U-701
	Interrogation of UN 1244/35S                                                                       September 16, 1942
	Q. Well, I thought I'd come over here and pay you a visit.  I heard you drank some more whiskey.     A. Yes, and in addition the Lieutenant Colonel gave me a copy of Life magazine and we were allowed to have both beer and whiskey one night.     Q. I realize that if you have to sit around here all the time, you deserve at least a pleasant evening.  How are you in a general way?     A. Oh, we are pretty well satisfied, considering the circumstances.  I heard you were away to attend to some business.     Q. Yes, I had some duties to perform outside of this place, and the other officers, whose faces you are familiar with, have been occupied in a similar manner.  Well, anyway, I expect that you won't stay with us for very long.     A. I would welcome the change, because it is none too pleasant to be confined to quarters all the time.  Will the master sergeants stay together?     Q. I do not want to give any definite promise but there is a pretty good chance that they will stay together.  By the way, I have had quite a bit of trouble locating the American relatives of our prisoners here.  Since none of the prisoners could  give me any exact addresses, I could not find their relatives, because in this country we do not have the German system, whereby every resident of a community has to register his residence and the people who stay with him.     A. How are the camp administrations handled around here.  Is a German officer being entrusted with the office of an assistant camp commander?     Q. No.  Those camps are never entrusted to German Officers.     A. But we are not being mixed with Japanese and other prisoners?     Q. No.     A. We follow the same system and keep the prisoners of different nationalities separated.
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	UN 1244/35S                                                                                                                U-701.
	Q. Do you know, by the way, that you are up for a decoration?  You are to get the iron cross 1st class.     A. Who told you that?     Q. I know that your commanding officer has requested it on your behalf.     A. Yes, I know, that's the way it is done in our navy.  The commanding officer has to propose it to higher authorities.  Well, I am certainly glad to hear the good news.     Q. I wish to congratulate you upon this achievement.     A. Thank you very much.     Q. I have also intervened to have you meet your commanding officer for half an hour.     A. I certainly appreciate that, because it is only natural that a man likes to talk over things with another man, with whom he has spent 50 hours in the water.  Who knows how long our captivity will last and when we shall have another opportunity to meet.  Doesn't this request for a decoration have to go through channels in Germany?     Q. I don't know about the details of this decoration.  I have merely been told that the request was initiated.     A. In my case I presume my mother will get the decoration, and I will be notified.     Q. She ought to have been notified by now.  When did you write your first letter to her?     A. That letter was transmitted through the Red Cross 2-1/2 months ago.     Q. In that case they ought to have the news of you decoration in a week or so.     A. I guess so, because I know that letters from Canadian prison camps to Germany take about 6 weeks.     Q. Did you get all your other stuff?     A. Yes.  I have even been able to help out my room-mates.  We enjoyed especially
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	UN 1244/35S                                                                                                                U-701.
	A. the taste of Turkish tobacco, with which we are familiar through the Attika and R 6 cigarettes, which we bought in Germany, in times of peace.  Later on Turkish and Macedonian tobaccos were rather scarce.     Q. You know I have pondered about your statement that at present you do not belong to the Party, and neither do your comrades.        A. This status exists only, as long as you are a soldier.  If you did belong to the Party before entering the service, and you leave the armed forces, you resume you membership.  Of course my case is different, because I have been a soldier for such a long time.     Q. You were in the merchant marine before?     A. Yes, and my trips generally took me to East Asia.  For instance to Manila.  I met quite a few soldiers there.     Q. To be a soldier is a good profession.     A. Yes and no.  I personally am not a landlubber.  If I cannot be on the high seas, I am not happy.     Q. Don't worry.  I have kept my promises to you so far, and if I can find out about a location where you may be happier, I shall let you know.     A. I have been told that I might go to Arizona.     Q. That may be.  By the way, I have some interesting news for you.  In the Mediterranean area, in North Africa, some German soldiers were captured in Italian uniforms.     A. That surprises me.  I am at a loss to explain this incident, except possibly by the fact that perhaps the German supply lines were interrupted, which prevented a proper supply of German uniforms.  Or, perhaps, they are German officers acting as instructors for the Italian army.     Q. I was wondering about that myself.  I was told here, that Italian soldiers were transferred to Germany, and that German soldiers were sent to Italy.  Could it be possible that those Germans were put into Italian uniforms?
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	UN 1244/35S                                                                                                                U-701.
	A. No, I don't believe that.  After all, Rommel is active down there executing his operations with German soldiers.  I really can't figure it out.     Q. It came to my mind, merely because I read it in the papers.     A. Maybe it is just a news story.  Anyway, I hope that the war will come to an end soon.  I would never have thought that I would step upon American soil without a single piece of clothing on my body     Q. You ought to be used to that, after all, you are a diver.  But then of course you have those diving suits.     A. Yes, we have that diving apparatus.     Q. Do you have to be in the nude, when you use this apparatus?     A. Not necessarily.     Q. I must have thought of those native divers in the Hawaiian Islands, who dive after the pennies which you throw into the water.     A. Our apparatus consists of a bag, which contains packs of potassium, a substance which serves to renew the air, when it passes through, and then it also contains a little bottle filled with oxygen, which can be obtained by turning a faucet, so that the entire mechanism serves to facilitate your breathing underwater.  You can even work with it under water, if minor repairs have to be performed on the outside of the submarine.     Q. You can?  But how can you climb out of the submarine?     A. You cannot climb out, as long as the boat is submerged.  But we can perform repairs on the propellers for instance, with the help of this device.     Q. You mean to say that you repair those propellers on the high seas.  Those propellers are big, and I don't quite see how they can be effectively repaired during the trip.     A. Well, part of the propeller mechanism is inside, and then there are some minor matters, which lead to those repairs, as for instance, when we had
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	UN 1244/35S                                                                                                                U-701.
	A. wire, hemp and plants entangled in the propeller blades.  But we can, of course, only remove those obstacles when we are not too far off shore.     Q. Your conning tower is covered by a lid, isn't it?  Is there another lid at the bottom of the conning tower?     A. Yes, there is a lid on top, where the commander's bridge is located.     Q. That lid is closed when you submerge?     A. Exactly.  And then at the bottom of the conning tower there is another lid, which is not closed, but can be closed, for instance, when the tower is damaged.  The conning tower forms a separate compartment, so to speak.     Q. If a boat is so elaborately protected, I cannot understand how it can be sunk.     A. That is very simple.  The bomb hit the stern of the boat, where the machines are located.     Q. Yes, but even then the other compartments of the boat, which are made out of iron, should have remained durable.     A. Yes, but the deeper the boat sinks, the more water pressure is increased and it finally assumes tremendous proportions.  The boat must be able to withstand that pressure, especially since the normal atmospheric pressure prevails within the interior of the boat.  But even though the protective iron coat is thick, once an opening has been created, the water just pours in and then all love's labor is lost.  When a boat is sunk and settles down at a depth of 2000 meters, there must be quite a mess in its interior, even though nobody has seen that yet.  And then the boat cannot retain its normal position in the water, but turns over.  Have you ever witnessed the sinking of a ship?  It just turns around on its head and goes down.     Q. I thought it just went straight down.     A. Yes, if the sides or the middle are hit.  But if the stern or bow are hit, it follows a clockwise movement, turns over and goes down.  One part is more
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	UN 1244/35S                                                                                                                U-701.
	A. and more elevated, the masts break like matches, the smokestacks go to hell next, and then the finale as I described it before.     Q. I get it now.  If a hit on the bow or stern is scored, those parts take in water which results in that clockwise turnover.  In the other cases, though, the ship starts listing to one side and then turns over sideways.     A. That is correct.  The Bluecher sank that way.     Q. I think I read about the sinking of the Bluecher.     A. It is really inconceivable how many things of enormous value are being destroyed in this war.     Q. I'd really like to see how those submarines operate.     A. But you have submarines too.  You could inspect those.     Q. If I only had the time.     A. Our submarines were also inspected from time to time by army officers, who were interested.     Q. Well, one of these days I shall have to take a two or three day furlough, and look one of these submarines over.  I still can't understand, how they can sink, if a conning tower has those two lids.  And how can you see what happens on the outside?     A. There is a periscope.  It is made of good steel, and contains a system of lenses, arranged like in a B C scope.  Only there is one opening instead of two.  That is pushed out through electric or hydraulic pressure, and thus appears above the water surface.     Q. I see.  But now after your description of the conning tower, I cannot understand, why you fellows did not all climb in there, because you would have been reasonably safe.     A. It was impossible in this case, because the conning tower too, was damaged, and water was pouring in.  As a matter of fact, everybody did get out
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	UN 1244/35S                                                                                                                U-701.
	A. with the exception of the men on shift in the machine room, because they probably died immediately when the bomb hit or else drowned when the water poured in.  But most of those who saved their lives for the moment, drowned later on anyway.  Fifty hours is a long time, and we ourselves were nearly sure that we could not revive.     Q. I guess you have to see such things in order to understand them, as for instance that daring feat, whether this U-boat commander sneaked into the naval base of Scapa Flow.  I just can't understand how he got by those protective nets.  After all, he could not lift them up.     A. He simply used the same lanes that the British vessels used.  That was really a marvelous accomplishment.  He sank one British vessel and damaged another one, and then escaped unscathed, and all that though he was only a young man.     Q. Yes, I heard him speak over the radio.  Did you ever see him.     A. No, I just heard about him.  Later on he was killed too.     Q. Wasn't he in this country once upon a time?     A. Yes, I think he served on vessels of the North German Loyd.     Q. That is possible.  He certainly had a lot of nerve.     A. Yes, yet he died nearly two years ago.  Kretschmer, Prien, and Schepke were great submarine commanders, all three of them, and they all were sunk at the same time.  It is strange how such things happen.  How the disaster took place, nobody knows in the cases of Prien and Schepke, because there were no survivors, while only 5 men of Kretschmer's crew were rescued, namely the commander, the first mate, and 3 others.     Q. Were they in captivity?     A. Yes, Kretschmer became commander of an officer's prison camp, was promoted to a Captain, and was given the order of the oak leaf cluster with the sword, because he had sunk shipping amounting to a total of more that 300,000 tons, while the first-mate was made a naval lieutenant and received the Knight's
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	UN 1244/35S                                                                                                                U-701.
	A. Cross.  It is really a rare case that an enlisted man is made an officer while in captivity.     Q. I don't think so.  Wasn't there another case?     A. Oh yes, the first mate of the Rathke.  He was an officer in the merchant marine, a teacher in navigation, if I remember correctly.  They are promoted more rapidly because they are not active officers.  Those officers from the merchant marine, once they are transferred to us, receive immediately a petty officer's rating and become soon petty officers 1st class, and then they receive their commissions.  I guess you have quite a few reservists in your ranks too.     Q. That is true.     A. I have wondered about the separation of ranks.  Do the officers go to different camps, as in England?     Q. Yes, but if we put you all into the same camp, the ranks are still kept apart.  The officers are separated from the non-coms and the enlisted men.     A. We non-commissioned officers are going to be separated from the lower ranks?     Q. Yes, because in our army and navy also, we have certain differentiations, especially as far as the first three grades are concerned.     A. That is true in general, but within a small U-boat crew, all the ranks get together if there is a celebration.     Q. The same is true in our army, especially if certain traditional celebrations are being held within a regiment.  You know, since we are talking about traditions, there is one particular problem, which seems to deviate from German traditions, and that is the question pertaining to the Italians.  I thought perhaps they take those Italians, and stick them into the German labor battalions, because they are such lousy soldiers.  They most certainly did a poor job when 100,000 of them faced 20,000 Englishmen in Lybia, and lost.  I remember you called them mousetrap vendors.
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	UN 1244/35S                                                                                                                U-701.
	A. That is true.  But since you come back to that question, I suppose that if American soldiers fight in Russia, they would not wear Russian uniforms either?     Q. No, we don't do such things.     A. The same is true for the Germans.  The German army has too great a tradition, and therefore it would be inconceivable for German soldiers to be seen in Italian uniforms.  There are many German soldiers in Italy to keep order, but although I have never been there, I can assure you that they are in German uniforms.     Q. Is that correct?     A. Yes it is.  By the way, did I tell you about the linguistic difficulties our boys have around here, because there is not always an interpreter at hand.  Of course words like "shower" and "to wash" sound pretty much alike and mean practically the same thing in both languages, but when some of the boys forget words and try to ask for some additional food, which was left off the trays by mistake, they arrive at the most comical situations.     Q. Don't the officers of the guard speak German?     A. One of them does, but with a heavy Suebian accent.     Q. And what about the enlisted men?     A. I have not heard anybody speak German, except for the corporal, whom the Lieutenant Colonel sent in to us with some beer and whiskey.  We talked for a while with him.     Q. He is our official interpreter.  When you told me that you were from Brandenburg, I recalled the nice times which I spent in that neighborhood.     A. Have you ever been in Madgeburg?     Q. Yes, several times and also in Halle ender Saale".  But I spent most of my time over there in Berlin.     A. Berlin has been very much modernized.
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	UN 1244/35S                                                                                                                U-701.
	Q. Yes, I heard about that.  By the way, what do you think about the difference between German and American girls?  Don't you think that the German girls are too hippy compared to the Americans?     A. Of course.  Other countries, other customs.  However, I admit that the American girls are much prettier.     Q. I have seen a lot of French girls in La.  What do you think about the French girls?     A. Well, of course there is a difference between the American French and the real French girls.  I have seen many of them in our bases in Brest, Lorient and St. Nazaire.     Q. Did you mingle with the French people very much?  Do you use their bars in your bases?     A. Of course not.  They are too filthy.  We have our home dining halls and drinking halls, where we get everything furnished that we want.     Q. Is it forbidden to mingle with the French?     A. No it is not.  As a matter of fact, some of our comrades went out with French girls, and became diseased.  And in addition, they have nothing to drink but sweet wines and sweet liquors, and we German soldiers like our beer and strong liquor.     Q. Incidentally, when you were at Lorient, did you see the Japanese submarines, which was so large that it could carry two airplanes?     A. No.  However you know that the French have submarines of that type, and therefore it could be possible that the Japanese have them.     Q. You have been in Japan, haven't you?     A. Yes, I have.     Q. The Japanese people, whom I just can't understand.  They are so sneaky.     A. Yes, I can't understand them either.
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	UN 1244/35S                                                                                                                U-701.
	Q. You have been to China too?     A. Yes, I was there too.  Of course China is very dirty, with a few exceptions.  I mean those big cities like Shanghai, there you have those big European sections, where you can find all kinds of clubs and beautiful residences.  They are located separately from the native quarters.     Q. You have been in the Philippines too, haven't you?     A. Yes, and that is very beautiful country.  So nice and clean.  One can't understand that in the Orient.     Q. They have been under the supervision of the American government.     A. They have dominion status, haven't they?     Q. Something similar to dominion status.  They would have gradually gained their independence, and been free by 1944, if the war had not made a mess of things.     A. I was amused about the food these Orientals eat.  But then they say for their part that we eat things which they would not eat.  Of course as a soldier, you eat many things, which are none too appealing, but nourishing.     Q. Yes, I recall times in Berlin, where we ate thick soups, like potato and lentil soup.     A. I like that too.  But otherwise your food habits and ours differ quite a bit.  For instance, the three hot meals a day, which you serve.  We had that only in the merchant marine.     Q. Did you see any submarines in Japan?     A. No, I have not.  I was with the merchant marine at that time, and submarines did not interest me too much.  However, I saw the Japanese surface fleet assembled off the coast of Manchukuo.  That is the Northern Chinese province, which the Japanese annexed at that time.     Q. The Japanese are no outstanding sailors.     A. That may be true, but what I have see of their surface fleet looked pretty good.
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	UN 1244/35S                                                                                                                U-701.
	Q. Well, German engineers were instrumental in building up that fleet.     A. Definitely.  There were plenty of German instructors and supervisors in Japan.     Q. I read a report in the papers that we sank a big Japanese submarine which carried two airplanes on board.     A. That must be a submarine cruiser.     Q. That is correct.  You are familiar with this model?     A. Yes, because, as I said, the French have one too.  They even have twenty centimeter guns on board.     Q. You mean a twenty centimeter caliber?     A. That is correct.  The French had one or two of these submarines.     Q. I spoke to an interpreter for the Japanese language, who told me that a Japanese airplane-carrying submarine was presumed to have been sunk.  At that time two airplanes were seen circling above in the air, which were presumed to be the planes based on that submarine.  I know that the Germans built a big transport submarine in this war.     A. That was the transport submarine "Deutschland".     Q. How big is that?     A. About 2000 tons.     Q. My gosh, that is nearly the tonnage of a surface freight vessel.     A. Yes, it is as big as two destroyers combined.     Q. But the sinking of such a vessel would involve tremendous casualties.     A. That is true.     Q. Where would the place the airplane on such a submarine?     A. I don't know.  It seems inconceivable to me.     Q. I can't conceive it either.  With the present day wing spread of airplanes it would need quite a bit of space.     A. They have reconnaissance planes on cruisers.
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	UN 1244/35S                                                                                                                U-701.
	Q. Yes, on cruisers of course.  They are catapulted from deck.  But that seems inconceivable on submarines.     A. I can't understand that either.     Q. It seems strange, too, that the Japanese should have such submarines.  If such submarines had been built before the war, I could understand it, and then the entire world would know that they have them, but these days they have hardly the material and they couldn't have bought them.     A. Oh, the Japanese have all kinds of submarines.  They also have those midget subs.  They have a crew of two men.     Q. Yes, I have seen pictures of those.  Well, I guess I'll have to go now.  Maybe I'll see you again in two or three days.  So long.
	(END)