I'm trying to put together a history of my late Father's service in the U Boats in World War 2. I have found his Soldbuch recently and have some notes i made from what he told me and others about that time and am piecing together a record but I wish I had asked him a lot more. For example, he survived 2 attacks on different U Boats which resulted in the loss of them, but I don't know which boats they were. He was based at Bordeaux from 1st October 1942 to 19th February 1944 for combat service. I would be grateful for any advice.

I notice that the entries in the Soldbuch for Bordeaux have the place of service crossed through so that it is no longer able to be read.Did an official perhaps do this to stop this detail from being seen it he was later captured? Also, one page is missing where leave details would have been recorded.

On one of the sinking occasions, he was part of the deck gun crew and last man down as he had to replace the plug of the gun barrel. He saw that the boat was so badly damaged (as far as I know from an air attack) that it wouldn't survive, and jumped into the sea, being later picked up by a friendly ship ( again, as far as I know). I understand that the deck guns were not used much after mid 1943.