U-124 and the survivors of TWEED

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William Kramer
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U-124 and the survivors of TWEED

#1

Post by William Kramer » 24 May 2005, 07:33

Hello all,

I had read somewhere that U-124 helped the survivors of TWEED when they were in the water. Do any of you have some more information on what exactly happened?

Please let me know either way.

Thank you.

William Kramer

zmija
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#2

Post by zmija » 16 Oct 2005, 13:44

After Tweed went down, U-124 surfaced and sailed to a group of survivers who were hanging on a damaged lifeboat turned downside up. The crew of the sub took the survivors on board and repaired the lifeboat, while the wounded survivors received medical attention, one of them suffering from dislocated shoulder and broken leg so dr. Goder had to treat these wounds on deck before they could part making the captain Schulz very nervous as the sub was in danger of being detected. The survivers were given some food, water and cigarettes.
After the war Tweed's 3rd officer (i don't know if the rank is correct) Baker, was looking for the captain of a sub that had an Edelweiss painted on the conning tower (U-124). It took him sixteen years after the sinking to find him.
He told captain Schulz that one of the survivors had died and it took 14 day for the rest to reach land.


Peter
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#3

Post by Peter » 17 Oct 2005, 10:42

That is true, the rank 3rd Officer (or 3rd Mate) is correct.

Check out "U-boats in Action" by Bodo Herzog, page 55/57 where there are several mentions of this incident and U103 assistance to the survivors of the ship "Fort Concord", U159 and the survivors of the "Star of Scotland".

There were many instances.

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Takao
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#4

Post by Takao » 18 Oct 2005, 06:52

Nor were they the only survivors to recieve Wilhelm Schulz's kindness. Several days before, some 200 miles from Freetown, U-124 had torpedoed the Umona. Four days later while coming back over the area where the Umona sank, U-124 found three survivors, one with a headwound, in a flimsy raft. Since U-124 still had a long patrol ahead of them, Schulz couldn't take the suvivors on board. However, he supplied them with cigarettes, water, and cognac. Shortly thereafter, U-124 had to quickly depart to chase after another ship she had spotted. Several hours later, U-124 returned to the three survivors. Schulz again repeated that he was sorry that he could not take them aboard, but offered words of encouragement and told them that land was not far off and the current would take them there in three days. Shortly before U-124 headed away from the survivors, Rolf Brinker, the chief engineer questioned his commander. "Herr Kaleu, we're a good 200 miles from the coast." Schulz replied "I know it, but I can't tell the that.It seems so hopeless they wouldn't have the heart to try."

After they war, Schulz would learn the fate of the three men. The man with the head wound had died a few days later. But, after 14 days at sea the other two men, Edward Elliot and F. Brothers reached the African coast. Both men wrote their thanks to Schulz, had it not been for the provisions supplied by the U-boat, the men could not have survived their journey.

Wilhelm Schulz, Rolf Brinker, and Dr. Hubertus Goder would all survive the war. Unfortunately, the same can not be said for many of the other who sailed on U-124

For the full story of the life and death of U-124, get a copy of "Grey Wolf, Grey Sea" by E. Blanchard Gasaway

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