“The first hours - often days - after putting out to sea were needed by everybody on board to forget the peace (the times in the dockyard, seven days break, a weekend holiday) to be able to cope, at least to a certain extent, with the fear of the next days or weeks in the theater of operations with the fear of the deadly cat and mouse game (32,000 U-boat men of a total of 39,000 did not return home). The change from peace to war had to be mastered again during each operational cruise was cruel, exhausting and wearing down. During these first hours and days we talked very little until we got used to air attacks, to the depth charges, to the infinite space of the sea, to the overwhelming narrowness of the boat, to the noise and bad smell aboard and even to the fifty men, packed like sardines. Everybody had to live with these fears for himself.

But at one time - the former Captain is able to remember even today -- one man was talking about the fear. U-995 had to put into Kirkenes in the beginning of February 1945 which then had been occupied by Russia. It was a little bit dangerous to pass the fjord, 35 km long, above German mines which had been placed against Russian boats and ships before the surrender of the Norwegian port. And now the boat touched the bottom in an inclined position. It was uncomfortable, like being on a roadstead with martial intentions. A few hours later a Russian freighter at the pier had to be sunk in the dusk. The young Skipper took the microphone and was announcing over the interphone system:

‘If there is anyone who is frightened, it is me. And I am frightened for you at the same time. Therefore you needn’t be afraid. You should rather eat a plucky sandwich with ham. You never know when we will have something to eat in Russian imprisonment.’

The spirits were rising, though not to immensity. But the men took courage and got used to the unusual emergency -- and they ate their sandwiches which eventually could be their last meal.

Later on when the Captain emerged to periscope depth and took a view round, he was frightened to death. In a distance of 100 meters on shore, he discovered a Russian guardhouse and two patrolling sentries just beside the bank. To calm himself and the crew, he was telling what he saw through the periscope. It is a principle of leadership to come to the point - in war and in peacetime. Today books are written about openness which pays well. Encourage - that could be a positive wording for coping with fear, alone or among a crew.”

This is a passage from the book ‘The Men from U-995’ and as you see on page 26, you can have a copy of this book - HAND SIGNED by Captain HANS-GEORG HESS (125-LIFE-1985).