General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
RE: U-234- more information.
Posted by:
Terry Andrews
()
Date: January 03, 2001 04:09PM
<HTML>carrying on from my previous posting:-
\"Captain Fehler,\" while complaining about the looting, mentioned he was all more indignant about the looting, considering all he had to do was pull a lever and every mine shaft would have emptied its contents into the ocean that would have included the uranium.\"
U-234 and the Sutton may have gone into two ports between the surrender and the arrival at Portsmouth Navy Yard, once in Newfoundland when an American sailor mistakenly shot in the buttocks had to be evacuated for post-surgical treatment, and once again at Casco Bay. The unscheduled landings presented a problem for American Intelligence personnel, who were worried that some cargo might have been off-loaded in the two ports.
The 41 crew members, six officers and nine passengers had been transferred to a Coast Guard vessel at sea. Fehler\'s arrival was something less than cerimonious.
Portsmouth radio station WHEB reporter Charlie Gray watched them come ashore at the Navy Yard on May 19 and later reported that Captain Fehler raised a ruckus when he was forced to sit with his men and keep his arms folded.
Gray described the crew as looking well-fed but wearing the most nondescript uniforms he\'d ever seen on a German sub crew. All were dirty, he said and each carried a small leather bag, canteen and blankets.
The men of U-234 joined the officers and crews of the three U-boats that preceded them, as prisoners in the custody of the U.S. Navy. While at the Charles Street Jail in Boston, where they were being held while in transit to more permanent quarters, the commander of the U-boat U-873 slashed his wrists and was taken to a hospital where he died.
U-234 officers were taken to Washington, D.C. for interrrogation. Second Officer Pfaff was taken to what he believed to be a top secret Navy installation in Virginia and into a room in which the cargo unloaded from U-234 was being stored.
Pfaff was ordered to oversee the opening of a metal container. (The American\'s thought that the containers were booby-trapped). When they saw that it was safe, the military came out of hiding. Pfaff said he was then asked to open the boxes- little cigar-box shaped boxes, he recalled-that contained the uranium oxide.
A \"tall skinny fellow\" wearing an \"Elliot Ness\" hat-that is, a hat fashionable in the 1930s and 40s--appeared. The only civilian in the room, he went about supervising the opening of the boxes. Who is that? Pfaff asked. Oppenheimer, somebody said.
This was three months before the United States would drop the world\'s first two atomic bombs.
Lt. Karl Ernst Pfaff was held in P.O.W. centers in Louisiana (Camp Ruston) and Arkansas until early 1946 when he returned to Germany.
Captain Fehler acquired an international reputation for clearing waterways such as the Suez Canal of sunken ships. His career as a ship\'s captain endured, and he ran a supply ship for Kuwait at one time and a hospital ship to Saigon at another.
Pfaff and Fehler lost contact until 1991 when they met for the last time at a U-234 reunion in southern Germany. Fehler died in 1994.
U-234\'s reunions like the reunions of all World War Two veterans\' groups are attended by fewer people as the years go by. In 1985, there were 60 crew and wives: in 1991, 40.
This September (1995) Pfaff will be the highest officer attending the reunion of U-234. \"There aren\'t many of us left Pfaff, now 72, observed, and excused himself to go out and rake the lawn as he had promised his wife he would.
Source:- The New Hampshire Sunday News, Manchester, N.H.-- April 30, 1995.
Article titled:- Nazi Sub, How U-234 Brought its Deadly secret Cargo to New Hampshire.
by Pat Hammond sunday News Staff.
I am sorry if this is a bit \"long winded\" but I thought you good folk on the forum would like to read it? I have a lot more information on U-234 which I could put up on the forum if anyone is interested? let me know?
regards Terry Andrews.
</HTML>
\"Captain Fehler,\" while complaining about the looting, mentioned he was all more indignant about the looting, considering all he had to do was pull a lever and every mine shaft would have emptied its contents into the ocean that would have included the uranium.\"
U-234 and the Sutton may have gone into two ports between the surrender and the arrival at Portsmouth Navy Yard, once in Newfoundland when an American sailor mistakenly shot in the buttocks had to be evacuated for post-surgical treatment, and once again at Casco Bay. The unscheduled landings presented a problem for American Intelligence personnel, who were worried that some cargo might have been off-loaded in the two ports.
The 41 crew members, six officers and nine passengers had been transferred to a Coast Guard vessel at sea. Fehler\'s arrival was something less than cerimonious.
Portsmouth radio station WHEB reporter Charlie Gray watched them come ashore at the Navy Yard on May 19 and later reported that Captain Fehler raised a ruckus when he was forced to sit with his men and keep his arms folded.
Gray described the crew as looking well-fed but wearing the most nondescript uniforms he\'d ever seen on a German sub crew. All were dirty, he said and each carried a small leather bag, canteen and blankets.
The men of U-234 joined the officers and crews of the three U-boats that preceded them, as prisoners in the custody of the U.S. Navy. While at the Charles Street Jail in Boston, where they were being held while in transit to more permanent quarters, the commander of the U-boat U-873 slashed his wrists and was taken to a hospital where he died.
U-234 officers were taken to Washington, D.C. for interrrogation. Second Officer Pfaff was taken to what he believed to be a top secret Navy installation in Virginia and into a room in which the cargo unloaded from U-234 was being stored.
Pfaff was ordered to oversee the opening of a metal container. (The American\'s thought that the containers were booby-trapped). When they saw that it was safe, the military came out of hiding. Pfaff said he was then asked to open the boxes- little cigar-box shaped boxes, he recalled-that contained the uranium oxide.
A \"tall skinny fellow\" wearing an \"Elliot Ness\" hat-that is, a hat fashionable in the 1930s and 40s--appeared. The only civilian in the room, he went about supervising the opening of the boxes. Who is that? Pfaff asked. Oppenheimer, somebody said.
This was three months before the United States would drop the world\'s first two atomic bombs.
Lt. Karl Ernst Pfaff was held in P.O.W. centers in Louisiana (Camp Ruston) and Arkansas until early 1946 when he returned to Germany.
Captain Fehler acquired an international reputation for clearing waterways such as the Suez Canal of sunken ships. His career as a ship\'s captain endured, and he ran a supply ship for Kuwait at one time and a hospital ship to Saigon at another.
Pfaff and Fehler lost contact until 1991 when they met for the last time at a U-234 reunion in southern Germany. Fehler died in 1994.
U-234\'s reunions like the reunions of all World War Two veterans\' groups are attended by fewer people as the years go by. In 1985, there were 60 crew and wives: in 1991, 40.
This September (1995) Pfaff will be the highest officer attending the reunion of U-234. \"There aren\'t many of us left Pfaff, now 72, observed, and excused himself to go out and rake the lawn as he had promised his wife he would.
Source:- The New Hampshire Sunday News, Manchester, N.H.-- April 30, 1995.
Article titled:- Nazi Sub, How U-234 Brought its Deadly secret Cargo to New Hampshire.
by Pat Hammond sunday News Staff.
I am sorry if this is a bit \"long winded\" but I thought you good folk on the forum would like to read it? I have a lot more information on U-234 which I could put up on the forum if anyone is interested? let me know?
regards Terry Andrews.
</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
U-234
|
John Reardon | 01/01/2001 03:59PM |
|
RE: U-234
|
bob henneman | 01/01/2001 04:20PM |
|
RE: U-234
|
j harvey | 01/01/2001 05:49PM |
|
RE: U-234
|
Anders Wingren | 01/01/2001 06:41PM |
|
RE: U-234
|
Steve Cooper | 01/01/2001 11:52PM |
|
RE: U-234
|
Capt. George W. Duffy | 01/01/2001 09:18PM |
|
RE: U-234
|
Terry Andrews | 01/02/2001 03:33PM |
|
RE: U-234- more information.
|
Terry Andrews | 01/03/2001 04:09PM |
|
RE: U-234 and U-235 not the U-boat)
|
kurt | 01/02/2001 11:04PM |
|
RE: U-234 and U-235 not the U-boat)
|
Jim | 01/03/2001 01:18PM |
|
RE: U-234 and U-235 not the U-boat)
|
John Reardon | 01/03/2001 11:50PM |
|
RE: U-234 and U-235 not the U-boat)
|
kurt | 01/04/2001 04:19AM |
|
RE: U-234 and U-235 not the U-boat)
|
rayk | 01/04/2001 11:43PM |
|
RE: U-234 and U-235 not the U-boat)
|
Jim | 01/04/2001 01:46PM |
|
RE: U-234 and U-235 not the U-boat)
|
MCE | 01/04/2001 07:22PM |
|
RE: U-234 and U-235 not the U-boat)
|
Jim | 01/04/2001 07:49PM |
|
RE: U-234 and U-235 not the U-boat)
|
kurt | 01/04/2001 11:46PM |
|
RE: U-234 and U-235 not the U-boat)
|
Jim | 01/05/2001 03:27AM |
|
RE: U-234
|
JR | 01/04/2001 03:06AM |
|
RE: U-234
|
JR | 01/04/2001 02:39PM |
|
RE: U-234
|
JR | 01/04/2001 07:48PM |