ARUBA’S SHIPS

By: Bill Moyer
FINAL COMMENTS ABOUT THE U-156 AND THE GERMAN SUBMARINE FLEET.
A book called Axis Submarine Successes 1939 - 1945 was published by Juergen Rohwer in 1968. Rohwer wrote that he had interviewed Admiral Doenitz and corresponded with him for years, and interviewed a number of surviving U-boat captains and crew members. He cross- referenced his German reports against those of the British, Americans, and an other countries whose records he could find. His records therefore give us some additional insight into the activities of the U-156.
The first World War II sinking by a German U-boat was September 3, 1939. The U-30, commanded by Kapitaenleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp, torpedoed the British steam passenger liner “Athenia” in the English Channel. The attack ‘was “against orders” and denied by headquarters, but it was followed soon afterward (September 5) by the sinkinq of the British steam freighter “Bosnia” by Lt. Commander Guenther Prien of the U-47. Sinkings were almost daily thereafter, and the submarine war was in full swing. Prien sank the battleship “Royal Oak” in Scapa Flow on October 14, 1939.
Hartenstein and the U-l56 are first mentioned on February 16, 1942, when they attacked Aruba. The Pedernales”, “Oranjestad”, and “Arkansas” were torpedoed. The “Oranjestad”, 2396 tons displacement, was sunk, the “Pedernales”, 4,317 tons, and “Arkansas”. 6,452 tons, severely damaged. (On the same day, six other ships were torpedoed by four other U-boats, in the Gulf of Venezuela. one a mile out of Curaçao, and elsewhere in the Caribbean and Western Atlantic.) 8 February 20, Hartenstein managed to score another victory, northeast of Puerto Rico, the freighter “Delplata.” On February 25 he sank the tanker “La Carriere”: it “sank only after two additional hits and some other missed shots”. Hartenstein got the freighter “Macgregor” on February 27 and the tanker “Oregon” on February 28.
The German records reveal that the “Bolivar” was attacked March 8. 1942, by the submarine U-126 under command of Kapitaenleutnant Ernst Bauer. The 10,389 dwt tanker was listed as “damaged” near Cuba.
Hartenstein and the U-156 next turn up on May 13, 1942, with the sinkings of the Dutch “motorship” (presumably freighter) “Koenjit” and the larger, British City of Melbourne” (6,630 ton freighter), northeast of Trinidad. On May 15, the U-156 made two more kills, the motorship “Siljestad” and the Jugoslavian freighter “Kupa.” May was quite a month for the sub, because it sank the freighter “Barrdale” on May 17, the “Quaker City” and the tanker “San Eliseo” on the 18th. It sank a small freighter, the “President Trulillo”, on the 2lst,theAmerican destroyer “Blakely” on the 25th,and the freighter “Norman Prince” on the 29th. Still in the eastern Caribbean or just to the east of the Leeward Islands in the Atlantic, Hartenstein sank the freighter “Aleqrete” on June 1 and the British sailing ship “Lillian” on June 3. The “Lillian” was sunk with gun fire. The “C.O. Stillman”, 13,006 tons, was sunk June 6 by the U-58 under command of Frigattenkapitaeni Karl Friedrich Merten.
On August 27, Hartenstein and the U-l56 sank a British freiqhter, the “Clan Macwirter”. This was in the eastern Atlantic, west of Gibraltar. Could Hartenstein have returned for refitting in France or Germany by then? Probably.
The attack on the “Esso Aruba on August 27was by the U-511 under Kapitaenleutnant Friedrich Steinhof. The 8,773 ton tanker was reported “damaged” somewhere between Cuba and Aruba.
By September of 1942, Hartenstein had moved to the west coast of Africa. There he sank the “troop transport” “Laconia” in what became an international incident. The story is told in John Terraine’s book, The U—Boat Wars, 1916-1945. According to Terraine, in the second half of 1942 Admiral Doenitz sent four large Type IXC U-boats with a “milch cow” (supply ship) towards Cape Town. As far as latitude 5 south they were permitted to attack whatever they pleased, beyond that thay were to refrain from attacking shipping in order to preserve the element of surprise when they reached the Cape Town area. Just south of the Equator, Hartenstein spotted the 19,659 ton “Laconic”, a White Star liner, presumably a troop ship, heading north. It turned out that the “Laconic” was carrying a crew of 436 plus 268 British Service personnel (including 80 wives and children), 160 Polish ex-prisoners of war, and 1,800 captured Italians from the African campaign. Hartenstein became aware of this when he heard cries for help in Italian coming from the water. He reported to headquarters by radio and requested instructions. Donitz in his memoirs, according to Terrain: “I decided to contravene one of the principles of maritime warfare accepted by all nations. This lays down that the exigencies of action take precedence over all rescue operations. Rescue work is undertaken only provided that it does not interfere with a warships task. I know of no case in which the British or the American Navy have acted otherwise than in accordance with this principle.” Hartenstein, meanwhile, had already started rescue work. Later that night he radioed Donitz that he had 193 people on board, 21 of them British. This was creating operational problems on the U-boat, contrary to Docent’s instructions. At 4 a.m. Hartenstein broadcast in English, saying if he was not attacked he would not interfere with any ship that came to join in the rescue work. The message was received in Freetown. where it was regarded as a trap to draw other ships into ambush. Demits then ordered the U-506 and U-507 to also take part in the rescue, as well as the Italian submarine “Cappellini”. and requested the Vichy French at Dakar to send ships to help.
All through the 13th and 14th Hartenstein continued with rescue efforts, collecting survivors onto rafts and lifeboats. When the other subs arrived, he redistributed some of the people from his ship, leaving 5.5 Italians and 55 British (including five women) on the U- 156. On September16 he was proceeding with some people below decks, some on deck, and lifeboats in tow, when a four-engine aircraft with American markings appeared. Hartenstein displayed a Red Cross flag and tried to communicate by signal lamp. The plane was a B-24 from Ascension Island, piloted by Lt. James D. Harden. Harden and his crew realized the situation was clearly out of the ordinary, and circled, requesting instructions. The air commanders on Ascension realized that the options were to leave the sub free to continue attacks on Allied shipping, or to jeopardize the survivors by attacking the sub. They issued the order: “Sink sub.”
As the B-24 moved in, the lifeboats were cast loose from the U-156. Harden dropped three depth charges, then made three more passes, dropping bombs. He reported “Two bombs were dropped one on either side, not more than 1 5 to 20 feet away. The sub rolled over and was last, seen bottom up. Crew had abandoned sub and taken to Surrounding boats.” The situation was a little different on Hartenstein’s end. He wrote in his log: “While four lifeboats in tow were being cast off, the aircraft dropped one bomb in their midst. One boat capsized. Aircraft...dropped a fourth bomb 2, 3,000 meters away... Another run. Two bombs. One exploded, with a few seconds delayed action, directly under the control room. Conning tower vanished in a tower of black water. Control room and bow compartment reported taking water. My hands ordered to don life jackets. Ordered all British off the boat. Batteries began giving off gas. Italians also ordered off (had no escape gear to give them.)”
Harden and his crew evidently had mistaken the overturned lifeboat for the submarine. The U-156 had survived, but many of the survivors of the “Laconia” had been killed. The next day Harden sighted another Lifeboat and attacked again. An oil slick appeared, and the B-24 crew was sure that had scored another victory. They were again wrong, as this was the U- 507, which escaped with 1 00 survivors of the “Laconia” on board. The U-507 rendezvoused with the French sloop “Annamite” that night and transferred the rescued people to her. The French cruiser “Gloire” also found two groups of lifeboats still afloat, so altogether over a thousand British, Poles, and Italians were rescued from the “Laconia”, largely due to the efforts of (now) Korvettenkapitaen Werner Hartenstein.
On September 19, 1942, the U-156 scored another kill, the British freighter “Quebec City”, off the west coast of Africa. Hartenstein must have been on the way back to Germany for repairs. He had already been promoted to the rank of Korvettenkapitaen, equivalent to Lt. Commander. He was also awarded the Knight’s Cross. His ship does not show up again in records of sinkings, although the U-boat war continued all the way until July, 1945. A book entitled German Warships 1815- 1945. Volume Two, U-Boats and Mine Warfare Vessels. By Erich Groener, 1983, has a wealth of technical information about the German subs. The U-156, it says, was a “Type IX”. relatively large sub. This class was designed in 1935/6 with double hull, five watertight compartments, diving tanks and main fuel oil bunkers in the outer hull, and capability of diving in the 100 to 200 meter range. They had four torpedo tubes in the bow and two in the stern. Typical complement was four officers and 44 seamen. The builder was the Deschimag Co., in 1940/41, at a cost of 6.16 million marks per ship, using diesel engines built by MAN and battery powered electrical engines built by Siemens. The boats’ size was 76.76 meters (about 250 feet) in length and 6.76 meters (about 22 feet) in breadth. Surface speed was 18.3 knots and underwater speed was 7.3 knots. There was one 10.5cm (4.1”) deck gun and one 37 mm anti—aircraft gun.
As for the U-156, there is a brief concluding note: “Launched 21 May 1941, commissioned 4 Sept 1941. Sunk at 1315 hours on 8 March 1943 east of Barbados in position 11 degrees 38’N, 54 degrees 39’ west. By U.S. bombs; 52 dead (all Hands).

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