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"Patrol in North Germany"
from 20 September 2002 through 28 September 2002
We met the men who actually MADE this history!
As always, this was a very special tour, arranged for us by the veterans themselves. No other tour could possibly allow visitors in the places we go or to meet with all these honored veterans. There have never been less than a dozen U-boat Skippers with us & dozens of other officers & crewmen attending our Patrols. The Luftwaffe and other branches of the Wehrmacht are also represented.
We split this into several pages to avoid long load times. Thanks for your patience. It will be worth the wait.
Friday 20 September - We began our tour a bit differently this year than in previous years. We felt that it would be better to have a few days at the beginning of the tour that were not quite so busy. That way we could recover from our "jet lag" and thereby have more fun. The folks in our group met each other and had a relaxing day before going to our 'Welcome Dinner' where we were joined by Captains GÜNTHER HEINRICH & MATTHIAS BRÜNIG as well as VOLKMAR KÖNIG, the midshipman from U-99 under OTTO KRETSCHMER and also our good friend MARIANNE GRAP, widow of WILLIE GRAP who rode U-506. As always, we had a great evening with many war stories, and making new friends. After the evening's festivities, we all slowly walked back to our hotel in the soft Hamburg night, with stops at sidewalk cafes along the way.
Captain HEINRICH VOLKMAR KÖNIG Professor BRÜNIG
Saturday 21 September - Professor BRÜNIG, former Skipper of U-108 and training Skipper, escorted us on a great tour of Hamburg where we saw the place on Große Freiheit where the Beattles actually got their start. Yes, they were from Liverpool, England - but they were first 'discovered' playing in this Hamburg night club. Some of our group thought there should be some sort of historic marker or even a monument here.....
Prof. BRÜNIG took us through some of the centuries-old apartment buildings where the common workers lived, and he also took us along beautiful Lake Alster where we saw the homes of the wealthy. He showed us sections of this city not normally seen by tourists.
Hamburg in the 1880's Thanks to Eric Matthews for these pix
Many of these buildings still stand today, and we saw the churches, warehouses, hotels etc from 300 years ago.
Sunday 22 September - A new addition to our 'Patrol in North Germany' was the fischmarkt, but only for the early risers. We departed our hotel for the short walk to the riverfront where the fish market takes place each Sunday. The name is mis-leading. While this weekly event did begin as merely a place for the fishermen to bring their catch for sale to the locals, it has grown into much more. It stretches for more than a mile along the riverfront, and there are hundreds upon hundreds of venders selling just about everything you could want - it is indeed, a flohmarkt or in English, a flea market. There are silk scarves, stuffed teddy bears, shirts, sweaters, flowers, bumper stickers and who knows what else and as we get to the far end of the facility, there's an indoor arena where vendors are selling many different kinds of breakfast dishes and of course, a loud band - playing American Rock 'N Roll songs of the 1950's. Most of us stayed perhaps two hours, then back to the hotel for s short while.
After relaxing for some hours in our hotel and as always during our ‘Patrol in North Germany’, we walked to the harborfront for our two hour harbor tour. Several veterans were already with us for this tour, which is a great icebreaker and a nice time on the water looking at a historic old city.
Monday 23 September - Our bus was punctually on time as always, but this time it was not our regular driver Thorsen at the wheel, but his father. It was his father who drove us on our 'Patrol' some years ago when we were in Berlin on the day of reunification.
Our first stop was the Marine Ehrenmal (Navy Memorial) where we were met by VOLKMAR KÖNIG and JULIANNE HESS, daughter of our dear friend HANS-GEORG HESS. On these grounds, there is a plaque honoring the 52 American submarines and the 3,505 Americans who were lost on submarines in World War II. Naturally, there is a magnificent building and memorial hall for the German sailors who were lost in combat. The view from atop this great building is breathtaking, and one can see for miles from up there.
Naturally, we had a great tour of U-995, the only Type VII-C boat left in the world. It is great that the DMB (the Deutsche Marine Bund or German Navy League) managed to save and preserve this submarine, as it is the only one of more than six hundred originally made, left in the world. SHARKHUNTERS has sent some $6,500 in donations over the years.
We visit the Memorial Chamber of the U-Boot-Ehrenmal
It is a sad and emotional place, but a place of great honor!
After a leisurely lunch at our favorite place, we drove to the U-Boot-Ehrenmal, the Submarine Memorial, where we conducted a Memorial Service. In addition to the U-Boat veterans who came with us, we were met by men of the U/K-Kiel, the U-Boat Veterans Association of Kiel.
Tuesday 24 September - With Professor BRÜNIG aboard our bus, we set out for a beautiful sightseeing tour of Hamburg, on our way to the fantastic naval museum of Peter Tamm. It is said that this is the world’s most impressive privately owned naval museum. We must disagree with that statement – we believe that this is the most impressive naval museum in the world of any kind, privately owned or otherwise; it is just awesome! There is room after room full of rare and one-of-a-kind naval artifacts, including the baton of Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz, also that of Grossadmiral Erich Raeder and the batons of two of the crown princes – and that is just one display. If one would spend a week, a month or a year in this museum, there would still be more to see and experience.
There are a lot of new items to see in this museum, including a one-man U-Boat and now there is also a two-man U-Boat. Just a week or so prior to our arrival, Peter Tamm was confirmed as Honorary Professor of History.
In the countryside, we met with MARIANNE GRAP, and she had all sorts of souvenirs for our group - tie tacks, scarves, lapel pins etc. all with the emblem of the VDU, or German Submariner's Association. We enjoyed lunch at a beautiful centuries-old German restaurant, then it was time to pay our respects to the Grossadmiral.
We went to the grave of Grossadmiral Dönitz where, as always, we placed flowers. This is a beautiful spot with his great stone crucifix and the grave surrounded by tall pine trees. At his feet are two stones, one for each of his sons who were killed in the war. One was only twenty years of age when he was killed on his U-boat – the other killed on his boat in the English Channel…….on his 24th birthday. Our friend H-J von KNEBEL DOBERITZ, who had been with us the year before, has now begun his 'Eternal Patrol' and we remembered him as well. von KNEBEL had been the Aide-de-Camp of Grossadmiral Dönitz and later he was I.W.O. on U-99 under OTTO KRETSCHMER.
We placed flowers on the grave of the Grossadmiral and there were words of honor spoken. Professor BRÜNIG had tears in his eyes during this time........he worked closely with the Grossadmiral in the war years.
"Hai' is the German word for SHARK.
After a pleasant dinner in the evening, to bed between crisp white sheets.
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