Several Other German U Boat Sailors example essay topic

Melanie Wiggins's U-Boat Adventures: Firsthand Accounts from World War II brings to life the accurate account form the sailors that where onboard and associated with the most powerful and unforeseen weapon the Germans had to offer. While traveling and touring Europe, Wiggins sits down with twenty-one U-boat veterans as they tell their personal stories of the involvement during the Battle of Atlantic. These veterans range from several positions held yet with a rare concentration on the junior enlisted ranks and only five commanders that usually dominate the readings on the subject. Wiggins also collected and included several artifacts from the interviewees ranging from photographs to letters.

The author also was invited to attend a reunion with the crew of the U-682 where she was able to gather several more sources and information. Wiggins was also fortunate to sit down and speak with ninety-four year old Commander Jurgen Wattenberg and Admiral Otto Kretshmer two months before his death to add additional proportions to her work. Melanie Wiggins grew interested in U-Boats after attending some of her land on the Texas coast. Studying the local history inspired her to write her first book They Made Their Own Laws: Stories of Bolivia Peninsula (1990) and after visiting the local naval air station she wrote her second book, Torpedoes in the Gulf: Galveston and the U-Boats, 1942-1943 (1995).

During that project she met several U-boat veterans in Germany who offered her their own accounts in diaries, photographs and records about there submarine patrols. Wiggins project turned into a fascination that led her to write her third book. These are their stories and adventures about serving in a German U-boat during WWII. The author begins each chapter with a personal paragraph from herself explaining when she interviewed them and her first impression towards them. Each chapter is titled after the individual she interviewed and pinpointed on the one thing that made the sailor special. The first individual to have the honor of becoming Chapter one is Jurgen Wattenberg, commander of U-162.

Recalling his brief life before WWII, Wattenberg remembers witnessing Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht pass during a review of the fleet in WWI, all of this being told At the age of ninety-four. Wattenberg remembers sinking fourteen ships at eighty-six thousands tons, most off the coast of South America before his own vessel would be sunken by the enemy. Wattenberg was captured and sent to a prisoner of war camp in Arizona where he and fellow submariners attempted to escape several times. After one such attempt to escape by digging a tunnel, the commander was able to escape. While in town, forty-five days later, asking for directions to the train station, a suspected police officer encountered Wattenberg and he eventually gave himself up. Another interesting story involves Admiral Otto Kretschmer, a recipient of the Knight's Cross.

Kretschmer on his last war patrol sunk a whaling ship and seven tankers within eleven days. Heading home due to empty torpedo tubes, Kretschmer's luck ran out after destroyer's followed the ships and started to release depth charges. Having dived to six hundred feet, the Admiral decided to surface and allow fate to intervene. After being the last man into unto the British ships and haven sunk his own due to secret information, Kretshmer made friends instantly with the captain of the HMS. Having been sent to a POW camp in Canada after interrogation, Kretshmer started to send his top sub commander coded massages about information on the U.S. from daily newspapers and magazines. Attempting to escape, the Germans sent a sub up river to try and find him only to discover nothing.

Years after being released, Kretschmer was shocked about how the enemy knew about the code and secretive information on the Germans and they only knew them as the enemy. Every story tells a unique story and Wiggins's penmanship brings this outlook out for future generations to read and observe. Oberbootsmaat Johann Burck, another POW, tells of cruising the open seas in U-67 near the Caribbean and Venezuela, where they attacked and destroyed oil refineries supporting the war effort. Upon return to Lorient, France, home port, Burck tells of having the honor to greet a Japanese submarine. I-30 sailors spent a day with the Germans on there sub while they where forbidden to enter theirs. Peter Peterson, U-518, remembers clearly about the punishment a sailor might get if he is in trouble.

Sometimes the punishment was so harsh that it resulted in the death penalty. Peterson also gave information on a submariner prepared for sea. They left everything they had in a storage box in a building back on shore and if they never came back would ship it to their relatives. Peterson also adds to the life of a sailor home on leave during the war and the strict curfews and penalties in post war Germany. Twenty-two year old commander Wolfgang Hiebges, U-999, commanded one of the last ships to set sail during the last weeks of the war and his mission was primarily not to return. Yet Admiral Karl Donitz issued orders against the stubborn Adolph Hitler and ordered submarines to aid with the warships in refugee rescues of all German people throughout the Baltic area.

Hiebges lucked out and only sailed once for when he returned with his first set of refugees British bombers in one of their last campaigns over Germany. Using new, bigger bombs the British hit the shelter U-999 was located and severely damaged her rudders and stern. He remembers being on board when it was announced of Hitler's suicide and that Donitz would continue the war effort. Surrendering to the British days later and ordered to take their U-boats out to sea and sink them, Hiebges ensured that his was the last to go explaining how painful the process was to be discharged from the German Navy to the victors. Breaking every regulation in the German Navy against keeping a diary and cameras, Peter Marl was able to enlist in 1938 and keep accurate records of his wartime service. He served on three U-boats starting form the beginning to the end.

Marl remembers preparing for war and when Britain and France declared war on Germany. Setting weather buoys throughout the region and ammunition on loads, Marl went through war sinking ships, running out of fuel in the middle of the ocean, and becoming a POW after selling his last sub to the Japanese to help their war effort. Marl was able to go home after being released two years after Germany surrendered. Several other German U-boat sailors where able to gather their stories as well yet the ones mentioned above stood out the most because of what interesting events happened. Japanese-German relationships were brought out to where the even dined and feasted. The whole book seems to follow a unique timeline as well starting with individuals from their events in the beginning to end.

Wiggins brought to life a short biography of stories and first hand accounts that tell the story as no one could. Most of them where POWs and returned home years after the war to ensure that their safety and others will remain. Considering themselves lucky and glad to be alive not a single one regretted serving for his country in the most devastating weapon the Germans had and used effectively.

Bibliography

Wiggins, Melanie. U-Boat Adventures: Firsthand Accounts from World War II. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1999..