The Start of a Story

First addition to the story: below picture of sub captain and various information from Henk Coehoorn who happens to live not too far from the captain's last known address and finds that Siegfried Koitschka is still listed in the phone book and is located only 57 km from Henk's location - strange and small world.... More strange tales coming in. Author talked today with Ellyson sailor who knew most of the crew since he was there as they were pulled from the water and came aboard. All this will be put into the story that is just being composed... author, Ernie Herr

You would not belive what I just did. I called Kiotschka's Telephone number and I spoke to his wife Waltraud Koitschka.She is does not know much about the history of her husband before their marriage.

Her brother was in the same POW camp. He and Siegfried became friends there. On return to Germany

Koitschka could not return to his former home town for it was in Eastern Germany. He fell in love with the sister of his friend, and married her. She can not help you with an answer to how the friendships evolved on board of the Ellison, because she has no recollection of that. She does remember Al Macklin from the time they visited. She asked me to send him her warmest greetings. Also to every friend in the states who is still alive. Siegfried died four years ago, and all of his officers are also gone. She does remember Zaepfel who was also on the U161.

Some new info that arrived 2-1-07 from Al Macklin (Ellyson crew): The Koitchkas are no longer with us, same for Gus Britton, Kark Nieke, Helmut Dempwolf and Richling and his wife Anneliese. Joe Eckhert who lived in England is also gone.

When two old time Navy destroyer men chance to come together, you can count on a lot of chatter about the great days of World War II. This happened when this author bumped into Mr. Albert Macklin years ago at a computer club meeting where both were in attendance. Al had a nice story but it was the kind that the author was familiar with: destroyer battles enemy submarine. Not much that I hadn't heard in other destroyer, submarine stories but there was one twist; the crew of the destroyer and the crew of the submarine became friends after their battle and remained friends as long as they lived. That was kind of interesting and a bit different than the usual stories.

At later meetings more about this story came to light in our conversations but when Al revealed that after the battle ended, the subs captain and the destroyer's captain had drinks together right at the battle scene. Now that was a different kind of story and I wanted more details so that I might put the story together and get it on the Internet. So a new battle started as I fought to piece this tale together. So today, I have the gist of the story but not many of the details. You can read below and see what I have and check back, if you like to get the details as I pull them out of the various participants of the battle. Al tells me that this June of 2007 there will be the final (probably) reunion between those who are left on the scene. I hope to be able to finish off the story then for those who are gifted with much patience.

The Gist of the story: In a nutshell, the story begins as the U116 is spotted by an RAF reconnaissance plane as it patrols the North African coast. Once spotted, the sub's captain finds it difficult to lose the plane but by going down quite deep he has a chance to escape. When deep though the sub cannot make much distance from the original location where it had been spotted so basically the sub must out-wait the plane. Now, of course, the plane is going to radio for surface craft for assistance and sure enough the U.S. Destroyer Ellyson and many other U.S. destroyers are nearby and make it to the scene. Now the sub is really pinned down but maintains the same strategy of out-waiting those craft at the surface.

Every attempt for the sub to break clear results in heavy deep charge attacks from the destroyers and more damage to the sub. The action continues but on the third day, the sub begins running out of air and there is a general failure of the sub's systems. With one hour of battery power left, the sub's captain decides that it is time to call it quits or he will lose the lives of his crew members for no gain for the German side of the war. He gives the orders for the sub to surface to surrender and for the crew to immediately abandon the sub by jumping into the cold Atlantic waters. The best that can be hoped for by the Germans is that the sub will quickly sink due to onboard explosive charges and the crew will be picked up by the American destroyers. Not a very good plan but no one onboard can come up with a better one if the crew is to survive.

The outcome of this affair is as good as it gets for these miserable situations. As the sub surfaces, the destroyers close in quickly for the kill but see that the crew is abandoning the sub (and therefore in effect, surrendering) so no hostile action is taken and every last sailor and officer is picked up by the destroyers. On going from almost certain death to warmth and hot coffee aboard the destroyers, the German crew find this to be a pleasant transformation. A miserable situation for all involved turns into a rather pleasant situation for everyone. Later in the day the captain of the Ellyson and the captain of the sub have drinks in the wardroom of the destroyer. This is about as good and ending you can get for a war story. by Ernie Herr - now on to see what Al can add to the details of this story. The picture below shows as scene that would have been similar to the rescue. Details below.

"Crew members of the U.S.S. Spencer giving coffee and cigarettes to German prisoners on the quarter deck. John Tumas, R.M. 3/c, Boston, Mass. is pouring coffee."; 17 April 1943; Photo No. 1570; photo by Jack January, USCGR.

German survivors on board Spencer, from left to right: Matrosenobergefreiter Max Klinger (facing to his right--face is barely visible); Maschinenobergefreiter Werner Bickel (with cigarette); Maschinenobergefreiter Walter Schröder; Fähnrich (Ing.) Karl Völker; Matrosengefreiter Jean Bamberg (with upraised arm); and Matrosenobergefreiter Ewald Urbanek. RM3 John Tumas, USCGR, is pouring the coffee. The other Coast Guardsmen are unidentified.

As soon as each survivor was brought aboard, their wet clothing was removed and each was wrapped in a Navy blanket and given coffee, brandy and cigarettes. They were soon fed a hot meal.

There are many stories on the Internet from World War II but few are quite this unusual. This one began as the usual confrontation between destroyers and opposing submarines. But the ending was one of a kind. No matter whose destroyers or whose subs, the ensuing battle is pretty much the same. The sub tries to escape and the destroyers try keep on the tail of the sub. Usually the sub escapes and is ready to pounce on the next merchant ship that appears and soon, one or more merchant ships will be sent to the bottom.

Men lost from U-boats

Unlike many other U-boats, which during their service lost men due to accidents and various other causes, U-616 did not suffer any casualties (we know of) until the time of her loss.

On 14 May, a British Coastal Command aircraft spotted what turned out later to be one of the Nazis’ ace U-boats, the U-616. Ellyson, Hambleton, Emmons and Rodman went out from Mers-el-Kebir at flank speed. Ellyson made sonar contact and immediately attacked with a depth charge pattern. Sound contact could not be regained after the sea calmed down despite a night-long box search by all four destroyers. A ten-mile-long oil slick was sighted the morning of the 15th but no submarine. Macomb, Nields, Gleaves and Hilary P. Jones were sent out to join the search, which included a sweep by Ellyson of the Spanish coast searching out likely hiding places. The British Coastal Command now spotted U-616 some 40 to 50 miles distant, probably headed for Toulon. This was just before midnight May 16th. All ships raced for the target, which would eventually send up decoy balloons to confuse radar contact.
   Macomb did make radar discovery and she and U-616 exchanged fire before the sub dived and Macomb dropped depth charges followed by attacks by Nields and Emmons. Sonar contact was lost and was not regained until 0645 when Hambleton made contact about ten miles from the point of the last contact. Ellyson and Rodman commenced sonar tracking as well. A creeping attack was almost immediately organized with Ellyson and Hambleton directing Rodman on a deliberate course over the sub with other ships circling the arena. Just before Rodman’s charges were to be dropped, Ellyson reported that the sub was coming up and indeed up it came like a super-giant whale in the midst of the excitement. Ellyson commenced firing with her 5-inch guns as U-616 continued under way with the crew abandoning ship in record fashion. Shortly after the sub went down, a tremendous explosion was heard and felt by all.
   Ellyson picked up 30 survivors with Rodman picking up the remaining 23. Just one survivor was injured by shrapnel. On the high-speed run back to Mers-el-Kebir, it was learned from the U-616 officers that Ellyson’s initial attack had ruptured a fuel line to the extent that many of the sub’s crew were wading in diesel fuel for the more than 72 hours of the chase. A belated “tip of the cap” to the U-616 who provided Ellyson, with over three days at battle stations, with an experience that all (including the other destroyers) will never forget.

Note: This is all of the information that I could obtain on the sinking of the U116. If I can obtain more, I will post it. If any readers can add to this story, we will add it here.       Ernie Herr Site manager