Gert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello Barrie,
>
> One of the U-407 survivors was Mechanikermaat
> (torpedo mixer) EMIL PIENTKA. He died in 1994. As
> it happens (quite a coincidence, I should think),
> his nephew. Miro Herold, at this very time is
> looking for information and photos of U-407. You
> can reach him at:
>
> nc-heroldmi@netcologne.de
>
> I'm sure he'd be thrilled to hear from you and
> very glad indeed to receive the Reichsmark note
> "liberated", meaning in plain English stolen or
> looted, as regrettably - surely in later
> retrospect - was the common practice when the
> British (or the Americans, for that matter) took
> German prisoners, decorations, Zeiss binoculars,
> and Leica cameras being their favorite objects of
> desire) by your valiant RN relative from that
> exhausted U-407 crew member lucky enough to be
> fished out of the water by the sailors of HMS
> Terpsichore (I wonder who it actually was, not
> Pientka, I'm pretty sure, but then who knows). An
> inveterate smoker no doubt, perhaps he used the
> note in exchange for a pack of good old English
> Players Navy Cut cigarettes (the pack with the
> Navy life-belt logo on it), humanly speaking the
> best possible explanation under those special
> circumstances. In 1944, one should remember, the
> Reichsmark actually was worth nothing in relation
> to the rather weak British pound sterling which
> however was strongly supported by the almighty US
> dollar.
>
> Cheers.
> Gert


Very nice. You make it sound as if that practice was exclusively British and American. The Germans of course did not do that. I guess my cousin who was shot down, did not have his watch and rings taken by the soldiers who captured him. He must have lied.