Kriegsmarine A very full U-Boot Soldbuch....

[Chris Boonzaier]

... just arrived by post today.... :-)

[Chris Boonzaier]

2

[Chris Boonzaier]

3

[Chris Boonzaier]

4

[Chris Boonzaier]

5

[Chris Boonzaier]

6

[Chris Boonzaier]

7

[Auseklis]

Nice, Lorient U-Boat pens entrance permission stamp.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Not a super, super career.... but enough for the Bronze Clasp, and that is way more than any of us have....

2nd U-Boot Flotille

First boot U 106 under Oberleutnant zur See Jürgen Oster,

U-106 left Lorient on the 28th of July 1943. On the 2^nd of August 1943 it was sunk in Biscaya to the Northwest of Cape Ortegal by a Wellington of the RCAF Squadron 407 and a Sunderland of the RAAF Squadron 461 and a Sunderland of RAF Squadron 228. 22 Dead and 35 survivors.

second boot, U 1227 under Oberleutnant Friedrich Altmeier, joined the boot on 8th December 1943

From Wikipedia…

The submarine was laid down on 1 February 1942 at the Deutsche Werft yard at Hamburg, launched on 18 September 1943, and commissioned on 8 December 1943 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Friedrich Altmeier. The U-boat then served with 31st U-boat Flotilla, a training unit, with 2nd U-boat flotilla from 1 August 1944 to 31 December 1944, and with 33rd U-boat Flotilla from 1 January 1945 to 10 April 1945.[1]

U-1227 completed only one combat patrol (104 days), from 14 September to 26 December 1944. On 4 October 1944 she attempted to attack a convoy at night, but was seen in the bright moonlight and counter-attacked by convoy escorts. She torpedoed one of the escorts, the Canadian River class frigate HMCS Chebogue (K317), during the pursuit. The frigate was a total loss, but the U-boat escaped and continued its patrol.

U-1227 was damaged at Kiel in a British night-bombing raid on 9 April 1945, and was decommissioned there on 10 April. U-1227 was scuttled to avoid capture on 3 May 1945

[IrishGunner]

Just watched last night a documentary on the US television History Channel about Germany's U-Boots. U-Boot was a dangerous business. Heavy losses in boats and sailors.

Das Boot is an excellent movie also...

[Chris Boonzaier]

"According to the Allied crews and photographs taken of the attack, the U-Boat partially exploded, before sinking vertically.^[5] 22 of U-106's 48-man crew were killed. 26 survived the attack and were later picked up by German E-boats."

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here is the Boot with Depth Charges landing on both sides of it.....

[Chris Boonzaier]

U 106. survived sinking 02.08.43.rescued by T 24 / T 25.

[Chris Boonzaier]

The Captain of the ship torpedoed by U1227

http://www.jproc.ca/nootka/mcphee.html

[hucks216]

It looks like he was onboard U-106 while either Hermann Rasch or Wolf-Dietrich Damerow was in command rather than Oesten as this sailor was with a Schiffstammabteilung when the Soldbuch was opened and by the date that the SB was opened Oesten had already left U-106.

It looks like the signature at the top of Page 20 could be that of Friedrich Altmeier.

U-106

U-1227

[Chris Boonzaier]

Indeed you are right... Damerow was the commander in Question... he was there on the 10th and last cruise....

[Eric JB]

Hi Chris,

Nice Uboat Soldbuch you show us here.

Kevin is right, top of page 20 shows the signature of U-1227 CO.Friedrich Altmeier.

The EK.2 entry is signed by Hasso Stegemann, who survived the sinking of U-106 and who went as most of the survivors to U-1227.

He became the CO. of U-367 and was KIA with his entire crew when U-367 hit a mine.

Is it possible to show the furlough pages and signatures too ?

Best regards

Eric-Jan

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

sorry, I cannot scan any other pages, I did a one on one for some WW1 documents.

Best

Chris

[Paul R]

That is an amazing book Chris. So he won the EK2, U-boat badge, and the U-Boat clasp?

[Brian R]

Hey Chris, maybe they knew each other...

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/46458-document-group-u-106/?hl=rein

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi Brian,

small world,, indeed, they MUST have known each other.

[Brian R]

Eric-Jan - Do you have a crew list for U-1227? This is exciting as I have never known what boat Rein served on after his U-106. The info makes sense for the date of his Clasp doc - it is the same date as the October 4th actions in which it was counter-attacked by convoy escorts.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Brian R

[Chris Boonzaier]

U1227 went on a tour that all on its own was sufficient to get the bronze clasp. I think it was about 120 days and so the Soldbuch guy only had a couple of days on the U106, then just nailed it on his next boat because the amount of days at sea was enough to get the U-boot badge and clasp in just one go!

[Eric JB]

Hi Brian,

Happy to see the link to your grouping in this thread, as I never saw that Uboat document grouping thread before.

You say that your man was wounded on August 1st, but he man was wounded on August the 2nd, as on that day U-106 was attacked, and also the award document for the wound badge in black shows the date August the 2nd.

Very nice document, as the award badge document for a wound (or wounds) is not that often seen for Uboatcrewmembers.

Rein received his Ubootskriegsabzeichen on 28.12.1942 - so two days after U-106 entered Lorient after her 8th war patrol.

So I think that he became a crewmember on U-106 on her 5th or 6th war patrol, and by that making 5 or 6 patrols himself on U-106.

Sorry to say that I only have a handful of names for the U-1227 crew list and he is not among them.

Looking at your documents in the other thread.

I do see two U-Boat numbers on the Ubootskriegsabzeichen award document.

On top 1227 and in the middle 106, I have no idea when those numbers were written on that document but it shows us the direction to serving later on U-1227 too.

On his EK.2 document I see 106 on top.

Kapitän zur See und Führer der Unterseeboote Ost - was Otto Schellong.

Sometimes it is a bit hard to pinpoint the Ubootsfrontspange to an exact Uboat concerning the date on the award document, as during October 4, 1944 U-1227 was with the 2.Ubootflottille in Norway under command of Kapitän zur See Ernst Kals and on her first war patrol.

Didn't you receive any news for Rein from Herr Horst Bredow ?

Best regards

Eric-Jan

[Brian R]

Indeed, I never connected 1227 to this group until this thread, even with the faint pencil mark on the document. It certainly seems to make sense now. I guess the fact that its written on the Uboat doc - the earliest citation in the group - never made me think that it could actually be a reference to a boat he later served on.

My understanding of the U-boat clasp is that its criteria was somewhat vague - it could be awarded for repeated service but appears to have been given for special circumstances, above and beyond the accumulation of service. I would think this could be one of those cases as October 4, 1944 was a day when the boat faced counter attacks.

From http://uboat.net/boats/u1227.htm

4 Oct 1944
The boat attempted a bold surface attack on a convoy under a bright moon and was quickly discovered and counter-attacked by the escorts. She managed to torpedo the Canadian frigate HMCS Chebogue during the hour-long pursuit by escorts. The frigate was a total loss, but the boat escaped and continued the patrol. (Sources: Blair, vol 2, page 645)

Of course, the date has to be taken with a grain of salt in that it could be the date of an action or just the date the paperwork or Vorschlagsliste was processed.

I'm not sure I have ever seen a wound badge doc to a Uboat crewman - I think this may be my first and only one.

I contacted Mr. Bredow years ago on two separate matters. Unfortunately the second one resulted in a scolding and an accusation that the documents I was inquiring about were fake (they are not). So, I am truly grateful for the info he did supply in the past, but I have not contacted him since.

Thanks again,

Brian