[Public-List] Factory installed wheel steering

[John Birch]

Otto Kretschmer, wow Gord - maybe was him, we didn't capture that many U 
Boat officers, they usually went down with their crews and their boats. 80% 
casualties in the U Boat service, nearly all fatal.

RAF Bomber Command came second with 54%.

We really have no idea how lucky we are to be alive now, and not then.

You might find Operation Kibitz, the 1943 Kriegsmarine plot to rescue 
Kretschmer and 3 other leading UBoat commanders held in Camp 30 in 
Bowmanville Ontario, to be picked up by U Boat off New Brunswick, an 
interesting read.

Not a bad précis here even though its wikipedia 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Kiebitz

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gordon Laco" <mainstay at csolve.net>
To: "Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all" <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2013 8:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Public-List] Factory installed wheel steering


> Canada had captured U Boats during the war, and the Brits had two as well.
> All four were operated for a time.
>
> We used the ones we had as 'tame' submarines to practice antisubmarine 
> work
> on out of Halifax - the Brits commissioned one of theirs into their navy 
> and
> operated her as HMS GRAF. I think she only did one war patrol then went 
> into
> a training role.   One of the U Boats Canada took right at the end of the
> war was U190; her chief engineer is still alive and shows up at our Battle
> of the Atlantic Mess Dinners.  It's a little un-nerving to see his Iron
> Cross on his blazer.  He told me that after he survived the capture, he 
> was
> in prison camp with Otto Kretschmer, the U Boat ace we captured in '41.
>
> And that reminds me of a story my Dad told me about being 14 years old in
> '41 and standing on the sidewalk outside Union Station in Toronto, waiting
> for his older brother to come out on leave (Henry was a pongo) Dad said 
> that
> out of the station came striding a senior looking German naval officer 
> with
> his cap askew and his coat draped over his shoulders.  He was being 
> followed
> by a pair of soldiers who Dad reckoned were supposed to be his guards, but
> the German walked as though he was running the show.  Dad saw him come out
> onto Front Street, look at the Royal York Hotel across the road, then east
> and west at the big buildings and the traffic.  He put his fists on his
> hips, looked down, shook his head and walked east (trailing his guards).
>
> Much later I read Kretschmer's autobiography.  He describes being taken to
> Halifax then being put onto a train for 'days and days' traveling into the
> interior of Canada.  He was astonished to be passing several large 
> cities -
> all untouched by the war.  When he got to Toronto, he said he'd expected 
> to
> find 'bears, log cabins and cowboys' but found yet another great city, 
> also
> untouched by the war.  He wrote that when he walked out of the train 
> station
> in Toronto he knew in his heart that Germany couldn't win the war.   We'll
> never know for sure - but I think it's likely my Dad saw that moment.
>
> G
>
>
>
>
> On 03/10/13 6:28 PM, "Michael Grosh" <dickdurk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> U 505 is the captured German sub. It's now a museum in Chicago. Adm. 
>> Daniel
>> Gallery was the commanding officer of the capturing task force, he wrote 
>> a
>> book about it, also a series of 'sea story' accounts of Navy life I 
>> enjoyed
>> reading in my youth.
>> The interesting thing is the capture of the 505 meant it slipped through
>> cracks in the Allies Potsdam agreement and the U.S. did not have to 
>> destroy
>> it as part of that agreement.
>>
>> Michael Grosh
>> #220
>> On Oct 3, 2013 5:48 PM, "Glenn" <brooks.glenn at comcast.net> wrote:
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