U-505 was under depth charge attack by British destroyers and her Skipper, Peter Czesch, could no longer stand the tension and fear, so he shot himself right when the destroyer was turning for another attack run. He more or less deserted, abandoned his ship and left his crew to be killed because there was no commander, no control. Then I.W.O. Paul Mayer quickly took command of U-505, restored order and under his guidance, the boat was saved.

When the boat returned to her Lorient base, Meyer should have gotten a medal, a commendation - something to say that he did a great job to save the boat and crew. Instead, he got nothing - no medal, no commendation and no command of his own. The fact that a U-boat Skipper took his own life, basically deserting in the face of enemy fire, could not be acknowledged and so it was all hushed up. Paul Meyer went off into obscurity. What had happened to him after the war years?

A friend, Katarina Schickling, was investigating various things in the history of the U-boats and she ultimately learned that Meyer did indeed, maintain contact with the other crewmembers. A few years ago, at a Bootsbesatzung (reunion of the boat crew) he got drunk, was staggering through lobby, and fell headfirst into the reservation desk.