From Bill Green - 6th November 1997 27th March 1942 and 55 years on. As most of you know, on 27th March 1942, while West of Ushant on our way to St. Nazaire, a German U-boat appeared about 10 miles to the North of us, travelling Eastwards on the surface. Commander Ryder dispatched our escort Tynedale to attack the U-boat, while our force altered course to the South so that the U-boat might think that we were a group en route to Gibraltar. while Tynedale used gunfire and later depth charges the U-boat surfaced twice, once bows up and later stern up, after which Tynedale lost contact, and we all hoped that the U-boat had been sunk. Nevertheless we feared that the U-boat would have sent a signal to the German High Command about the sighting, so that the defences in St. Nazaire might be alerted. In fact our arrival, at St. Nazaire was a complete surprise to the German defences, although the defences had been put on alert by a fruitless bombing raid by our own aircraft who could not drop their bombs on account of the low cloud. Quite by chance, in about 1993, I met David Stogdon socially near Wimborne, (our first meeting), and found that he had been the gunnery officer in Tynedale in 1942 and that he had directed the shooting against the U-boat. As David was able to speak German fairly fluently, we agreed that he would go over to Germany and try to find out whether in 1942 this U-boat had been sunk, and whether a signal had been received from the U-boat by the German High Command concerning our presence West of Ushant on 27th March 1942. The answer was that the U-boat was U 593, that it had not been sunk, and that it was in fact on its way to St. Nazaire for repairs, and furthermore that the then Captain of the U-boat was still alive, and that his name was Gerd Kelbling. This enabled David to get in touch with Gerd, and a meeting was arranged between Gerd, and a few members of his U-boat crew, and David, and some of Tynedale’s crew, in the Humber, when Tynedale was paying a visit there. A little later I was able to meet Gerd at my home in Wimborne. This year, 1997, Gerd very kindly invited me to come out to his home in Bavaria at the beginning of September 1997 to join him in a reunion of some of the crew of U 593 who are still alive. This reunion was held in Gerd’s home town of Diessen am Ammersee (near Munich) from Sunday 31st August to Wednesday 3rd September, and about 15 crew members came with wives and family friends, making a total of about 40. On Monday Ist September we had a brief Memorial Service at the war memorial in Diessen, and the following is the speech given by Gerd at the Service: “Today we remember our comrades who cannot be with us any more. We think of the members of our boat, who, after they had been ordered to other boats, were killed in action. They all gave their lives for their native country, their nation and their fatherland. They all wanted to bring this dreadful war to an end. We keep in kind remembrance the men and women of our Distel (Thistel) family who joined us again after the war, but who can’t be here, because of death and illness. We do not forget the other nations that participated in that war, and we remember those who did not survive. Our special thoughts belong to the soldiers and sailors who lost their lives because of our torpedoes. Today one of our former enemies from Great Britain - Commander Bill Green - is here to join our party, and this gives us hope and confidence that those dreadful wars will never happen again. Grateful for being still alive, we want to be connected in friendship.” G. Kelbling 1997 Kapitanleutnant a.D. und Kommandant U 593 After exploring a bit of Diessen we all went to Gerd’s home where we were all entertained to an excellent lunch in the garden, the meal having been prepared by Jacqueline, Gerd’s wife. This was no mean feat and much enjoyed by us all. As you might expect we all met in the evening in a local pub, and on Tuesday we spent a large part of the day cruising in a paddle steamer over Lake Ammersee, followed by another large meal in a Gastof. On Wednesday we all went our separate ways after a very happy few days. I think the following information gleaned from Gerd will be of interest. When the war started in 1939 Gerd was an officer in the German Navy. (He had no connection whatever with the Nazis). At the end of 1941 he was appointed to command the submarine U 593 and it was remarkable that neither he nor any of his crew had served in submarines before. After a short work-up period, U 593 was sent on patrol between N.E. Ireland and the Western Isles of Scotland, and as that was our main shipping route out into the Atlantic it was not surprising that U 593 had a total of 100 depth charges dropped on it during that period of patrol. When we met them West of Ushant he was on his way back to St. Nazaire for repairs. The submarine had been severely damaged and he could only trim the boat by sending the crew either forward or aft. It was not surprising that when under way, submerged, sometimes the bows and sometimes the stern broke surface. After repairs, Gerd with his crew in U 593 was sent to the North African operational area around Tobruk and Tunisia in 1943, and by a remarkable coincidence they met H.M.S. Tynedale and sank her. A little later they were attacked by an American destroyer who sank U 593, and Gerd and his crew were taken as P.O.W.s. Gerd has confirmed that the signal which he sent, when he met us West of Ushant in 1942, was received by the German High Command, but they had a ruling that signals received from Submarine Captains early in their first command should be disregarded, since they might be unreliable. That is one reason why we were not expected in St. Nazaire in the early morning of 28th March 1942. I greatly enjoyed my brief time in Bavaria, and was very struck by the cheerfulness, of the men in particular; they were always laughing; it was most refreshing.” Back