German submarine U-852

"U-852" was a German submarine built during World War II. She became notorious as the only German Navy ("Kriegsmarine") U-boat crew to be accused, prosecuted and convicted of war crimes during the war.

Built in Bremen and completed in June 1943, the boat was of the Type IX, which possessed long range cruising capabilities as well as six torpedo tubes (four bow, two stern). She was commanded throughout her brief lifespan by Captain Lieutenant ("Kapitänleutnant") Heinz-Wilhelm Eck, who led her through her sea trials and out onto her first war patrol on the 18 January 1944.

The SS "Peleus"

Her mission was to disrupt allied communications in the Indian Ocean by attacking sea lanes there; this involved a high level of secrecy and so she had to avoid conflict on her passage. This plan was jeopardized however, when on the 13 March on the latitude of Freetown, she spotted the lone Greek steamer SS "Peleus".Despite his mission, Eck decided to attack her, and, after stalking her till night-fall, sank her with two torpedoes. What followed has been the subject of much dispute since.

The sinking "Peleus" left a large debris field, amongst which were a number of survivors clinging to rafts and wreckage. This field would havebetrayed the presence of the "U-852" to aircraft and shipping patrolling the area, soEck then controversially decided to destroy the wreckage with the use of hand grenades and automatic weapons. Eck ordered his junior officers to fire into the wreckage; These were the ship's engineering officer, Hans Lenz, the ship's doctor, Walter Weisspfennig, the second in command August Hoffmann and an enlisted engineer, Wolfgang Schwender. The submarine's commander, Eck, was also present during the incident while the remaining crew were below decks.As a result of this action, all but three of "Peleus's" crew perished.

The SS "Dahomian"

The submarine was able to evade pursuit, and two weeks later encountered, and managed to sink, the British cargo ship SS "Dahomian", off Cape Town on the 1 April. This time U-852 hastily left the scene rather than pausing.

Fate

A few weeks later, on the 30 April 1943, U-852 was in the Indian Ocean. There she was spotted by a Vickers Wellington bomber, flying from Aden, which managed to damage her with depth charges, thus preventing her from diving. Knowing all was lost, Eck made for the Somali coast, where his ship was beached on a coral reef while under extensive air attack from six bombers of 621 Squadron Royal Air Force.

58 of Eck's crew made it to shore and on 13 March they were captured by the Somaliland Camel Corps and local militia. Seven of the crew had been killed by the constant air attacks. The survivors were sent to various prison camps to wait out the end of the war.

Raiding career

External links

*
*cite web | title= Ubootwaffe.net| work= U-852| url=http://www.ubootwaffe.net/ops/boat.cgi?boat=852| accessdate=25 March| accessyear=2007
* [http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Camp/3166/ Submarine atrocities]

References

* Sharpe, Peter, "U-Boat Fact File", Midland Publishing, Great Britain: 1998. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.
* Bridgland, Tony, "Waves of Hate", Leo Cooper, Great Britain: 2002. ISBN 0-85052-822-4.

ee also

See Also: List of U-boats

See HMS "Torbay" and USS "Wahoo" for other boats alleged to be involved in war crimes