German submarine U-977

"U-977" was a World War II Germany Type VIIC submarine launched in 1943. Commanded by Oberleutnant Heinz Schäffer (1921-1979), it sailed for Argentina on 10 May 1945 following German's surrender. The submarine's voyage to Argentina led to many legends and apocryphal stories: that it had transported Adolf Hitler or Nazi gold to South America, that it had made a secret voyage to Antarctica, and that it had carried a secret death ray weapon.

Voyage to Argentina

The boat left Kristiansand, Norway on 2 May 1945 for her first war patrol, in the English Channel. When Germany surrendered a few days later the boat was outbound in Norwegian waters. After deciding to sail to Argentina, Oberleutnant Schäffer offered the married crewmen the chance to go to shore and 16 men opted to so, and were landed from dinghies on Holsenöy Island near Bergen] on 10 May.

During later interrogation Oberleutnant Schäffer said that his main reason for sailing to Argentina was German propaganda broadcast by Goebbels, which had claimed that the Allies' Morgenthau Plan would turn Germany into a "goat pasture” and that all German men were to be "enslaved and sterilized". Other factors were the poor conditions and long delay in being repatriated suffered by German POWs during World War I, and the hope of better living conditions in Argentina, which had a large German community.

U-977 then sailed to Argentina; from 10 May to 14 July she made a continuous submerged Schnorkel passage, at 66 days the second longest in the war (after U-978's 68 days).

The submarine stopped in the Cape Verde Islands for a short break en route then completed the trip travelling on the surface using one engine. Crossing the equator on 23 July, she arrived in Mar del Plata, Argentina on 17 August after 107 days at sea and a voyage of convert|7644|nmi|abbr=on.

She was turned over to the Argentine authorities and later towed to Boston where she was turned over to the US Navy on 13 November 1945. She was sunk off Cape Cod by USS "Atule" during torpedo trials on 13 November 1946.

Schäffer went on to write a book, "U-977 - 66 Tage unter Wasser" (1952) which was translated into English and whose latest English edition was in 2005. The book was the first postwar memoir by a former U-boat officer.

Conspiracy theories

Some sources claim that U-977 sank the Brazilian light cruiser "Bahia" on or around 4 July 1945 while it was en route for Argentina with gold and Nazi leaders. However, it was later discovered from the reports of survivors that the probable cause of the "Bahia's" loss was racked depth charges on the cruiser's fantail being accidentally detonated during gunnery practice. [cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The disaster with cruiser Bahia | work = | publisher = Sixtant | date = | url = http://sixtant.net/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=111&Itemid=2 | format = | doi = | accessdate = ] A Brazilian inquiry concluded that the sinking was accidental, and the US Navy concurred, which they would not have done were there reason to believe otherwise, as there were four USN personnel aboard the "Bahia".

"Ultramar Sur"

The generally accepted version of U-977's last voyage was challenged in 2002 by the book "Ultramar Sur: La Fuga En Submarinos De Mas De 50 Jerarcas Nazis" (roughly, "Overseas South: The Flight by Submarine of more than 50 Ranking Nazis") by Carlos de Napoli and Juan Salinas. The authors claimed to have obtained photocopies of a declassified interrogation of Schäffer from the Argentine Naval Archive. The interrogation, which was conducted at Mar del Plata between 18 and 21 August 1945, covered the period of Schäffer's voyage from Kiel to the Equator.

During interrogation Schäffer reportedly admitted to crossing the Equator on 4 July 1945 and in the book admits that he was off Rio de Janeiro on 10 July 1945. His whereabouts until 17 August 1945 are unknown. Schäffer also revealed that after U-977 left the Blohm + Voss Yard at Hamburg following conversion work at the end of March 1945, he had a private interview with Admiral Dönitz, who gave him a special mission to take U-977 into the English port of Southampton to sink shipping, which would have been a suicidal mission for a Type VIIC U-boat at that late stage of the war.

He arrived in Norway and on 2 May 1945 sailed for Southampton, but turned around three days later at the cessation of U-boat hostilities. It is not stated what was loaded aboard U-977 for the Southampton mission, but it was extremely heavy and took up a great deal of space, and that this was the real reason why 16 crew members were put ashore in Norway on 10 May 1945 before sailing for Argentina.

De Napoli and Salinas are of the opinion that Adolf Hitler, Eva Braun, Margarete "Gretl" Braun and Martin Bormann escaped from Germany as part of a secret operation involving U-977.

"El Secreto del U-977"

In 2006 Editorial Hisma, the Buenos Aires copyright holder, published what they described as an unexpurgated edition of Schäffer's book in Spanish under the title "El Secreto del U-977". Supposedly, when Schäffer wrote his original book, he was advised that if he wanted a wider readership in Europe and the US he would have to delete any references to cargo, and indications as to the U-977's position at any particular time, and the result was the original 1952 version. The 2006 version had substantial differences from the earlier version: there was no 66-day submerged voyage, the submarine carried cargo, and there was over a month unaccounted for in South American waters before the submarine surrendered.

According to "El Secreto del U-977", the submarine loaded a large cargo at Frederikshavn, so heavy that the Chief Engineer could not guarantee the stability of the boat when diving and which rendered the interior of the submarine very cramped. U-977 then sailed for Argentina on 2 May 1945 but turned back after four days.

The book goes on to say that its new information is corroborated by the declassified Argentine interrogation reports of Schäffer.

ee Also

History of Mar del Plata

External links

* [http://time-proxy.yaga.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,936411,00.html Time Magazine Feb. 23, 1953 Bookreviev "Go In & Sink"]
* [http://uboat.net/boats/u977.htm U-977 at "uboat.net"]
* [http://ufoinfo.com/roundup/v10/rnd1021.shtml UFO ROUNDUP] Some info on the fears that Hitler had escaped on the submarine.

References

*cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = REPORT ON THE INTERROGATION OF PRISONERS FROM U-977 SURRENDERED AT MAR DEL PLATA, 17 AUGUST 1945. | work = | publisher = | date = 19 September 1945 | url = http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-977INT.htm | format = | doi = | accessdate =

Further reading

* Schäffer, Heinz, "U-Boat 977: The U-Boat That Escaped to Argentina" 2005 ISBN 1-84145-027-8 (First published in Germany in 1952 as "U-977 - 66 Tage unter Wasser")
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* Schäffer, Heinz, Leonce Peillard "Der U-Boot-Krieg" 1999 ISBN 3-453-14825-8 (In German)