He served in destroyers before joining the U-boat arm and saw action in the Norwegian campaign aboard Hans Lady. Oberleutnant zur See Wilhelm Behrens, the executive officer, was 27 years old and of the 1937 naval term. Wattenberg's watchkeeping officers shared his political beliefs and followed bis example scrupulously in all relations with their captors. His interrogators found Wattenberg dignified, but strongly pro-Nazi and adamantly security-minded. There is every indication, moreover, that he was popular with his men. Had he not been a man of remarkable energy, it is unlikely that he would have been entrusted with the command of a U-boat on combat duty, as such commands are reserved usually for officers considerably junior to him. Sometime prior to Wattenberg's embarkation on his last war cruise, he was promoted to Fregattenkapitän. (See chapter XIII.) Coming on active duty once again, he was transferred to the U-boat arm and is known to have made his "Konfirmandenfahrt" (war cruise as prospective commander) with Korvettenkapitän Viktor Schütze. making his way back to Germany via the Orient. He escaped from Buenos Aires in April 1940. He served in Admiral Graf Spee until she was scuttled off Montevideo on December 17, 1939, and was then interned in the Argentine. In 1938 Wattenberg went to the pocket-battleship Admiral Graf Spee as navigating officer. A qualified radio and blockade (Sperr) officer, he served in various branches prior to 1937, when he was promoted to the rank of Korvettenkapitän (lieutenant commander) and served on the staff of Vice Admiral Boehm, commandant of the North Sea Naval Station at Wilhelmshaven. Wattenberg, a native of Lübeck, was of the 1921 naval term. U-162 was commanded by Fregattenkapitän Jürgen Wattenberg who, at 42, is believed to have been one of the oldest active U-boat commanders. Except for the engineer officer, Oberleutnant (Ing.) 1 Edgar Stierwaldt, and Ernst Dettmer, a fireman, 3 cl., the entire complement survived. The crew of U-162 consisted of 4 officers and 47 men. The information compiled in this series can be of too great assistance in our operations at sea to hazard the loss of a source at once so important and so irreplaceable. While no accountability is required, attention in invited to the fact that the intelligence contained in this series must be safeguarded in accordance with the strict and literal interpretation of its classification. But, the classification has been lowered in order that the service at large may benefit from the information collected and presented herein. Many of the data were formerly classified as Secret. This publication, like those which are to follow, is Confidential. While all the material does not relate directly to enemy submarine operations and personnel, it is in effect the intelligence which has been gathered in the course of antisubmarine operations.ģ. In preparing this series of pamphlets, of which it is hoped there will be many, all information considered to be of value or interest to the naval service is included. The suffix G, I, or J indicates whether the submarine is German, Italian, or Japanese.Ģ. 250 Series - Post-Mortems on Enemy Submarines - consist of intelligence obtained from the sinking or capture of enemy submarines.
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