NAVY DEPARTMENT

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS

WASHINGTON

C O N F I D E N T I A L

O.N.I. 250-G/ Serial No. 5

REPORT ON THE

 INTERROGATION OF SURVIVORS FROM U-94

SUNK ON AUGUST 27, 1942

September 16, 1942

C O N F I D E N T I A L

T A B L E   O F   C O N T E N T S
Chapter I		INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Chapter II		CREW OF THE U-94
Chapter III		EARLY HISTORY FIRST AND SECOND WAR CRUISES
Chapter IV		THIRD WAR CRUISE
Chapter V		FOURTH WAR CRUISE
Chapter VI		FIFTH WAR CRUISE
Chapter VII		SIXTH WAR CRUISE
Chapter VIII		SEVENTH WAR CRUISE
Chapter IX		EIGHTH WAR CRUISE
Chapter X		NINTH WAR CRUISE
Chapter XI		TENTH AND LAST WAR CRUISE
Chapter XII		SINKING OF U-94
Chapter XIII		DETAILS OF U-94
Chapter XIV		OTHER U-BOATS
Chapter XV		GENERAL REMARKS ON U-BOATS
Chapter XVI		U-BOAT BASES
Chapter XVII		U-BOAT TRAINING
Chapter XVIII		OTHER SHIPS
Chapter XIX		NAVAL OFFICERS
Chapter XX		MINEFIELDS
Chapter XXI		COMMANDO RAID ON ST. NAZAIRE

CONFIDENTIAL

Chapter XXII		U-BOAT BUILDING YARDS
Chapter XXIII		MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS
APPENDIX		LIST OF CREW OF U-94
		A.  SURVIVORS
		B.  THOSE WHO DID NOT SURVIVE
		C.  TOTAL NUMBER OF CREW

CONFIDENTIAL

Chapter I

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

        U-94, commanded by Oberleutnant ( Lieutenant (j.g.) ) Otto ITES was sunk August 27, 1942, at 2300 EWT in approximate position latitude 17⁰ 54' N. and longitude 74⁰ 36' W. by combined action of a USN PBY plane and HMCS OAKVILLE.

        U-94 was preparing to attack a convoy, of which OAKVILLE was one of the escorts, when she was discovered and attacked by the naval plane operating from Guantanamo, Cuba.  Depth charges from the plane crippled the U-94 and thereafter she was rammed three times, fired upon and sunk by OAKVILLE.  Five survivors were picked up by OAKVILLE and 21 were rescued by USS LEA.  All survivors were landed at Guantanamo the following afternoon, August 28.  Interrogators from Washington arrived at Guantanamo on August 29 and departed for the United States with 24 members of the crew on August 31.  The commander of U-94, suffering from bullet wounds in the leg as well as a broken leg, and machinist GUNTHER, who had received a shot through the stomach during the action, were brought to the United States later.

        Although the crew of U-94 was well-trained and experienced, several of them appeared not to have received recent instruction in security, and responded readily to early interrogations.

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Chapter II

CREW OF U-94

        Of the total complement of U-94, presumed to be 45 in all, one officer, one senior midshipman, nine petty officers, and 15 enlisted men survived.

        Oberleutnant Otto ITES was born in 1918, in Norden, Ost Friesland.  He belonged to the 1936 naval term.  As a Fähnrich he reported to the Marineschule at Mürvik on May 1, 1937, and was at the disposition of the Commander of U-boats as Leutnant (Ensign) on October 1, 1938.  The same year he qualified as torpedo officer for U-boats.  He subsequently served as Executive Officer on U-48 under Korvettenkapitän (Lieutenant Commander) Hans RÖSING, Herbert SCHULTZE and Hans BLEICHRODT.  ITES said that when he left the U-48 she had sunk 58 ships, all of which he had seen go down with his own eyes -- a total tonnage of more that 300,000.  He said he knew the names of all but three of these 58 ships.  ITES said that after he left U-48, SCHULTZE sank 11 more ships, raising U-48's total to more than 400,000 tons, making her by far the most successful individual U-boat.  ITES stated that he had serve in U-boats since the outbreak of the war, but that the thousand or more depth charges which he had heard explode around him never had affected his nerve.  After taking command of U-94 ITES made five war cruises.

        During the attack by OAKVILLE, ITES received two gunfire wounds, one of which fractured the left fibula, so that it was necessary to place him in a hospital as soon as he reached shore.

        ITES was one of the outstanding U-boat commanders of 1942.  Upon returning to St. Nazaire in the first week of April, 1942, after his third war cruise, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.  The citation credited him with sinking 11 armed merchant ships totaling more than 100,000 tons.  Radio Paris, announcing the award on April 8, revealed that ITES was the first native Norden to receive this distinction.

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A German High Command communiqué of May stated:  "The U-boat under command of Oberleutnant ITES was especially distinguished by successes against the British-American Navy in the North Atlantic".  He was praised in an official communiqué of June 18, 1942.

        ITES' success was particularly noteworthy in view of his youth.  Youngest of the "star" commanders at 24, his control of his boat and his men were belied by his ingenuous appearance.  In conversation with his captors he was amiable and courteous but adamantly security-minded.  His success as a U-boat commander could be attributed to several factors, not the least of which was the ability to keep his crew relatively intact over an extensive period, despite the practice of the Commander of U-boats (B.d.U.) of combing returning crews for candidates for officers' and non-commissioned officers schools, and for experienced hands to man new U-boats.  Prisoners said that ITES always had at least one experienced man on each watch.  ITES' apparent favor with the B.d.U. enabled him to have two of his petty officers commissioned, and to regain them after their schooling.

        Daring and nerveless, he was admired by his crew as a fighter.  Friendly and talkative, he made himself one of his men, who referred to him as "Unser Otto" and "Onkel Otto".

        The Executive Officer, Leutnant (Ensign) Walter SCHMIDT, did not survive the sinking of U-94.  According to a prisoner's statement, SCHMIDT was about 34 years old.  He served as Steuermannsmaat (Quartermaster 3rd class) until U-94's fifth cruise, when he became Steuermann (Quartermaster 1st class).  He became "2nd Watch Officer" after attending officers' school, and later was made Executive Officer.  His progress was facilitated by the fact that he had been an officer in the Merchant Marine prior to entering the German Navy.

        U-94's "2nd Watch Officer" was Oberfähnrich (Senior Midshipman) Kurt-Rolf GEBECHUS, son of a U-boat officer who lost his life in the last war.

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GEBESCHUS' mother later his father's brother, who is now a Kapitän zur See (Captain) stationed at the Naval High Command in Berlin.

        According to GEBESCHUS his stepfather, as a prisoner of war in England during the last war, was put in the penitentiary for a year as a reprisal for Germans reportedly having put British officers in the penitentiary.  The matter eventually was straightened out and he spent the rest of the war in a regular camp for prisoners of war.

        GEBESCHUS, who is 24 years old, studies "Germanistik" German literature, history, and related subjects - with the intention of becoming a foreign newspaper correspondent.  He receive his diploma from the Gymnasium in Potsdam in 1936, but a broken collarbone prevented his going immediately to the Labor Service, so he traveled extensively in Europe, Norway and Sweden.  He returned to his home in Berlin to attend the University of Berlin for one semester, and then entered the Labor Service.

        In 1938, his stepfather advised him to abandon his schooling for the time being, in view of the international situation, and to become a reserve officer.  Accordingly, in September, 1938, GEBESCHUS entered the Naval School at Mürvik.  He later attended the Torpedo School and made a trip to South America in the training ship ALBERT LEO SCHLAGETER.

        GEBESCHUS is believed to have joined U-94 in February, 1942, before U-94's eighth cruise.  He said he chose the U-boat branch because it "offered the best prospects for fighting".  As "2nd Watch Officer" he was the torpedo and artillery officer.  He expected his commission as Leutnant zur See to be granted automatically by Oct 1, 1942, as he had passed all his officers' examinations.

        GEBESCHUS, a bulky youth, said he was something of an athlete.  He was intelligent, pleasant and polite, but blindly nationalistic.  He was a "Scharführer" in the Hitler Youth Movement.

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        The other officer, a casualty, was a Leutnant (Ing.) Heinrich MÜLLER, the engineer officer, who formerly had been a machinist on U-94.  As he had risen from the ranks to become an officer in January, 1942, prisoners referred to him as a "Volksoffizier" (People's Officer).  They spoke of him with respect.

        Waldemar GUNTHER, Obermaschinist (Warrant Machinist), received a bullet in his stomach during the attack prior to the sinking.  Little hope was held for his recovery until a successful operation was performed on shore.  He quickly grew stronger and was brought to the United States shortly thereafter.

        Among those members of the crew who perished at the sinking was Maschinengefreiter (fireman, 3cl.) SLAWIK, 21 years old, A German-American.  He was said to have spoken perfect English, having lived in America from the age of 2 1/2 to 15, when he returned to Germany with his parents.  SLAWIK had made four trips in U-94.

        The crew as a whole was one of the most experienced thus far captured in American waters.  Although only one of the crew, a machinist's mate, had been on all the cruises of U-94, all the older members of the crew were seasoned U-boat men.  As has sometimes been the case in the past, some petty officers were more communicative than younger members of the crew.  All prisoners expressed appreciation of their treatment on board the two rescue vessels and of their subsequent reception ashore.

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Chapter III

EARLY HISTORY, FIRST AND SECOND WAR CRUISES

        Little could be learned of the early history of U-94.  The only survivor who had been on all ten cruises was Siegfried HARTSCH, a machinist's mate, who professed to remember practically nothing of his boat's early history.

        U-94's first Commanding Officer was Kapitänleutnant Herbert KUPPISCH, of the 1932 naval term.  He made five cruises in U-94 during which time he developed a case of nerves and was relieved on August 18, 1941, by ITES.  KUPPISCH, as an Oberleutnant in 1937, was second in command of U-9, in 1939 he was promoted to Kapitänleutnant;  on May 25th, 1941, he received the Knight's Iron Cross for his "successful attacks on enemy shipping".  There is some evidence that he once commanded U-58.

        KUPPISCH was credited by a High Command communiqué in June, 1940, with sinking a British auxiliary cruiser in the Moray Firth.  If this is true, KUPPISCH could have been in another U-boat.  However, it should be pointed out that this claim cannot be associated with any known attack.

        HARTSCH stated that the first war cruise lasted six weeks, from mid-November to the end of December, 1940, the U-boat putting in to Lorient on New Year's Eve.  He said between 10,000 and 20,000 tons were sunk in the North Atlantic.  After two weeks in port U-94 sailed for the North Atlantic for her second war cruise in mid-January, remaining out until the third week in February.  According to HARTSCH, about 20,000 tons were sunk on this cruise.  HARTSCH's estimates of sinkings coincided with German claims of considerable success for KUPPISCH

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late in 1940 and early in 1941.  Furthermore, prisoners from U-433 (Admiralty's C.B. 4051 (34) January, 1942) stated that while Oberleutnant Hans EX was serving as KUPPISCH's executive officer, U-94 sank 36,000 tons.  This would have been on the first and second war cruises, for, according to HARTSCH, these were the only cruises which EX made in U-94.

        HARTSCH said that HELLER was the engineer officer on the first six voyages.  (This probably is the HELLER designated in the 1940 German Naval List as Fähnrich (Ing.), reserve class of 1938).

        U-94 put into Lorient after each of these war cruises, even though theoretically based on St. Nazaire as part of the 7th Flotilla.

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Chapter IV

THIRD WAR CRUISE

        A petty officer prisoner stated that U-94 sailed from Lorient on her third war cruise late in February, 1941, after a brief stay in port.  This statement is consistent with previous knowledge that the was in Lorient on February 20, 1941.  (Admiralty's C.B. 4051-20 April 1941.)  She remained at sea from four to six weeks.  Prisoners stated variously that they operated in mid-Atlantic and the North Atlantic.  About six ships were said to have been sunk of which the total tonnage was estimated at between 25,000 and 30,000.  Late in March or early April, U-94 returned to Lorient where she refitted for three weeks.

        A prisoner stated that a new executive officer named KOSBADT (listed in the 1940 German Naval List as Leutnant zur See, class of 1937) succeeded EX before this voyage and remained with U-94 through the seventh war cruise.

Chapter V

FOURTH WAR CRUISE

        According to several prisoners, U-94 left Lorient for the North Atlantic on her fourth war cruise late in April, 1941.  At some time during the cruise she attacked a convoy, sinking four ships with one torpedo each.  (Prisoners from U-93, under Kapitänleutnant Claus KORTH, said that some time between the last of April and June 16, 1941, U-93 attacked a convoy in conjunction with U-94.  Admiralty C.B. 4051 (40) Page 9.)  Three destroyers counter attacked for seven hours, dropping many depth charges, but prisoners asserted that the boat was not damaged.  On May 9, 1941, the German Naval High Command claimed that KUPPISCH recently had sunk four merchant ships in a strongly protected convoy in the North Atlantic.  The only other success on this cruise mentioned by prisoners was the sinking of a tanker sailing alone.  Several torpedoes were said to have been fired at her before she finally sank.  More than one torpedo was said to have missed.  Prisoners estimated the total tonnage sunk on this cruise at 38,000.

        During this cruise KUPPISCH learned by radio that on May 25, 1941, he had been awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.  A German broadcast claimed altogether he had sunk a destroyer and 17 armed merchant ships totaling 90,260 tons, and had carried out mining operations close to the British coast.  (The mine-laying presumably was done in a previous U-boat.)  To celebrate the award the crew fashioned a large cross out of lead and hard rubber which they fastened around their captain's neck.

        Between June 3 - 5, 1941, U-94 put in at St. Nazaire instead of returning to Lorient, and henceforth she operated from St. Nazaire.  It is known that U-94 gave up two electric and two air torpedoes on June 5.  She remained in port between four and five weeks.

Chapter VI

FIFTH WAR CRUISE

        U-94's fifth cruise was KUPPISCH's final one before his transfer to shore duty.  It was the only one on which he failed to sink anything.

        U-94 left St. Nazaire early in July.  She was out about five weeks, operating somewhere between Gibraltar and the Canary Islands.  She fired only one torpedo, at either a fast steamer or an auxiliary cruiser which turned and escaped.  One prisoner believed U-94's intended victim picked her up on listening gear in time to take avoiding action.  Prisoners said they sighted a convoy, but wouldn't explain why they didn't close to attack.

        U-94 returned to St. Nazaire in mid-August, probably August 16, inasmuch as she is known to have surrendered 13 torpedoes -- 10 electric and 3 air -- on that date.  Prisoners were unable to explain why they carried three air torpedoes instead of the usual two.  They denied having a third upper-deck container.

        Heinrich MÜLLER, who had served as Obermaschinist (Machinist) on one or more previous cruises, did not make this cruise, having been sent to officers' school.  He later returned to U-94 as Engineer Officer, with the rank of Leutnant (Ing.) (Ensign-engineering duties only).

        KUPPISCH's nervous condition had grown worse on his last cruises.  One prisoner stated KUPPISCH was exceedingly nervous when departing on, and returning from a cruise, but that once at sea his anxiety lessened.  Prisoners said he held himself apart from the crew.  ITES succeeded to his command of U-94 on August 18, 1941.  One prisoner who saw KUPPISCH a year later said he looked "fresh" and apparently recovered;  nevertheless other prisoners expressed the opinion that he never would go to sea again.

Chapter VII

SIXTH WAR CRUISE

        On August 30, 1941, U-94 took aboard 12 electric and two air torpedoes and on September 2 sailed on her sixth war cruise under the command of ITES.  At the end of this cruise, U-94 put into Stettin for a long overhaul.  Prisoners stated they had operated this time in the vicinity of Greenland.  Statements varied as to the number of ships sunk.  One prisoner said four merchant ships were destroyed totaling 29,900 tons; others said they sank five or six amounting to 32,000 tons.  The large tanker SAN FLORENTINO, the PEGASUS, and two English colliers were claimed to have been sunk.  All were said to have been traveling alone.  Prisoners believed that more than one torpedo was fired at the SAN FLORENTINO.  No convoys were sighted and U-94 was not attacked at any time.

        After nearly five weeks at sea, U-94 turned toward home waters.  She proceeded to Bergen where she remained in port three or four days.  The crew were lodged in a hotel in order, as one prisoner said, to have a rest and change.  A Messerschmitt pursuit plane and three minesweepers escorted U-94 from Bergen to Kristiansand where she put in for one night.  The crew was allowed to go ashore.  It is possible that U-94 entered still another Norwegian port for a night, inasmuch as one prisoner said that she traveled only during daylight en route to Germany.

        U-94 ran into Kiel for two days where she originally had been slated for an overhaul.  A prisoner stated that the crew was overjoyed when they were ordered to Stettin for the repair job, as Stettin offers much greater opportunities for entertainment than Kiel.  During their brief stay in Kiel,

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the crew was entertained at dinner by Herbert SCHULTZE.  Inasmuch as ITES once served as SCHULTZE's Executive Officer aboard U-48, it might be expected that SCHULTZE took pleasure in wining and dining ITES and his crew.

        U-94 reached Stettin the third week in October, six weeks after leaving St. Nazaire.  Crew members received three to four weeks leave in staggered groups while U-94 was thoroughly overhauled at the Oderwerke.  One prisoner stated the the interior of the boat was refitted in detail and that on the ways she resembled a half-completed U-boat.

        A machinist's mate affirmed that new Diesels were not installed, and he did not believe the hull was reinforced against mines.  U-94 seems to have returned to Kiel at the beginning of January, 1942, the run from Stettin being used for tests.  A number of new men joined the boat at Kiel.

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Chapter VIII

SEVENTH WAR CRUISE

        There is good reason to believe that the repair work on U-94 at the Oderwerke in Stettin suffered grossly from inefficiency, negligence or sabotage.  The U-boat was in such precarious shape upon leaving Stettin that, according to prisoners, she almost sank on the trial run to Kiel.  There is evidence that the following deficiencies were discovered on the trial run:  (1)  A part was removed from a valve permitting water to stream into the boat the first time she attempted to submerge.  (2)  Some of the wiring in the Diesels was cross connected.  (3)  The batteries and some of the apparatus connected with the batteries were damaged.  (4)  The Control Room indicators for "Ahead" and "Astern" were inverted.  (5)  The main bilge pump was ruined.

        Apparently there was considerable trouble stirred up by authorities after U-94 reached Kiel.

        Presumably U-94's ills were remedied in Kiel before she set out on her seventh war cruise.  This was the second cruise on which U-94 sank nothing.  One of the crew blamed rough weather for the failure.

        U-94 spent the last few days in Kiel taking on provisions and torpedoes.  She appears to have left Kiel at the end of the first week in January.  Prisoners' statements disagree as to whether they put into Bergen for a day en route to the Atlantic.

        U-94 was stated to have operated west of the Shetland Islands.  She had several air alarms on the way out but apparently was not attacked.  According to one prisoner, she sighted no ships and expended no torpedoes.  The cruise lasted only about a month and U-94 put into St. Nazaire early in February.  One prisoner stated that the cruise was supposed to have lasted

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longer, but that they were "called back".  He could give no explanation.

        This was KOSBADT's last cruise as Executive Officer.  The second watch officer was Walter SCHMIDT, who later succeeded KOSBADT as Executive Officer for the remaining cruises.  The Engineer Officer was Heinrich MÜLLER.

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Chapter IX

EIGHTH WAR CRUISE

        U-94 remained in St. Nazaire only two weeks after her brief seventh cruise.  She departed on her eighth cruise in mid-February, returning to St. Nazaire early in April, less than a week after the British Commando raid of March 27, 1942.

        This cruise was U-94's first one to American waters.  She appears to have operated between New York and Chesapeake Bay.  Prisoners' statements on the number of ships sunk varied from five to eight, but all agreed that the total tonnage was near 40,000.

        Several freighters plying alone were sunk, and, according to two prisoners, two ships were sunk out of a convoy while U-94 was en route homeward.

        Prisoners stated they came close enough to the United States coast to see land and at night could see lights on land.

        U-94 was attacked by a small coastal craft to which she turned tail and made off.  Prisoners seemed to think this strange as they felt they would have been more than a match for such a small opponent.  Another time, prisoners said, a blimp sighted U-94, dropping bombs intermittently for several hours but causing no damage.  This attack seems to have given the crew a fright as the shallow water in which they were operating limited their maneuvering.

        The U-boat made the round-trip across the Atlantic at slow speed (langsame Fahrt).  One prisoner stated they were three weeks crossing each way, spending only one week off the United States coast.  A prisoner stated that they carried torpedoes back with them, but declined to reveal how many.

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        The Executive Officer on this cruise was Oberleutnant Walter SCHMIDT, who had been newly advanced; the second watch officer, GEGESCHUS, and the Engineer Officer MÜLLER, all of them remained with U-94 until she was sunk.

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Chapter X

NINTH WAR CRUISE

        According to prisoners' statements, U-94 left St. Nazaire on her ninth war cruise early in May.  One petty officer stated they operated south of Iceland.  Another prisoner said they were not farther south than Newfoundland.  This prisoner expressed the belief that each Monday a convoy passed them in the same position.  Most prisoners agreed that six ships from two convoys and one Canadian sailing vessel were sunk totaling 30,000 - 35,000 tons.  They said they attacked the convoys on the surface and escaped without submerging.  One torpedo was said to have been fired from the after tube.  Several U-boats were admitted to have participated in one of these attacks, but Kapitänleutnant Johan MOHR (believed to be in U-124) was the only commander prisoners would identify.  Several counter-attacks by destroyers and corvettes were admitted, prisoners stating they once were compelled to remain submerged from five to ten hours.  Apparently no damage was inflicted by depth charges.

        After seven weeks at sea U-94 returned to St. Nazaire, probably between June 26 - 28.  She remained in port five to six weeks during which time the crew had staggered leave.

Chapter XI

TENTH AND LAST WAR CRUISE

        U-94 departed for the Caribbean on her tenth and last cruise on Sunday, August 2, 1942, after a month in St. Nazaire.  Most of the crew seems to have received two-weeks leave before the final cruise.  Prisoners said they were not surprised to learn that they were to go to the Caribbean in their 500-ton U-boat.  In fact, one said they had been "promised" this trip to southern waters inasmuch as previously they had operated only in the cold waters of the North Atlantic.

        U-94 sank nothing on her final cruise.  According to prisoners, they sighted nothing until intercepting the convoy which they were preparing to attack when sunk.  They fired no torpedoes.  Their course from St. Nazaire lay past the Azores.  They cruised at slow speed.  The crew were allowed to take sunbaths on deck during the crossing.  Even the technical men who, prisoners said, were not permitted beyond the conning tower when there was danger of air attack, were permitted to relax on the upper deck.  The crossing appears to have been made without incident.  U-94 made landfall in the Windward Passage, probably about August 20.

        ITES was said to have suspected the approach of a convoy on August 27 when he sighted flying boats which he presumed to be serving as convoy scouts.  ITES seems to have spent a good part of that day dodging these planes, which, according to GEBESCHUS, U-94 was able to "out maneuver".

Chapter XII

SINKING OF U-94

        The fact that ITES avoided detection by aircraft all day long on August 27, 1942, seems to have led him to recklessness that night.  After contacting the anticipated convoy (Convoy TAW-15 en route from Trinidad to Key West) ITES told GEBESCHUS that if they sighted aircraft they would "wait until the last minute" to submerge.

        U-94 had been on the surface for an hour under a full moon; wind force and sea were 4 from east.  ITES had maneuvered into position within the convoy screen to fire a torpedo at one of the escort destroyers when one of his lookouts sighted a plane.  The executive officer who was watching another sector is said to have replied:  "You are seeing ghosts".  However, the "ghost" was a USN PBY plane, and U-94 crash dived.  ITES cursed and remarked to GEBESCHUS:  "I've avoided that plane all day, and now that I'm ready to attack he sees me".

        The PBY plane dropped four 650-pound depth charges from 50 feet, then dropped a flare.  U-94 was somewhere between 30 and 60 feet below the surface, according to prisoners' estimates, when this plane's depth charges exploded.

        The U-boat nosed upward and surfaced.  The crew made vain efforts to submerge.

        Meanwhile, HMCS OAKVILLE closed.  According to her report on the action, she had seen the airplane flashing "S's" by signal lamp as well as the flare.  She proceeded at full speed ahead toward the flare, at which spot five depth charges set at 100 feet were dropped.  Shortly afterwards OAKVILLE obtained QC (Asdic) contact.  Less than one-half minute afterwards, a lookout sighted the bow of a submarine on the bearing indicated, about 100 yards distant, and slowly opening.  Course was altered to ram.  The

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U-boat passed under OAKVILLE's bow, but bumped against the corvette's port side when the latter turned hard to port.  OAKVILLE opened fire and altered course to ram again.  She scored a hit on the conning tower and one 4-inch shell carried away the U-boat's deck gun.  U-94 appeared to be taking avoiding action by increasing her speed.  OAKVILLE rammed the starboard side of the U-boat, then dropped depth charges, one of which appeared to explode directly under the U-boat which rapidly decreased speed.  OAKVILLE then opened range and rammed a third time, this time squarely abaft the conning tower.

        Meanwhile, ITES decided to abandon ship.  The vents were opened and he gave the order, "Alle Mann aus dem Boot."  ITES, then on deck, was shot in the leg and he climbed back into the boat.  GEBESCHUS went to the bridge where, he said, he had to lie flat to avoid machine gun fire with which OAKVILLE was preventing the Germans manning their deck guns.

        The crew left the U-boat through the conning tower.  A seaman, Hermann SCHEE, was struck by a wave as he was leaving the conning tower and was thrown head first down the conning tower, his leg catching in the hatch.  He hung there suspended, unconscious.  A shipmate named MECKLENBORG pulled him loose and carried him on to the deck, where SCHEE recovered consciousness.  He subsequently was rescued but NECKLENBORG drowned.

        OAKVILLE was laid aside in a moderately heavy swell, and a boarding party comprising a Sub-Lieutenant and a petty officer leaped aboard.  According to the boarding party's report, the U-boat was in good trim and riding rather high out of the water.  Two men, one of them the

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engineer officer MÜLLER, appeared in the conning tower hatch.  When they ignored the boarding party's order to stop, he shot one of them.  The second made a lunge toward the Canadian petty officer and was also shot.  (Prisoners said that MÜLLER was attempting to surrender.)

        The boarding officer allowed the remaining Germans in the boat to come out and he placed them under guard of the petty officer aft.  He then descended the conning tower of which the hatch was jammed at about a 40 angle.  Below he found all of the lights were out.  The lower deck was flooded to about 4 feet from the deck head.  There seemed to be gas in the air.  The submarine lurched and appeared to be settling by the stern.  The boarding officer, according to his report, was unable to find any of the U-boat's confidential papers, so he quickly collected 4 pair of binoculars and emerged from the conning tower.  He ordered everyone overboard, and when they were about 50 feet clear, the U-boat sank, her bow first rising high into the air.