For years, the bunker ‘Elbe II’ lay undisturbed on the property of a working shipyard in Hamburg. JAK MALLMANN SHOWELL did a good bit of research and determined that three Type XXI U-boats were still inside, despite the fact that the roof had been blown down by British demolition - in 1946, one year after the end of the war.
After our 1988 ‘Patrol in Northern Germany’, HARRY COOPER (1-LIFE-1983), JAK MALLMANN SHOWELL (73-1984) and EDDIE PHILLIPS (220-A/LIFE-1986) undertook almost a clandestine ‘Ops’ to gain entrance to this bunker after the company that owned it at the time specifically said they did not have permission and that they would be arrested if caught inside.
They went anyway, despite the complaints of JAK.
What they found inside were U-2505, U-3004 and U-3506, all Type XXI boats, sitting on the bottom - scuttled by their own crews. As JAK scooted outside to avoid - whatever he was trying to avoid, while EDDIE made his way down to the deck of one boat quickly followed by HARRY, with the camcorder running. All this is on our Tape H-5 plus follow-on visits on other tapes.
Thanks to BUD & STELLA DANA (245-A/LIFE-1987) for these recent photographs. And why is this destruction going on? For some reason, it appears that the current German Government wants to destroy everything that was built in the years of the war and this bunker had to go - in their opinion. Unfortunately, when one group in power destroys something like this, the next group cannot rebuild it and so it is lost to history forever. We think this is absolutely the wrong way for this government to go.
You’ll find more photos on our website: www.sharkhunters.com
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© Copyright 2002 by Harry Cooper, Sharkhunters International, Inc.
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