General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Living witness
Posted by:
CAL
()
Date: December 02, 2000 08:06PM
<HTML>A few weeks ago, I reported that I had made contact with a surviving German U boat man living in New Orleans for many years. Just recently, he began to talk about his experiences. His 2 daughters did not know until just recent that he was in the German navy during the war. Someone suggested that I get as much from him that I could and put it up here. This is not all that much, but this is what I learned.
1) His name is Varenhost ( I think that is the way it is spelled)
2) He was on the U997. He said that he was on it in 1944 and 1945 and surrended at the end of the war in Scotland. The information on the web page said it surrendered in Norway ??? ( at first he said another then corrected himself, then had to phone his wife at home to look at a paper of some type that he had. He then told me it was the u997 after speaking with his wife. He is a little old, and likes to drink beer when he talks about this)
3) I am convinced from what he told me that no German Sub ever entered the Mississippi River. He seemed to have known more then a few sailors that had information on this.
4) I am also convinced that no German U boat was ever supplied with food etc. from anything in the United States. The fact that American items were found on some of the boats were from what he said was a simple pratice of raiding merchant ships before they sank them. He was never in any of these, but he said that it was common knowledge among the u boat men that this took place. He even said he remembered people talking about what was the best patrol areas to find the good food/drink based on where the merchant ship sailed from.
5)This kind of suprised me, but he said that at the time of his duty, that the area in the North Atlantic was well protected by military escorts plus planes, yet, the majority of there attacks on ships was made from the surface. I could not understand his response when I asked him why. Any quess on this?
I hope to talk to him again and will post what he said.</HTML>
1) His name is Varenhost ( I think that is the way it is spelled)
2) He was on the U997. He said that he was on it in 1944 and 1945 and surrended at the end of the war in Scotland. The information on the web page said it surrendered in Norway ??? ( at first he said another then corrected himself, then had to phone his wife at home to look at a paper of some type that he had. He then told me it was the u997 after speaking with his wife. He is a little old, and likes to drink beer when he talks about this)
3) I am convinced from what he told me that no German Sub ever entered the Mississippi River. He seemed to have known more then a few sailors that had information on this.
4) I am also convinced that no German U boat was ever supplied with food etc. from anything in the United States. The fact that American items were found on some of the boats were from what he said was a simple pratice of raiding merchant ships before they sank them. He was never in any of these, but he said that it was common knowledge among the u boat men that this took place. He even said he remembered people talking about what was the best patrol areas to find the good food/drink based on where the merchant ship sailed from.
5)This kind of suprised me, but he said that at the time of his duty, that the area in the North Atlantic was well protected by military escorts plus planes, yet, the majority of there attacks on ships was made from the surface. I could not understand his response when I asked him why. Any quess on this?
I hope to talk to him again and will post what he said.</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
Living witness
|
CAL | 12/02/2000 08:06PM |
|
RE: Living witness
|
Schottlander | 12/02/2000 09:04PM |
|
RE: Living witness
|
kpp | 12/02/2000 09:55PM |
|
RE: Living witness
|
Webmaster@U-35.com | 12/03/2000 10:05AM |
|
RE: Living witness
|
MPC | 12/03/2000 11:02AM |
|
RE: Living witness
|
Schottlander | 12/03/2000 05:27PM |
|
RE: Living witness
|
Carr Roderick Hester | 12/03/2000 11:25PM |
|
Re: RE: Living witness
|
P. Mandau | 02/21/2022 04:07PM |
|
RE: Living witness
|
Frank | 12/05/2000 10:06PM |
|
Re: RE: Living witness
|
Scott Olsgard | 02/25/2022 08:27PM |