The forgotten anniversary of the day Loch Eriboll beame a watery prison for Nazi subs
Two days after VE Day, came another WW II milestone in which Sutherland was at the centre, as author David Hird of Brora, relates.
Whilst the formal end of World War II was rightly celebrated throughout the nation on Friday May 8, a date of greater significance to the far north-west came on Sunday, May 10.
On May 10, 1945, at 0815, the first German U-boat to enter a British base in accordance with the Act of Military Surrender signed between all belligerent parties at Rheims, France, three days earlier, was escorted by British vessels into Loch Eriboll on the far north Sutherland coast.
The boat accorded that dubious primacy was Type Vll/C41 U-1009, commanded by Oberleutnant Klaus Hilgendorf, a career Kriegsmarine officer selected for U-boat command in March 1943 after serving in and commanding minesweeping flotillas.
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5 / 5It may come as a surprise to many readers that Allied planning for a successful conclusion to the war commenced more than 12 months prior to the actual denouement in May 1945.
The Royal Navy was determined that each of the remaining German U-boats capable of posing a continuing threat would be impounded in British ports prior to their destruction.
The Admiralty’s planning had advanced to the stage where, in July 1944, an order was issued requiring consideration of those ports and harbours within the Western Approaches Command Area which might prove suitable for the surrender and impounding of enemy U-boats. On April 19, 1945 detailed orders on precisely how these surrenders would be supervised were issued by Admiral Sir Max Horton.
Loch Eriboll was identified as the principal ‘Port for Preliminary Examination’ where surrendering U-boats would be first received. (There was a second – Weymouth, Portland on the south coast of England where a mere three boats were accepted).
Following inspection to ensure the Eriboll boats were inert, they were to be escorted south to Loch Alsh, which was designated the ‘Port for Final Examination’.
U-1009 had been identified and challenged at approximately 7.15am on Sunday, May 10, 1945 by HM Tug Harlech Castle. Immediately HMS Byron of the 21st Escort Group, recently relocated to Loch Eriboll, was alerted.
The three vessels entered Loch Eriboll where U-1009 was boarded, inspected and made fast to await further arrivals.
Between May 10-19, 33 surrendering U-boats were accepted into Loch Eriboll and subjected to the boarding and scrutiny procedures.
Crews were detained aboard the captured boats until they were each escorted south, in small groups closely guarded by escort frigates, to Loch Alsh and final examination. Here the remaining U-boats’ weaponry was removed.
There is photographic evidence of small arms, torpedo pistols, fuel cans and much more being jettisoned in Loch Eriboll.
U-boats surrendered into Loch Eriboll included the Atlantic types V11C and V11C/41 displacing 870 tons with a range of 8500 miles, the 1XC and 1XC/40 long-range ocean-going types (1232 tons and up to 13,450 miles), and the small wholly electric-powered true submarine Type XX111 inshore boat of 258 tons.
One U-boat, Type 1XC/40 U-1231 was discovered to be stocked with all manner of brandy, wines, spirits, tobacco and sundry food luxuries for distribution to active U-boats at sea. The Kriegsmarines’s roving off-licence then?
Whilst most of the captured U-boat commanders and crew were compliant, one U-boat officer made something of a nuisance of himself by his arrogant demeanour.
Fregattenkapitan Ottoheinrich Juncker commanded U-532, a vast materials-carrying boat on its return voyage from Japan and the far east with strategic supplies for the German war effort. Juncker held the German Cross in Gold in addition to the Iron Cross in both first and second classes.
On his arrival in Loch Eriboll he insisted that the German surrender was a ruse; the Allies should join forces with remaining German units in order to defeat the Russians.
Juncker demanded to be taken to meet the highest British military authorities. He specified a corner seat on the Flying Scotsman, no less.
His demand was relayed to Admiral Sir Max Horton, who suggested that Juncker be dispatched to Liverpool so that Horton ‘could see this phenomenon for himself’.
The statistics of the Eriboll operation are sadly illuminating; 1627 German officers and men passed through Loch Eriboll with their 33 operational U-boats.
Ninety-two torpedoes were later removed; 1073 German personnel were transferred to PoW camps in England.
Those boats were responsible for sinking or significantly damaging 59 Allied merchant ships and 14 warships amounting to in excess of 300,000 tons.
Some 116 U-boats, including 28 ‘Eriboll’ boats, were destroyed by sinking in the north Atlantic between November 1945 and February 1946.
Thirty U-boats were retained by the Allies for experimental, technical and evaluation purposes, including five ‘Eriboll’ boats.
The sole surviving ‘Eriboll’ boat (U-1105) remains accessible today as a recreational sport diving site, in Maryland, USA.
Perhaps the final word should be taken from OIC Captain Martin Evans’ report on proceedings in Loch Eriboll.
It read: “As a reception base Loch Eriboll has the advantages of accessibility and space and also a complete absence of important shipping or installations which would have been open to attack had the Germans decided to bring their careers to a suicidal but offensive finish.
“On the other hand the absence of buoyage, the fierce and unpredictable winds and the poor holding ground in most of the Loch were severe disadvantages. The ideal reception base should have at least a few buoys available and a good anchorage, whilst an operational telephone would be of inestimable value”.
Captain Evans ventured that although his report was but a brief narrative and would not necessarily be of immediate interest “… it might perhaps serve a similar purpose and provide a helpful document of reference to the officer charged with accepting the surrender of German U-boats after the next war (!!)”.
n The source for this article was ‘The Grey Wolves of Eriboll’ (ISBN 978 1 84995 165 4)© David M Hird. Whittles Publishing, Dunbeath. Ebook edition 978 184995 430 3. A second edition of the book was published in 2018.
