In the movie, the 1WO (who would have been Oblt z S G Groth on U-96's cruise under H L-W's command: Groth is shown in uboat.net biography as being from Mexico) is portrayed in a not very sympathetic manner. I don't know how this character is written in LGB's original book. Is the portrayal of Obtl. Groth in the movie similar to the personality of the real man/officer? Tha
Forum: Movies and Films

Many thanks, that's very helpful. The little details are enlightening, you know?
Forum: General Discussions

In the lists of prisoners (or casualties) from u-boats, there is often a mention of next of kin and religious affiliation of the men. The most common are "Evangelical" (which I guess would be called "Lutheran" in the US) and R.C. (or Catholic). But a few have the designation "Ggl" following their names. Any idea what religious affiliation this denotes? Thank yo
Forum: General Discussions

Thank you. That makes perfect sense in context. The only guess I could make was "High Explosive" and -- although the two seemed to go together since depth charges often followed noises picked up by H.E. -- that didn't seem to fit.
Forum: General Discussions

In a number of reports, there is a phrase something like "about an hour after the first depth charge attack, the uboat crew suddenly heard high-speed H.E. and then the second depth charge attack began". Please, what is "H.E."?
Forum: General Discussions

For a good illustration and description of various damage incidents and what those events meant to the operation of a uboat, see the description of the sinking of U-172.
Forum: General Discussions

I don't have any direct knowledge on this subject, but I was recently reading a monograph on how the U-boats attempted to identify targets by visual sight through the periscope, by reading names on the bow and stern, matching silhouettes in recognition manuals, questioning survivors, or using intelligence on "when a ship should be where" -- or a combination of these things. Talk ab
Forum: General Discussions

Search for Telegraph on that date does not appear to return any info. Gee us a clue????
Forum: General Discussions

In a different place (entrance to Norfolk harbor and the Chesapeake bay), there were mines laid by Degen just before his boat (U-701) was sunk off the VA/NC coast in July, 1942. Approx. half a dozen ships were hit by these mines (a convoy was approaching soon after they were laid) and were heavily damaged or sunk.
Forum: General Discussions

In a number of info sections on attacks against U-boats, you'll see the phrase "this attack was against a non-sub target". I'm guessing that these were: 1) Attacks against sea anomalies (i.e. pressure gradients etc. that appear to asdic/sonar as underwater objects) or sea-floor rocks; 2) Attacks against "biologicals" (i.e. schools of fish, whales, etc.); 3)
Forum: General Discussions

Thank you for this information. Now I understand; he was listed in the uboat.net database as a commander but he was not commander of the uboat which was sunk on 11 May, 1944 (with all hands). BHenderson, NC USA
Forum: General Discussions

12 May, 1944; KorvettenKapitan Gert Hetschko is listing as dying on this date with place listed as "North Atlantic". He is also listed as leaving his previous command, U 121, over a year before. Any details on his death? Thanks, B Henderson, NC USA
Forum: General Discussions

There have been posts on this forum (particularly the very interesting one in regard to the Llanmartin POW camp) and also notes in the history of the individual UBoat officers that refer to the fact that many officers were kept in captivity for two or three years after the surrender of the German forces in May, 1945. In fact, some of these officers were from UBoats that were brought to Allied po
Forum: General Discussions

I had noticed that there seems to be little correlation between date of laying down (or launch or commissioning) of UBoats, versus their number. As an example: Boats launched on a particular day, by year: 1942 U-211, U-413 1943: U-716, U-851 1944: U-485, U-1102 So, if you compare 1942, there is a difference of almost 900 between the "lower number" in 1942 and the higher number
Forum: General Discussions