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REPORT ON INTERROGATION OF SOLE SURVIVOR FROM "U 335," A |
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| A 500-TON U-BOAT, SUNK AT 2133 ON 3rd AUGUST, 1942. | ||
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I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS |
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| The sole survivor from "U 335," Matrosengefreiter (Ordinary Seaman) Rudolf Jahnke, was landed in the United Kingdom on 11 August, 1942, and arrived at the Interrogation Centre the following day. His U-Boat was sunk by H.M. Submarine P.247, in position 62° 48' N., 00° 12' W. on 3rd August, 1942. | ||
II. COMPLEMENT OF "U 335" |
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| "U 335" was commanded by Kapitänleutnant (Lt.-Commander) Hans Pelkner, of the 1934 term. In 1937, he had served in the gunnery training ship "Brummer," and in 1938 he was in the 4th Naval Gunnery Division. Early in the war he was in minesweepers in Norway, where he was said to have been attacked on several occasions by aircraft. He had done his early training in the old battleship "Schlesien." He was said to have been a cheerful man with a great sense of humor. | ||
| Apart from the captain, the officers were all described as inexperienced. The First Lieutenant was Leutnant zur See (Sub-Lieutenant) Koopmann, of the October 1938 term, the Second Lieutenant Leutnant zur See Eckenberg, about whom nothing is known, and the engineer officer Oberleutnant (Ing.) (Lieutenant (E)) Braml, of the October 1938 term, who was aged 28. | ||
| The total complement of "U 335" was 42. | ||
| The sole survivor, Matrosengefreiter Rudolf Jahnke, was born at Freistadt in West Prussia in 11th November, 1922. His father is a peasant farmer. He was a member of the Hitler Youth Movement from 1934 to 1940 and entered the Navy on 1st January, 1941, reporting to Oldenburg, where he did eight weeks' field training. He continued this training at Brake for a further eight weeks. In May he went to the drafting depot at Norden, where he remained for two months. Although he had volunteered for torpedo-boats or destroyers he was drafted to U-boats and in July was sent to the U-Boat School at Gdynia, where he was in the 4th Company under Kapitänleutnant (Lieut.-Commander) Stein. While at Gdynia he did a period of 14 days at sea in "U 18," a 250-ton school-boat commanded by Oberleutnant zur See (Lieutenant) von Rosenberg. He spent about two months at Gdynia. At the end of August or the beginning of September, 1941, he went for about one week to the drafting depot at Neustadt, where he was under the command of Korvettenkapitän (Junior Commander) Reger. | ||
| When on watch in "U 335," Jahnke was either a look-out or did tricks at the wheel and hydroplanes. | ||
III. EARLY HISTORY OF "U 335" |
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| "U 335" was built at the Nordseewerke, Emden, being a 500-ton Type VII C. boat of the series "U 331" to "U 337." Some of the ship's company, including Jahnke, were drafted to her in September and October, 1941, whilst she was still building. She was launched at Emden in mid-October, 1941, and the First and Second Lieutenants were appointed at the beginning of December and she sailed for the U-boat Acceptance Command ("U.A.K.") at Kiel in the middle of that month. She had completed her routine engine and diving trials at Kiel and had passed out of the hands of the "U.A.K." before being iced in during February and March in company with ten other boats. Until she left Kiel she had a white square with two vertical lines painted on her conning tower, the square being the mark of the Nordseewerke, the two lines denoting a 500-ton boat. | ||
| In April, 1942, soon after the ice had melted, "U 335" left Kiel for Gdynia, where she carried out torpedo-firing trials. She only stayed here a very short time and went on to work up at Danzig where she remained some eight weeks. Once when coming alongside here a spring was caught in her screws; bad seamanship had been responsible for the same thing once previously in Kiel. | ||
| Whilst working up, "U 335" once spent ten days at sea in the Baltic, calling at Gdynia en route for Danzig. She carried out exercises with some 250-ton school U-Boats, making dummy attacks on convoys. This is known as the "Kommandenten-Schiessen" (torpedo firing by the Commanding Officer as opposed to the torpedo trials at Gdynia referred to above). She also carried out dummy attacks on the "Tirpitz" to test the latter's S-Gerat (search gear). Two days were spent in Hela whilst "U 335" was based on Danzig. | ||
| In mid-June, she returned to Kiel and docked for five or six weeks at the Howaldt yards. | ||
IV. FIRST AND LAST PATROL OF "U 335" |
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| "U 335" sailed from Kiel at 0700 on Thursday, 30th July, 1942 in company with an unspecified 750-ton boat. Before sailing, seven members of the ship's company had been issued with tropical kit with the ostensible purpose of misleading them as to their destination. In fact, "U 335" was bound at the end of her patrol for a port on the French Atlantic coast, probably Lorient, which she was expected to reach about the end of August or early in September. | ||
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| She is now thought to have passed through the Great Belt to the Kattegat and not to have called at any Norwegian port. During daylight on 1st August she was in sight of the Norwegian coast until 2100 when she altered course away from the land across the North Sea. Jahnke states that from Kiel to the Norwegian coast she made good about 10 knots on both Diesels and that after altering away from the coast she changed over to Diesel-electric and made some 6 or 7 knots against a head-sea. She dived only once - for exercise shortly after leaving Kiel. At about 2100 on 3rd August, Pelkner was on bridge and warned the look-outs to keep a good watch for British aircraft, which were liable to appear very suddenly. However, no aircraft or ships were sighted. | ||
V. SINKING OF "U 335" |
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| "U 335" had been on the surface for about six hours when at 2128 B.S.T., H.M.S. "P.247" sighted her fine on the starboard bow at 3,000 yards range. "U 335" was then making seven knots, 310°, in position 62° 48' N., 00° 12' W. Jahnke was one of the look-outs at the time, his sector being right astern to Red 80. Some five or six other were also on the bridge. | ||
| Having sighted the U-Boat, "P.247," who was throughout at periscope depth, altered course from 030° to 015° and at 2131-1/2 fired six Mark VIII torpedoes from tubes 1 to 6. It was possible to fire so soon after sighting as all tubes had been kept flooded and firing reservoirs charged throughout the patrol. The torpedoes were fired at seven second intervals, the range of the target then being 2,500 yards. At 2133-1/2, a torpedo struck "U 335" abaft the conning tower and she vanished. | ||
| At 2137 "P.247" surfaced and sighted a large area of oil fuel and wreckage. Two survivors were seen in the water, but one refused to be rescued and was drowned. Jahnke himself was taken on board at 2150, suffering badly from shock and a surfeit of fuel oil, but recovered quickly from both. Two attempts were made to interrogate him but without result. He remained on board until "P.247" returned to harbour on 11th August; he was accommodated in the E.R.A.s' mess, where he behaved well and proved quite friendly and talkative, but let slip no information. When taken on the bridge for fresh air at Lerwik, he said that his U-boat was larger than "P.247." | ||
| (N.I.D. Note: Jahnke had been on watch for some time when his boat was sunk and is quite certain that she had been on the surface all the time. "P.247's" report states that "U 335" was surfacing (5 bow up) when sighted. The head-sea may have lifted her bow and given the illusion that she was surfacing.) | ||
VI. DETAILS OF "U 335" |
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| (i) Badge | ||
| Her badge was a white Maltese cross on a black shield. This was painted on her conning tower after she left the "U.A.K.," at Kiel. | ||
| (ii) Colour of "U 335" | ||
| "U 335 was painted a dark blue-grey. | ||
| (iii) Silent Approach Speed | ||
| Her silent approach speed with motors on the surface was 1-1/2 knots. | ||
| (iv) S-Gear | ||
| No S-Gear or anti-Asdic was carried, according to the prisoner's statements. | ||
| (v) Torpedoes | ||
| She carried 14 torpedoes, but never fired any. | ||
| (vi) Depth-gauge Markings | ||
| Her depth-gauge was marked in graduations of five metres. Jahnke would not admit that she had ever dived deeper than 84 metres (275 feet). | ||
| (vii) Periscope Depth | ||
| Her periscope depth varied from 13.7 to 14.4 metres (45-47 feet.) | ||
| (viii) Maximum Speed | ||
| "U 335's" maximum speed on Diesels was 18 knots. | ||
VII. OTHER U-BOATS |
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| Most of the information in this chapter derives from prisoners other than Jahnke. They are considered reliable. | ||
| (i) "U 14" | ||
| A prisoner said that from December, 1940 to April, 1941, he did his training in "U 14," then under the command of Oberleutnant zur See (Lieutenant) Wellner. Wellner was subsequently appointed to command a 500-ton Kiel-built boat, which was said to be the first of a modified Type VII C. and to be fitted with six vertical mine shafts in pairs abaft her conning tower, each probably containing three mines. The engineer officer of "U 14" at the time of the prisoner's training was said to have been appointed on March, 1941, to "U 475." | ||
| (ii) "U 18" | ||
| Jahnke did his training at Gdynia in "U 18," a 250-tonner commanded by Oberleutnant (Lieutenant) von Rosenberg. | ||
| (iii) "U 103" | ||
| When Kapitänleutnant (Lt.-Commander) Viktor Schuetze was in command, "U 103's" badge was said to have been a bow and arrow. | ||
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| (iv) "U 123" | ||
| The badge of "U 123," commanded by Kapitänleutnant (Lt.-Commander) Reinhardt Hardegen, is said to be a four-leafed clover. | ||
| (v) "U 336" and "U 337" | ||
| Jahnke said that "U 336" and "U 337," both 500-ton boats, Type VII C., built at the Nordseewerke, Emden, were commissioned soon after "U 335." "U 336" arrived in Kiel early in January, 1942. | ||
| (N.I.D. Note: It had hitherto been believed that the series ended with "U 336." The existence of "U 337" is accepted.) | ||
| (vi) "U 403" | ||
| A prisoner saw "U 403" in Kiel in September, 1941, when she had just been taken over by her captain. She is known to be commanded by Oberleutnant zur See (Lieutenant) Karl Clausen. | ||
| (vii) "U 502" | ||
| A prisoner said he had seen "U 502" in Kiel in June, 1941. This boat is known to be commanded by Kapitänleutnant Jürgen von Rosensteil. | ||
| (viii) "U 575" | ||
| Another prisoner from "U 574" said that the First Lieutenant of "U 575" is Leutnant zur See (Sub-Lieutenant) Schmolling, of the 1937 term. This boat is known to carry a spider as his badge and a subscription was taken in a town in South Germany which had adopted the boat so that each member of the ship's company could have a spider on the ring for securing his silk. They also wore a spider on their caps. This boat had three Coxswains. The first was drafted to a 1,000-ton U-Boat following a disagreement with his captain over supplies and the second was dismissed his ship for overstaying his leave in Kiel. | ||
| (ix) "U 576" | ||
| The crew of "U 576" wear a skull and crossbones on rings for securing their silks. This boat, which carries the same badge on her conning tower, is commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Ernst Günther Heinicke. | ||
| (x) H.M.S. "Seal" | ||
| Jahnke saw "Seal" in Neustadt in September, 1941, she was not in commission. There is some doubt as to the name or number by which she is known in Germany. | ||
VIII. BASES |
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France |
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| (i) Lorient | ||
| A prisoner has said that when he was in Lorient in December, 1941, all staff cars were marked with a torpedo with Mr. Churchill sitting astride it, smoking a cigar. | ||
Germany |
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| (ii) Emden | ||
| Jahnke said that the Nordseewerke had been very badly damaged by air raids before "U 335" was launched in October, 1941. Both the machine shops and the slips had been hit. He confirmed the information given by prisoners from other U-Boats that this yard was completely destroyed in an air raid in July, 1942, and that no more boats can be built there. He says that Emden is very popular with U-Boat men, however, who much prefer it to Kiel. | ||
Poland |
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| (iii) Gdynia | ||
| Jahnke said that while he was training at the U-boat School at Gdynia in July, 1941, the commanding officer was Korvettenkapitän (Junior Commander) Werner Hartmann. He said that Korvettenkapitän Wilhelm Rollmann was also there, but that he did not think he had a U-Boat. | ||
| (N.I.D. Note: Rollmann is believed to command the 22nd Flotilla at Gdynia.) | ||
| Those under training were divided into nine companies; Jahnke was in the 4th, under Kapitänleutnant Stein. | ||
| Only ratings attending the U-Boat school at Gdynia are accommodated in the depot ship "Wilhelm Gustoff." | ||
IX. OTHER SHIPS |
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| (i) "Lutzow" | ||
| Jahnke said that the pocket battleship "Lutzow" is fitted with multiple stern torpedo tubes. | ||
| (ii) "Tirpitz" | ||
| A survivor from "U 93" said that Rear Admiral Wurmbach took command of the battleship "Tirpitz" while he was still a Kapitan zur See (Captain). He was promoted Rear Admiral to give him seniority over the ship's gunnery officer, who also held this rank. | ||
| (N.I.D. Note: From announcements in the German Press of 2nd September, 1940, it is known that Wurmbach was promoted Rear Admiral with effect from 1st September, 1940. It is believed that he relinquished this command some time prior to November, 1941.) | ||
| (iii) "Gneisenau" | ||
| Jahnke is certain that "Gneisenau" was hit by a bomb in one of her magazines during March, 1942, in Kiel. | ||
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APPENDIX |
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List of Crew of "U 335" |
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| (i) Survivor: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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