Interesting info on battle of the Atlantic

From Strategypage:

Decorated by the Enemy?

Military establishments have complex regulations governing the award of decorations. Normally, these involve recommendations of one’s seniors or comrades, usually for outstanding courage and selflessness.
But in a very few instances some countries have apparently awarded decorations on the recommendation of the enemy, or, at least, the voice of the enemy was heard in the decision making process.


Three examples from World War II are of interest.

• Lt-Cdr Gerard Broadmead Roope, R.N. On April 8, 1940, Lt-Cdr Roope (1905-1940), was commanding the destroyer, HMS Glowworm off the Norwegian coast, when he fell in with and engaged the German destroyers Bernd von Arnim (Z-11) and Hans Lüdemann (Z-18). Soon afterwards, the greatly superior German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper came up. Roope took on the Hipper, making a torpedo attack, which missed, and then, with his ship taking heavy damage, actually rammed the cruiser, before pulling away, all the while maintaining a steady fire. But by then Glowworm was heeling badly, and Roope ordered the crew to abandon ship. She shortly capsized on her starboard side. Of 149 crew members, 118 were lost, including Roope. In 1945 Roope was awarded the Victoria Cross, partially on the recommendation of Captain Hellmuth Heye of the Admiral Hipper, who had sent a letter to the Admiralty through Red Cross channels commending Roope’s gallantry.

• Sergeant Thomas Frank Durrant, Royal Engineers. During the famous British naval raid on St. Nazaire, France, on the night of March 27-28, 1942, Sgt. Durrant (1918-1942) was serving with No. 1 Commando, manning a dual-mounted Lewis gun on HM Motor Launch 306. Proceeding up the Loire River, the boat came under heavy fire from the German destroyer Jaguar, which greatly outclassed her. She was hit repeatedly, and Durrant was wounded several times. Twice the Germans summoned the boat to surrender and were refused. Finally the launch was boarded and those who were still alive were taken prisoner, among them Sgt Durrant, who had been wounded 16 times. He died of his wounds on the 29th. Speaking with the prisoners, Kapitänleutnant F.K Paul, commander of the Jaguar, commended them for their gallant fight, and singled out Durrant for special praise. Acting with Paul’s comment in mind, Durrant’s commanding officer, Lieutenant R. O. C. Swayne, initiated the process that led to the award of the V.C. to Sgt. Durrant. Durrant also has the distinction of being the only British soldier to have won the V.C. while serving with the Royal Navy.

• Flying Officer Lloyd Allan Trigg, R.N.Z.A.F. On August 11, 1943, FO Trigg (1914-1943), was commanding a B-24 Liberator of the R.A.F.’s` 200 Squadron, on patrol off Dakar, in Senegal, West Africa. Spotting a German submarine on the surface, Trigg attacked. The Germans responded with accurate anti-aircraft fire that damaged the Liberator. Trigg nevertheless continued his attack and dropped six depth charges from only 50 feet, damaging the submarine. Rather than attempt to make for safety, Trigg came around for another pass, though his plane was now so damaged the Germans scored repeated hits. The bomber crashed into the sea, killing all eight aboard. The submarine, U-468, sank shortly afterwards, and her surviving crewmen were rescued by British ships the following day. When U-468’s skipper, Klemens Schamong, told the story of how his boat came to be sunk, Trigg was recommended for a V.C., which was awarded in 1944. This is apparently the only V.C. ever awarded solely on the evidence of the enemy.

These examples may not exhaust the occasions on which a recommendation by the enemy led to someone being awarded a decoration.* There is one interesting aspect to these three cases, and that is that they all occurred in World War II, and in each instance involved a German naval officer.

 

Wonder if any German soldier got a KC on the recommendation of an enemy officer ever....

 

Well, there was every reason to award the Order of Victory to Adolf.



http://soviet-awards.com/order_pics/detail/victorydet.jpg

By the way, the photo above is the one belonging to Gen. Eisenhower.

 

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hmmmmmmmm

 

didn't work for me either?

 

Follow the link below, gents...

 

YouTube - WW2 Newsreel : U-564 Teddy Suhren's famous reloading at sea

 

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was the largest American submarine base on the Atlantic coast when Nazi Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945. The Yard became the natural site for the surrender of up to at least seven German U-boats operating in the region at the end of the war.

Generalleutnant Ulrich Kessler spoke to reporters in fluent English with a "decidedly Oxford accent" a reporter noted. Asked how he felt about the surrender, he replied, "I was in the last World War. I've been through it before. I'll probably go through it again."

20th Century - The German Subs At Portsmouth Yard

 

"U333 had five different commanders, the most famous being "Ali" Cremer, a Knight of the Iron Cross. He had the distinction of having accidentally sunk the German blockade breaker Spreewald, and collided three times with enemy ships in the Atlantic!"

"From Hitler´s U-boat bases" by Mallmann Showell

 

He had the distinction of having accidentally sunk the German blockade breaker Spreewald.


Even the best have there off days.

 

and with that it is somewhat surprising he was not removed from his position in the KM as U-Boot Kommandeur, wonder if Herr Kaleun can add more to this - most probably .......

 

YouTube - 1940 Heimkehr von Otto Schuhart und U-29

Otto Schuhart

On his first war patrol he sank the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous (22,500 tons). This was the first outstanding sinking of the U-boat arm, and the whole crew received the EK II (Iron Cross) and as commander Schuhart received both the EK I and the EK II.In 1941 he became an instructor in the 1st ULD (Unterseeboots-Lehr-Division), and in June 1943 became commander of the 21st Flotilla. The last months of the war he spent in the Marineschule Flensburg-Mürwik.

 

Joachim Schepke

Joachim Schepke had sunk 37 ships for a total of 155,882 GRT, and damaged 4 more. He was awarded the Knight's cross with Oak Leaves. Schepke, Günther Prien and Otto Kretschmer were friendly rivals in the U-boat service, and were the most famous U-boat commanders in the early years of the war.

After 5 patrols in U-100 she was heavily damaged on March 17, 1941 by depth charges from HMS Walker and HMS Vanoc while executing an attack on Convoy HX-112. U-100 was forced to surface and was detected on radar and consequently rammed by Vanoc. Schepke and 37 crew members perished in the ocean; six crew members were rescued. Schepke was last reported on the bridge of U-100. When Vanoc rammed his boat, he was crushed into his own periscope standards, and he went down with his boat.( Also mentioned in the Bekker book of the German Navy 1939-45 )

Joachim Schepke - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Kai anything on U-541 and Kpt. Kurt Petersen in Bekkers account ? surrendeedr the boat in England in May 45

 

A little over halfway through the book so I´ll have to check that one, Erich.

 

Robert St Vincent Sherbrooke

Sherbrooke was 41 years old, and a Captain in the Royal Navy during the Second World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 31 December 1942 off North Cape, Norway in the Barents Sea, Captain Sherbrooke in HMS Onslow was senior officer in command of destroyers escorting an important convoy for North Russia, when he made contact with a vastly superior enemy force—the cruiser Hipper and the pocket battleship Lutzow. Four times the enemy tried to attack the convoy but was forced back each time. Early in the action Captain Sherbrooke was seriously wounded in the face and temporarily blinded. Nevertheless he continued to direct the ships under his command and even when the next senior officer had assumed control, he insisted on receiving all reports of the action until the convoy was out of danger. His actions—and the Nazi ships' failure to neutralize the convoy despite its superior force—were pivotal for Hitler's order to scrap the Kriegsmarine in the beginning of 1943.

Robert St Vincent Sherbrooke - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Sorry Erich, did not find anything in the book.

 

Dec 4th 1939 and Loch Ewe

HMS Nelson, British battleship, WW2

H. M. S. N E L S O N

Because the destroyers were low on fuel the decision was taken to enter Loch Ewe for them to refuel. At 0752 hours when entering the Loch at 13 knots NELSON passed over and detonated a type TMB magnetic mine. Although the massive explosion did not kill anyone, 73 were injured, of which 52 suffered lacerating injuries to delicate parts of their anatomies when ceramic toilet pans shattered in the blast. She took a list of 3° to starboard and drew 39ft forward.Before she could anchor in an appropriate position a cruiser fouling the berth had to move.She finally anchored at 1210 hours. (The mine was one of 18 laid by U.31 on the night of 27/28 October, each one of which contained between 420 and 560 Kg of explosive) She sustained serious structural damage and flooding, her starboard outer bottom plating was forced in by up to 4ft for a length of 70ft. Main armament equipment was also damaged by shock.

The destroyers FAULKNOR, FORESTER and FURY remained with NELSON, at first
trapped due to the lack of magnetic minesweeping capability, then to provide anti-submarine patrols off the Loch entrance.

 

I'm sure that these two links are in your interest:

• Victoria Cross at Sea, 1949-45
• HMS Onslow, destroyer

Jan.

 

Thanx Jan!

Bekker says that Loch Ewe was supposed to be even safer than Scapa Flow so it must have been quite a nasty surprise!