World War II: German U-boat Captured Crew Interrogation & Intelligence Reports (1941-1945)

Description

U-Boat Encounters: 1942-1944 Timeline and Personnel

Timeline of Main Events (1942-1944)

April 10, 1942:

• U-85 sinks the Swedish freighter Christina Knudsen off the coast of New Jersey.

April 14, 1942:

• U-85 is sunk off the coast of the United States near Cape Hatteras by the USS Roper. No immediate rescue attempt is made.

April 15, 1942:

• Daylight reveals no survivors among the 29 bodies of the U-85 crew floating in life jackets. Some are found wearing civilian clothes and carrying US currency and identification.

August 28, 1942:

• U-94 is sunk off Haiti by depth charges from a US PBY Catalina and by being rammed by the Canadian corvette HMCS Oakville.

September 3, 1942:

• U-162 is sunk by three British destroyers. Two of the fifty-one crew members die, and the remaining are taken prisoner.

March 4, 1943:

• U-172 sinks the British cargo steamship SS City of Pretoria, resulting in the deaths of all 145 passengers and crew.

1943 (Specific date in late 1943 or early 1944 implied):

• U-172 is attacked over a 27-hour period by aircraft from the USS Bogue and the American destroyers George E. Badger, Clemson, Osmond Ingram, and Du Pont. Thirteen of U-172‘s crew die, and 46 survive the sinking.

May 1, 1944:

• U-66 comes under attack by American ships from an antisubmarine hunter-killer group formed around USS Block Island. Three Fido homing torpedoes are dropped, and numerous aircraft hunt for the U-boat.

Morning of May 6, 1944:

• The destroyer escort USS Buckley finds U-66. An exchange of gunfire and torpedoes occurs, followed by the Buckley ramming the submarine.
• While the vessels are stuck together, some U-66 crew members board the Buckley as a diversion.
• Gerhard Seehausen, the captain of U-66, leads a group to try and separate the two vessels. Hand-to-hand fighting breaks out on the deck of the Buckley.
• U-66 manages to separate from the Buckley and escapes. The German crew members left on the Buckley are killed or captured.
• The Buckley chases U-66, firing its guns. U-66 turns and rams the Buckley, causing damage.
• Gerhard Seehausen orders the scuttling of U-66 to prevent the capture of its equipment.
• Twenty-four U-66 crew members die during this encounter, and 36 survive and are captured. Gerhard Seehausen is not among the survivors.

Cast of Characters

• Gerhard Seehausen: The captain of the German U-boat U-66. He led his crew in an attempt to separate his submarine from the USS Buckley during a battle. He ordered the scuttling of U-66 and did not survive the encounter on May 6, 1944.
• Crew members of U-66: A group of German sailors who served on the U-boat U-66. During the final battle with the USS Buckley, some engaged in hand-to-hand combat on the deck of the American vessel. Twenty-four died, and thirty-six were captured.
• Crew members of U-85: The German sailors who served on the U-boat U-85. Twenty-nine of them died when their submarine was sunk by the USS Roper. Some were found wearing civilian clothes and carrying US currency.
• Crew members of U-172: The German sailors who served on the U-boat U-172. Thirteen died during a 27-hour attack by US Navy ships and aircraft in late 1943 or early 1944. Forty-six survived the sinking.
• Crew members of U-94: The German sailors who served on the U-boat U-94, which was sunk by a US PBY Catalina and the HMCS Oakville off Haiti.
• Crew members of U-162: The German sailors who served on the U-boat U-162. Forty-nine of the fifty-one crew members were captured by British destroyers when their submarine was sunk. They were sent to prisoner of war camps in the United States.
• Personnel of USS Block Island: The American naval personnel operating from the escort carrier USS Block Island, which was part of an antisubmarine hunter-killer group that initially attacked U-66 on May 1, 1944, using Fido homing torpedoes and aircraft.
• Personnel of USS Buckley: The crew of the US destroyer escort USS Buckley, which engaged and rammed U-66 on the morning of May 6, 1944. They were involved in an exchange of gunfire, torpedoes, and hand-to-hand combat with the German U-boat crew. The Buckley was damaged in the encounter.
• Personnel of USS Roper: The crew of the US destroyer USS Roper, which sank the German U-boat U-85 off the coast of Cape Hatteras on April 14, 1942.
• Personnel of US PBY Catalina: The crew of the United States Navy PBY Catalina aircraft that attacked and contributed to the sinking of U-94 with depth charges.
• Personnel of HMCS Oakville: The crew of the Royal Canadian Navy corvette HMCS Oakville, which rammed and contributed to the sinking of U-94.
• Personnel of HMS Destroyers (unnamed): The crews of the three British destroyers that hunted down and sank U-162 on September 3, 1942.
• Personnel of USS Bogue (CVE-9): The American naval personnel operating the Grumman TBF Avenger and Grumman F4F Wildcat aircraft from the escort carrier USS Bogue, which participated in the 27-hour attack on U-172.
• Personnel of USS George E. Badger (DD-196), USS Clemson (DD-186), USS Osmond Ingram (DD-255), USS Du Pont (DD-152): The crews of these American destroyers that participated in the 27-hour attack on U-172 alongside aircraft from the USS Bogue.

World War II: German U-boat Captured Crew Interrogation & Intelligence Reports (1941-1945)

4,905 pages of documents produced and collected by the Department of the Navy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Intelligence Division. Files centered on interrogations of German U-Boat crew members and documents related to obtaining and coordinating intelligence from captured German U-boat crews.

The primality of the material is of interrogations of the survivors of captured or sunk German U-Boats. Materials include notes and transcripts related to the interrogation of crew members. Included in these reports are  the names of crew members, biographical information, information revealed, the history of the U-boat’s activity. Files include photos, translated transcripts of U-boat crew diaries and other captured U-Boat crew possessions.

German submarine U-Boats captured or destroyed covered include:

U-66
U-67
U-85
U-94
U-118
U-128
U-162
U-164
U-172

Highlights of actions between German U-boats and allied naval forces:

 U-66

The U-66 during 10 patrols sank 33 ships. On 1 May 1944, U-66 came under attack by American ships from an antisubmarine hunter-killer group formed around USS Block Island. Three Fido homing torpedoes were dropped near the boat, and numerous aircraft from Block Island hunted for her.

On the morning of 6 May 1944, the destroyer escort USS Buckley found the submarine. After an exchange of gunfire and torpedoes, the Buckley rammed the submarine. With the two vessels stuck together, crewmembers from the U-66 climbed aboard the Buckley to create a diversion, while U-66’s captain Gerhard Seehausen lead a group of his crewmembers in an effort to separate the two vessels. Hand-to-hand fighting broke out on the deck of the Buckley. The U-boat was able to separate from the Buckley and escape. The German crew members who were left behind on the Buckley were killed or captured.

The Buckley chased the U-66 firing its 3-inch guns at her. The U-66 turned and rammed and damaged the Buckley.  Soon afterwards Seehausen ordered the scuttling of the U-66, to prevent the capture of the boat’s equipment. Twenty-four U-66 crewmembers died during the encounter and 36 survived and were captured. Seehausen was not among the survivors.

U-85

On April 10, 1942, U-85 sank the Swedish freighter Christina Knudsen off the coast of New Jersey. On April 14 1942, the U-85 was sunk off the United States coast near Cape Hatteras by the USS Roper.  Numerous men were observed in the water, but no rescue attempt was made until daylight. By then, there were no survivors among the 29 bodies floating in life jackets. Some of the bodies were wearing civilian clothes, carrying wallets with United States currency and identification cards. Bodies of the German crew were buried at National Cemetery, Hampton, Virginia.

This collection contains items savaged from the U-85 including personal photographs.

U-172

On March 4, 1943, U-172 sank the British cargo steamship SS City of Pretoria, killing all 145 passengers and crew aboard. Over the course of 6 patrols U-172 sank 28 ships. On its sixth patrol it faced off with a U.S. Navy sub hunter group, over a 27 hour period, the U-172 was attacked by Grumman TBF Avenger and Grumman F4F Wildcat aircraft from the escort carrier USS Bogue (CVE-9), and the American destroyers George E. Badger (DD-196), Clemson (DD-186), Osmond Ingram (DD-255) and Du Pont (DD-152). Thirteen of U-172’s crew died, 46 survived the sinking.

U-94

In 10 patrols the U-94 sank 26 ships. On her 10th patrol off Haiti on the 28th of August 1942, she was sunk by depth charges dropped by the US PBY Catalina and ramming by the Canadian corvette HMCS Oakville.

U-162

During three war patrols, U-162 sank 14 vessels. However, on 3 September 1942, three British destroyers hunted U-162 down and sank her. Of a crew of fifty-one, only two died. The remainder were taken prisoner and sent to camps in the United States, where they remained for the rest of the war.