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    2 U-Flottille Christmas "Gift" Photo Packs


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    Among my U-Boat photo albums are two from the 2nd U-Flottille: U-103 (Type IXB) and U-116 (Type XB Minelayer). Both of these albums contain some common photos as well as portions of what appear to be packaging that featured the 2nd Flottille insignia in gold. I recently attended the SOS in Louisville and purchased an example of the source of these images: what I believe to be a complete set of Viktor Sch?tze's Christmas "gift photos". I would assume that these sets would have been handed out to the entire Flottille.

    The photo set consists of two identical (except for size) packets: the large set measures 13 x 18 cm and contains 8 photos (including the famous one of Kaptlt. Johann Mohr); the small set measures 13 x 9 cm and contains 30 photos. The small set contains a message from Sch?tze commemorating the Flottille's successes on the occasion of Christmas 1942 ("4. Kriegsweihnachtsfest").

    Here is a small sampling of some of the pictures as displayed in the U-103 and U-116 photo albums.

    U-103 album page, with Sch?tze's message:

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    Erik.

    the photographs from the albums are great but those "gift photo" packages are something i have never seen before,excellent.As you mentioned i am sure they were printed for Flottilla crewmembers.

    Thanks for showing.

    One of the officers on the Hilfskreuzer Atlantis,Ulrich Mohr, had a nicely illustrated book published in 1944 that was given to the crewmembers and their families titled "Die Kreigsfahrt des Hilfskreuzers Atlantis".

    Regards,Martin.

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    Nesredep, Martin, and Richard: thank you for your comments!

    Here are some of the "small" individual pictures grouped into 3s and 4s. The subject matter is interesting: many "daily life" shots of Saltzwedelkaserne, the U-Bootheim, officer's quarters, etc.

    The first batch of shots include (clockwise, from top left): U-103 entering port, entrance to the Lorient Arsenal, arrival of the Japanese submarine I30 on 5 August 1942, and the entrace to the Saltzwedelkaserne.

    The I30 arrival was chronicled on page 161 in Lawrence Paterson's "Second U-Boat Flotilla": "Lorient received an unusual visitor , the huge 2,584-ton Japanese Kaigun/B1 class long-range submarine I30 arriving in France after four months journeying from Japan. Commanded by Chu-sa (Commander) Shinobu Endo, the huge submarine (thirty-four meters longer than a Type IXC) eased into Lorient carrying vital cargo for the Wehrmacht. The entire 2nd and 10th U-Flotilla staffs, headed by both D?nitz and Raeder, turned out to greet the Japanese crew as I30 slowly edged into its moorings against the Isere before transferring to the relative safety of the Scorff bunker."

    Edited by Erik Krogh
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