The Last World War II U-Boat Commander Has Died at 105

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The Last World War II U-Boat Commander Has Died at 105
Millitary.com 24 Jun 2018 By Richard Sisk
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/06/24/last-world-war-ii-u-boat-commander-has-died-105.html


U-boat commander Reinhard Hardegen, second from left, looks on as Adolph Hitler shakes hands with another U-Boat commander, Erich Topp, in May 1942. During that year, German subs sank many merchant ships off America's east coast. (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)

Four months after the Pearl Harbor attacks, Kapitanleutnant Reinhard Hardegen decided that Americans should see for themselves what war with Adolf Hitler's Germany was going to look like.

He began with Florida sunbathers. On April 11, 1942, Hardegen's submarine, U-123, torpedoed the tanker SS Gulfamerica off Jacksonville. He maneuvered U-123 around the flaming wreck and surfaced between the SS Gulfamerica and the beach. He sank it with U-123's deck gun.

Hardegen later wrote in his log: "All the vacationers had seen an impressive special performance at [President Franklin D.] Roosevelt's expense. A burning tanker, artillery fire, the silhouette of a U-boat -- how often had that been seen in America?"

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[truth_seeker]

Most Americans know about Pearl Harbor,but few know about German attacks in the Atlantic, etc.
 

[skeeter]

The Kriegsmarine was the least provincial & political (nazi) of the services in Germany during WWII. Many of its officers had Jewish heritage.

[dfwgator]

U-Boats were a natural reaction to the British Naval blockade of Germany.

It was a heck of a lot easier to choke off Germany from the sea than Britain.