U-Boat War Patrol: The Hidden Photographic Diary
of U564 by Lawrence Paterson. Stackpole Books (http://www.stackpolebooks.com/cgi-bin/StackpoleBooks.storefront),
5067 Ritter Road, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania 17055-6921, 2004, 208
pages, $34.95 (hardcover).
This is the story of German U-boat U564, which sortied into the
Atlantic on 11 July 1942 for a World War II mission and returned to
port on 18 September 1942. There are many photographs in the book; in
fact, the coincidental recovery of the photos is the primary reason
the book was published. They were found in the U-boat bunks in Brest,
France, soon after Allied troops occupied the town. The soldier who
found them kept them in his house in England for about 50 years until
they were rescued by the author. Research on the origin of the
photographs indicated they were made by Propaganda Kompanie Maat
Haring for the German news-papers and film industry during the war.
War photo-g-raphers were often sent on combat missions, especially
those of the so-called ace commanders. The commander of U564, Reinhard
“Teddy” Suhren, was a legend in his time just like Erich Topp, Otto
Kretschmer, and Günther Prien. He was awarded the Knights Cross with
oak leaves and swords by der Führer himself. Suhren made the U564
famous; therefore, the German authorities decided that a mission on
his U-boat would fit quite well in their propaganda scheme.
The 361 pictures that were found tell the mission’s story in great
detail. In fact the author’s research is so thorough that readers get
to know the crew members of the U564, and the story takes on a certain
intimate atmosphere. The crew seemed to be one big happy
family—amazing considering that about 55 men were forced to live
together in a very small space under very stressful circumstances. The
recovered photos, coupled with Patterson’s research, enable readers to
witness a rendezvous with another U-boat (U654) and participate in the
hunt for convoy OS34, where Suhren successfully fired four torpedoes
and sank two ships. Readers also see how the German U-boats extended
their endurance by refuelling and rearming at sea from another
U-boat—in this case the U463, a specially designed tanker known as a
Milchkuh (milk cow). The photos of the rearmament provide a good idea
of the hard work on a U-boat in war. But as other pictures show, it
was not all hard work. If the chance of discovery by aircraft were
small, the crew was given time to relax with a refreshing swim in the
Atlantic.
At the time of this mission, the outcome of the Battle of the
Atlantic—soon to be lost by the Germans—hung in the balance. The
U-boats appeared to be extremely vulnerable to aerial attack, but the
Allies had not yet found the proper strategy to fight the U-boat
menace. There was an “air gap” in the mid-Atlantic that Allied
aircraft could not reach due to their somewhat limited operational
range. The U-boats were safe within this gap, and that is where they
usually refuelled and rearmed. Once this gap was closed by use of
aircraft carriers to accompany convoys, Coast Guard aircraft, and
radar and sonar technology, the German U-boats lost the Battle of the
Atlantic. In fact about 60 percent of all U-boat losses during World
War II took place in the period from mid-1943 to the end of the war,
and of the 614 U-boats that were lost in battle, 264 were sunk by
ships and 250 by aircraft. One may conclude that the Battle of the
Atlantic was largely won by airpower.
Ironically the U564 was destroyed by a Whitley patrol aircraft on 14
June 1943 in the Gulf of Biscay, taking 28 of her crew down with her.
Reinhard Suhren was no longer commander; he was relieved 1 October
1942 and assigned to train young U-boat commanders. He survived the
war and died in 1984 of stomach cancer.
Lt Col W. M. Klumper, PhD, RNLAF
The Hague, Netherlands
Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.
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