Lorient
Only few days after the German Army had occupied Lorient on June 21, 1940, salvage units were going to tidy up the port of wrecks and ruins to make it ready for use as fast as possible for the submarines. Already on July 7, U 30 under Lieutenant-Commander Fritz-Julius Lemp could make for port .But the conditions with some quays and three dry docks were modest. Particularly the threat from the air gave reason for the worry. For that reason two Dome bunkers in Keroman as well as a two-box-bunkers named after the river Scorff next to the Lanester shipyard were built.. Hurry was necessary because the Royal Air Force bombed Lorient already on September 27 for the first time.
The Dome as well as the Scorff bunkers were less than ideal solutions. The Dome Bunker, so-called because they were built in dome shape, were not tall enough to provide Atlantic boats of the types VII C or IX C. The slip device and the plate - similar to the distributor of a railway depository - were only resilient up to 400 t. With the outside measurements 84 m long, 16 m wide and 25 m high they were just large enough for a type II boat. But these were not suitable for the Atlantic rather served the coastal defence. The Scorff Bunker, however, offered space for two type VII C or IX C boats each. Its measures were 145 m wide, 51 m long and 15 m high, the ceiling strength was 3.5 m.
In November 1940 Vice-Admiral Karl Dönitz, Commander-in-Chief of the submarines moved his headquarters from Paris to Lorient. He found in Kerneval, just opposite Keroman, in the Villa Margarete flanked by another two villas, the perfect location for his HQ. From here he organized the operations of the "grey wolves" in the course of the the next 21 months. A two-storey Bunker was set up besides the villa Margarete later. 200 sailors and officers in 14 rooms were responsible for the communication between the submarines and the HQ with the help of the Enigma machines. The submarines found the richest booty within these months, between June 1940 and September 1941. The most successful commanding officers and boats were permanent guests in Lorient at that time.
Two U-Flotillas used Lorient as a base. The 2. Flotilla, also known as "Salzwedel Flotilla"(named after Rheinhold Salzwedel, a submarine ace of World War I) arrived from Wilhelmshaven in Lorient in June. The 10. U Flotille commanded by Lieutenant Commander Ernst Kals and later by Lieutenant Commander Günter Kuhnke. The seven most successful submarines of the 2nd World War were residents here:
U – 48 Herbert Schultze/Hans-Rudolf Rösing/Heinrich Bleichrodt Tonnage: 320 429
U – 103 Viktor Schütze/Werner Winter Tonnage: 238 398
U - 99 Otto Kretschmer Tonnage: 238 327
U – 124 Georg Wilhelm Schulz/Johann Mohr Tonnage: 224 053
U – 107 Günter Heßler/Harald Gelhaus Tonnage: 212 802
U – 47 Günther Prien Tonnage: 211 393
U – 123 Karl - Heinz Möhle/Reinhard Hardegen Tonnage: 209 817
Dönitz loved his U-boat men, who worshipped him in return as "lion". U-boat men were regarded as of top elite soldiers the regime and they were treated correspondingly. The pay was higher than at the other arms of the service and catering was by far better than in the Wehrmacht
At the end of 1940 the making of three of gigantic U-boat bunkers was decided. The construction work at Keroman I started on February 2. Keroman II followed three months later. At first all three to Bunker were planned as water bunkers with direct access to the sea. However, the granite ground would have required a substantially longer excavation. Therefore a "dry" solution for K I and II was favoured. Between the two bunker M.A.N. in Gustavsburg constructed a slip installation as well as a transport system. On this the submarines were directed for the respective boxes for repair. This process lasted approx. an hour and took place in five phases.
Phase 1: The boat came in into the slip dock. Water was pumped out to some extent. Then a bridge crane heaved the boat on a 4-track mobile bedding which in turn sat on a 45 m long and 11 m wide mobile Trolley.
Phase 2: The boat was pulled up the 159 m long slip road with the help of a 220 hp electrical winch.
Phase 3: At the end of the slip road the bedding from the Trolley rolled onto another mobile box
Phase 4: This mobile 32 wheel box of which 16 wheels were powered by 40 hp E engines pushed the boat in the direction of the box.
Phase 5: After the arrival the bedding rolled with the submarine onto a further track way up to the box. Before the actual entry the periscope was taken off by a smaller crane attached to the roof of K 1 and K 2. This is necessary as the bunker is not high enough for the entire construction.
Keroman I was 119.5 m long, 5 m wide and 18.5 m high.
Keroman II was 128 m long, 138 m wide and 18.5 m high. The ceiling strength was 3.5 m each.
Behind both buildings further bunkers were erected. So for example the power station behind K I and the transformer station behind K II. A seven metre high tank bunker which was of use for the submarine crews for the need of exit training was also built on the south western side of K I. Furthermore five torpedo bunkers were built in a respectable distance: Luchs (lynx), Jaguar, Iltis (polecat), Leopard and Tiger. The installation was ready for use on December 20. A bronze panel was revealed in the typical Nazi taste to the memory:
Buildt according to instruction
The leader
Adolf Hitler
For the commander
Of the U-boats
Vice-admiral Dönitz
His weapon through
The organisation Todt
Start of building February 1941
Entry of the first *
Handing over of the plant:
* on December 20th 1941*
* stands for the swastika as a regalia
The making of Keroman III, a water bunker, started in October 1941. Already in January 1943 was it finished and in the Mai1943 submitted to its regulation. This building was the biggest of the three: 170 m wide, 138 m long and 20 m high. The ceiling strength varied strongly. It was 3.60 m in the back area which housed the workshops. In the front area it was between 6.40 m and 7.40 m. The making of the "Fangroste" (concrete bomb catch device) was started but not completed. To the protection from low-flying aircraft two block ships were sunk before the entries: the "Carpaud" and the "Strasbourg" known in World War I as light cruiser "Regensburg". Oversized masts with barrage balloons fastened should prevent the attacks.
To protect the plant from air raids, an enormous arsenal of anti-aircraft gun was assembled. At the end of the war the following guns were in use: two hundred 2 cm flak, nine 7.5 cm flak, eighteen 8.8 cm flak, 43 10,5 cm flak , twelve 10.5 cm twin anti-aircraft guns and five 12.8 cm flak. A deadly arsenal! The British Air Marshal "Bomber" Harris did not make any illusions to himself:" For the good, what we could hope for was a general destruction around the bunkers and the city. We could only harass the U-boat crews at night if they were stupid enough to stay in this area. The only effect, that the opening of the battle of the Ruhr and the bomb war against Germany were postponed by two months ".
General Spaatz, Commander of the 8. Air Force also wrote in a letter to his supervisor, General Arnold in Washington:" It is not sure whether these operations show themselves in comparison with the achieved results as too costly. The submarine bunkers are tough nuts, are most likely not to crack". And still the 8. Air Force was ordered off for eleven sorties. 600 dead French and a completely devastated town were the result of the attacks between October 1942 and April 1943, the bunkers had not got any scratch.
As of autumn 1943 the life got harder and harder for the German submarines. The locating system "Huff Duff", radar, Liberator long-range bomber, aircraft carrier and the worst of all possibilities, the loss of the secret of the Enigma decoding machine, made an attack on a convoy a suicide action. Some of the most successful commanding officers disappeared with their crew from the surface of the sea. In February 1941 Günther Prien (U 47), Otto Kretschmer (U 99) left Joachim Schepke (U 100) left Lorient. U 47 was sunk allegedly on March 7 by the aged destroyer "HMS Wolverine". The loss of the boat could be explained most probably by a circle runner torpedo since the sinking report of the destroyer indicated another submarine .On March 17 U 100 was sunk by the destroyers "Vanoc" and "Fuller", only hours later the "Fuller" also sank U-99.
In May 1943 the disaster got obvious, 23 boats with about 1,500 crew are lost, among the missing is Dönitz ' son Peter. Dönitz had no alternative than vacating the battlefield North Atlantic and to wait for improved equipment. The fact that the development of new U-boat technology was delayed pays back dearly. Still men were sent into battle with equipment at a technical level of a World War I. The revolutionary Walter boat was not used the new E boats of the type XXI arrived too late. But the moral of the submarine men remained high. Even the horror numbers of the years 1943-1944 did not let them despair. The faith in the "lion" Dönitz and the hope for wonder weapons keeps them mentally alive.
In June 1944 the last round was sounded for Lorient. Hitler declared all submarine bases as fortresses. He did not want to do without the bases. Although important workers and specialists were flown back home the submarines stood fast. Only when the 4. U.S. Armoured Division appeared before the gates of town on August 7, many just realized that the end is near. Most boats left Lorient the first two weeks in August. The last submarine, U 155 under Lieutenant Ludwig-Ferdinand von Friedeburg, left Keroman on September 5, leaving behind General Wilhelm Fahrnbacher with his infantrymen. Fortunately they were spared from serious attacks. The Americans who lost as many men at the battle of Brest as in Normandy did not intend to shed more blood. That is why the fortress only surrendered at the end of the war.
When the Wehrmacht surrendered on May 8, two submarines of type IX C are left behind. U 129 was sunk in front of Keroman III and is scrapped. In Keroman I the French find, however, U 123. This belonged to one of the top aces of the German submarines and is in almost perfect condition. The French commissioned the boat as S 10 “Blaison” in 1947. Only in 1959 the boat is put out of order.
