Oberleutnant Otto Luther U 135

[Max Williams]

Luther was the last commander of U 135 when she was sunk by HMS Rochester in 1943. Apparently, Luther was a very unpopular commander and his actions during the loss of his vessel seem to indicate that he was a rather unsavoury character. Here is an extract from an interrogation report on the survivors of U 135:

Oberleutnant zur See Otto Luther, a regular officer, twenty-five years of age and of the 1937B term was both despised and disliked by his ship's company; he was badly thought of by the S.O. of the flotilla. He was an excessive martinet in disciplinary matters and entirely unsuited to the intimate and democratic conditions of U-boat life although he had made seven previous patrols in U-boats. This was his first patrol as Commanding Officer. Until "U 135" was hunted, on the day of her sinking, his conversation turned frequently on the desirability of becoming involved in an action. His men always said that he would either get the Ritterkreuz or lose the boat before he had completed four patrols. When the action began and proved to be a tough one, he decided to abandon a boat which was still seaworthy, and he was the first man to jump overboard. His life-jacket would not inflate and he attempted, unsuccessfully, to knock unconscious a petty officer who was swimming near him, with a view to procuring a life-jacket, visibly in working order.
He had once stated that if he ever shot down an aircraft, he would not take any prisoners.....The commanding officer's order to abandon ship had not been heard throughout the U-boat, and her guns' crew tried to close up at their mounting; they were shot down in the attempt and the gun itself was also evidently shot away.
During the attacks the ship's company became very excited, some completely losing their nerve, including the commanding officer who gave none of the usual orders in such circumstances, nor answered requests made to him for such orders. When he was already swimming in the water the commanding officer gave the command "Entluftung ziehen" ("open vents") to which no one paid any attention.
http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-135INT.htm

However, he was apparently highly thought of by Dönitz who actually went to the lengths of sending him birthday greetings during his captivity. I know Luther spent the remainder of the war as a POW, but I would be interested in any information concerning his captivity.
Max.

[Dieter Zinke]

Hallo Max,

wenn alle untreu werden, so bleibe ich doch treu
and will answer:

In spite of ordering not to attack convoys by the BdU Dönitz, U 135 attacked convoy OS-51 and damaged the cargo-ship “Twikenham” (4762-t). The submarine was detected by the convoy-protection and bombed with water balloons by the sloop “Rochester” and the corvettes “Balsam” and ”Mignonette”. U 135 had to breach and was rammed by “Rochester”.
The subsequent questioning of the crew brought the result, that the U-boat was still seaworthy after the bombing.

But the commander Luther was the first to disembark!
For more than a year he had had no sinking-success and so he at any price wanted to come off before the end of the mission …. in spite of the forbiddance of the BdU !

The result instead of the Ritterkreuz: 5 men killed in action,
Survivors: 4 officers, 6 NCOs, 31 men

Source: Kemp, Paul: Die deutschen und österreichischen U-Boot-Verluste in beiden Weltkriegen. (Geleitwort Lothar-Günther Buchheim). Urbes-Verlag, Gräfelfing 1998


Dieter

[1awareness]

Dear Max Williams
I have read your post on Otto Luther. I am also researching otto luther. I'm seeking if the Otto lLuther who wrote the book relativity is dead is the same person who was the U Boat captain on U 135? I found an interview about Otto Luther that i can not get verified by the library of congress or by nasa I have tired to make a freedom of information act request on Otto Luther but I lack the direct information to perform a here. What did Otto Luther do in New York?"
In the interview it says "In 1929, I secured a job as an art director with the Reuben H Donnelly corporation in New York" Otto also claims, that he had perform elaborate experiments which included the production of musical sounds and with simulated vocal sounds with the electronic devices. He created a binaural sound system with the high fidelity response that could flatten sound over a 20,000 cycles per second range. He claims, knowledge in the effects of light and color and in nuclear physics. I have a guess, that be might of been involve with a person name Dinshah p Ghadiali?
The Germans, and the Soviets seem to have be experimenting with standing wave light and sound binaural theories before WW2 . I believe, that Dinshah P Ghadial was a member of the theosophy cult group. They have cult members in Ukraine, Germany, Russia and the United States. That were some how related to Alexander Gurwitsch and Otto Rahn during their time together in Munich
university?
But I have no valid information to connect the dots. Nasa says they have no record on Otto Luther. I believe, that Otto Luther could of worked with Dr. Maruro Zambuto