The last underwater ace of the Kriegsmarine. Submarines of the Second World War: photo. submarines of the ussr and germany of the second world war
English Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham said: “It takes the Navy three years to build a ship. It will take three hundred years to create a tradition." The German fleet, the enemy of the British at sea during the years of both world wars, was very young and did not have such an amount of time, but the German sailors tried to create their traditions in an accelerated way - for example, using the continuity of generations. A prime example a similar dynasty is the family of Admiral General Otto Schulze.
Otto Schultze was born on May 11, 1884 in Oldenburg (Lower Saxony). His career in the navy began in 1900, when, at the age of 16, Schulze was enlisted as a cadet in the Kaiserlichmarine. Having completed his training and practice, Schulze received the rank of lieutenant zur see in September 1903 - at that time he served on the armored cruiser Prinz Heinrich (SMS Prinz Heinrich). Schulze met World War I already on board the dreadnought "König" (SMS König) in the rank of lieutenant commander. In May 1915, tempted by the prospect of service in submarines, Schulze transferred from liner fleet on a submarine, took courses at a submarine school in Kiel and received a training submarine U 4 under his command. Already at the end of the same year, he was appointed commander of the U 63 ocean-going boat under construction, which entered service with the German fleet on March 11, 1916.
Otto Schulze (1884–1966) and his middle son Heinz-Otto Schulze (1915–1943) - it is clear that, in addition to love for the sea, the father passed on to his sons a characteristic appearance. The nickname of the father "Nose" was inherited by the eldest son Wolfgang Schulze
The decision to become a submariner was a fateful one for Schulze, as service on submarines gave him much more in terms of career and fame than he could have achieved on surface ships. During his command of U 63 (03/11/1916 - 08/27/1917 and 10/15/1917 - 12/24/1917) Schulze achieved impressive success, sinking the British cruiser HMS Falmouth and 53 ships with a total tonnage of 132,567 tons, and deservedly decorated his the uniform of the most prestigious award in Germany - the Prussian Order of Merit (Pour le Mérite).
Among the victories of Schulze is the sinking of the ex-liner "Transylvania" (Transylvania, 14348 tons), which was used by the British Admiralty during the war as a military transport. On the morning of May 4, 1917, the Transylvania, which was making the transition from Marseille to Alexandria guarding two Japanese destroyers, was torpedoed by U 63. The first torpedo hit the middle of the ship, and ten minutes later Schulze finished it off with a second torpedo. The sinking of the liner was accompanied by a large number of victims - Transylvania was overcrowded with people. On that day, in addition to the crew, there were 2860 soldiers, 200 officers and 60 people on board. medical personnel. The next day, the Italian coast was littered with the bodies of the dead - U 63 torpedoes caused the death of 412 people.
The British cruiser Falmouth was sunk by U 63 under the command of Otto Schulze on 20 August 1916. Before that, the ship was damaged by another German boat U 66 and was taken in tow. This explains the small number of victims during the sinking - only 11 sailors died
After leaving the U 63 bridge, Schulze until May 1918 led the 1st boat flotilla, based at Pola (Austria-Hungary), combining this position with service at the headquarters of the commander of all submarine forces in the Mediterranean. The submarine ace met the end of the war in the rank of corvette captain, becoming a holder of many awards from Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey.
In the period between the wars, he held various staff and command positions, continuing to move up the career ladder: in April 1925 - frigate captain, in January 1928 - captain zur see, in April 1931 - rear admiral. At the time of Hitler's rise to power, Schulze was commander of the North Sea Naval Station. The arrival of the Nazis did not affect his career in any way - in October 1934, Schulze became vice admiral, and two years later he received the rank of full admiral of the fleet. In October 1937, Schulze retired, but with the outbreak of World War II he returned to the fleet, and finally left the service on September 30, 1942 with the rank of admiral general. The veteran survived the war safely and died on January 22, 1966 in Hamburg at the age of 81.
The ocean liner Transylvania, sunk by Otto Schulze, was the newest ship launched in 1914.
The underwater ace had a large family. In 1909, he married Magda Raben, with whom six children were born - three girls and three boys. Of the daughters, only the youngest daughter Rosemary was able to overcome the age of two, her two sisters died in infancy. For the sons of Schulze, fate was more favorable: Wolfgang, Heinz-Otto and Rudolf, having reached adulthood, followed in the footsteps of their father, enlisting in the Navy and becoming submariners. Contrary to Russian fairy tales, in which traditionally “the older one was smart, the middle one was this way and that, the youngest was a fool at all,” the abilities of the sons of Admiral Schulze were distributed in a completely different way.
Wolfgang Schulze
On October 2, 1942, an American B-18 anti-submarine aircraft spotted a submarine in the surface position 15 miles off the coast of French Guiana. The first attack was successful, and the boat, which turned out to be U 512 (type IXC), after the explosion of bombs dropped from the aircraft, disappeared under water, leaving an oil slick on the surface. The place where the submarine lay on the bottom turned out to be shallow, which gave the surviving submariners a chance to escape - the bow depth gauge showed 42 meters. About 15 people ended up in the forward torpedo room, which in such situations could serve as a shelter.
By the beginning of World War II, the main American bomber Douglas B-18 "Bolo" was outdated and was forced out of the bomber units by the four-engine B-17. However, the B-18 also found something to do - more than 100 vehicles were equipped with search radars and magnetic anomalous detectors and transferred to anti-submarine service. In this capacity, their service was also short-lived, and the sunk U 512 became one of the few successes of the Bolo.
It was decided to go outside through the torpedo tubes, but there were half as many breathing apparatus as there were people in the compartment. In addition, the room began to fill with chlorine, which was emitted by the batteries of electric torpedoes. As a result, only one submariner managed to rise to the surface - 24-year-old sailor Franz Machen.
The crew of the B-18, circling over the site of the death of the boat, noticed the escaped submariner and dropped the life raft. Mahen spent ten days on the raft before being picked up by a US Navy ship. During his “single voyage”, the sailor was attacked by birds, which inflicted significant wounds on him with their beaks, but Mahen rebuffed the aggressors, and two winged predators were caught by him. After tearing the carcasses apart and drying them in the sun, the submariner ate poultry meat, despite its nasty taste. On October 12, it was discovered by the American destroyer Ellis. Subsequently, while being interrogated by the US Naval Intelligence Department, Mahen gave a description of his deceased commander.
“According to the testimony of the only survivor, the crew of the U 512 submarine consisted of 49 sailors and officers. Its commander is Lieutenant Commander Wolfgang Schulze, the son of an admiral and a member of the "Nose" Schulze family, which left a noticeable mark on German naval history. However, Wolfgang Schulze did little to match his famous ancestors. He did not enjoy the love and respect of his crew, who considered him a narcissistic, unrestrained, incompetent person. Schulze drank heavily on board and punished his men very severely for even the most minor infractions of discipline. However, in addition to the drop in morale among the crew due to the constant and excessive tightening of the "nuts" by the boat commander, Schulze's crew was dissatisfied with his professional skills as a submarine commander. Believing that fate had prepared him to become the second Prien, Schulze commanded the boat with extreme recklessness. The rescued submariner stated that during U 512 tests and exercises, Schulze always tended to remain on the surface during air attack exercises, repelling aircraft attacks with anti-aircraft fire, while he could give the order to dive without warning his gunners, who, after leaving boats under water remained in the water until Schulze surfaced and picked them up.
Of course, the opinion of one person may also be too subjective, but if Wolfgang Schultze corresponded to the characterization given to him, then he was very different from his father and brother Heinz-Otto. It is especially worth noting that for Wolfgang this was the first combat campaign as a boat commander, in which he managed to sink three ships with a total tonnage of 20,619 tons. It is curious that Wolfgang inherited his father's nickname, given to him during his service in the Navy - "Nose" (German: Nase). The origin of the nickname becomes apparent when looking at the photo - the old underwater ace had a large and expressive nose.
Heinz-Otto Schulze
If the father of the Schulze family could truly be proud of anyone, it was his middle son Heinz-Otto (Heinz-Otto Schultze). He came to the fleet four years later than the elder Wolfgang, but managed to achieve much greater success, comparable to the achievements of his father.
One of the reasons why this happened is the history of the brothers' service until they were appointed commanders of combat submarines. Wolfgang, after receiving the rank of lieutenant in 1934, served on the shore and surface ships - before getting on the submarine in April 1940, he was an officer in the battlecruiser Gneisenau (Gneisenau) for two years. After eight months of training and practice, the eldest of the Schulze brothers was appointed commander of the training boat U 17, which he commanded for ten months, after which he received the same position on U 512. Based on the fact that Wolfgang Schulze had practically no combat experience and despised caution , his death in the first campaign is quite natural.
Heinz-Otto Schulze returned from a campaign. To the right of him, the flotilla commander and underwater ace Robert-Richard Zapp ( Robert Richard Zapp), 1942
Unlike his older brother, Heinz-Otto Schulze consciously followed in his father's footsteps and, having become a lieutenant in the navy in April 1937, he immediately chose to serve in submarines. After completing his studies in March 1938, he was appointed as a watch officer on the boat U 31 (type VIIA), on which he met the beginning of World War II. The boat was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Johannes Habekost, with whom Schulze made four combat campaigns. As a result of one of them, the British battleship Nelson was blown up and damaged on mines laid by U 31.
In January 1940, Heinz-Otto Schulze was sent to courses for submarine commanders, after which he commanded the training U 4, then became the first commander of the U 141, and in April 1941 he received the brand new "seven" U 432 (type VIIC) from the shipyard. Having received his own boat under his arm, Schulze showed an excellent result in the very first campaign, sinking four ships of 10,778 tons during the battle of the Markgraf group of boats with convoy SC-42 on September 9–14, 1941. The commander of the submarine forces, Karl Doenitz, gave the following description of the actions of the young commander of U 432: "The commander succeeded in his first campaign, showing perseverance in attacking the convoy."
Subsequently, Heinz-Otto made six more military campaigns on U 432 and only once returned from the sea without triangular pennants on the periscope, with which German submariners celebrated their successes. In July 1942, Dönitz awarded Schulze the Knight's Cross, believing that he had reached the mark of 100,000 tons. This was not entirely true: the personal account of the commander of U 432 amounted to 20 ships sunk for 67,991 tons, two more ships for 15,666 tons were damaged (according to the site http://uboat.net). However, Heitz-Otto was in good standing with the command, he was bold and decisive, while acting prudently and in cold blood, for which he was nicknamed "Mask" (German Maske) by his colleagues.
The last moments of U 849 under the bombs of the American "Liberator" from the naval squadron VB-107
Certainly, when he was awarded Doenitz, the fourth campaign of U 432 in February 1942 was also taken into account, by which Schulze confirmed the hope of the commander of the submarine forces that boats of the VII series could successfully operate in east coast United States, along with IX series submarines without refueling. In that campaign, Schulze spent 55 days at sea, sinking five ships for 25,107 tons during this time.
However, despite the obvious talent of a submariner, the second son of Admiral Schulze suffered the same fate as his older brother Wolfgang. Having received command of the new submarine cruiser U 849 type IXD2, Otto-Heinz Schulze died along with the boat in the very first campaign. On November 25, 1943, the American Liberator put an end to the fate of the boat and its entire crew off the east coast of Africa with its bombs.
Rudolf Schulze
The youngest son of Admiral Schulze began serving in the Navy after the outbreak of war, in December 1939, and not much is known about the details of his career in the Kriegsmarine. In February 1942, Rudolf Schultze was assigned to the post of officer in charge of the submarine U 608 under the command of Oberleutnant zur see Rolf Struckmeier. On it, he made four military campaigns in the Atlantic with a result of four ships sunk at 35,539 tons.
Former boat of Rudolf Schulze U 2540 on display at the Naval Museum in Bremerhaven, Bremen, Germany
In August 1943, Rudolf was sent to training courses for submarine commanders and a month later became the commander of the training submarine U 61. At the end of 1944, Rudolf was appointed commander of the new "electric boat" XXI series U 2540, which he commanded until the end of the war. It is curious that this boat was sunk on May 4, 1945, but in 1957 it was raised, restored and in 1960 included in the German Navy under the name "Wilhelm Bauer". In 1984, she was transferred to the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, where she is still used as a museum ship.
Rudolf Schulze was the only one of the brothers who survived the war and died in 2000 at the age of 78.
Other "underwater" dynasties
It is worth noting that the Schulze family is no exception for the German fleet and its submarine - other dynasties are also known in history, when sons followed in the footsteps of their fathers, replacing them on the bridges of submarines.
Family Albrecht gave two submarine commanders to the First World War. Oberleutnant zur see Werner Albrecht (Werner Albrecht) led the underwater mine layer UC 10 on his first trip, which turned out to be his last, when on August 21, 1916 the minelayer was torpedoed by the British boat E54. There were no survivors. Kurt Albrecht (Kurt Albrecht) successively commanded four boats and repeated the fate of his brother - he died on U 32 along with the crew northwest of Malta on May 8, 1918 from depth charges of the British sloop Wallflower (HMS Wallflower).
The surviving sailors from the submarines U 386 and U 406 sunk by the British frigate Spray disembark from the ship in Liverpool - for them the war is over.
Two submarine commanders from the younger generation of Albrechts participated in World War II. Rolf Heinrich Fritz Albrecht, commander of U 386 (type VIIC), did not achieve any success, but managed to survive the war. On February 19, 1944, his boat was sunk in the North Atlantic by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Spey. Part of the crew of the boat, including the commander, was captured. The commander of the torpedo carrier U 1062 (type VIIF), Karl Albrecht, was much less fortunate - he died on September 30, 1944 in the Atlantic along with the boat during the transition from Malay Penang to France. Near Cape Verde, the boat was attacked with depth charges and sank the American destroyer USS Fessenden.
Family Franz was noted by one submarine commander in the First World War: Lieutenant Commander Adolf Franz (Adolf Franz) commanded the boats U 47 and U 152, having lived safely until the end of the war. Two more boat commanders participated in World War II - Lieutenant zur see Johannes Franz, commander of U 27 (type VIIA), and Ludwig Franz, commander of U 362 (type VIIC).
The first of them, in a matter of days after the start of the war, managed to establish himself as an aggressive commander with all the makings of an underwater ace, but luck quickly turned away from Johannes Franz. His boat became the second German submarine sunk in World War II. Having unsuccessfully attacked the British destroyers Forester (HMS Forester) and Fortune (HMS Fortune) west of Scotland on September 20, 1939, she herself became a prey from a hunter. The commander of the boat, together with the crew, spent the entire war in captivity.
Ludwig Franz is interesting primarily because he was the commander of one of the German boats that became a confirmed victim of the Soviet Navy in the Great Patriotic War. The submarine was sunk by depth charges of the Soviet minesweeper T-116 on September 5, 1944 in the Kara Sea, along with the entire crew, without having had time to achieve any success.
The armored cruiser "Dupetit-Toire" was torpedoed by the boat U 62 under the command of Ernst Hashagen on the evening of August 7, 1918 in the Brest region. The ship was sinking slowly, which made it possible for the crew to leave it in an organized manner - only 13 sailors died
Surname Hashagen (Hashagen) in World War I was represented by two successful submarine commanders. Hinrich Hermann Hashagen, commander of U 48 and U 22, survived the war by sinking 28 ships worth 24,822 tons. Ernst Hashagen, commander of UB 21 and U 62, achieved truly outstanding success - 53 ships destroyed for 124,535 tons and two warships (the French armored cruiser Dupetit-Thouars) and the British sloop Tulip (HMS Tulip)) and the well-deserved "Blue Max", as they called Pour le Mérite, on the neck. He left behind a book of memoirs called "U-Boote Westwarts!"
During World War II, Oberleutnant zur see Berthold Hashagen, commander of the submarine U 846 (Type IXC/40), was less fortunate. He was killed along with the boat and crew in the Bay of Biscay on May 4, 1944 from bombs dropped by the Canadian Wellington.
Family Walther gave the fleet two submarine commanders in World War I. Lieutenant Commander Hans Walther, commander of U 17 and U 52, sank 39 ships for 84,791 tons and three warships - the British light cruiser HMS Nottingham, the French battleship Suffren (Suffren) and the British submarine C34. Since 1917, Hans Walter commanded the famous Flanders submarine flotilla, in which many German submarine aces fought in the First World War, and ended his naval career already in the Kriegsmarine with the rank of Rear Admiral.
The battleship "Suffren" - the victim of the attack of the submarine attack of the U 52 boat under the command of Hans Walter on November 26, 1916 off the coast of Portugal. After the explosion of ammunition, the ship sank in seconds, killing all 648 crew members.
Oberleutnant zur see Franz Walther, commander of UB 21 and UB 75, sank 20 ships (29,918 tons). He died along with the entire crew of the boat UB 75 on December 10, 1917 on a minefield off Scarborough (west coast of Great Britain). Lieutenant zur see Herbert Walther, who commanded the U 59 boat at the end of World War II, did not achieve success, but managed to survive until the surrender of Germany.
Concluding the story about family dynasties in the German submarine fleet, I would like to note once again that the fleet is primarily not ships, but people. This applies not only to the German fleet, but it will also sound true in relation to the sailors of other countries.
List of sources and literature
- Gibson R., Prendergast M. German submarine warfare 1914–1918. Translation from German. - Minsk.: "Harvest", 2002
- Wynn K. U-Boat Operations of the Second World War. Vol.1–2 - Annopolis: Naval Institute Press, 1998
- Busch R., Roll H.-J. German U-boat Commanders of World War II - Annopolis: Naval Institute Press, 1999
- Ritschel H. Kurzfassung Kriegstagesbuecher Deutscher U-Boote 1939–1945. Band 8. Norderstedt
- Blair S. Hitler's U-boat War. The Hunters, 1939–1942 - Random House, 1996
- Blair S. Hitler's U-boat War. The Hunted, 1942–1945 - Random House, 1998
- http://www.uboat.net
- http://www.uboatarchive.net
- http://historisches-marinearchiv.de
More than 70 thousand dead sailors, 3.5 thousand lost civilian ships and 175 warships from the allies, 783 sunken submarines with a total crew of 30 thousand people from Nazi Germany - the battle for the Atlantic that lasted six years became the largest naval battle in the history of mankind . "Wolf packs" of German U-boats went hunting for allied convoys from grandiose structures erected in the 1940s on the Atlantic coast of Europe. British and American aircraft have tried unsuccessfully for years to destroy them, but even now these concrete colossi are eerily piled up in Norway, France and Germany. Onliner.by tells about the creation of bunkers, where submarines of the Third Reich once hid from bombers.
Germany entered World War II with only 57 submarines. A significant part of this fleet was made up of obsolete Type II small boats, designed to patrol only coastal waters. It is obvious that at this moment the command of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) and the country's top leadership did not plan to launch a large-scale submarine war against their opponents. However, the policy was soon revised, and the personality of the commander of the Third Reich submarine fleet played an important role in this cardinal turn.
In October 1918, at the end of the First World War, during an attack on a guarded British convoy, the German submarine UB-68 was counterattacked and damaged by depth charges. Seven sailors were killed, the rest of the crew were captured. It also included Lieutenant Karl Doenitz. After being released from captivity, he brilliant career, having risen by 1939 to the rank of rear admiral and commander of the submarine forces of the kriegsmarine. In the 1930s, he concentrated on developing tactics that would make it possible to successfully deal with the convoy system, to which he had become a victim in the early days of his service.
In 1939, Doenitz sent a memorandum to the commander of the Navy of the Third Reich, Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, in which he proposed using the so-called Rudeltaktik, "wolf pack tactics" to attack convoys. In accordance with it, it was supposed to attack the enemy’s sea convoy in advance concentrated in the area of \u200b\u200bits passage the maximum possible number of submarines. At the same time, the anti-submarine escort was sprayed, and this, in turn, increased the effectiveness of the attack and reduced possible casualties from the Kriegsmarine.
The "wolf packs", according to Doenitz, were to play a significant role in the war with Great Britain, Germany's main rival in Europe. To implement the tactics, the rear admiral assumed, it would be enough to form a fleet of 300 of the latest type VII boats, capable, unlike their predecessors, of distant ocean voyages. In the Reich, a grandiose program for the construction of a submarine fleet immediately unfolded.
The situation changed fundamentally in 1940. First, by the end of the year it became clear that the "Battle of Britain", the purpose of which was to persuade the United Kingdom to surrender only through aerial bombardment, was lost by the Nazis. Secondly, in the same 1940, Germany carried out a swift occupation of Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and, most importantly, France, having at its disposal almost the entire Atlantic coast of continental Europe, and with it convenient military bases for raids. over the ocean. Thirdly, the type VII U-boats required by Doenitz began to be massively introduced into the fleet. Against this background, they acquired not only essential, but decisive importance in the desire to bring Britain to its knees. In 1940, the Third Reich enters into unrestricted submarine warfare and at first achieves phenomenal success in it.
The goal of the campaign, later called the "Battle of the Atlantic" at the suggestion of Churchill, was the destruction of the ocean communications that connected Britain with the allies across the ocean. Hitler and the military leadership of the Reich were well aware of the degree of dependence of the United Kingdom on imported goods. The disruption of their supplies was rightly seen as the most important factor for the withdrawal of Britain from the war, and the “wolf packs” of Admiral Doenitz were to play the main role in this.
For their concentration, the former naval bases of the Kriegsmarine on the territory of Germany proper with access to the Baltic and North Seas were not very convenient. But the territories of France and Norway allowed free access to the operational space of the Atlantic. The main problem at the same time was to ensure the safety of the submarines at their new bases, because they were within the reach of British (and later American) aviation. Of course, Doenitz was well aware that his fleet would immediately be subjected to intense air bombardment, the survival of which became for the Germans a necessary guarantee of success in the Battle of the Atlantic.
The salvation for the U-boat was the experience of the German bunker building, in which the engineers of the Reich knew a lot. It was clear to them that conventional bombs, which the Allies had only at the beginning of World War II, could not cause significant damage to a building reinforced with a sufficient layer of concrete. The problem with the protection of submarines was solved, albeit costly, but quite simple to implement, in a way: ground-based bunkers began to be built for them.
Unlike similar structures designed for people, the U-Boot-Bunker was built on a Teutonic scale. A typical lair of "wolf packs" was a huge reinforced concrete parallelepiped 200-300 meters long, inside divided into several (up to 15) parallel compartments. In the latter, the current maintenance and repair of submarines was carried out.
Particular importance was attached to the design of the roof of the bunker. Its thickness, depending on the specific implementation, reached 8 meters, while the roof was not monolithic: concrete layers reinforced with metal reinforcement alternated with air ones. Such a multi-layered "pie" made it possible to better extinguish the energy of the shock wave in the event of a direct bomb hit on the building. Air defense systems were located on the roof.
In turn, thick concrete lintels between the internal compartments of the bunker limited the possible damage even if the bomb did break through the roof. Each of these isolated "pencil cases" could contain up to four U-boats, and in the event of an explosion inside, only they would become victims. Neighbors would suffer minimally or not at all.
At first, relatively small submarine bunkers began to be built in Germany at the old Kriegsmarine naval bases in Hamburg and Kiel, as well as on the Helgoland Islands in the North Sea. But their construction gained real scope in France, which became the main location of the Doenitz fleet. From the beginning of 1941 and over the next year and a half, giant colossi appeared in five ports at once on the Atlantic coast of the country, from which “wolf packs” began to go hunting for Allied convoys.
The largest forward base of the Kriegsmarine was the Breton city of Lorient in northwestern France. It was here that the headquarters of Karl Doenitz was located, here he personally met each submarine returning from the campaign, here six U-Boot-Bunkers were erected at once for two flotillas - the 2nd and 10th.
The construction lasted a year, was controlled by the Todt Organization, and a total of 15 thousand people, mostly French, participated in the process. The concrete complex in Lorient quickly showed its effectiveness: the Allied aircraft could not inflict any significant damage on it. After that, the British and Americans decided to cut off the communications through which the naval base was supplied. For a month, from January to February 1943, the Allies dropped several tens of thousands of bombs on the city of Lorient itself, as a result of which it was 90% destroyed.
However, this did not help either. The last U-boat left Lorient only in September 1944, after the Allied landings in Normandy and the opening of a second front in Europe. After the end of World War II, the former Nazi base began to be successfully used by the French Navy.
Similar structures on a smaller scale also appeared in Saint-Nazaire, Brest and La Rochelle. The 1st and 9th Kriegsmarine submarine flotillas were stationed in Brest. Overall size this base was more modest than the "headquarters" in Lorient, but the largest single bunker in France was built here. It was designed for 15 compartments and had dimensions of 300 × 175 × 18 meters.
The 6th and 7th flotillas were based at Saint-Nazaire. A 14-pencil bunker 300 meters long, 130 meters wide and 18 meters high was built for them, having spent almost half a million cubic meters of concrete on it. 8 of the 14 compartments were part-time dry docks, which made it possible to carry out and overhaul submarine.
Only one, the 3rd, Kriegsmarine submarine flotilla was stationed in La Rochelle. It turned out to be enough for her a bunker of 10 "pencil cases" with dimensions of 192 × 165 × 19 meters. The roof is made of two 3.5-meter concrete layers with an air gap, the walls are at least 2 meters thick - in total, 425 thousand cubic meters of concrete were spent on the building. It was here that the film Das Boot was filmed - probably the most famous movie about German submariners during the Second World War.
In this series, the naval base in Bordeaux stands apart to some extent. In 1940, a group of submarines was concentrated here, but not German, but Italian, the main allies of the Nazis in Europe. Nevertheless, even here, on the orders of Doenitz, the program for the construction of protective structures was carried out by the same Organization Todt. At the same time, the Italian submariners could not boast of any particular success, and already in October 1942 they were supplemented by the specially formed 12th Kriegsmarine flotilla. And in September 1943, after Italy left the war on the side of the Axis, the base called BETASOM was completely occupied by the Germans, who remained here for almost a year.
In parallel with the construction in France, the command of the German Navy turned its attention to Norway. This Scandinavian country was of strategic importance for the Third Reich. First, through the Norwegian port of Narvik, iron ore, vital for its economy, was supplied to Germany from the remaining neutral Sweden. Secondly, the organization of naval bases in Norway made it possible to control the North Atlantic, which became especially important in 1942, when the Allies began to send Arctic convoys with Lend-Lease goods to the Soviet Union. In addition, it was planned to serve the Tirpitz battleship, the flagship and pride of Germany, at these bases.
So much attention was paid to Norway that Hitler personally ordered that the local city of Trondheim be turned into one of the Festungen - "Citadels" of the Reich, special German quasi-colonies, with the help of which Germany could additionally control the occupied territories. For 300 thousand expats - immigrants from the Reich near Trondheim, they planned to build a new city, which was to be called Nordstern ("Northern Star"). Responsibility for its design was entrusted personally to the Führer's favorite architect Albert Speer.
It was in Trondheim that the main North Atlantic base was created for the deployment of the Kriegsmarine, including submarines and the Tirpitz. Having started the construction of another bunker here in the autumn of 1941, the Germans unexpectedly encountered difficulties that had never been seen before in France. Steel had to be brought in, there was also nothing to produce concrete on site. The sprawling supply chain was constantly torn apart by the usually capricious Norwegian weather. In winter, construction was forced to freeze due to snow drifts on the roads. In addition, it turned out that the local population was much less willing to work on the great construction site of the Reich than, for example, the French did. Had to involve forced labor labor force from specially organized nearby concentration camps.
The Dora bunker, measuring 153 × 105 meters in just five compartments, was completed with great difficulty only by the middle of 1943, when the successes of the “wolf packs” in the Atlantic began to fade faster and faster. The 13th Kriegsmarine Flotilla with 16 Type VII U-boats was stationed here. "Dora-2" remained unfinished, and "Dora-3" was completely abandoned.
In 1942, the Allies found another recipe for fighting the Dönitz armada. The bombing of bunkers with finished boats did not give any result, but shipyards, unlike naval bases, were much weaker protected. By the end of the year, thanks to this new goal, the pace of construction of submarines slowed down significantly, and the artificial decline of the U-boat, which was accelerated by the efforts of the allies, was no longer replenished. In response, German engineers seemingly offered a way out.
At unprotected enterprises dispersed throughout the country, it was now planned to manufacture only separate sections of boats. Their final assembly, testing and launching were carried out at a special plant, which was nothing more than the same familiar submarine bunker. It was decided to build the first such assembly plant on the Weser River near Bremen.
By the spring of 1945, with the help of 10 thousand builders - prisoners of concentration camps (6 thousand of whom died in the process), the largest of all U-Boot-Bunkers of the Third Reich appeared on the Weser. The huge building (426 × 97 × 27 meters) with a roof thickness of up to 7 meters inside was divided into 13 rooms. In 12 of them, the submarine was sequentially assembled from prefabricated elements, and in the 13th, the already completed submarine was launched.
It was assumed that the plant called Valentin would produce not just a U-boat, but a new generation U-boat - type XXI, another miracle weapon that was supposed to save Nazi Germany from imminent defeat. More powerful, faster, covered with rubber to make it difficult for enemy radars, with the latest sonar system, which made it possible to attack convoys without visual contact with them - this was the first really underwater a boat that could carry out the entire military campaign without a single rise to the surface.
Reich, however, she did not help. Until the end of the war, only 6 out of 330 submarines under construction and in varying degrees of readiness were launched, and only two of them managed to go on a military campaign. The Valentin factory was never completed, having been bombed in March 1945. The allies had their own response to the German miracle weapon, also unprecedented before - seismic bombs.
Seismic bombs were still a pre-war invention of the British engineer Barnes Wallace, which found its use only in 1944. Ordinary bombs, exploding near the bunker or on its roof, could not cause serious damage to it. Wallace's bombs were based on a different principle. The most powerful 8-10-ton shells were dropped from the highest possible height. Thanks to this and the special shape of the hull, they developed supersonic speed in flight, which allowed them to go deep into the ground or even break through the thick concrete roofs of submarine shelters. Once deep in the structure, the bombs exploded, producing small localized earthquakes in the process, enough to cause significant damage to even the most heavily fortified bunker.
Because of high altitude dropping them from a bomber reduced accuracy, but in March 1945 two of these Grand Slam bombs hit the Valentin factory. Penetrating four meters into the concrete of the roof, they detonated and led to the collapse of significant fragments of the building structure. The "cure" for the Doenitz bunkers was found, only Germany was already doomed.
At the beginning of 1943, the “happy times” of successful hunting of “wolf packs” for allied convoys came to an end. The development of new radars by the Americans and the British, the decoding of Enigma, the main German encryption machine installed on each of their submarines, and the strengthening of escort escorts led to a strategic turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic. U-boats began to die by the dozens. In May 1943 alone, the Kriegsmarine lost 43 of them.
The Battle of the Atlantic was the largest and longest naval battle in human history. For six years, from 1939 to 1945, Germany sank 3.5 thousand civilian and 175 Allied warships. In turn, the Germans lost 783 submarines and three-quarters of all the crews of their submarine fleet.
Only with the Doenitz bunkers, the Allies could not do anything. Weapons that could destroy these structures appeared only at the end of the war, when almost all of them had already been abandoned. But even after the end of the Second World War, it was not possible to get rid of them: too much effort and expense would have been required to demolish these grandiose structures. They still stand in Lorient and La Rochelle, in Trondheim and on the banks of the Weser, in Brest and Saint-Nazaire. Somewhere they are abandoned, somewhere they are turned into museums, somewhere they are occupied industrial enterprises. But for us, the descendants of the soldiers of that war, these bunkers are primarily symbolic.
The stronger the enemy becomes, the more difficult it is to fight and win with him, the more difficult it is to achieve real success, and not wishful thinking. The commander of the German submarine U 515, Corvette Captain Werner Henke, was the last submarine ace of the Kriegsmarine, whose declared successes in the conditions of total Allied superiority at sea corresponded to reality. The fate of Henke is also notable for the fact that the death of this submariner was a direct consequence of one of his biggest successes.
The award system introduced in the German submarine fleet with the outbreak of World War II was effective and simple - the Knight's Cross for 100,000 tons of sunk tonnage and the Oak Leaves for it for 200,000 tons. Submarine commanders were motivated to receive the award, which was the hallmark of an underwater ace. But the race for the coveted cross also had a negative side - the so-called overclaim. This term, which came from the English-language military-historical literature, can be translated as "overstatement of the declared results." The more effective the anti-submarine defense of the Allies became, the greater was the discrepancy between the real and imaginary successes of the Kriegsmarine submariners.
Corvette Captain Werner Henke, 05/13/1909–06/15/1944
This led to the fact that now, after gaining free access to wartime documents, Dönitz's underwater aces (however, like any other aces, whether they are pilots, sailors or tankers of any warring army) can be divided into two categories: real and exaggerated. The first includes those boat commanders who fought in the Atlantic in 1939-1943. and really made a lot of progress. The second category included commanders who fought in the period 1944-1945. and often in secondary theaters of war. At the same time, the main number of cases of overstating the results associated with the use of homing and maneuvering torpedoes and the principle “heard an explosion means it hit” refers precisely to the last period of the submarine war.
Werner Henke and the ill-fated "Ceramic"
The personality of Corvette Captain Werner Henke is interesting, first of all, because he was one of the last real aces who fought in the Atlantic. Henke received the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross. These were the last Oak Leaves received in the submarine fleet for real performance - although Carl Emmermann was awarded the same day as Henke, he was presented for this award during his last trip and did not go to sea again. Henke continued to fight and drown.
After Henke and Emmermann, only three people received Oak Leaves: Werner Hartmann, Hans-Günther Lange and Rolf Thomsen. However, the famous Hartman, former commander of U 37 and one of the leading aces at the beginning of the war, was awarded the award as commander of submarines in the Mediterranean. The last two, the commanders of the boats U 711 and U 1202, were awarded on the same day, April 29, 1945, and received high award for an absolute overclaim in attacks. However, it is possible that their awarding was purely propagandistic in nature.
German submarine U 124, famous for its emblem - the edelweiss flower. It was on it that Werner Henke served under the command of underwater aces Georg-Wilhelm Schulz and Johann Mohr. Having received his own boat U 515 under his command, Henke made edelweiss her emblem as well. Later, a second emblem was added to it - a hammer
But back to Werner Henke. He grew up as a boat commander under such famous aces as Georg-Wilhelm Schulz and Johann Mohr, for whom he served as a watch officer on the U 124 for a little more than a year. Henke began his career as a submarine commander in February 1942. He did not have time to participate in the events that took place off the coast of the United States and in the Caribbean in the first half of 1942, as he took command of the new large submarine U 515 (type IXC) and during this time was engaged in its testing and crew training. However, having gone on his first combat campaign from Kiel on August 12, 1942, Henke began to sharply make up for lost opportunities.
During the campaigns he made, excluding the fourth, when the boat was damaged by aircraft and ships of the Allied PLO and returned to the base, and the last one in which it was sunk, he almost never returned to the base without pennants on the periscope, symbolizing the sunken ships and ships .
According to the German wartime version, Hencke was thought to have 28 vessels at 177,000 GRT. According to post-war research, the commander of U 515 sank 22 merchant ships of 140,196 GRT and the British destroyer mother ship Hecla (HMS Hecla, 10,850 tons). In addition, two ships (10,720 GRT) are listed as torpedoed, as well as a destroyer and a sloop (3,270 tons), which U 515 inflicted damage of varying severity. If you sum up these figures, it becomes clear that the declared tonnage practically corresponds to the actually sunk.
Above is the Hekla destroyer mother ship, below is the destroyer HMS Marne. On the night of November 12, 1942, west of Gibraltar, Henke attacked and sank the Hekla. The destroyer began to pick up survivors, but received a torpedo that turned her stern. Fortunately, the ship remained afloat and returned to service in January 1944. 279 out of 847 people died on the Hekla, 13 more sailors died on the Marne
One of the most famous episodes associated with Henke's combat activities is the sinking of the liner "Ceramic" (SS Ceramic), used by the British Admiralty as a troop transport, sailing between Europe and Australia. This ship has repeatedly become a target for German torpedoes since the First World War, but fate favored the Ceramics, its crew and passengers until December 7, 1942. On that fateful night, northwest of the Azores, the liner lay in wait for U 515. Henke pursued the ship for several hours, after which, having taken a convenient position for firing, he accurately determined the speed of the victim (17 knots) and fired two torpedoes, achieving one hit. Thus began one of the most terrible tragedies of submarine warfare.
The explosion of the torpedo fell on the engine room, so the ship lost its course and electricity. There was no panic among the passengers, and the crew managed to launch the boats, despite the rough sea and complete darkness. After that, within an hour, U 515 fired three more torpedoes into the liner. The last of them broke the ship into two parts, after which it quickly sank. The survivors were not lucky - the weather deteriorated, it started to rain and the heavy storm. The boats flooded, overturned, and people swam next to them, kept afloat by life jackets.
Henke reported to the headquarters about the sinking of the Keramik and received in response an order to return to the place of attack and take the captain on board in order to find out the route and cargo of his ship. As the commander of U 515 wrote in the war diary: “At the place of the shipwreck there are a large number of corpses of soldiers and sailors, about 60 life rafts and many boats, parts from the aircraft.” Later, members of the crew of U 515 recalled that Henke was very upset by the picture that opened before him.
The passenger steamer Keramik was built back in 1913 and managed to take part in the First World War. He is one of the 20 largest victims of the Kriegsmarine submariners in terms of tonnage.
The top watch noticed a boat with people. Women and children were visible in it, waving their hands to the submarine, but at that time a severe storm began, and Henke ordered to pick up the first person who came across from the water. This lucky man was the British sapper Eric Munday, who told the Germans that there were 45 officers and about 1000 ordinary soldiers on the ship. In reality, there were 655 people on the Ceramics: 264 crew members, 14 gunners of the liner's guns, 244 military personnel, including 30 women from the Imperial military service of nurses to Queen Alexandra, and also, according to purchased tickets, 133 passengers, including 12 children. All of them, except Mandeus, died.
They had no chance to survive in a storm, which even experienced sailors called one of the strongest in that area of \u200b\u200bthe ocean. As former U 515 navigator Willy Klein recalled: “There was absolutely no possibility of saving anyone else – it was still that weather. The waves were huge. I served on submarines for many years, and I have never seen such waves. The commander of U 515 had no illusions about the fate of the people in the boats: he understood that his torpedoes caused the death of many people, and later this became a fatal circumstance for him, which led Henke to death.
Another well-known incident involving Henke occurred on the night of May 1, 1943. Then U 515 made one of the most successful individual attacks on convoys in the entire war. The victims of her attack were seven of the 18 ships of the TS-37 convoy, en route from Takoradi (Ghana) to Freetown (Sierra Leone) guarded by one corvette and three anti-submarine trawlers. According to British historian Stephen Roskill, the convoy's escort commander delayed sending a message about the presence of a German submarine in the area after intercepting a radio message from it, and as a result, the headquarters was notified only after the convoy was attacked. Three destroyers, sent to reinforce the escort, arrived in time for the “cap analysis”. It is also worth noting that in the same campaign, U 515 managed to sink three more ships, and he entered the top ten most successful campaigns made by German submarines throughout the war - a total of 10 ships went to the bottom at 58,456 gross weight.
The last moments of the submarine U 515. The picture of the sinking submarine was taken from the side of one of the American ships that sank it
Werner Henke was on a special account with Grand Admiral Dönitz, as evidenced by a very curious incident that occurred between the underwater ace and the secret services of the Third Reich. On June 24, 1943, U 515 returned to Lorian from a 124-day campaign, the third in a row for the boat. Henke was rapidly turning into the "star" of the German submarine, and his success was in the hands of propaganda. In the first campaign, he reported 10 ships sunk by 54,000 GRT (in reality, nine by 46,782 GRT and one damaged), in the second he announced the destruction of the Birmingham-class cruiser (in fact, it was the Hekla floating base mentioned above) , destroyer and liner "Ceramic" (18 173 brt). For this, Henke was presented to the Knight's Cross and named the most successful commander of the 10th flotilla. The third campaign proved to be the most successful: Henke reported 72,000 gross tons of tonnage sunk (in reality, 58,456 gross tons).
Werner Henke and the Gestapo
For their achievements, the entire crew received Iron Crosses of various degrees, and Henke flew on July 4 to Hitler's headquarters, where he handed him the Oak Leaves. The crew of U 515 got a vacation, and its commander went to rest in the ski resort of Innsbruck in the Austrian Tyrol, where his wife was waiting for him.
The underwater ace was very proud and ambitious, and the rewarding personally by the Fuhrer probably gave him even more self-confidence. As a result, when the ace found out about the Gestapo persecution of a family he knew from Innsbruck, in his opinion, innocent, he made a scandal in the reception room of the Austrian Tyrol Gauleiter Franz Hoffer ( Franz Hofer), where he scolded the Gauleiter's secretary for the arrest of his acquaintances. However, such intercession did not frighten the subordinates of Heinrich Müller, and a case was started against Henk, which began to grow like a snowball.
As a result, when the details of the incident became known to Henke's superiors, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Dönitz and the commander of the submarine fleet von Friedeburg personally paid Himmler a visit to intercede for the "state criminal". In a letter to Himmler, von Friedeburg apologized for the actions of a subordinate, writing that Henke's behavior was the result of the stress received during the submarine war, which kept the submariners' nerves on edge. The admirals assured that the behavior of their officer was not justified and had already received from him complete repentance and regret about what had happened. The all-powerful Reichsführer accepted the apology and ordered the Gestapo to stop the investigation into the Henke case.
Pilots of the VC-58 deck squadron from the aircraft carrier Guadalcanal pose in front of one of their Wildcats. It was the Avenger and Wildcat pilots from the VC-58, together with the destroyers USS Pope, Pillsbury, USS Chatelain and USS Flaherty on April 9, 1944 years north of Madeira sank U 515 - 16 German submariners died, another 44 were captured
It is worth noting that the submariners did periodically have conflicts with the Gestapo. So, the captured members of the crew of the boat U 111 sunk in October 1941, during interrogation, told the British a curious story:
« According to the story of one of the prisoners of war, the crew of one submarine got into a fight with Gestapo agents near a cafe in Danzig. Gestapo agents roughly pushed a man in civilian clothes who was walking past a cafe. As it later turned out, this man was a submarine officer, who, without thinking twice, in response, gave one of the offenders in the eye, giving him blanche. To the misfortune of the Gestapo, sailors from the boat where this officer served were resting nearby, who rushed to his rescue. A fight ensued, which ended after the Gestapo drew their pistols. All sailors were arrested and taken to the nearest police station for investigation. After clarifying the circumstances of the conflict, the police asked the officer to apologize, which would end the conflict. However, he refused. The case went to the investigation, which, however, was soon terminated. The prisoner of war declared that if one of the Gestapo men had shot at the sailors during the brawl, then he (the Gestapo man) would have been dead.
In addition, another curious nuance arises - the story of Henke echoes the story of Herbert Werner (Herbert Werner) in his "Steel Coffins" about a similar case, where the author of the memoirs tells how he went to the Gestapo to free his father:
« I immediately went to the Gestapo station on Lindenstrasse, which was not far from our house. The naval uniform and awards allowed me to get past the guards without any questions. When I entered the spacious hall, the secretary at the table at the entrance asked how she could be useful.
I thought that he rarely saw submarine officers, and even those whose fathers were behind bars.
I had to wait a long time to meet the Obersturmbannführer. There was enough time to think about the plan of the conversation. The secretary then led me to a well-furnished office and introduced me to the SS chief in the city. So, in front of me was a powerful man who had to lift a finger to decide someone's fate. This middle-aged officer in a gray SS field uniform looked more like an imposing businessman than a cold-blooded punisher. Von Molitor's greeting was as unusual as his appearance.
“It's nice to see a naval officer for a change. - he said. - I know that you serve in the submarine fleet. A very interesting and exciting service, isn't it? What can I do for you, lieutenant?
I answered him in an icy tone:
“Herr Obersturmbannfuehrer, my father is being held in your prison. Without any reason. I demand his immediate release.
The friendly smile on his full face was replaced by an expression of concern. He glanced at my business card, read my name again, and then stammered:
- I was not informed about the arrest of the father of a distinguished sailor. Unfortunately, lieutenant, there must have been a mistake. I will look into this matter immediately.
He wrote something on a piece of paper and pressed the call button. Another secretary came in from another door and took a piece of paper from the boss.
“You see, lieutenant, I am not informed about every specific case of arrest. But I suppose you only came to us on your father's business?
- Of course. And I think the reason for his arrest...
Before I could make the big blunder of speaking abruptly, the secretary re-entered and handed Von Molitor another sheet of paper.
He studied it carefully for a while, then said in a conciliatory tone:
Lieutenant, now I'm in the know. In the evening your father will be with you. I am sure that three months in prison will serve as a lesson to him. I'm sorry that this happened. But your father has no one to blame but himself. I'm glad I could be of service to you. I hope that your holiday will not be overshadowed by anything else. Farewell. Heil Hitler!
Standing up quickly, I thanked him briefly. Of course, the SS chief did not render me any service, he could hardly have ignored my demand to release my father.
If we compare Werner's story with the incident between Henke and the Gestapo, then it seems that Werner greatly embellishes his influence with the Gestapo, especially by saying that the latter could not ignore the demand for release. It is unlikely that the Obersturmbannfuehrer was so embarrassed by the visit of the submarine officer that he began to stutter and fawn. Therefore, we will have to leave this story on the conscience of the author of Steel Coffins, referring it to the list of tales that Werner published in his book.
Werner Henke and death in captivity
Returning to the further fate of Werner Henke, one cannot fail to note the fact that he did not manage to avoid the fate of many of his fellow submarine commanders. On April 9, 1944, U 515 was sunk north of Madeira Island. Henke was captured by the Americans along with most of his crew. The commander of the American escort aircraft carrier USS Guadalcanal, Daniel Vincent Gallery, who commanded the anti-submarine group that sank the boat, managed to cunningly persuade the German ace and other members of his crew to cooperate.
Captain Gallery and his first officer, Commander Johnson, on the bridge of the Guadalcanal. German flags indicate attacks on boats U 544, U 68, U 170 (damaged), U 505 and U 515
Gallery subtly played on the fears of the Germans to fall into the hands of the British, as they believed that they were waiting for a tribunal for the sinking of the Ceramics. As the commander of the Guadalcanal wrote in his memoirs, Henke, in a conversation with one of the guards, said that shortly before U 515 left Lorian, the BBC radio broadcast a propaganda message to all German submarine bases. It said that the British found out that after the sinking of the Keramika U 515, it surfaced and machine-gunned people in the boats. Therefore, as stated later in the broadcast, if anyone from the crew of U 515 is captured by the British, he will be tried for murder and hanged if found guilty.
On Henk and his people, the radio broadcast made a heavy impression. Despite the fact that there was no shooting at the boats, the crew of U 515 was not at all eager to be in the hands of the British and go to trial for a fictional murder. Having learned about this from the foreman, Captain Gallery decided to use the information:
« Of course, he [Henke] completely denied the shooting of the boats, and, quite possibly, told this story in order to put the British in an unsightly light. Now the British claim that they never aired such a thing, but they cannot explain why Henke would invent such a story in 1944. Personally, I do not believe in the shooting of boats at all, but at the same time it seems to me that the British could well have broadcast something like this. In any case, this story told me gave food for thought. I already understood that Henke is not eager to get to England. I wondered how far I could go with the idea of hypothetically sending him there. After weighing all the pros and cons, I decided to try one trick. I forged a radio message for Guadalcanal, ie. he himself wrote a fictitious text, allegedly coming from the Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet on official letterhead. The text read: “The British Admiralty requests that you hand over the crew of U 515 to them while refueling at Gibraltar. Given the overcrowding of people on your ship, I allow you to proceed at your own discretion.
When Henke was summoned to the commander of the Guadalcanal and acquainted with this "radiogram", he turned dead in the face. As Gallery wrote, the underwater ace was brave and tough, but managed to drive him into a "hellish situation." Gallery offered Henke a deal - the German submariners give a receipt for cooperation, and remain in the hands of the Americans. As a result, on April 15, Henke, and then other members of the U 515 crew, signed a pre-prepared document in which they promised to cooperate with the Americans in exchange for not extraditing them to the British:
“I, Lieutenant Commander Henke, swear on my honor as an officer, in the event that I and my team are placed as prisoners of war in the United States, and not in England, to speak only the truth during interrogations.”
It is not known to what extent Admiral Galleryri lied when he wrote that the British denied the very fact of the broadcast of such a program. The American historian Timothy Mulligan later wrote that after the return of U 515 to France, German journalists interviewed Henke and Munday, whom he had saved, about the Ceramics, using fragments from it in a propaganda radio broadcast that reported on the success of the German submariners who sank the liner. As Mulligan managed to establish, the answer to her was not long in coming:
“The Allies responded in March 1943 by airing their own propaganda broadcast under the name of the fictional character “Commander Robert Lee Norden” (U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Ralph G. Albrecht appeared on the radio under this pseudonym). Broadcasting on the frequency of German naval receivers, Norden accused Henke of shooting at least 264 survivors from Keramik and called the commander of U 515 "war criminal No. 1", promising him a tribunal. The fact that this radio transmission was a fake was confirmed by a cipher in May 1944 from a high-ranking US Navy intelligence officer to his Canadian colleague: “Actually, the whole story is fiction, and, as far as we know, he [Henke] was sinking” Ceramics "acted quite legally."
It is worth noting that, having recovered from the first blow, Henke came to his senses and subsequently refused to cooperate and abide by the agreement he signed. It represented for the Americans serious problem. Firstly, Henke was not a simple submariner, and his merits and character could make him a leader among German prisoners in the hands of the Americans. Secondly, he was the second underwater Oak Leaves ace to be captured. The first was the famous Otto Kretschmer, who fell into the hands of the British and became a big headache for them. He organized the trial of the officers of U 570, who had surrendered their ship to the enemy. He actively prepared escapes from POW camps and established a coded communication with Dönitz in letters sent through the Red Cross. Having suffered with the recalcitrant underwater ace, the British transported him to Canada, but Kretschmer distinguished himself there too, arranging a massive hand-to-hand fight between prisoners and guards, which went down in history as the “Battle of Bowmanville”.
The Americans understood that Henke could well be the same cause of trouble for them as Kretschmer was for the British. Therefore, after the commander of U 515 refused his receipt, the investigators interrogating the German officer decided to intimidate the recalcitrant ace by handing him over to the British, announcing that the day of his dispatch to Canada had already been appointed. This led to disastrous consequences: Henke decided to avoid the English tribunal by committing suicide. He chose a rather unusual way to part with his life.
Just fished out of the water, Werner Henke, surrounded by American sailors, on the deck of the destroyer "Shatelyn". He had just over two months to live.
On the afternoon of June 15, 1944, Henke, in front of the guards of the POW camp (Fort Hunt, Virginia), rushed to the wire fence and climbed on it, not reacting to the warning shouts of sentries. When the submarine officer was already at the very top of the fence, one of the guards fired. Henke was badly wounded. The Americans tried to save his life, but the underwater ace died in the car on the way to the hospital.
The commander of U 515 died unaware that the enemy was trying to exploit his delusions about the sunken liner. Even if he fell into the hands of the British, it is unlikely that the latter would have been able to legally charge him with a war crime, despite the great loss of life. "Ceramic" was a legitimate target for the submarine, and from it they did not shoot at the boats with machine guns. But people who knew Henke described him as a proud and determined man, and, apparently, he decided not to allow himself the dishonor of being hanged. So absurdly ended the life of one of the last real German submarine aces, whom his biographer Timothy Mulligan called "Lone Wolf".
Literature:
- Hardy C. SS Ceramic: The Untold Story: Includes the Rescue of Sole – Central Publishing Ltd, 2006
- Gallery D. V. Twenty Million Tons Under the Sea – Henry Regnery Company, Chicago 1956
- Busch R., Roll H. J. German U-boat Commanders of World War II - Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1999
- Ritschel H. Kurzfassung Kriegstagesbuecher Deutscher U-Boote 1939–1945. Band 9. Norderstedt
- Werner G. Steel Coffins - M .: Tsentrpoligraf, 2001
- Wynn K. U-Boat Operations of the Second World War. Vol.1-2 - Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1998
- Blair S. Hitler's U-boat War. The Hunted, 1942–1945 - Random House, 1998
- http://historisches-marinearchiv.de
- http://www.uboat.net
- http://uboatarchive.net
- http://www.stengerhistorica.com
Every war is a terrible grief for any people that it affects in one way or another. Throughout its history, mankind has known many wars, two of which were world wars. The First World War almost completely destroyed Europe and led to the fall of some large empires, such as the Russian and Austro-Hungarian. But even more terrible in its scale was the Second World War, in which many countries from almost all over the world were involved. Millions of people died, and even more were left without a roof over their heads. This terrible event still affects modern man in one way or another. Its echoes can be found throughout our lives. This tragedy left behind a lot of mysteries, disputes over which have not subsided for decades. The Soviet Union, which was not yet fully strengthened from the revolution and civil wars and was only building up its military and civilian industry, took on the heaviest burden in this battle not for life, but for death. Irreconcilable rage and a desire to fight the invaders who encroached on the territorial integrity and freedom of the proletarian state settled in the hearts of people. Many went to the front voluntarily. At the same time, the evacuated industrial capacities were reorganized for the production of products for the needs of the front. The struggle took on the scale of a truly popular one. That is why it is called the Great Patriotic War.
Who are the aces?
Both the German and Soviet armies were well trained and equipped with equipment, aircraft and other weapons. The personnel numbered in the millions. The collision of these two war machines gave birth to its heroes and its traitors. One of those who can rightfully be considered heroes are the aces of World War II. Who are they and why are they so famous? An ace can be considered a person who has achieved such heights in his field of activity that few people managed to conquer. And even in such a dangerous and terrible business as the military, there have always been professionals. Both the USSR and the allied forces, and Nazi Germany had people who showed the best results in terms of the number of destroyed enemy equipment or manpower. This article will tell about these heroes.
The list of aces of World War II is extensive and includes many individuals famous for their exploits. They were an example for a whole nation, they were adored, admired.
Aviation is without a doubt one of the most romantic, but at the same time dangerous branches of the military. Since any technique can fail at any moment, the pilot's work is considered very honorable. It requires iron restraint, discipline, the ability to control oneself in any situation. Therefore, aviation aces were treated with great respect. After all, to be able to show a good result in such conditions, when your life depends not only on technology, but also on yourself, - highest degree military art. So, who are they - the aces of the Second World War, and why are their exploits so famous?
One of the most productive Soviet aces pilots was Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub. Officially, during his service on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, he shot down 62 German aircraft, and he is also credited with 2 American fighters, which he destroyed at the end of the war. This record-breaking pilot served in the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment and flew a La-7 aircraft.
The second most successful during the war was Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin (who was awarded the title of Hero of Soviet Union). He fought in southern Ukraine, in the Black Sea region, liberated Europe from the Nazis. During his service he shot down 59 enemy aircraft. He did not stop flying even when he was appointed commander of the 9th Guards Aviation Division, and won some of his air victories while already in this position.
Nikolai Dmitrievich Gulaev is one of the most famous military pilots, who set a record - 4 sorties for one destroyed aircraft. In total, during his military service, he destroyed 57 enemy aircraft. Awarded twice the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
He also shot down 55 German aircraft. Kozhedub, who happened to serve for some time with Evstigneev in the same regiment, spoke very respectfully about this pilot.
But, despite the fact that the tank troops were among the most numerous in the Soviet army, for some reason the USSR did not have aces tankers of the Second World War. Why this is so is unknown. It is reasonable to assume that many personal accounts obviously overestimated or underestimated, so it is not possible to name the exact number of victories of the aforementioned masters of tank combat.
German tank aces
But the German tank aces of World War II have a much longer track record. This is largely due to the pedantry of the Germans, who strictly documented everything, and they had much more time to fight than their Soviet "colleagues". The German army began active operations in 1939.
German tankman number 1 is Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann. He fought on many tanks (Stug III, Tiger I) and destroyed 138 vehicles during the entire war, as well as 132 self-propelled artillery installations of various enemy countries. For his successes he was repeatedly awarded various orders and signs of the Third Reich. Killed in action in 1944 in France.
You can also single out such a tank ace as For those who are somehow interested in the history of the development of the tank forces of the Third Reich, the book of his memoirs "Tigers in the Mud" will be very useful. During the war years, this man destroyed 150 Soviet and American self-propelled guns and tanks.
Kurt Knispel is another record holder tanker. He knocked out 168 tanks and self-propelled guns of the enemy for his military service. About 30 cars are unconfirmed, which does not allow him to catch up with Wittmann in terms of results. Knispel was killed in battle near the village of Vostits in Czechoslovakia, in 1945.
In addition, Karl Bromann had good results - 66 tanks and self-propelled guns, Ernst Barkmann - 66 tanks and self-propelled guns, Erich Mausberg - 53 tanks and self-propelled guns.
As can be seen from these results, both the Soviet and German tank aces of World War II knew how to fight. Of course, the quantity and quality of Soviet combat vehicles was an order of magnitude higher than that of the Germans, however, as practice has shown, both of them were used quite successfully and became the basis for some post-war tank models.
But the list of military branches in which their masters distinguished themselves does not end there. Let's talk a little about aces-submariners.
Submarine Warfare Masters
Just as in the case of aircraft and tanks, the most successful are the German sailors. During the years of its existence, the Kriegsmarine submariners sank 2603 ships of the allied countries, the total displacement of which reaches 13.5 million tons. This is a truly impressive number. And the German submarine aces of World War II could also boast of impressive personal scores.
The most productive German submariner is Otto Kretschmer, who has 44 ships, including 1 destroyer. The total displacement of the ships sunk by him is 266629 tons.
In second place is Wolfgang Luth, who sent 43 enemy ships to the bottom (and according to other sources - 47) with a total displacement of 225,712 tons.
He was also a famous sea ace who even managed to sink the British battleship Royal Oak. It was one of the first officers to receive oak leaves for Prien and destroyed 30 ships. Killed in 1941 during an attack on a British convoy. He was so popular that his death was hidden from the people for two months. And on the day of his funeral, mourning was declared throughout the country.
Such successes of the German sailors are also quite understandable. The fact is that Germany began a naval war back in 1940, with a blockade of Britain, thus hoping to undermine its maritime greatness and, taking advantage of this, to carry out a successful capture of the islands. However, very soon the plans of the Nazis were frustrated, as America entered the war with its large and powerful fleet.
The most famous Soviet sailor of the submarine fleet is Alexander Marinesko. He sank only 4 ships, but what! Heavy passenger liner "Wilhelm Gustloff", transport "General von Steuben", as well as 2 units of heavy floating batteries "Helene" and "Siegfried". For his exploits, Hitler put the sailor on the list of personal enemies. But the fate of Marinesko did not work out well. He fell out of favor with the Soviet authorities and died, and his exploits were no longer talked about. The great sailor received the Hero of the Soviet Union award only posthumously in 1990. Unfortunately, many aces of the USSR of the Second World War ended their lives in a similar way.
Also famous submariners of the Soviet Union are Ivan Travkin - sank 13 ships, Nikolai Lunin - also 13 ships, Valentin Starikov - 14 ships. But Marinesko topped the list of the best submariners of the Soviet Union, as he caused the greatest damage to the German navy.
Accuracy and Stealth
Well, how can one not remember such famous fighters as snipers? Here the Soviet Union takes the well-deserved palm from Germany. Soviet sniper aces of World War II had very high service records. In many respects, such results were achieved thanks to the mass state training of the civilian population in shooting from various weapons. About 9 million people were awarded the Voroshilovsky shooter badge. So, what are the most famous snipers?
The name of Vasily Zaitsev frightened the Germans and inspired courage in the Soviet soldiers. This ordinary guy, a hunter, killed 225 Wehrmacht soldiers from his Mosin rifle in just a month of fighting near Stalingrad. Among the outstanding sniper names are Fedor Okhlopkov, who (for the entire war) accounted for about a thousand Nazis; Semyon Nomokonov, who killed 368 enemy soldiers. There were also women among the snipers. An example of this is the famous Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who fought near Odessa and Sevastopol.
German snipers are less known, although in Germany since 1942 there were several sniper schools that were engaged in professional training. Among the most successful German shooters are Matthias Hetzenauer (345 killed), (257 destroyed), Bruno Sutkus (209 soldiers shot dead). Also a famous sniper from the countries of the Hitler bloc is Simo Hayha - this Finn killed 504 Red Army soldiers during the war years (according to unconfirmed reports).
Thus, sniper training The Soviet Union was immeasurably higher than that of the German troops, which allowed the Soviet soldiers to wear the proud title of aces of the Second World War.
How did they become aces?
So, the concept of "ace of the Second World War" is quite extensive. As already mentioned, these people achieved truly impressive results in their work. This was achieved not only through good army training but also due to outstanding personal qualities. After all, for a pilot, for example, coordination and quick reaction are very important, for a sniper - the ability to wait for the right moment to sometimes fire a single shot.
Accordingly, it is impossible to determine who had the best aces of the Second World War. Both sides committed unparalleled heroism, which made it possible to single out individuals from the general mass. But one could become a master only by training hard and improving one's combat skills, since war does not tolerate weakness. Of course, the dry lines of statistics will not be able to convey to a modern person all the hardships and hardships that war professionals experienced during their formation on an honorary pedestal.
We, the generation that lives without knowing such terrible things, should not forget about the exploits of our predecessors. They can become an inspiration, a reminder, a memory. And we must try to do everything to ensure that such terrible events as past wars do not happen again.