uboat.net - RE: Ajax\\\'s Nervous Breakdown

General Discussions

This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.

Go to: Forum List•Message List•New Topic•Search•Log In•Print View

RE: Ajax\\\'s Nervous Breakdown

Posted by: Andrew Mair ()

Date: April 12, 2001 05:47PM

<HTML>Hi Dave,
Yes, Bleichrodt was in command of U-109 when he suffered a nervous breakdown. Appendix 1 of the book \'The Secret Diary of a U-boat\' by Wolfgang Hirschfeld and Geoffrey Brooks gives a detailed and interesting account of Heinrich Bleichrodt and is a good place to start for more information. An unsuccessful attack on a merchant vessel off French Guiana on 26th December 1942 appears to have triggered Bleichrodt\'s mental condition. A signal was sent to BdU from the U-109 on the 27th December requesting a return due to Bleichrodt\'s depression, but BdU replied that the mission was to continue. On the 31st of December Bleichrodt sent another signal informing BdU that he needed medical advice, but was once again told to continue the mission and, if need be, to hand command over to the First Lieutenant. On New Year\'s Day, 1943, Bleichrodt reported he was heading home due to lack of fuel.
On the journey home the U-109 handed its torpedoes over to boats of the Delphin Group and was refuelled from the U-Tanker U-463, where that boats doctor also saw to Bleichrodt. On his arrival at France Bleichrodt was hospitalized, but after his recovery went on to command the 22nd U-Flotilla at Gdynia.
Hope this has been of help.
All the best,
Andrew
</HTML>

Navigate: Previous Message•Next Message

Options: Reply•Quote

Subject	Written By	Posted
Ajax\'s Nervous Breakdown	Dave McQueen	04/12/2001 02:05PM
RE: Ajax\\\'s Nervous Breakdown	Andrew Mair	04/12/2001 05:47PM

Go to: Forum List•Message List•Search•Log In

Your Name:
Subject:

Spam prevention:

Please, enter the code that you see below in the input field. This is for blocking bots that try to post this form automatically.

 ********   ********   **               **        ** 
 **     **  **     **  **    **         **        ** 
 **     **  **     **  **    **         **        ** 
 ********   ********   **    **         **        ** 
 **         **         *********  **    **  **    ** 
 **         **               **   **    **  **    ** 
 **         **               **    ******    ******

Enter code:

Andrew Mair Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> <HTML>Hi Dave,
> Yes, Bleichrodt was in command of U-109 when he
> suffered a nervous breakdown. Appendix 1 of the
> book \'The Secret Diary of a U-boat\' by Wolfgang
> Hirschfeld and Geoffrey Brooks gives a detailed
> and interesting account of Heinrich Bleichrodt and
> is a good place to start for more information. An
> unsuccessful attack on a merchant vessel off
> French Guiana on 26th December 1942 appears to
> have triggered Bleichrodt\'s mental condition. A
> signal was sent to BdU from the U-109 on the 27th
> December requesting a return due to Bleichrodt\'s
> depression, but BdU replied that the mission was
> to continue. On the 31st of December Bleichrodt
> sent another signal informing BdU that he needed
> medical advice, but was once again told to
> continue the mission and, if need be, to hand
> command over to the First Lieutenant. On New
> Year\'s Day, 1943, Bleichrodt reported he was
> heading home due to lack of fuel.
> On the journey home the U-109 handed its torpedoes
> over to boats of the Delphin Group and was
> refuelled from the U-Tanker U-463, where that
> boats doctor also saw to Bleichrodt. On his
> arrival at France Bleichrodt was hospitalized, but
> after his recovery went on to command the 22nd
> U-Flotilla at Gdynia.
> Hope this has been of help.
> All the best,
> Andrew
> </HTML>