PETER WALKER (5534-1998) asked about this boat and this Skipper, and PETER HANSEN (251-LIFE-1987) writes this: Hans Georg Friederich Poske shortened his first name officially to Fritz only. He was Class of 1923, sank 16 confirmed ships for 82,108 gross tons which placed him #47 on the confirmed sinking list of the U-boat commanders. He was born 23 October 1904, received the Knights Cross and passed away several years ago.

When Poske left U-504, he became the Commander of the 1st U.L.D. (U-Boot-Lehr-Division or submarine training division) in Pillau and he held the job until Piltau was evacuated and the ULD was transported to Western Germany.

Late in January 1945, Poske was assigned to the special OKM Sonderstab for naval infantry. The former I.W.O., Wilhelm Luis, Class of 1935, was named as the new commander on 6 January 1945. Luis had been with Luftwaffe naval aviation for over three years & had served as midshipman instructor at Flensburg Murwik too. Luis was I. W.O. for six months on U-506 and had just returned to Lorient from the commander's school in the Baltic.

U-504 made one war patrol with Luis as commander from 19 January 1943 to 24 March 1943, then a short second war patrol on 21 Apr `43 but returning to Bordeaux on 29 May. The dates speak for themselves!!! Now Godt (EBERHARD GODT 344-+-1987) and Donitz vacated the North Atlantic about a week earlier. U-504 was ordered to participate in one of those insane group departures, ordered to fight off aircraft with flak on the surface, and assigned as fighting U-boat to protect & defend two Type XIV tankers, U-461 under Wolf-Harro Stiebler and U-462 under Bruno Vowe.

British Coastal Command caught this group off Cape Ortegal, sank both U-tankers but U-504 escaped by diving. Shortly thereafter, she was caught by Johnny Walker's anti-submarine group and sunk with all hands lost.

U-504 had gone deeper than 220 meters according to British ASDIC reports, when a huge oil slick came to the surface. That was photographed by the aircraft that had called Walker's group of sloops to the area. To me personally this picture has always been one of the most impressive and depressing photos of the U-boat war. Most of the U-tanker crews were captured by Walker's group.

This all happened on 30 July 43. I had seen the group off from Bordeaux and the Gironde river exit at Royal/le Verdon as I knew Luis well, and last minute radar information was handed over. I thought then it was sheer madness by these chair warmers in Berlin to send out two U-tankers together, but Godt insisted on it because otherwise quite a few U-boats in the South & mid-Atlantic might run out of fuel and have problems getting back to France. Many of the Type IX-C boats returning from extended operations in the Caribbean and South Atlantic or West Africa were sunk in July anyway, whether they had fuel or were low. I can close my eyes and recall that group departure scene and how we all would have liked to rub out those chair-farters in Berlin; even more so Rosing for his encouragement departure messages. In Vietnam they frazzed out such bastards like him but Rosing was always a careful bastard, no doubt not without reason. Just thinking about the stupidity of these group sailings makes my blood boil even now.