to the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean towards Penang at the Malacca Strait. Konig had left us and During became Chief Watch Officer. I was 2nd Watch Officer, and Limbach 3rd Watch Officer.

We were all on board, ready for new adventures after the long time ashore. The boat ran submerged through the Bay of Biscay and only surfaced two hours after dusk, and two hours before dawn, to charge batteries and to receive coded messages from headquarters. During the nights, we had on the boat daytime routines and during the day vice versa. Through the periscope at radio program time, we saw many fishing boats at the Spanish Coast, only once had we been caught by ASDIC. So to say, we were blitzing through the Bay of Biscay. Soon we ran southward towards Madeira.

Early one morning at 40 meters we were passed by a destroyer, but nothing happened. Life on board this Type IX-D2 boat was more comfortable than on the VII-C because this is one of our largest size types. However we had considerably more crew members and we were on a trip which could easily take 180 days at sea. Consequently the boat was stuffed with stores and provisions and even the second toilet was used as storage. Still there were no showers on board and one had to crawl into a narrow space at the farthest end of the stem torpedo room, in to the bilge to find a hose and use some salty cooling waters from the diesel. Later, in the Indian Ocean, we used to run the boat under a rain cloud, had the crew come up on deck in permissible numbers and in the nude to rub the dirt and oils off the skin. Such moments were like Sundays to us.

I believe we were the first German U-Boat to have a film projector on board with a variety of our newest films, compliments of the geniality of our Kommandant. The films were shown in the bow torpedo room on a large screen. When there were some risque scenes, they went ape and one could always notice some hands going up to try to touch the bosom of a nice actress on the screen. Later we showed our films in the base ports of Penang, Singapore, and Batavia with greatest success,

The Coward on Duty

Also there was a new invention by Freiwald which met the approval of the officers. This was called: "The Coward on Duty." Our plans of action were usually discussed by Freiwald with us. These discussions were absolutely honest and in depth. One of us however had to play "The Coward on Duty," and had to express all the negative and dangerous sides of that particular operation and admonish of utmost care, even to the extent of cowardice. This made us always realize that each penny had two sides, so to say.

We received orders to proceed together with U-Kentrat (U-196 under command of Korvettenkapitan Eitel-Friedrich Kentrat) to a plan square south of Madagascar. We were now passing the Canary Islands. One of the Chief Warrant Officers had birthday and while the special record was playing he received his congratulations by Kommandant and officers in the central command room, he went with a bottle of liquor from man to man in the boat and dealt out to each one half an ounce of the good juice. The Cape Verdes were passing by.

Since we left Bordeaux we were running at forty meters, temperature was now on the boat around 35 degrees Celsius or 95 Fahrenheit and we had about 3 percent CO2. Our doctor wrote the daily newspaper, the TYPHOON, which reported the many humorous happenings on board and kept us posted about international news. The Russians had reached at that time the German front yard. And we figured that Hitler should soon come out with his miracle arms in order to turn the war around to our favor, but we knew better.

One morning all Warrant Officers appeared with bald heads, no bad idea. The beards of all men, of course those of age, was sprouting meantime and there were some quite illustrious shapes.

On the latest health inspection by the doctor it was detected that seven men still had crabs, another one is full of rash. There is fever, several headaches and angina. This constant marching submerged was a health hazard. Relative humidity in the boat was always 97 to 100 percent. The sweat water on the walls went down in buckets, and all leather and other clothes were covered with a thick layer of mold, everybody is constantly sweating. The only dress we wore were our swim trunks,

Finally the boat had passed the line, the Equator. Still running submerged 37 days out from Bordeaux, she is now exactly on the dangerous track of constant planes between Bahia and Freetown. In the night we meet U-Ludden (U-188 under command of Kapitanleutnant Siegfried Ludden) in order to transfer the former Chief Engineer of Luth who had been with us since Bordeaux. A short HIP, HIP, HIP, HOORAY - and both boats vanished again into the darkness.

By radio we hear that U-Staats (U-508 Kapit,;Weutnant Georg Staats) was in serious trouble. His young wife was in Bordeaux, now she is a widow. But soon we could take revenge. April 30 on my watch, suddenly prop noises at 1400. Through the periscope we saw a fat freighter. - - 1500 surfaced and with full speed, out maneuvering vessel to gain forward position. The sun bums, the eyes hurt. 2100 ALARM for plane. 2200 up again. Vessel disappeared but soon we caught her again. Bright moonlight-, we blitzed to 6000 meters ahead of vessel. When the moon had gone down, we pushed into the dark sector and went 1000 meters rectangular to the main course which had been 175 degrees.

With hard starboard and raced to the under cover until we had vessel at 70 degrees on starboard. Multiple shot tubes one and three. Both torps hit aft on May I at 4:05. Vessel sank fast. A man in one of the lifeboats gave the name of his ship. JANETA was 5312 gross registered tons.

Surfaced

When the boat was 25 degrees south on May 5, she finally ran day and night surfaced and I jumped with all hands on cleaning our 3.7cm and the two 2cm twin barrel anti-aircraft guns which had suffered badly, having been all the time under water. There was jubilation in the boat when the first automatic shots were fired without jamming.

The men could finally see the sun again after some seven weeks of life under electric lights. Many had bad skin rashes and several had jaundice which could not be detected in the boat- Our doctor was down with malaria.

Cape of Good Hope was soon behind us and the weather got rougher and cooler. Soon we saw a smoke cloud but it had been a way off. On my watch, we tried out our Foch Achelis gliding helicopter which we towed on a cable against the wind and which gave the pilot a greater field of vision. At about eighty meters, the cable snapped and Achelis and pilot went in a soft swing to water. It rattled him badly. We had to get the man out quick because he was already attacked by large sea birds!

Kommandant suggested one day that we play a trick on our doctor, who had only a few hairs on his head left, being sort of bald and who used extensively Trelacen, a highly potent and odor rich hair lotion. Well, we obliged because we teased each other constantly. When the doctor slept, we tinkled a bit into the bottle, added some liqueur, sugar, glue and more lotion. We could hardly wait for the time of his grooming his scalp. I'd rather not tell the rest of this story because we nearly died laughing.

On another occasion I ground some carbon pills and poured the highly sticky powder into his sea boots. He was such an esthetically clean person of course, but since that time he secretly complained about the floor boards in the officers mess not being kept swept clean.

Soon we were on squares south of Madagascar waiting for ships on the tracks from Colombo, Aden and Australia to Durban. The calendar showed June 5th and we received the disturbing news that the enemy landed an invasion on the French Coast- Admiral Donitz calls upon the U-Boat arm for an all-out fight. We check our timetable before deciding to haul towards Mauritius where we saw a CATALINA at close range and from there, zigzagging north,

Water temperature, about 84 Fahrenheit and in the boat 105 Fahrenheit. Hallelujah -- on June 19, we sank the GAROET 7,118 gross registered tons. Our boat passed the Maldives, south of India, On board there were many tournament-; - U-Boat style card games, light athletics and above all, chess. The fights were indeed dramatic. Kommandant and the doctor were the favorites. That's where the intelligence set.

We passed the island of Minecoi and I suggested to have me put ashore in a rubber float and squeeze the lighthouse guard for news about passing convoys. Our so-called "Coward on Duty" pleaded against this plan and it never matured. Soon we had reached the west coast of India and we had to reckon with coastal planes.

July 15th, at 18:15 ship in sight. 21:50 radar detection, Naxos force 3 to 4. Pitch dark night. Twenty to eleven, attacking. Two hits. Name TANDA with 7,174 gross registered tons. Again Naxos force 5 to 6, the plane should be over us. ALARM. Dive, dive fast. Depths of water about only 150 feet, we had to be careful not to hit the ship below. Around noon next day, we surfaced although we knew they were looking for us.

Alarm!

Sure enough, ALARM for plane. The men tumbled down wide eyed. The Third Watch Officer reported as calm as possible, "Plane out of the sun, saw too late. The BEA URGHTER, already that big!"

There were four extremely hard detonations, two on starboard and two on port side, like hammer blows on the hull.

The boat shook and trembled, all electricity went out. The high pressure valve blew off into the center room with incredible noise. The planes jammed with hard down. The list grew to 35 degrees, the electric motors had stopped for a short while, a coupling did not release. Overload - all fuses blew. Situation critical to say the least, but everybody kept cool under fire, discipline was great and aIl men acted fast and efficient, without having to be told.

Before we hit the call button, the chief engineer managed to shift the depth rudders from manual and get the boat under control. Starboard fuel bunker had cracked a leak and was blown out and filled with water. The gyro compass had gone ape and was useless, and the magnetic compass was unreliable due to great deviation. We surfaced in the night in spite of strong radar activity, we hove to between the Lackadive Islands.

On July 20 on surfacing after a test dive we detected a ship right behind us high over the horizon. Why they did not see us Is still a miracle to me. 1700 - two hits. 1703 - sunk! KING FREDERICK, 5,106 gross registered tons. Same night we heard over the radio about the assault on Hitler's life by the officers group- D6nitz declared general alarm for the Navy

Almost 4 at night, we were carefully approaching Pulu Penang. Our sharp night glasses suddenly revealed a dark shadow. It was the tower of a U-Boat which suddenly dived. With full speed we were playing hooky. After the war we found out that it had been the HMS DRATAGAN under Lieutenant Perry. Sorry old boy, you just had bad luck!

On August 8th, we made Penang, We had been at sea 144 days. There were flying in the breeze four pennants, from our extended periscope, each designating one vessel sunk with a total of 24,772 gross registered tons. There were of course big welcomes by the highest ranking Japanese authorities and the German Chief, Kapitan Thomas and his staff The boat had heavy wounds which had to he mended and the crew needed well deserved rest. In due time we called at Singapore and Djakarta, Java We enjoyed the tropical and intimate oriental atmosphere.

The night was dark, sinister and hot when we headed for sea again on October 20, 1944. Homeward bound to some port in Norway. We had given all torpedoes with the exception of two ashore and had loaded on board every space possible and impossible, war materials of greatest importance for the badly suffering German war industry like for example 130 tons tin, 2-0 tons molybdenum, 100 tons raw rubber, one ton quinine, and some opium - all told about 240 tons.

We had become a blockade runner. We outmaneuvered enemy forces and soon we were deep into the Indian Ocean again. It was on November 1st when -we suddenly saw a cloud of smoke at the horizon. A large single running tanker, 15 knots. We had tough time blitzing ahead of her and only an hour left between sunset and moonrise for our attack. Since one torpedo did not do the job with this big buddy, we had to use our last one too. She was the FORT LEE with 10,198 gross registered tons which gave us a total of about 35,000 tons on this trip.

In the Roaring Forty's we had to box against mountainous seas. The diesels were overstrained. Worse, the babbitt and the main bearings was down to zero! The shafts were merely ruining on the bronze metal. The oil pressure was at it's lowest and still we had 10,000 miles to go. No way!

We were forced to return to Java and finally Singapore for major overhaul. We built with bought means a snorkel and were again ready to head out to sea when Germany surrendered on May 5, 1945- Shortly afterwards the Japanese requisitioned our three remaining boats in Singapore and we went to the ex-British rubber plantation Batu Bahat in the Malayan jungle to watch the bizarre cruel fights and endless killings in connection with the last days of the Japanese Empire.

Cautiously we moved back to Singapore before the British Colonial Army finally caught up with us and marched us to the fortress-like huge Chang Jai Jail. It was by now September, 1945 however our adventures in Southeast Asia did not end until mid July, 1946 when we were shipped by EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA to England. A time in British POW camps was often rough but had also some good and even hilarious moments.

The hour of freedom rang loud and clear for me mid- August, 1947. What I found was a broken and dejected Germany. My hometown, Bremen - that once so very proud and beautiful -- lay in shambles and ruins but thanks to God I found my dear ones alive.

Some 65,000 nautical miles of wartime seafaring were behind me before I was ready to start a new and adventurous life. After having sat for my Masters License and I modestly agree with the old Latin phrase "Sumas quot Sumas."

Another outstanding first-person article from the memories of one of the men who were there and who fought in the war. We encourage ALL other veterans to do the same. In KTB 143 next month - another great story from GUNTHER HEINRICH (1945-1991), Skipper. of U-960.