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Re: Unknown U-boat
Posted by:
Stavros
()
Date: April 07, 2016 02:16PM
Oliver, Thank you very much for your help and info, which is very important and useful.
This particular U-boat journey from Pola to south-western Peloponnese had the following special mission (one and only objective) : to transport 2 greek, pro-german, officers, who were carrying a message from King Constantine of Greece, then in exile in Switzerland, to his son Alexander, reigning in Athens.
This was the second of two similar missions, each mission consisting of a U-boat transporting 2 greek, pro-german, officers, by U-boat to South-Western Peloponnese, both having the same objective, i.e. to deliver a message from the King to his son. The first mission was not successful (in particular, the first pair of greek officers successfully arrived by U-boat somewhere in the Bay of Kiparissia in Southwestern Peloponnese (a different Bay to the Bay of Messini, the where the second mission arrived), then they managed to reach Athens, but were caught in Athens by the pro-Venizelos regime and executed a few months later.
The data i have comes from the diary of one of the 2 greek officers who were on-board this second U-boat mission, written 17 years after the event.
I translate, from greek to english, details from the diary of the greek officer, which i initially considered of little importance, but which might actually shed light into finding the U-boat :
- "We (= the 2 greek officers) travelled from Vienna by train and arrived in Pola on 17 march 1918 (4 march according to the greek calendar) at 1 pm. An officer of the Imperial German Navy awaited us and immediately took us to a big ship, which, if I remember correctly, served for the accommodation of the officers. In this ship, we were met by the Commander of the Mediterranean U-boat Fleet, who (as we realized later on) was talking to the Commander of the U-boat that was going to take us to Greece, giving his last orders. We then slept for about 3 hours and at 6:30 pm we boarded the U-boat, which consisted of 33 men including officers...and left Pola."
-"We were in the middle of the Adriatic Sea, when signals received from a distance were received by another U-boat returning from its mission"
-"2/3 of the available space in the U-boat was occupied by various mechanical equipment, engines and fuel tanks, and only 1/3 was for the sleeping couchettes of the crew and officers. As there was no space available for us to sleep, they placed mattresses on top of the torpedoes and instructed us to sleep there.”
The following thoughts-questions cross my mind:
(a) from the diary/records of the Commander of the Pola Flotilla, is it possible to check the events recorded on that particular date (17 march 1918), find who was the Commander of the U-boat...and hence find which U-boat is was.
Maybe Bundesarchiv, RM86/366 could help?
Context: Commander of the submarines of the Imperial Navy >> RM 86 commander of the submarines of the Imperial Navy
Running time: December 15, 1917 - July 1, 1918
Provenance: Commander of the submarines of the Imperial Navy, 1914-1918
Archival type: records
Language of documents: German
(b) Is it possible that, due to the special mission of this U-boat, maybe no official data/record concerning this journey exists?
I realize this sounds obscene and maybe nonsense, nevertheless it has crossed my mind. If this were true, then i'm afraid that the search may expand to several U-boats which, officially (=according to the records), were not at sea from 17 to 25 march 1918, were stationed in Pola on 17 march 1918 and officially remained in Pola until, say, 25 march 1918, enough time to complete the mission to Greece and return to Pola.
Best wishes
Stavros
P.S. In the diary of the greek officer participating in this second U-boat mission to Greece, there are 2 small references to the first mission:
- "We arrived in Berlin in the evening of one of the last days of January 1918 (date is according to the old greek calendar, i.e. around 10 February 1918 according to the german calendar). We were informed that, just a few hours before our arrival that day, the first pair of officers, who were going to carry out the first mission by german U-boat to Greece, had just departed from Berlin...”
- ”When we touched on greek soil near the city of Messini and after realizing exactly where we were, following the instructions we had, we went to the house...Our liaison informed us that, regrettably, the first pair of officers sent to Greece had been caught”
This particular U-boat journey from Pola to south-western Peloponnese had the following special mission (one and only objective) : to transport 2 greek, pro-german, officers, who were carrying a message from King Constantine of Greece, then in exile in Switzerland, to his son Alexander, reigning in Athens.
This was the second of two similar missions, each mission consisting of a U-boat transporting 2 greek, pro-german, officers, by U-boat to South-Western Peloponnese, both having the same objective, i.e. to deliver a message from the King to his son. The first mission was not successful (in particular, the first pair of greek officers successfully arrived by U-boat somewhere in the Bay of Kiparissia in Southwestern Peloponnese (a different Bay to the Bay of Messini, the where the second mission arrived), then they managed to reach Athens, but were caught in Athens by the pro-Venizelos regime and executed a few months later.
The data i have comes from the diary of one of the 2 greek officers who were on-board this second U-boat mission, written 17 years after the event.
I translate, from greek to english, details from the diary of the greek officer, which i initially considered of little importance, but which might actually shed light into finding the U-boat :
- "We (= the 2 greek officers) travelled from Vienna by train and arrived in Pola on 17 march 1918 (4 march according to the greek calendar) at 1 pm. An officer of the Imperial German Navy awaited us and immediately took us to a big ship, which, if I remember correctly, served for the accommodation of the officers. In this ship, we were met by the Commander of the Mediterranean U-boat Fleet, who (as we realized later on) was talking to the Commander of the U-boat that was going to take us to Greece, giving his last orders. We then slept for about 3 hours and at 6:30 pm we boarded the U-boat, which consisted of 33 men including officers...and left Pola."
-"We were in the middle of the Adriatic Sea, when signals received from a distance were received by another U-boat returning from its mission"
-"2/3 of the available space in the U-boat was occupied by various mechanical equipment, engines and fuel tanks, and only 1/3 was for the sleeping couchettes of the crew and officers. As there was no space available for us to sleep, they placed mattresses on top of the torpedoes and instructed us to sleep there.”
The following thoughts-questions cross my mind:
(a) from the diary/records of the Commander of the Pola Flotilla, is it possible to check the events recorded on that particular date (17 march 1918), find who was the Commander of the U-boat...and hence find which U-boat is was.
Maybe Bundesarchiv, RM86/366 could help?
Context: Commander of the submarines of the Imperial Navy >> RM 86 commander of the submarines of the Imperial Navy
Running time: December 15, 1917 - July 1, 1918
Provenance: Commander of the submarines of the Imperial Navy, 1914-1918
Archival type: records
Language of documents: German
(b) Is it possible that, due to the special mission of this U-boat, maybe no official data/record concerning this journey exists?
I realize this sounds obscene and maybe nonsense, nevertheless it has crossed my mind. If this were true, then i'm afraid that the search may expand to several U-boats which, officially (=according to the records), were not at sea from 17 to 25 march 1918, were stationed in Pola on 17 march 1918 and officially remained in Pola until, say, 25 march 1918, enough time to complete the mission to Greece and return to Pola.
Best wishes
Stavros
P.S. In the diary of the greek officer participating in this second U-boat mission to Greece, there are 2 small references to the first mission:
- "We arrived in Berlin in the evening of one of the last days of January 1918 (date is according to the old greek calendar, i.e. around 10 February 1918 according to the german calendar). We were informed that, just a few hours before our arrival that day, the first pair of officers, who were going to carry out the first mission by german U-boat to Greece, had just departed from Berlin...”
- ”When we touched on greek soil near the city of Messini and after realizing exactly where we were, following the instructions we had, we went to the house...Our liaison informed us that, regrettably, the first pair of officers sent to Greece had been caught”
