Volkmar Konig Part 1 [KTB 152]

SHARKHUNTERS: What's it like in a sub during a depth charge attack?

KONIG: Again, if you are on a boat with an experienced crew, it's something that has gone into routine. They have had so many depth charge attacks in the past that they count the depth charges. But this sounds out so easy and if it really is hard - the time when we were sunk and the depth charges are very, very, very close that time, uh, that's something different. Then you say - oh, this is it!

SHARKHUNTERS: Tell us about that.

This is number ten and this is number twenty and this is number thirty. And this was close or this was far away. And they -- they take it as routine. I wouldn't know, because this was my first and only trip. I wouldn't know how they acted on their first trip when the depth charges came, see. The captain, Kretschmer already had many trips so far but this was a new crew and he was the one who had the experience with depth charges. Only a few he took from the other boat together with him on the new boat. But the others were quite new, not experienced. I don't know how they felt but when I came aboard, they all had experience.

And I remember one time, I was very tired because I wasn't on a special watch, I did this job and that job so I was awake for many, many hours because everything was so interesting and fascinating that I really was tired. I feel asleep. And I was sleeping so fast that I didn't listen to a depth charge attack for some hours. And when I work up and leaned down from my bunk, there was no one in the room. And I leaned down more so I could see through the hedges, the hedges of the boat, and saw them all crammed at the end of the boat because they were ordered to go at the end of the boat.

You had to say all people aft or all people to the bow and so on. And they were smiling at me and giving me a raised arm to say, hello, come on, come on here. So this is even a depth charge attack, you can fall asleep and stay asleep if you are sound sleeper.

One of the new submarines KING mentions. This is U-2540, the Type XXI that revolutionized submarine warfare -- after the war, when the victorious Allies copied this design in just about every major world navy. We will go on board this very submarine during our `Patrol in North Germany' this October. Will you be with us?

KONIG: Well you see, when you're hit your dead. The boat is broken to pieces. But if the depth charge is very close, many things aboard the boat happen. The lights go out. The pipes break and there's water coming in here and there -- and everyone is doing something to repair damage. This is a little bit frightful situation.

But everyone knows what to do but you think, well what's going to happen next. That this was close. Are we going to survive this? And then the boat goes down to depth that normally is not your diving depth, then you really afraid, well, in the next second, something happens and you are dead! But it's the same with another boat shooting in an air raid shelter, yes, and the bombs come nearer and nearer. And it's a frightful situation. And either you get nervous or you keep your nerves, ja.

SHARKHUNTERS: What kind of man was successful in the German U-boat service?

KONIG: Well, it's difficult for me, uh, to say. If you would ask a man from the submarine command, they would tell you exactly who was capable of fulfilling his job as a sub captain or not, and they would know, he does it or he does it not. I would say, you have to be a calculating intellectual. You have to be cold-blooded. And you don't have to be nervous. You have to be a rock in the storm. Anything else wouldn't lead to success.

If you are nervous or if you are, what you say, it's easy to say he is a coward. He considers the risk in another way as a cold blooded man.

On the other hand, if you really take on risky jobs, it probably will be your end. But to take the measure of the team, what risk can I take and what shall I leave open, that's the reason for success or not success, in my opinion. But this is for many tasks, and not in Army, Navy or civilian life.

SHARKHUNTERS: What was the biggest danger of U-boat?

KONIG: Well, the greatest danger in my case was the point where our boat was sinking. So far everything was routine and the depth charges - - where depth charge attacks and the destroyer dropped the depth charge you could hear the depth charge dropping into the water, and you could hear them swish down in the water and you said, well, do they explode over or under the boat, and are they farther away or not farther away.

But if you are really - if the boat goes down despite the fact that all pressure is given on the tanks by (it's compressed air that pushes out the water out of the tanks) and despite of this, makes a terrible noise, all this air pressure. But the boat is sinking. And it's sinking and it's sinking. Then you say, hmmm, what's this going to be?

And if then suddenly you hear from the man who operates or observes the only remaining intact diving meter and you see that it's getting - - the downward plunge is getting slower and slower. And then suddenly it stops and goes up - well, then my God, we made it. But this is dangerous and to give you an example of the cold bloodedness of Kretschmer to this situation - the petty officer in charge of all these valves for the air pressure looked at him with a pale face and said, "The boat doesn't come!" He means it's still going downwards.

And then Kretschmer with his low and quiet voice said, "Come on. Give it air, give it air. "

So, this is a cold blooded character, yeah. And that gives confidence to the others standing around while you yourself have, you have a bleak face - pale, a pale face.

SHARKHUNTERS: Why did U-boats lose their supremacy of the sea?

KONIG: Several factors combined. The air gap was closed so the protection of merchant ships and the attacks on submarine could go from coast to coast. There was no gap in the North Atlantic where submarines could ; operate without observation from the air. And the air cover was perfect, more or less. and you had to dive in a hurry all the time. The airplanes were all in the Biscaya (Bay of Biscay). This was the area where this subs had their main harbors. And from inland, they flew over the Biscaya and discovered the boats with radar and attacked them at night. And this was really a dangerous job.

So it was air cover. It was cover at sea that the ships that protected the large numbers there.

There were the auxiliary aircraft carriers who carried airplanes in those area where land based planes couldn't operate so far. They cover this open gap in mid-Atlantic.

There was radar, in the meantime, on most of the protecting ships. I remember that that we, on a quiet night, transported or unloaded our reserve torpedoes which were in tubes on upper deck, at night. We opened the hatches, took them out of their tubes and put them into the hull, so the boat is vulnerable to the utmost at such a point, and there was a protecting vessel (an Allied destroyer) at a distance. And from time to time we could see when someone had his cigarette lighted, you see. You could see this. So, if this ship would've had radar, it would've observed us. So we were protected because he didn't see us; couldn't observe us.

So there was radar. There was air protection and protection by protecting ships were in great numbers. Then the famous HFDF, high frequency direction finding. They could, um, what was that, you can do direction finding by stations for short wave - - ultra short wave signals. Not ultra short-wave, high frequency direction finding. Very tricky. They could pin point you where you are and attack you because they knew where you are.

EDITOR NOTE - HUFF-DUFF enabled ships and shore stations to draw a line on a map exactly in the direction of the boat's radio transmission, even if it lasted only a second. Where several HUFF-DUFF lines crossed, that's where they'd find the U-boat - and they went after him.

And the next - the deciphering of our coded messages. This was one very important point. Many, many boats were killed because, especially in South Atlantic where there were the meeting points between ships that had reserved all torpedoes for other subs, the so­called sea cows. And these meeting points were most cases known to the Navy authorities but they never stood at this point.

They saw a ship at the horizon and so the submarine crew would say, well, did they see us? No they hadn't seen us. They are going away. So they hadn't seen us. But then suddenly a destroyer came along So till the end of the war and many years after the war, no one really knew and the British kept it a secret for decades that the code, the German naval code, which was very complicated, could be broken.

And the British really kept mum for this for many, many years. I And this was one very decisive factor. But it was one factor for the turn of the tide, the submarine warfare in the middle of 1943.

SHARKHUNTERS: Do you have a personality type of a thrill seeker?

KONIG: At the beginning of the war, you didn't have the feeling that it really would get you. You said, ah, they won't get me -- they won't get us. Later on the war, it was -- you knew that you were taking a terrible risk the minute you left port.

This was different at the beginning of the war. And I was lucky that I was a prisoner of war at that period of the war in the Atlantic. So when I went to sea in 1941 on this famous submarine, I never thought that the sub would be lost.

SHARKHUNTERS: Did the Naval command know they were sending ships into hopeless situations?

KONIG: This is very critical question. Does any commanding officer of a land unit or sea send someone out there, says there's no risk. There's always a risk. Whether you are on an attack by tanks or whether you are on an attack by battleship, there's always a risk. And the unforeseen situations - you can really know what the risk is as long as there is no contact with the enemy. Later on the war, it really was a risk to send a boat out into the Atlantic. But the tendency or the atmosphere of or the object of warfare at that time was taking time at that time.

We have to stay this through till we have the new type of submarine which was supposed to come into operation. And everyone knew we have to stay this through. At the moment, we are inferior. We are not the attackers, we are the hunted. But we have to stay this through and to turn the tide against - the tide will turn again and keep a stiff upper lip.

You have such a situation in every war and every front that some boss who is asked to put his hands up, can either put his hands up or can say, you're nuts, you know, you did this, who said this and that. The famous American General he was, who was asked to give up and his answer was, you are nuts. But the German army officer couldn't do anything with his expression because he didn't know what this means.

EDITOR NOTE - he refers to the commanding officer of the 101st Airborne (the Screaming Eagles) who were surrounded and cut off at Bastogne. When he was offered the opportunity to surrender to the German forces surrounding his paras, his famous reply was "NUTS!" His Screaming Eagles held out until General George Patton's armor broke through and relived them.

SHARKHUNTERS: Are you proud of your service?

KONIG: Well, it was a wonderful experience. Experience being on such a successful boat with such a successful captain, experienced crew, you have the comradeship & of this last trip - to this day only six of the of the crew are still living. All the others are dead in the meantime. Most of them survived when our boat was sunk. Only three died in action. And it's a proud experience you have and you are proud of this time because you were in it and you survived and you know you were very, very lucky.

EDITOR NOTE - In the short time between King giving this interview and this issue going to press, their surviving crew members are now down to only five. Kapitanleutnant KLAUS BARGSTEN (328-+-1987) was I.W.O. under `Silent' Otto on U-99 before taking command of U-521, and he recently began his Eternal Patrol.

The end of the Golden Horseshoe

SHARKHUNTERS: Describe the sinking of your U-boat.

KONIG: Well, as I told, we were at a depths where normally the boat would crack. But because of German workmanship at the shipbuilding yard where this boat was built, the boat did not crack like a can of something in a - - some vegetable can or so. So we came up to the surface. And we were lucky that the destroyer was so near to us that when he opened the fire, the shells went over the boat because they couldn't turn down their guns so low that they would hit us.

And then there was this famous change of signals between the two captains. There was a Morse signal lamp given to the conning tower on order of all captain.

EDITOR NOTE - KRETSCHMER told us that U-99 was passing 225 meters and going down fast, and stern first, when they began their emergency blow.

"Please save my men; boat is crippled. " And the captain of the destroyer said, don't scuttle the boat, because of course he wanted to capture the boat. Was very important at that time. And the question came, what does scuttle mean. And there's the answer - don't sink the boat. But then Kretschmer ordered to get out of the boat, put on life vests and we were standing there.

First we tried to shoot it out! It was ordered, clear the gun. But we couldn't shoot because the gun was more or less destroyed by the depth charges. I don't know what would have happened if the gun would've been intact. Thank heavens it was not intact. And, then we jumped into the water and were picked out of the water one by one by the destroyer crew.

EDITOR NOTE - KRETSCHMER was always the warrior. He told me some years ago that when he surfaced, his bows were pointing at HMS VANOC which had just sunk U-100 (Schepke) He said that if he still had torpedoes aboard, he would certainly have sunk her. If the deck gun had been in working order, there is no doubt that the crew of U-99 would have fired at HMS WALKER in dead earnest.

And they (the British crew) even took the risk of going overboard into the scramble nets and drag us out of the water because we were - some of us were really numb in the meantime because the water was rather cold. It was in the March and was in between Iceland and the Faeroe Island. It's not very warm, the water up there. But they, they saved our lives. And they were very friendly and we still have contact to those people from the destroyer that saved us and they're only very few are living anymore.

"Help us, we are sunking!"

That was the famous message flashed by Morse signal lamp from the bridge of U-99 to HMS WALKER. KRETSCHMER was the only one aboard U-99 fluent in English so he dictated his message, letter by letter, to the operator of the lamp. His English was good -- not perfect, but good enough to get his men rescued.

SHARKHUNTERS: Did he scuttle the boat?

KONIG: Well the last consequence -- the boat was sunk by the leading engineer. The boat was up on the surface but the hatches were open, the water was swishing into the hatch and coming out again. But it wasn't sinking, the boat, and the captain said to the leading engineer, calling by his name, the boat doesn't sink. And he said, yes, sir.

And went down and flick open -- there was only one of these diving tanks not flooded yet and Kretschmer told him, open quite slowly, quite slowly. But the minute he open this valve for this -- the boat sank away like a stone and the leading engineer could not climb up the ladder anymore.

So it was the leading engineer that sank the boat. Was a tragic affair. And all the time since then, I'm thinking of my captain, what is in his mind looking into this dark hole down there in the boat and he ordered the engineer to please go down and open the valve. And it must've haunted him to all his life.

SHARKHUNTERS: How do you feel about the sailors who died at the end of the war when it was a lost cause?

KONIG: Yes, of course, I'm proud that I did this job and I think they were very, very brave to go out despite the enormous risk they were taking. It was more or less a suicide risk. And to obey orders and to go into the fire, whether it's on land or on sea, is something to be admired. It's easy nowadays to say, ah come on, they were idiots and fools. They knew what risk they were taking, but they were taking it for their country and for their families and for the cause - - for the cause they were fighting for. And it's calling for the highest admiration. And many of my classmates lost their life on submarines. Many friends.

SHARKHUNTERS: What do you think their motivation was?

KONIG: What was the motivation for soldier to follow an order? He's educated to say yes, sir, whether that's on land or on air on sea. Whether the risk is high, whether it's not so high. Of course you have people who don't like to take this risk but they normally are not sub commanders. If someone is a coward in a crew, he disappears in the crew. And if he's one of those and doesn't matter. Anyone who wants to become a Navy officer or an Air Force officer probably is not a coward, otherwise he wouldn't reply to a call to arms. And this is the answer to the question.

They took a high risk and they knew they were taking this risk but they took it because they saw a certain reason for doing this because they said, one day the turn is tide is turning. And you know that we had these so-called wonder weapons, everyone spoke of them at the end of the war in Germany. And everyone said, well, one day they will come. They were the V-1, the V-2 and there were the new submarines. And the British say,too little, too late. Whether it was good that we won the war or lost the war, we shan't discuss here. But if these weapons would've been there sooner, the development would've have been another one. Despite the fact that the whole world was fighting against us. This is the answer to this question.

SHARKHUNTERS: Should they have sent the U-boats into action when the command knew the end had arrived?

KONIG: Well, I think in such a situation, even in the leading position, you always have some kind of hope. Whether it's the high command or whether it was on the front line or whether it was Hitler, they all had - just remember, the parallel to the seventy year war -- 1700s, fifty, sixty, something, yah, when Prussia was attacked from all sides and suddenly the Russian empress died and the tide turned because the next czar on the Russian throne was pro-­Prussian.

And this time, Roosevelt died. And everyone in Germany said this is it, this is a parallel to the seventy year war. There was hope and now the new secret weapons will be coming along. The tide might turn. And you have a certain hope. And everyone had this hope. And you have this feeling of hope, otherwise you would perish. Everyone in the fight has some - even a hopeless situation, you have some kind of hope that the tide will turn. And there were certain objects where you really could think, there's something that can turn the things.

SHARKHUNTERS: Did the men know they were suicide missions?

KONIG: So these sub captains going out into the Atlantic at the end of the war knew exactly what risk they were taking. Exactly. And they did this hazardous job because they had the feeling they were doing this for the country and that the tide would turn and Germany would win the war in the long run. Because of developments, technical developments were under way and they would come and make a decisive influence on the development of the war. And every one in the submarine service knew what type of submarine was under construction and that hundreds of boat were on the yards and already their comrades were manning these boats already. So this is one of the reasons, despite the fact that they said, yes, sir, to their superiors when they were ordered to go out.

Again KING, many thanks for this superb insight into the life aboard a German U-boat and in your case, a very famous boat.