Hello again

I have some answers - to my questions at least! I retrieved Martin Niemöller, 'From U-boat to Concentration Camp: the Autobiography of Martin Niemöller' (William Hodge, London 1939) from the library. Niemöller commanded UC 67 during the return and writes of it in Chapter XIII, pp. 147-156.

Amongst the gripping tale, Niemöller makes the following points:
- Mutiny had broken out on many Austrian warships, which shared port facilities with the U-boats in the Adriatic
- The Bulgarian front had also collapsed
- At a day's notice, all seaworthy u-boats were to return forthwith to Germany to be available for a last stand
- No passengers were accommodated
- Boats not ready to sail within twenty-four hours were to be scuttled
- At Pola on 27 October German torpedo boat A51 and a dockyard tug towed out six u-boats which were sunk with explosives
- The flotilla staff and the crews of the scuttled boats left for home overland by railway on 28 October
- Three u-boats were out on patrol and were also ordered to make for Germany
- The Gibraltar Straits were passed at night on 11 November at periscope depth with great difficulty. The Royal Navy had been forewarned of the flotilla's departure date and was patrolling in numbers
- On the way, UB 52 sank the British battleship Britannia at the western entrance to the Straights - 'the last ship to be sunk in the war'
- The Norwegian authorities gave permission for the u-boats to sail through the fjords and they were met at Bergan Fjord by a Norwegian torpedo boat which escorted them to Lervik
-From there, the flotilla of eleven submarines went to Haugesund, through the Skagerrak and into Kiel Harbour where they arrived on 29 November.

Best wishes
Chris