General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Re: German U-boats in Argentina after WW II
Posted by:
Guido Sambucetti
()
Date: December 16, 2002 12:51AM
<HTML>Hi Johan,
I believe the reason for the US to put so much pressure on Argentina may have been this country´s unclear position during the war. Because, although Argentina traded throughout the war raw materials to the UK, the government then was not against Germany. Former crewmembers from the Graf Spee were interned in the country with small custody (resulting in several of them returning to Germany and fighting again).
This may have led to the US to not completely trust Argentina and so unwilling to let quite new submarines in their hands.
As to the base in southern Patagonia I am 99%sure it never existed. If you take a map of the area you´ll see that there are very few "inlets" along the coast were you can build a pier or something like that. And were you find them, the tide´s amplitude is usually between 5 and 9 meters, so much that ships operating in those harbours have to leave the piers and anchor somewhere else until the tide allows them to moor again. And the water, when the tide is receding, usually builds up a current of some 6 to 7 knots - not an ideal environment for a U-boat to rest.
Another point that comes to my mind now is that having a base so near to a focal area (River Plate) so much transited by British merchant ships carrying vital raw materials to the UK would have had the paramount objective of destroying this merchant traffic - however, no shipping was ever lost so much south.
GUIDO.</HTML>
I believe the reason for the US to put so much pressure on Argentina may have been this country´s unclear position during the war. Because, although Argentina traded throughout the war raw materials to the UK, the government then was not against Germany. Former crewmembers from the Graf Spee were interned in the country with small custody (resulting in several of them returning to Germany and fighting again).
This may have led to the US to not completely trust Argentina and so unwilling to let quite new submarines in their hands.
As to the base in southern Patagonia I am 99%sure it never existed. If you take a map of the area you´ll see that there are very few "inlets" along the coast were you can build a pier or something like that. And were you find them, the tide´s amplitude is usually between 5 and 9 meters, so much that ships operating in those harbours have to leave the piers and anchor somewhere else until the tide allows them to moor again. And the water, when the tide is receding, usually builds up a current of some 6 to 7 knots - not an ideal environment for a U-boat to rest.
Another point that comes to my mind now is that having a base so near to a focal area (River Plate) so much transited by British merchant ships carrying vital raw materials to the UK would have had the paramount objective of destroying this merchant traffic - however, no shipping was ever lost so much south.
GUIDO.</HTML>
