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Many submariners perished at sea and disappeared forever. Some saw their boats sink near their home port and were then ‘lucky’ enough to be rescued or given a proper burial. This was the case for the sailors of U-526, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Hans Möglich, and U-171.
Today, I visit the grave of a U-boot captain, Karl-Heinrich Harlfinger, who met a tragic death, to say the least.
Who is Karl-Heinrich Harlfinger ?
Karl-Heinrich ‘Heinz’ Harlfinger was born on 2 August 1915 in Jena, Thuringia.
On 25 September 1935, he joined the Kriegsmarine as a Seekadett. On 1 July 1936, he became a non-commissioned officer with the rank of Fähnhrich zur See, then on 1 February 1939 he was appointed Leutnant zur See.
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| Karl-Heinrich ‘Heinz’ Harlfinger |
In September 1939, he boarded the training ship Blücher, a heavy cruiser. In April 1940, while in Norway, the Blücher was sunk. Fortunately, Harlfinger survived the sinking and took command of the Oslo harbour flotilla until March 1941, then that of Trondheim until June 1941.
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| 9 April 1940. The sailors of the cruiser Blücher have gathered on the aft deck and are about to reach the shore either by boat or by swimming. |
From then on, he underwent training in the submarine force (U-Fahrausbildungslehrgang) until November 1941, then was transferred to Oberleutnant Horst Uphoff's U-84, which he left in June 1942 to join the command school.
Unterseeboot 269, a Type VIIC submarine, was commissioned on 19 August 1942 in Bremen. Harlfinger took command of his boat and training (Ausbildungsboot) was given in Danzig, in the Baltic Sea, as part of the 8th flotilla.
On 16 March 1943, the boat left Kiel and joined the 11th submarine flotilla in Bergen. On 23 April 1943, after a 32-day mission, it arrived at the port of Narvik. The very next day, the boat set sail again for Bergen. Harlfinger, who was ill, was hospitalised in the Norwegian city on 27 April. The U-boat was then entrusted to Oblt Otto Hansen. Harlfingen recovered its submarine on 5 September 1943.
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Part of the crew of submarine U-269 takes a breath of fresh air |
On 1 October 1943, Harlfinger was appointed Kapitänleutnant. On 1 November 1943, the U-boot was assigned to the 6th Unterseebootflotille in Saint Nazaire. On 15 December 1943, while lying in wait near a convoy sailing in the northern English Channel, the submarine was damaged by the enemy and had to return to Saint Nazaire.
The death of Harlfinger
It is 21 March 1944, at the Majestic Hotel in La Baule, where the headquarters of the 7th submarine flotilla is located. It is noon when sailor Kräkel hears a bang. The sailor knocks on the commander's door, but gets no answer. He opens the door and finds Harlfinger slumped on his bed: the commander has just shot himself in the head. Doctor Hengel, rushed to the scene, can only confirm the death.
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| The Majestic Hotel in La Baule |
According to rumours, he had contracted a venereal disease from a French woman working for the Navy, and she had told the story to the commander of the 6th Flotilla the day before. This affair would have led Harlfinger before a disciplinary board, had he not taken his own life first. According to his crew, there had been no indication that he would do such a thing.
On 24 March, he was buried with honours at the German cemetery in Saint-Sébastien, Pornichet. By the end of the war, this cemetery would contain no fewer than 1,753 victims.
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| Funerals of Kapitänleutnant Karl-Heinrich Harlfinger |
In total, Harlfinger carried out two patrols, spending 74 days at sea aboard his U-boot. He did not sink any enemy ships. 25 June 1944, the U-boot U 269 is sunk off the coast of England, south-east of Torbay. Attacked by Wasser bombs of the frigate HMS Bickerton, seriously damaged, the submarine surfaced but immediately began to sink, while the survivors swam away or escaped on rafts. There are 13 dead, including Oberleutnant zur See Georg Uhl and 39 survivors. The wreck of U-269 was located in 1951.
The grave of Kapitänleutnant Harlfinger
The captain is buried in the German military cemetery in Pornichet. He lies in Block 2, Row 2, Grave 49.
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| Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof Pornichet |
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Karl-Heinz Harlfinger at the military cemetery in Pornichet |
The German military cemetery in Pornichet
The German military cemetery, or Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof, is located at 37 Chemin de la Gruche, Route de la Ville-Mahaud, in Pornichet. It is in the same location as the cemetery inaugurated during the Second World War. The individual graves with crosses and paths have been replaced by numbered blocks. The plots, marked by plaques on the ground, hold four people.
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| Cimetière militaire allemand de Pornichet |
I have written several articles about the soldiers buried in this cemetery. Waffen-SS soldiers from the Totenkopf Division, the Götz von Berlichingen Division, submariners and Luftwaffe pilots, both fighter pilots and bomber pilots. A total of 4,944 people are buried here. This cemetery was inaugurated on 20 June 1965.
We will visit
Since we are in Pornichet, we will take the opportunity to visit the U-Bunker in Saint-Nazaire, the Espadon submarine and the Grand Blockhaus in Batz-sur-Mer.
Where I can see an U-Boot ?
To see a Typ VII U-boot, there's only one place to go: Laboe in Germany. I wrote an article about it, which you can find here.
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| U-Boot U-995 at Laboe |
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