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Old February 16th, 2022 #1
alex revision
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Default H-047-1: The Last Battle of the Atlantic—Operation Teardrop

H-047-1: The Last Battle of the Atlantic—Operation Teardrop

In late 1944, Allied intelligence received reports the German Kriegsmarine was contemplating deploying submarines armed with V-1 flying bombs to attack New York City; this information was corroborated several times by captured German spies who claimed U-Boats were being readied for such a mission. In January 1945 German Minister of Armaments and War Production Albert Speer proclaimed German rockets “would fall on New York by February 1, 1945”, precipitating the creation of “Operation Teardrop as a failsafe measure to protect mainland America; in April 1945, after the confirmed launch of several Type IX U-Boats heading towards the United States, Operation Teardrop was activated and 4 escort carriers and 42 destroyers escort formed perimeter lines across the Atlantic Ocean.

As part of Operation Teardrop, surviving crewmembers of the German U-Boat “U-546” were tortured for information.

Hunt for U-546

The screen commander, Commander R F.S. Hall, saw the explosion of Frederick C. Davis and immediately ordered destroyer escorts Hayter (DE-212) and Neunzer (DE-150) to prosecute the submarine, and Flaherty (DE-135) to rescue survivors. As Flaherty approached the sinking Frederick C. Davis, she detected the submarine in close proximity, using the wreckage as cover. Flaherty prosecuted the U-boat and Hayter was diverted to the rescue, aided by aircraft off Core sighting survivors in the oil slicks. The Foxer countermeasure on Pillsbury (with the screen commander embarked) may have disrupted Flaherty’s first attempt at a creeping hedgehog attack. However, Pillsbury regained contact and directed Flaherty to a hedgehog attack at 0951 that missed. Flaherty then mistook the submarine’s Pillenwerfer sonar decoy as a torpedo launch and the warning call caused Hayter to temporarily break off rescue efforts. (A Pillenwerfer was a canister filled with calcium hydride, which, when mixed with seawater, created a hydrogen bubble cloud.) Nevertheless, at 1025, Flaherty made another hedgehog attack that was also unsuccessful. U-546 almost made a getaway at this point, but, at 1156, Flaherty picked her up again.

By this time, nine destroyer escorts were searching for U-546. Varian (DE-798), Janssen (DE-396), Hubbard (DE-211), Neunzer, and Flaherty all made multiple attacks. Although unsuccessful, these kept U-546 under, exhausting her crew and batteries. Heavy fog kept aircraft from Core from being of much help. At 1513, Varian detected U-546 at a depth of 600 feet. Chatelain (DE-149) also gained contact and guided Varian and Neunzer for another hedgehog attack at 1556, also unsuccessful. Contact was lost again until Varian detected the submarine and guided Keith (DE-241) on a depth-measuring run that determined the submarine had come up to 160 feet.

Other than the repeated hedgehog attacks, U-546 had no idea where the U.S. ships were because she had been damaged in an early attack and had to use her main pumps to control flooding, which blanked out her hydrophone. Finally, at 1810, a hedgehog from Flaherty blew a 15-inch hole in U-546’s pressure hull, smashed the bridge, and ruptured batteries, causing chlorine gas to leak. Even so, it took another hedgehog attack before the U-boat’s skipper decided he had no choice but to come to the surface and fight it out. At 1838, U-546 broke the surface and promptly fired a torpedo at Flaherty, which missed. Flaherty returned fire with two torpedoes that also missed. It was U-546’s last gasp as Pillsbury, Keith, Neunzer, and Varian all blasted away at the submarine with gunfire. At 1845, Commander Hall ordered a cease-fire as U-546 obviously up-ended and sank.

Somewhat surprisingly given the volume of fire directed at U-546’s conning tower, Kapitänleutnant Just and 32 crewmen were rescued by the U.S. ships after surviving the sinking. Morison described the survivors as “a bitter and truculent group of Nazis, who refused to talk until after they had been landed at Argentia and had enjoyed a little ‘hospitality’ in the Marine Corps brig.” The surviving Germans received appropriate and even considerate treatment while aboard U.S. ships, but Morison’s description euphemizes what actually happened afterward.

Upon arrival at the U.S. base in Argentia, Newfoundland, on 27 April, the U-546 commander, first officer, and six other crewmen, considered “specialists,” were separated out. They were then subjected to solitary confinement and repeated exhausting exercise, and, when unable to continue, were repeatedly beaten with rubber truncheons. Lieutenant Commander Leonard A. Myhre, skipper of Varian, which had delivered the Germans to Argentia, was witness to one of the beatings of Just, and lodged a strong protest.

On 28 April, two interrogators from Washington arrived—one dressed as a Navy captain, but apparently a civilian agent—presumably from the joint Army-Navy interrogation center at Fort Hunt, south of Alexandria, Virginia.

The interrogators reported to Tenth Fleet that the Germans were extremely security conscious, and would not even give up information that was already known to U.S. intelligence via Enigma decrypts.

Later ,on 30 April, the German commanding officer was subject to what Tenth Fleet records described as “shock interrogation,” the exact nature of which is unknown to this day, but it resulted in Just ending up unconscious and waking some time later.

The Germans were then taken to the interrogation facility at Fort Hunt, where they were subject to still more beatings. The records from Fort Hunt were burned en masse after the war.

Frederick C. Davis survivor and naval historian Philip K. Lundberg described the treatment of U-546’s crew as “a singular atrocity” motivated by the interrogators need to get information quickly.

This may be about as close to an actual “ticking bomb” scenario often hypothesized as an excuse to justify torture in that there was great concern that the Gruppe Seewolf submarines were going to attack U.S. cities with missiles.

However, since none of submarines were equipped with missiles or rockets of any kind, the German crewmen could provide no information about them no matter how many times they were beaten.

Finally, it became apparent that there was no missile threat from German submarines (although the Germans had conducted a small number of unsuccessful experiments in 1942, during which U-511 test-fired a variety of rockets, of which the crew of U-546 knew nothing.) Of note, after the war, a U.S. variant of the V-1 (the JB-2 Loon) was test-fired from submarines Cusk (SS-348) and Carbonero (SS-337) in a successful series of tests between 1947 and 1951, demonstrating that it would have been technically possible for the Germans to do the same.

https://www.history.navy.mil/about-u...7/h-047-1.html
 
Old February 16th, 2022 #2
Ray Allan
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Default "Huh? What Geneva Convention?"

Real Worst Generation scumbags, those u.s. gavy and intelligence agents. Still worshipped today as heroes.

Nothing has changed today with Abu Gharib prison and all.

So how would green niggers treat WN in similar circumstances? Probably the same way they gave it to the horrible, evil Nazis.
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Old February 17th, 2022 #3
Farwell Kirk
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It was just as big a fairy tale as the " Amerika Bomber", which never existed.
 
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