WW2 Era Postcard Written by German Sailor who would later be killed when his U-Boat was sunk.

[Heartfeltzero]

This postcard was written by an Eberhard Hertzsch. He served onboard the U-772 as a torpedo Man. The postcard was written on December 21st 1943 while he was at the navel base Wilhelmshaven. A rough translation reads:

“My dear Babette! Now Christmas is coming up again. This time you also have to spend it away from home. I received your dear letter as well as your dear package. It made me really happy. We bought a little Christmas tree . I received candles from home and now it looks like Christmas at our place. Now I'm sitting here in candle light and write the dear one's at home. Maybe it is the last Saturday here. Lets hope that the new year will bring the peace we're longing for.

The best greetings sends your way”

The U-772 was laid down on September 21st 1942, launched on October 31st 1943 and would be commissioned on December 23rd 1943.

The postcard would have been written a few days before the commission, which is likely why he states it may be the last Saturday there, as they would deploy to sea.

“After the usual six-month shakedown and training period in the Baltic, U-772 sailed from Trondheim on 13 August 1944 for her first war patrol, which lasted for 55 days out in the North Atlantic, however she had no success.

She sailed from Trondheim on 19 November 1944 on her second patrol, circling the British Isles. On 17 December 1944 U-772 was sunk by depth charges from the British Colony class frigate HMS Nyasaland in the North Atlantic, south of Cork, with the loss of all 48 hands.”

Details about the event:

Able Seaman Alfred William Speake, from Harlesden, London, was the ASDIC (Sonar) operator in R.N. Destroyer HMS Nyasaland when at 11:15 pm he successfully located the German submarine U-772 which was, when off the port bow, just about prefectly positioned to attack SS RIMUTAKA. It was in this vessel that HRH Prince Henry & HRH Princess Alice the Duke & Duchess of Gloucester were travelling en-route to Australia to take up the Governor Generalship. Their ship had left Liverpool on 16th December and was travelling in the company of several capital ships which also included the cruiser HMS EURYALUS. The long transit journey of the two members of the Royal Family was arranged in some secrecy and was known as "Operation Aintree". The loss of this most important target ship and its Royal passengers would have been a tremendous morale blow to the United Kingdom.

The U-Boat captain, Ewald Rademacher aged 27 was Born 1st December 1917 , Died 17th December 1944. He was from Rheine, Steinfurt, Germany. He had a very short and unremarkable career with not a single sinking to his credit. 

As soon as Speake located the submarine, the ship's captain Lt Cdr John Scott ordered the watertight doors closed and then called for Robert Frith the Captain of the Gun Crew to fire the Hedgehog anti-submarine devise. The depth charge cluster type of bombs were set to explode at different depths all around the Frigate, which was restricted to 2 knots while in action. 

It was fired successfully and the U-Boat was sunk with all hands.”



The U-boats captain ^

[Willmore]

Hi JB.

Another really interesting postcard, thank you for sharing it with us.


Arthur Horst Eberhard Hertzschvin the Dresden, Germany, Deaths, 1876-1957

Name: Arthur Horst Eberhard Hertzsch
Age: 21
Birth Date: 24. Mrz 1923 (24 Mar 1923)
Death Date: 30. Dez 1944 (30 Dec 1944)
Death Place: Dresden, Deutschland (Germany)
Civil Registration Office: Cotta (03)
Certificate Number: 2622
Reference Type: 42
Sequence Number: 38



Isle of Portland -
Isle of Portland - Wikipedia

Seaman Eberhard Hertzsch (1923-1944) - Find a Grave Memorial..

Kind regards,

Will.

[Heartfeltzero]

Hey Will,

No problem! And thank you for the additional info, this one was definitely interesting.

Good day,

JB

[BlackCat1982]

Another tragic postcard Heartfeltzero. The date of death appears to be the date his body was recovered from the English Channel, some considerable distance from the site of the U-772 sinking.

[Heartfeltzero]

Indeed! And yeah I was wondering about that as well. I think maybe they put his death location as Dresden because that’s where he previously lived or that’s where he was from. Everything I’ve found online shows that non of the bodies of those onboard the U-772 were ever recovered. And from what I can find, the U-boat itself was sunk on December 30th 1944. Earlier, after posting I noticed that there is different details on the U-772, depending on where you look. Some say it was sunk on December 17th, and happened south of Brest, others say it happened on December 30th south of the isle of Portland. And I saw the official U-772 Memorial plaque at the U-boat memorial in Germany online, and they have the date as December 30th 1944, caused from Depth Charges dropped from a British plane. So I’m now going to go with that information since it’s what Germany themselves put on the plaque.

[BlackCat1982]

Yes according to zu oat.net it was sunk on 17th December 1944 in the Celtic Sea south of Cork, Ireland, in position 51.16N, 08.05W, by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Nyasaland. 48 dead (all hands lost). (Axel Niestlé, January 2005).

The reference to the Weymouth location and the 30th December coming from a later attack on U-486, which escaped on this occasion.

This is why I find sterbebild so fascinating to research as one can place a loss down to a vessel or moment in time and the location.

[BlackCat1982]

Typo weblink corrected

Yes according to uboat.net it was sunk on 17th December 1944 in the Celtic Sea south of Cork, Ireland, in position 51.16N, 08.05W, by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Nyasaland. 48 dead (all hands lost). (Axel Niestlé, January 2005).

The reference to the Weymouth location and the 30th December coming from a later attack on U-486, which escaped on this occasion.

This is why I find sterbebild so fascinating to research as one can place a loss down to a vessel or moment in time and the location.