General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
RE: English Speaking Crewmembers?
Posted by:
Capt. George W. Duffy
()
Date: May 24, 2001 08:54PM
<HTML>Dear Jay:
Aboard the German raider MICHEL in which I was a prisoner for about a month in 1942 most of her officers and many of her crew spoke English. Foremost was Adjutant Jurgen Herr who had attended Kent School in Connecticut, USA. For potential duty as prize captains in captured Allied ships were five German merchant skippers, all fluent in English. One of them, Kpt. Behrendt, was the vessel\'s chief interrogator. Our head guard, Gustav Tober, had been a merchant seaman and knew every profanity in the language. The MICHEL carried a large number of radiomen many of whom monitored English language traffic. Even today, survivors of this latter group have not lost their ability in that regard.
Actually, it was rare to come across a German who did not have any knowledge of English.
Cordially.
GWD. </HTML>
Aboard the German raider MICHEL in which I was a prisoner for about a month in 1942 most of her officers and many of her crew spoke English. Foremost was Adjutant Jurgen Herr who had attended Kent School in Connecticut, USA. For potential duty as prize captains in captured Allied ships were five German merchant skippers, all fluent in English. One of them, Kpt. Behrendt, was the vessel\'s chief interrogator. Our head guard, Gustav Tober, had been a merchant seaman and knew every profanity in the language. The MICHEL carried a large number of radiomen many of whom monitored English language traffic. Even today, survivors of this latter group have not lost their ability in that regard.
Actually, it was rare to come across a German who did not have any knowledge of English.
Cordially.
GWD. </HTML>
Subject | Written By | Posted |
---|---|---|
English Speaking Crewmembers? | Jay | 05/24/2001 12:17AM |
English Speaking Crewmembers on U-505 | JohnV | 05/24/2001 02:51PM |
RE: English Speaking Crewmembers? | MPC | 05/24/2001 07:08PM |
RE: English Speaking Crewmembers? | Capt. George W. Duffy | 05/24/2001 08:54PM |
RE: English Speaking Crewmembers? | Ken Dunn | 05/25/2001 10:21AM |
RE: English Speaking Crewmembers? | fne | 05/25/2001 02:37PM |
RE: English Speaking Crewmembers? | Rainer Bruns | 05/25/2001 04:27PM |
RE: English Speaking Crewmembers? | Saskia | 05/25/2001 08:20PM |
RE: English Speaking Crewmembers? | MPC | 05/25/2001 08:27PM |
RE: English Speaking Crewmembers? | Saskia | 05/26/2001 10:59AM |
RE: English Speaking Crewmembers? | Takeo | 05/26/2001 06:49AM |
RE: English Speaking Crewmembers? | Johannes | 05/26/2001 08:36AM |