U boat Medical facilities and staff

[Simon K]

Does anybody have any information on the equipment, drugs or qualified medical staff carried aboard U Boats?

Any anecdotes from memoirs or after action reports?

Simon K

[trapperP]

Well, I don't know if they 'rode' the U-boats or no but the WWII German navy had corpsmen - here's the rating badge:
WWII German Navy Medic Corpsman Rating Patch - I find it amazing that the ratings insignia used by the German navy so very closely parallels that of the US navy - intriguing.
I'm doing more research re the medical stores, personnel and the care available onboard the U-boats - will post up what I can find.

[Simon K]

Thanks Trapper..Took your advice so I think it deserves its own thread. Good thinking batperson.

Simon K

[phylo_roadking]

Trapper - the "rod of Asclepius" as a symbol for medicine and medical practitioners actually predates the Red Cross by hundreds, if not thousands of yesrs LOL. See here -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_of_Asclepius

BUT also HERE -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_M ... ssociation

[Simon K]

Anything that you can find would be excellent Trapper

Cheers

[trapperP]

Trapper - the "rod of Asclepius" as a symbol for medicine and medical practitioners actually predates the Red Cross by hundreds, if not thousands of yesrs LOL. See here -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_of_Asclepius

BUT also HERE -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_M ... ssociation

Thanks; I knew that. I posted the pic only to show the similarity between the rating badges of the WWII German rating and that of the US Navy which used the caduceus for he Hospitalman rating:

So the Germans used the "rod of Asclepius"

and the US uses the caduceus - very similar, c'est ne pas? Very similar and often used interchangeably, I think.

[trapperP]

Still working and researching for more info re the medical staff and medical stores onboard the U-boats. Only thing so far is from U-boat.net: "The radio crew also was responsible for medical duty if there wasn't a doctor on board and for the most part they wrote war diary (KTB) for the commander." Seems strange to have the radiomen in charge of the medical duty? Wonder did they not have a corpsman or hospitalman on each boat?
We'll keep digging!

[Sewer King]

Seems strange to have the radiomen in charge of the medical duty?

Here is part of an explanation for that, from the following pictorial book on U-boat life (much recommended):

in Lawrence Paterson's U-Boat Combat Missions (London: Elephant Book Co Ltd, also Barnes & Noble, 2007), page 85:

Radio Op -- and medic

As the course of the War progressed, many U-boats, particularly the larger Type IXs and Milchkuh Type XIV supply U-boats, but also including several Type VIIs, carried medical personnel as a matter of course. However, before then it was the duty of the chief radio operator to act as medical orderly. Georg Seitz remembered:

"As radioman I was medic aboard U604 and in charge of the medical supplies and treating whatever problems we had. I'm sure it was because as radiomen we had nimble -- and clean -- hands, Kptlt Höltring often insisted that he had access to the medical cabinet to use the scalpel for carving small models while he was aboard, so that was another reason for disagreements because I would say: 'That is for wounded men, not for playing.' But he would insist -- and he was the captain.

"We would attend short courses at Carnac near Lorient [in France] to learn and relearn basic first aid -- everything from toothache to gonorrhea! Sometimes we had no problems but other times we had lots of things to deal with, but I have to say I was happier when on U873 it was the medical officer's -- Walter Ortwein's -- job!"

And from earlier in the book, pages 54-55:

Medical Officers aboard U-Boats
"Our doctor not only was a good medical officer, but handy with a typewriter ... and the radar detector."
-- Jürgen Oesten, U861

Trained medical personnel -- as opposed to the duties handled by radio operators -- were not necessarily part of a standard U-boat's crew during World War II. It was deemed the Kriegsmarine medical service could not sustain the high casualty rate suffered by U-boats in combat. However, they were routinely at sea as a part of the crew aboard long-distance and resupply U-boats.

With larger U-boats heading into the South Atlantic and beyond, the illnesses suffered due to the heat and those exacerbated by long periods of confinement were thought by BdU to warrant a dedicated doctor. Also should the task allotted to any particular boat be considered particularly hazardous, such as in the case of the seven dedicated Flak U-boats, they too would carry doctors. There seems little hard and fast pattern among the remainder of operational U-boats, and medical personnel were found on Type IX -- and less frequently, Type VII -- U-boats throughout the War as was deemed necessary.

During such service the doctor was officially classed as a non-combatant -- he was not expected to undertake watch duties or any weapon-related tasks. However, many opted to fill their time with additional duties, such as assisting the radio crew, or more general on-board tasks that boosted the crew's morale, such as running an on-board newspaper. The more manual tasks, such as torpedo maintenance, were generally considered out of bounds, not only for obvious hygiene reasons but also because such tasks were assigned to enlisted men.

Those medical personnel that were part of the U-boat service came under the control of Dr. Gerhard Lepel's Naval Medical Research Institute for U-boat Medicine (Marineärztliches Forschungsinstitut für U-boot Medizin), which was based in Carnac, near Lorient in France, between January 1942 and August 1944. Lepel had previously served aboard the heavy cruiser Gneisenau before transfering to take control of the Carnac Institute.

As well as the obvious medical matters that required the attention of such crewmen, there was also a responsibility to cater to any vitamin pill requirements thought necessary for a particular cruise. While men of the German midget submarine service were provided with amphetamines, those of the U-boat arm were not. However, for certain particularly arduous long-distance missions the provision of vitamins to supplement the men's diet became the responsibility of the medical officer. Once a week a small cellophane and aluminum foil package containing 12 small cream-colored tablets was issued to each crewman. Additionally Schoka-Kola, a chocolate stimulant, was also given out as part of the food ration.

Aboard U66 in May 1944 the lack of supplies may indeed have contributed to the boat's destruction by enemy forces. To his horror, the inexperienced Sanitätsmaat, Wolf Loch, discovered that due to an error in loading at Lorient, the expected supply of vitamin pills in fact consisted of one small, inadequate bottle only. U66 had left France on January 16 to operate off West Africa. By May, supplies of fuel and food were critically low and, exacerbated by the lack of vitamin supplements, the crew began to exhibit symptoms of scurvy, including lethargy and confusion. Attempts to rendezvous with supply boats were thwarted by Allied pressure until a hunter-killer group centered on [carrier] USS Block Island surprised the boat while it lay surfaced. The stuporous lookouts spotted the approaching aircraft too late, and the subsequent hunt destroyed U66. Twenty-four of the crew were killed.

U66 had been sunk by American destroyer escort Buckley in one of the war's few close-quarters combat fought between warship crews on the high seas.

Schoka-Kola tins, still available today, have been photographed in a U-boat's captain's cabin for his select issue to deserving crewmen. A bottle of strong drink might also be kept by some captains in case of medical anesthetic need.

Sorry my scanner is inoperable right now, but Petersen includes a few color photos of a U-boat's typical medical supplies:

- opium tablets wrapped in brown paper and printed in red
- a glass oral thermometer in its protective cardboard tube
- issue first-aid dressings tied with string, marked with date of packaging and military district medical depot
- Kriegsmarine medical advice manual for U-boat service, dated 1944

Here is some uboat.net discussion of the Petersen book and its recent good availability & price. Its slightly larger format allows for detailed color photos of U-boat interiors, fittings, accommodations, etc, in U995. For only $12.95 this is a good tour of the submarine with emphasis on crewmen's life on board.

-- Alan

[Dieter Zinke]

I want to recommend:
Hartmut Nöldeke & Volker Hartmann
"Der Sanitätsdienst in der deutschen U-Boot-Waffe und bei den Kleinkampfverbänden - Geschichte der deutschen U-Boot-Medizin"
ISBN 3-8132-0501-0
Mittler-Verlag, Hamburg - Berlin - Bonn, 1996.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartmut_N%C3%B6ldeke
http://www.lesen.ch/buch/buch.cfm?BID=135593


Dieter Z.

[Simon K]

Thanks for the link!
Fasinating info about the vitamin tabs. So the Das Boot type lemon eating scenes were not accurate, or merely supplimented by newer products? Scurvy ?? Amazing.
I was sure KGM tinned provisions would have been vitaminised? At least with vit C.

[Sewer King]

More, from David Miller's U-Boats: The Illustrated History of the Raiders of the Deep (UK:Pegasus Publishing Ltd, and US: Brassey's, 2000) pages 136-137:

MEDICAL STAFF

One aspect of life aboard which frequently presented problems was medical care which came under the general direction of the Marinearztliches Forschungsinstitut für Ubootmedizin (=Naval Medical Research Insititute for U-Boat Medicine), which was located at Carnac on the French Atlantic coast from January 1942 to August 1944. Larger boats, such as Type XB minelayers and Type XIV tankers, carried a qualified Stabsarzt (staff doctor}, as did most Type IXs sailing to the Indian Ocean. Other boats did not and one of the petty officers was trained to give certain types of treatment. These amateurs did the best they could, but in difficult cases a rendezvous with another U-boat carrying a doctor or the patient transferred to a home-going boat. Infectious complaints such as venereal diseases, crabs ...and rashes caused particular problems where so many men lived in such close proximity, especially where communal washing, sanitary facilities, and hot-bunking were concerned. Many U-boat crews attended a one-week health "cure" at Carnac as part of their preparations for the next patrol.

Fasinating info about the vitamin tabs. So the Das Boot type lemon eating scenes were not accurate, or merely supplimented by newer products? Scurvy ?? Amazing.

In his book above, Paterson gives the loadout of food for a Type IXC boat with 55 crewmen for a 12-week patrol. Included with its total weight of 12,583kg are 416kg of lemons, packed in 13 boxes recommended stored in the bow.

Fruits, especially fresh tropical kinds, were prized in wartime by all armies in the field and navies at sea. They have a hint of luxury and scarcity about them compared to spartan issue food, they are sweet, and thus good for morale as well as health. Navy galleys with refrigeration and routine resupply historically have it over army field kitchens and pack rations. But on board submarines with their cramped space and hard living conditions, good chow looms larger there than elsewhere in the navy.

Sour fruit juices relieve thirst more than would plain water alone. But I would expect citrus fruit to also be a welcome relief from the notorious diesel fuel taste that could work its way into other foodstuffs on board a U-boat. A certain amount of food was typically lost to spoilage, which might have been calculated into the boat's provisioning back at base. Fresh foods were naturally the most liable and thus eaten as soon as possible, though I don't know if lemons were any more resistant. Maybe that's why they were stored in the bow?

I was sure KGM tinned provisions would have been vitaminised? At least with vit C.

I have seen mention of vitamin supplements in the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy, and in certain wartime US Army medical kits and US Navy lifeboat equipment. Other than Schoka-Kola, there is no mention of fortified tinned foods in Paterson's example. There are photos of canned goods stacked on U-boat decks for loading, and of quartermaster stores for them ashore in France, some of which were procured from places as far as Portugal, Italy, and Denmark (Paterson, page 68).

-- Alan

[Simon K]

Thanks for that Alan
Gonna have to get the Paterson book now
Simon

[Simon K]

Sewer King
Did the Buckley crew engage in hand-to hand combat with the crew of U66?
You mention Close quarter battle.

Simon

[Sturmkreuz]

Thanks for this information i'm kinda fascinated by the Kriegsmarine so it is nice to read more about it .

[Simon K]

Me too. I think it was the "best" of the German Whermacht.