Korvettenkapitan Reinhard Hardegan Part 1

This is the first time this interview will be reported in our KTB Magazine. He was known as the ‘Drumbeater’ because he was the first U-Boat on station in 1942 for Operation ‘Drumbeat’, he sank the first ship during that operation in American waters, and he is today, the only surviving Skipper of Operation ‘Drumbeat’.

We did this interview with Captain HARDEGEN in 1994 and if you wish to view it in its uncut entirety, you may order: Tape H-52, 1994 Interview, Captain Hardegen at $30 (plus $5 shipping) from Sharkhunters

This is the continuation of the 1994 interview we did with Captain HARDEGEN. This is the first time this is published anywhere.

You may have this interview in its uncut entirety, you may order: Tape H-52 1994 Interview Captain Hardegen only $30 (plus $5 shipping) We continue with Captain HARDEGEN’s memories of the action off Jacksonville Beach, Florida in which he sank the brand new tanker SS GULF AMERICA.

SHARKHUNTERS: Now later that evening, you had a very close encounter when you were caught by an American destroyer that severely damaged your vessel. Please tell us about that

Captain HARDEGEN: Yes, then came a destroyer – I forgot the name, and we were in shallow waters, perhaps 20 or 25 meters, and he did attack with depth charges and we had a lot of trouble aboard and we want to escape from our boat but he didn’t drop more depth charges. Later, in the records, I learned that he thought that we were already sunk because we lost fuel and we lost pressed (compressed) air and there was also debris because we lost some wood off our deck and so he thought that he had sunk the submarine and didn’t want to use any more depth charges. When I was in St. Augustine, a man said, “I have a thing of your boat.” I asked what – he had learned by radio that a submarine was sunk and he went out in his boat and he saw a spot of fuel and debris and there was wood from my deck planks, so he took it home. It was very interesting for me.

SHARKHUNTERS: You came very close to abandoning your ship that evening. Please tell us why you were about to abandon your ship, and why you then decided not to.

Captain HARDEGEN: You see, when I wanted to abandon my ship, the Commander had to first open the hatch but I heard the screws of the destroyer and I said let me wait because if he would drop more depth charges, I would be dead at once. Then the destroyer went over and no depth charge came and this was about three times and again I tried to open the hatch, and the destroyer came once more. Then it was that he went off and so he stopped the attack of my ship.

SHARKHUNTERS: What is it like to be in a sub during a depth charge attack?

Captain HARDEGEN: What’s it like? We hear the noise of the depth charges and the lights have gone off and many things happened, and we had water in the boat – we had a lot of work, we had a lot of things to do.

SHARKHUNTERS: One of the things that we think is most interesting is the thing that people in America most admire about the U-Boat veterans is the camaraderie with the group; that everyone in the boat, that their life depended on the performance of each other person. Please tell us about the camaraderie or the ‘Band of Brothers’ on the submarine.

Captain HARDEGEN: Yes, a “Band of Brothers’ – it was Nelson who said this and the camaraderie was very good on board because everyone looks out for the other and now, nearly every year, we meet together – in October we had a meeting of U-124 (Captain Hardegen was Commander in Training for two patrols on U-124 before taking command of U-123) and then with U-123. And so nearly every year, we are meeting together – this is a very good connection.

SHARKHUNTERS: We are going in a couple of days to the U-Boat Memorial as we do every year. Please tell us about the Memorial, about what it means, why it’s there.

Captain HARDEGEN: In Kiel, you mean? It’s a Memorial for all comrades who were dead there is for every boat that was lost, a plaque with the names of all and there are some 30,000 names in the Memorial. It is very impressive, with the eagle on top.

EDITOR NOTE – In a small way, SHARKHUNTERS helped pay for the new eagle, as we have donated some $6,000 to this beautiful Memorial already. We will have a memorial ceremony at the U-Boat Memorial again when we are in North Germany this year.

SHARKHUNTERS: About fifty years ago, you came to the United States and you left quite an impressive trail behind you. Now you are very, very popular when you come to the United States. What’s it like to come now and to meet people here and to meet veterans who had opposed you at that time?

U-123 returning to Lorient

Captain HARDEGEN: Yes, in the United States I am much more popular than in Germany. In Germany, no one is interested in submarines of World War Number Two but the Americans, they have quite another feeling and I have often said that I am not an American submarine Captain; I am a German one. Doesn’t matter, and I had a very impressive connection in Jacksonville where we had a book signing and two ladies came to me and they said: “Our father was Captain of the CITY OF ATLANTA, which you sunk, and please sign the book with a personal note.”

This was very difficult for me, and when I gave them the two books, one of the ladies embraced me and said: “You sunk father’s ship, but you didn’t kill father. That is a big difference”

This was the most impressive thing I have had in the United States. I don’t know if in Germany one lady would say the same to a British or Russian or something like that – and it shows the feeling of the Americans that’s quite another way. Also, it was war. Their father had two guns on board and perhaps if he would be more lucky he would have sunk me. But I was more lucky and I sunk him.

SHARKHUNTERS: I have heard many Americans veterans of the Navy say similar things – they would say that they never thought about attacking or destroying the people, they were trying to destroy a ship or they were trying to destroy a vessel. Was that the same way for the Germans?

Captain HARDEGEN: Yes, yes – we are destroying ships and no persons. If it was possible, the early time of the war, we could also rescue people. I had once from an auxiliary cruiser, the bos’n for three weeks on board my boat and also I rescued the whole crew of a Norwegian tanker & I was in connection with the one, he was also here in my home, for a visit. He died last year and I had a very good friendship with him. That was the PAN NORWAY.

SHARKHUNTERS: There was a change in the war. In the beginning of World War Two, there were indeed actions in which survivors were picked up, where rescuerers were assisted, where you might give supplies to people in lifeboats…………..

Captain HARDEGEN: That was after we sunk the ship.

SHARKHUNTERS: …..but then within a year or two, that was no longer possible, it was too dangerous.

Captain HARDEGEN: Yes, in the moment the airplanes covered the whole Atlantic, it was not possible because then they had aircraft carriers in the middle of the Atlantic and so in the first time (early stages of WW II) we had only airplanes near the coast and at the end of the war, all over the Atlantic there were airplanes and so it was not possible. Then they had the radar and they came from the clouds so on, night & day. It was impossible to rescue people.

SHARKHUNTERS: Did you suspect that your naval code had been broken, or did you think that the enemy had gotten so much better?

Captain HARDEGEN: During the war, I didn’t think it was broken because we were always told that ‘Schlussel M’ was so safe that it is not possible to crack, and it was a big astonishment for us to learn years and years after the war, that they cracked ‘Schlussel M’, the Enigma.

SHARKHUNTERS: Let’s go back a moment to the North Carolina coast and the sinking of the CITY OF ATLANTA. Do you recall that event – how you saw the vessel, how you approached it and made the target?

Captain Hardegen’s response and the specifics of this sinking will be in KTB #169 next month. In the meantime, you may hear this interview in its entirety on Tape H-52.

More Hardegan:
Korvettenkapitan Reinhard Hardegan Part 1
Korvettenkapitan Reinhard Hardegan Part 2
Korvettenkapitan Reinhard Hardegan Part 3