General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
An answer to the question...
Posted by:
Jeff
()
Date: May 04, 2001 01:04AM
<HTML>Hello Everyone,
It seems that U-boat rumors are like lottery balls. They are circulated around in a great rumor bin until suddenly on pops to the top and becomes the \"hot topic\" of conversation for a while. Then after it is disspelled, it\'s dropped back into the rumor bin to circulate some more and just like the lottery, ya never know when it\'ll pop up again. (I purchased the previous paragraph from \"Analogies R Us\")
As is the case with the initial question asked by Jay about U-boaters going grocery shopping in St. Augustine, Fla. Firstly, no U-boats were brought up in the 1960\'s. After 1947, all but a few had been sunk by one means or the other. And a boat brought up in the 1960\'s would have caused quite a stir. Secondly, the reciept for groceries would have been under salt water for nearly 15-20 years...it is virtually impossible for paper to last that long. Thirdly, who would have brought the boat up and why?
But the bigger red herring in all of this is why would a commander and crew risk themselves and their boat for some groceries? Certainly a few bags of food stuffs would not have lasted long on a boat of 45-50 men. Also, what would the Germans have used for money? US dollars were pretty hard to come by in Germany in the 1930\'s & 40\'s (unless it came from the government). And Germans weilding handfuls of D\' Marks in a small Florida town might have attracted some attention! And what would the crew have worn as clothes for their shopping spree. They usually didn\'t even carry more than one spare pair of underwear!
Even a cocky commander, and there were a few, would have had trouble explaining the jeopardizing of his boat and crew to GA Dönitz when he got back to port. Even though the Americans were initially unprepared for A/S warfare, the Germans stayed wary nontheless.
In his book, \"U-boat War in the Caribbean\" author Gaylord Kelshall tells of a boat load of survivors from a sunken merchant that were approached by the U-boat crew. The commander of the U-boat supposedly handed the survivors a pair of movie ticket stubs from a nearby town and said he recommended seeing the show!
As is the case with all U-boaters coming ashore stories, Gaylord chalks this yarn up to U-boat hysteria that shook the USA in 1942. And except for the Abwehr spy landings, no other recorded incident of a U-boat crew coming ashore exists in US (or Canadian, for that matter) archival records.
Time to throw this lottery ball back into the rumor bin!!!!!</HTML>
It seems that U-boat rumors are like lottery balls. They are circulated around in a great rumor bin until suddenly on pops to the top and becomes the \"hot topic\" of conversation for a while. Then after it is disspelled, it\'s dropped back into the rumor bin to circulate some more and just like the lottery, ya never know when it\'ll pop up again. (I purchased the previous paragraph from \"Analogies R Us\")
As is the case with the initial question asked by Jay about U-boaters going grocery shopping in St. Augustine, Fla. Firstly, no U-boats were brought up in the 1960\'s. After 1947, all but a few had been sunk by one means or the other. And a boat brought up in the 1960\'s would have caused quite a stir. Secondly, the reciept for groceries would have been under salt water for nearly 15-20 years...it is virtually impossible for paper to last that long. Thirdly, who would have brought the boat up and why?
But the bigger red herring in all of this is why would a commander and crew risk themselves and their boat for some groceries? Certainly a few bags of food stuffs would not have lasted long on a boat of 45-50 men. Also, what would the Germans have used for money? US dollars were pretty hard to come by in Germany in the 1930\'s & 40\'s (unless it came from the government). And Germans weilding handfuls of D\' Marks in a small Florida town might have attracted some attention! And what would the crew have worn as clothes for their shopping spree. They usually didn\'t even carry more than one spare pair of underwear!
Even a cocky commander, and there were a few, would have had trouble explaining the jeopardizing of his boat and crew to GA Dönitz when he got back to port. Even though the Americans were initially unprepared for A/S warfare, the Germans stayed wary nontheless.
In his book, \"U-boat War in the Caribbean\" author Gaylord Kelshall tells of a boat load of survivors from a sunken merchant that were approached by the U-boat crew. The commander of the U-boat supposedly handed the survivors a pair of movie ticket stubs from a nearby town and said he recommended seeing the show!
As is the case with all U-boaters coming ashore stories, Gaylord chalks this yarn up to U-boat hysteria that shook the USA in 1942. And except for the Abwehr spy landings, no other recorded incident of a U-boat crew coming ashore exists in US (or Canadian, for that matter) archival records.
Time to throw this lottery ball back into the rumor bin!!!!!</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
Grocery Shopping?
|
Jay | 05/01/2001 09:59PM |
|
RE: Grocery Shopping?
|
Clint Mitchell | 05/02/2001 11:10AM |
|
RE: Grocery Shopping?
|
kurt | 05/02/2001 07:01PM |
|
RE: Grocery Shopping?
|
Jay | 05/02/2001 11:17PM |
|
RE: Grocery Shopping?
|
Steve | 05/03/2001 12:31PM |
|
RE: Grocery Shopping?
|
Fin Bonset | 05/04/2001 10:35AM |
|
An answer to the question...
|
Jeff | 05/04/2001 01:04AM |
|
RE: An answer to the question...
|
Sean | 05/09/2001 10:26AM |
|
Irish Landings...
|
Jeff | 05/04/2001 01:10AM |
|
One last thing...
|
Jeff | 05/04/2001 01:16AM |
|
Yoo Hoo Too
|
Dietzsch | 05/04/2001 05:27AM |
|
RE think that we are too old for this fairytales
|
eric | 05/12/2001 08:41PM |