Black Flag

The Surrender of Germany's U-Boat Forces on Land and at Sea

Lawrence Paterson

• Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781783469130
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World War II
• Index: History

On the eve of Germany's surrender in May 1945, Grossadmiral Karl Dnitz commanded thousands of loyal and active men of the U-boat service. Still fully armed and unbroken in morale, enclaves of these men occupied bases stretching from Norway to France, where cadres of U-boat men fought on in ports that defied besieging Allied troops to the last. At sea U-boats still operated on a war footing around Britain, the coasts of the United States and as far as Malaya. Following the agreement to surrender, these large formations needed to be disarmed—often by markedly inferior forces—and the boats at sea located and escorted into the harbours of their erstwhile enemies. Neither side knew entirely what to expect, and many of the encounters were tense; in some cases there were unsavoury incidents, and stories of worse. For many Allied personnel it was their first glimpse of the dreaded U-boat menace and both sides were forced to exercise considerable restraint to avoid compromising the terms of Germany's surrender. One of the last but most dramatic acts of the naval war, the story of how the surrender was handled has never been treated at length before. This book uncovers much new material about the process itself and the ruthless aftermath for both the crews and their boats.

1

May 1945

On 1 May 1945, Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz had sixty-two U-boats at sea. Although he was now the head of Germany’s entire navy, Dönitz, the architect of Germany’s seemingly inexorable U-boat campaign which had begun at the outbreak of war in 1939, maintained a close connection with the submarine service. In truth, U-boats also remained the primary offensive power within the Kriegsmarine, Germany’s capital ships being either disabled, sunk, or penned ineffectually to German coastal ports, while the smaller vessels of the S-boat, minesweeping, patrol and security flotillas were constrained to coastal actions which, though often fast-moving, violent clashes with the enemy, yielded little by way of influencing the war at sea. By the end of April 1945, U-boats, too, were a blunt weapon, their last major offensive in inshore waters around the United Kingdom and North America finally brought to heel by momentarily embarrassed Allied defences. Nonetheless, the U-boats continued to sail, and their very positions on the first day of May demonstrated their still far-flung operational zones.

The beginning of May had also been especially significant to Dönitz himself. During the previous day he had been in Lübeck, meeting with Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler, following a radio signal from Martin Bormann in Berlin accusing Himmler, rightly, of negotiating via Sweden to surrender Germany. Bormann had urged Dönitz to take ‘instant and ruthless’ action against the traitorous head of the SS, but Dönitz justifiably balked at the idea, opting instead for a meeting during which Himmler assured him the accusation was false.

By about six o’clock on the evening of April 30 I was back in Plön. Waiting for me there I found Admiral Kummetz, the naval Commander-in-Chief, Baltic, who wished to report on the situation in the Baltic and on the progress of our rescue activities. Speer, the Minister of Munitions, who had been in north Germany for a long time, was also there. In the presence of these two, my aide-de-camp, Commander Luedde-Neurath, handed me a radio signal in the secure naval cipher [sic], which had just arrived from Berlin:

‘Grossadmiral Dönitz.

The Führer has appointed you, Herr Admiral, as his successor in place of Reichsmarschall Göring. Confirmation in writing follows. You are hereby authorised to take any measures which the situation demands. Bormann.’¹

Indeed, although Dönitz was unaware of the fact, Hitler was already dead, having shot himself that afternoon. It was not until the following morning, at about 0740hrs, that he received a further signal from Bormann in Berlin informing him that the dictator’s will was ‘now in force’, but with no indication of how Hitler may have perished. Dönitz relocated his hastily-formed government from Plön to the Kriegsmarine School at Flensburg, occupying the Sports Hall, and accommodation aboard the liner Patria, which was docked in Flensburg harbour. From there, Dönitz transmitted the following broadcast over national radio to the shattered remains of the German nation to inform them of what he thought had happened.

German men and women, soldiers of the armed forces: our Führer, Adolf Hitler, has fallen. In the deepest sorrow and respect the German people bow.

At an early date he had recognized the frightful danger of Bolshevism and dedicated his existence to this struggle. At the end of his struggle, of his unswerving straight road of life, stands his hero’s death in the capital of the German Reich. His life has been one single service for Germany. His activity in the fight against the Bolshevik storm flood concerned not only Europe but the entire civilized world.

The Führer has appointed me to be his successor. Fully conscious of the responsibility, I take over the leadership of the German people at this fateful hour.

It is my first task to save Germany from destruction by the advancing Bolshevist enemy. For this aim alone the military struggle continues. As far and for so long as achievement of this aim is impeded by the British and the Americans, we shall be forced to carry on our defensive fight against them as well. Under such conditions, however, the Anglo-Americans will continue the war not for their own peoples but solely for the spreading of Bolshevism in Europe.

What the German people have achieved in battle and borne in the homeland during the struggle of this war is unique in history. In the coming time of need and crisis of our people I shall endeavour to establish tolerable conditions of living for our women, men and children so far as this lies in my power.

For all this I need your help. Give me your confidence because your road is mine as well. Maintain order and discipline in town and country. Let everybody do his duty at his own post. Only thus shall we mitigate the sufferings that the coming time will bring to each of us; only thus shall we be able to prevent a collapse. If we do all that is in our power, God will not forsake us after so much suffering and sacrifice.²

The crew of U47 departing the Reich Chancellery after being decorated by Adolf Hitler. The so-called ‘Happy Times’ of the U-boats made national heroes of many of the early commanders and crew. By 1945, most of them had either perished or moved ashore to staff positions.

The war at sea had been lost to Germany since 1943, although the Kriegsmarine’s U-boats refused to admit defeat and sailed until the final days of the war.

And so, particularly mindful of the peril faced by German civilians in the east in the face of the advancing Russian juggernaut, Dönitz elected to continue the fight and buy crucial more time in which to evacuate all he could from the eastern provinces. Thus the U-boats continued their fight alongside the rest of the beleaguered Wehrmacht.

On the day that Dönitz took control of the German state, five U-boats were operational in North American waters: U190 was south of Halifax, Nova Scotia; U853 in the Gulf of Maine; U530 off New York; U805 and U858 part of the Seewolf group south of Halifax. U802, U881, U889, U1231 and U1228 were all en route to the United States. U873, on the other hand, was outbound to the Caribbean, whilst U234 was also off the coast of the United States, but en route to the Indian Ocean, on what was primarily a transport mission rather than American combat patrol. Returning from the Far East at that time was U532 carrying a cargo of tin, rubber, quinine, opium and tungsten, having sailed from Jakarta on 13 January. U539 was returning to Norway defective after failing to reach the North Atlantic on the first leg of its long-distance voyage. U485 and U541 were both bound for operations off Gibraltar, whilst U516 was engaged on transport duty to the besieged city of Saint-Nazaire.

The glory days of the German U-boat service in France had faded into distant memory by 1945.

Sailing for the North Atlantic were the Type VIICs U320 and U907, while closer inshore to the United Kingdom U245 and U2324 were returning from operations in the Thames; U764, U901, U979, U1009 and U2336 were also either returning from, engaged on, or sailing to the waters off the British east coast. Off the British west coast were U287, U739, U1058, U1305, U956, U1165, U293, U1105, U1272 and U218. In the Irish Sea, U1023 was soon to be joined by U825. Finally, U249, U776, U1010, U1109, U963, U244, U1277, U826, U991 and U1058 were all designated for operations in the English Channel and Western Approaches, U534 sailing the treacherous path between Kiel and Norway, following overhaul in Germany and due for fresh operational deployment. Further north, another fourteen U-boats had sailed from Narvik or Harstad for Arctic war patrols: U278, U295, U312, U313, U318, U363, U427, U481, U711, U968, U992, U1061, U1163 and U1165.

Though only days were left in the now unevenly-matched U-boat battle against the Allies, their combat ardour still appears to have remained relatively intact, loyalty to Dönitz possibly more profound even than their patriotic duty. The dangers of war at sea remained, and within days seven of the above boats would be lost in action. On 2 May, BdU (Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote), the U-Boat Commander-in-Chief, ordered all operational U-boats in Germany to head for Norway – the exodus providing one last chance for Allied aircraft to batter their fleeing targets.

On 4 May Dönitz ordered all combat U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases. His message was brief and succinct: ‘All U-boats cease fire at once. Stop all hostile action against allied shipping. Dönitz.’ However, off Point Judith, Rhode Island, U853 was submerged and prepared for action as the message was transmitted. Shortly thereafter, at 1745hrs local time, the solo-sailing American 5,353-ton steamship SS Black Point was hit in the stern by a single torpedo fired by Oberleutnant zur See Helmut Frömsdorf ’s submerged Type IXC-40 boat. The American steamer was hauling coal from Newport to Boston in such thick fog that Captain Prior had been forced to drop anchor twice during the passage through Long Island Sound. Prior was not sailing in convoy, as the US Coast Guard considered the coastal waters now safe from U-boat attack. Frömsdorf had departed Norway on 23 February for American waters, and had already attacked and sunk the American patrol vessel USS Eagle 56 off Portland, Maine, on 23 April. The German torpedo ripped off the aftermost forty feet of Black Point, which began to sink rapidly, four miles from land. Of the eight officers, thirty-three crewmen, and five armed guards, eleven crewmen and one guard died. The remainder managed to make it to the rail and leap overboard, before the steamer rolled to port and sank with a large exhalation of air. The Black Point was the last American-registered ship to be sunk by U-boat attack. Yugoslav freighter SS Kamen, one of the ships which arrived to begin rescue of the crew, radioed a report of the torpedo attack and the US Navy immediately despatched a hastily assembled ‘hunter-killer’ group which comprised the destroyer USS Ericsson, escort destroyers USS Atherton and Amick, and frigate USS Moberley.

Within two hours USS Moberley arrived, shortly followed by two others from the group. They formed a loose scouting line and it was USS Atherton which discovered U853, lying bottomed in thirty-three metres of water. The escort destroyer obtained a firm sonar trace and carried out a depth-charge attack on the Type IXC-40 U-boat. Thirteen magnetically-fused depth charges were dropped, but contact was lost in the swirling eddies of water following this initial barrage. Meanwhile, three more destroyers had arrived to join the hunt, alongside two former Royal Navy corvettes and an auxiliary destroyer. With this fearsome array of weaponry present, USS Amick was able to depart and continue with the previous high-priority mission in which it had been involved before the diversion to hunt U853.

The crew of a Type IXC-40 docked in Norway after the successful patrol completion. Of particular note are the two hand grenades carried by the man at right of the photograph in the U-boat leathers. As the end of the war drew nearer, security whilst in port became of greater concern: local resistance movements were beginning to become emboldened by the German’s imminent defeat.

U2524 photographed while in training, shown by the pale band (yellow) on the conning tower. This boat was severely damaged by Beaufighters whilst attempting the run to Norway, and was scuttled on 3 May with two crewmen killed.

While USS Atherton continued to stalk U853 throughout the night, with periodic combined depth-charge and hedgehog attacks, USS Moberley held the sonar trace on the target, in what was a textbook example of a hunter-killer unit in action. The remaining ships blocked the German’s escape routes towards possible sanctuary in deeper water. However, the same shallow water that imperilled U853 also caused damage to its attacker, USS Atherton suffering damage to its electronics array, due to shock waves from its own depth charges reflecting off the bottom and bouncing back at the destroyer. USS Moberley then made its own depth-charge attack on the target, rather than allow any diminishing of the pressure on U853. Unfortunately for the American, the shock waves disabled the frigate’s steering, momentarily creating a lull while emergency repairs were speedily completed. With steerage once more, the frigate made a second attack, this time discharging hedgehogs on the creeping target, this barrage being the one that probably destroyed U853. Amidst the turbid water were various bits of debris that had floated to the surface, including a pillow, escape gear, a lifejacket, and a U-boat officer’s peaked cap.

As dawn broke, two US Navy K-Class blimps from Lakehurst, New Jersey (K16 and K58), joined the attack. They located a large oil slick and marked the U-boat’s suspected location with smoke and dye markers. K16 obtained a firm MAD (Magnetic Anomaly Detector) contact on what was, in all likelihood, the hull of a destroyed U-boat. USS Atherton, Ericsson and Moberley mounted further hedgehog and depth-charge attacks which brought further wreckage to the surface: the boat’s chart table, oilskins, cork and a life raft. The final nail in U853’s battered coffin was delivered by the blimps, which also attacked with 7.2in rockets. Finally, U853 was declared as confirmed sunk, with USS Atherton and Moberly receiving joint credit for the destruction, and both returning to port with...