Ride, Captain, Ride

Ride, Captain, Ride Aboard Your Mystery Ship

World War II has amassed a collection of some of the most incredible tales from all of the combatants within this bloodiest of conflicts. Even today, stories and movies are being released. For the first time, movies are depicting things as they really existed, such as "Band of Brothers", "Das Boot", and "Saving Private Ryan." Some of the grimmest tales have yet to be written. One of the most incredible tales describes how the Allied forces almost let World War II get away, in favor of the Axis powers. By a skinteenth of an inch, Germany and her ally, Japan, almost were able to build the atomic bomb. It would have been equivalent to a "hail mary" play in the last minute of a football game.

Fortunately for the Allied powers, the Axis clock ran out.

This "hail mary" was played out by a German U-Boat captain who was the farthest thing away from being a Nazi. Moreover, his career on the high seas started out not with U-boats, but with his being the captain of a merchant vessel. The forces of war altered his identity to becoming a commerce raider, and later on in the war, becoming a U-boat captain.

U-234 was a type XB submarine, the largest class of German U-boat ever constructed. Of the eight that had been built, only U-234 and U-219 remained. The other six had paid a heavy price for their slow speed and lack of maneuverability (Helgason 1996). Kapitan-Lieutenant Johann "Dynamite" Fehler, who had previously served on the infamous raider "Atlantis," was in command of the U-234. In US Navy equivalent rank, he would be a Lieutenant Commander.

In addition to his crew, Fehler was responsible for an important group of passengers: monocled Lieutenant General Ulrich Kesssler of the Luftwaffe; Colonels Sandrat and Neishling, also of the Luftwaffe; civilian rocket and jet experts; and most mysterious of all, Lieutenant Commanders Hideo Tomonaga and Genzo Shoji of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Fehler’s mission was to transport personnel and materials to Japan to support its war against the Allies. The final days of the Reich might be at hand, but whatever assistance that could be provided Japan, would be provided. This was authorized by Hitler himself. With a mission of such importance, Fehler had to avoid any possible contact with Allied anti-U-boat patrols. The U-234 ran deep and was continuously submerged for two weeks after leaving Kristiansand.

The U-234's mission had not gone unnoticed by the Allies. Thanks to codebreaking and deciphering machines such as Ultra, the Allies were able to learn much about the U-234 and what she was up to. The Allied command knew what most of the U-234's cargo contained, and they knew positively that U-234 was not an attack submarine. To Allied planners and naval deployment commands, the U-234 had to be stopped and destroyed.

The U-234 was equipped with a snorkel, enabling it to stay underwater for a long period of time and run on its batteries. KPLT Fehler took no chances on having his U-boat fall prey to Allied depth charging attacks. He ordered his U-boat to run at maximum depth and to run as silently as possible. The U-234 could run at 900 feet below the surface while Allied depth charges could go no lower than 300 feet. Thus, Fehler and his crew were able to survive Allied depth-charging attacks, even though the Allies knew they might have the U-234 in their attack plan.

Only after making it through the English Channel into the Atlantic did Fehler feel sufficiently confident to surface for two hours each night. The attacking Allied destroyers and anti-sub killers had appeared to have gone away. Fehler's mission remained for him to set a course straight across the Atlantic and to round the tip of South America before heading across the Pacific towards Japan. This part of the journey would be as perilous as before, since American fleet units roamed all over the Pacific. Although American submarines patrolled the Pacific at will, this was no guarantee that a German U-boat could not get away with masquerading itself as an American sub.

In addition to her crew, the U-234 was carrying twelve passengers, including a German general, four German naval officers, civilian engineers and scientists, and two Japanese naval officers. The German personnel included General Ulrich Kessler of the Luftwaffe, who was to take over Luftwaffe liaison duties in Tokyo; Kai Nieschling, a Naval Fleet Judge Advocate who was to rid the German diplomatic corps in Japan of the remnants of the Richard Sorge spy ring; Dr. Heinz Schlicke, a specialist in radar, infra-red, and countermeasures and director of the Naval Test Fields in Kiel (later recruited by the USA in Operation Paperclip); and August Bringewalde, who was in charge of Me 262 production at Messerschmitt.[6]

The Japanese passengers were Lieutenant Commander Hideo Tomonaga of the Imperial Japanese Navy, a naval architect and submarine designer who had come to Germany in 1943 on Japanese submarine I-29, and Lieutenant Commander Shoji Genzo, an aircraft specialist and former naval attaché. The German crew never understood the Japanese language and customs. However, both Japanese passengers performed a Samurai ritual act which needed no further explanation to the crew. They placed their Samurai swords into the hands of KPLT Fehler. It was a custom which meant that into KPLT Fehler's hands were they placing their trust and their lives.

Although Fehler had a number of sinkings to his credit while in command of a German surface merchant ship disguised as a commerce raider, he had not sunk a single allied ship while in command of the U-234. The German submarine U-234 was a Type XB U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine. During World War II, her first and only mission into hostile waters consisted of the attempted delivery of uranium, technological and administrative personnel and other German advanced weapons technology to the Empire of Japan. After verifying the validity of Germany's unconditional surrender, KPLT Fehler, his crew, and the submarine U-234 with all its contents surrendered to the United States on 14 May 1945.

Construction of the U-234

Originally constructed as a minelaying submarine, the U-234 was damaged during construction at Kiel in 1942. Following the loss of the U-233 in July 1944, it was decided not to use the U-234 as a mine layer. Instead, she was completed as a long-range cargo submarine with Japan missions in mind.

Selection of A Captain For The U-234

We go back to the Rock song, "Ride, Captain, Ride!" How true were the lyrics!

"Ride, captain ride upon your mystery ship
Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip
Ride captain ride upon your mystery ship
On your way to a world that others might have missed"

The captain was of course, KPLT Fehler

"Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip"

The passengers aboard the U-234 were truly amazing. Moreover, the First Officer Lt Ernst Pfaff not only was Fehler's friend, but Fehler's daughter-in law was engaged to Pfaff. The mix of Luftwaffe brass and two Japanese Navy officers added to the amazement. Fehler was only aware that he had as cargo materials and equipment for Japan. However, he had at the time no idea that some of his cargo could build an atomic bomb

"Ride, Captain, Ride, aboard your mystery ship"

KPLT Fehler had known that U-boat losses due to Allied anti-sub warfare in the Atlantic was turning the once hunters of the sea to becoming the hunted. Fehler was well aware of what he had to do to evade detection and the inevitable depth charge attack. Like many other U-boat commanders and even Admiral Karl Doenitz, he was totally unaware that his "mystery ship" was no longer a mystery at all. The Allied command knew about Fehler's mission and the cargo that the U-234 was carrying. In fact, the Allied command knew more about the cargo on U-234 than Fehler and nearly all of his crew, except Lt. Karl Ernst Pfaff. Lt.Pfaff oversaw the loading of U-234's cargo. Aside from the secret decoded German transmissions, Lt. Pfaff was the sole person that knew the U-234 was carrying over 500 kilograms of Uranium 235 to Japan.

"On your way to a world that others might have missed"

It is unlikely that KPLT Fehler or many of his crew had ever visited Japan. It is very likely to speculate that if the U-234 had ever landed in Japan, the crew would have been just as appalled at the damage caused by the B-29 raids over Japan as the B-17 and Lancaster raids over German cities. By 1945, it was the end of the ballgame for the Axis powers. As mentioned, the U-234 represented the "hail mary" play for the Axis. The clock was running out.

The U-234 Enters Wartime service

U-234 returned to the Germaniawerft yard at Kiel on 5 September 1944, to be refitted as a transport, instead of a minelayer. Apart from minor work, she had a snorkel added and 12 of her 30 mineshafts were fitted with special cargo containers the same diameter as the shafts and held in place by the mine release mechanisms. In addition, her keel was loaded with cargo, thought to be optical-grade glass and mercury, and her four upper-deck torpedo storage compartments (two on each side) were also occupied by cargo containers.

The U-234's Cargo

As World War II ground onward in the winter of 1944 and spring of 1945, it became painfully evident to Hitler that the Reich was on its last leg. The massive counter-offensive Hitler had launched in the Ardennes ("The Battle Of The Bulge") had been brought to a halt. The Allied armies had crossed the Rhine at Remagen, opening the way for other bridgeheads to be thrown across the Rhine. In the East, the Soviet Army had pressed forward to the Vistula River and was now preparing to launch its final assault on Germany. Germany was now facing the reality of the two front squeeze against its borders.

Despite this, Hitler believed he was far from beaten. He was edified by the work on the V-2 rocket by Dr. Werner Von Braun. This could carry an explosive payload to Britain, and might even carry its destructive power across the Atlantic to US cities. Hitler could not foretell the future, where Dr. Von Braun would one day direct the US Space Program.

Hitler also kept close tabs on the German nuclear program. It was well within reason to anticipate that Germany could build an atomic bomb. Coupled with the striking power of Von Braun's rocketry, Germany could well achieve nuclear warfare capability. All it lacked was advanced nuclear engineering.

On the other side of the world, the Japanese were well on their way toward also building an atomic bomb. All they lacked was sufficient uranium oxide to complete the final stages of assembly and test of their own atomic bomb. If they could put together their own nuclear power with that of Nazi Germany, they could reverse the course of the war in the Pacific. To that end, the Japanese sent a delegation of political leaders and scientists to personally meet with Hitler. Their goal: to secure final German - Japanese cooperation to build an atomic bomb which could be used within Nazi Germany as well as to reverse the course of their setting sun.

It was indeed time for the "hail mary" play. In this role, KPLT Fehler would be the quarterback and his crew and passengers aboard the U-234 would be the team on the field. All they needed was a lot of luck, a bit more time, and the seamanship skills of Fehler.

The cargo to be carried by U-234 was determined by a special commission, the Marine Sonder Dienst Auslands, established towards the end of 1944, at which time the submarine's officers were informed that they were to make a special voyage to Japan. When loading was completed, the submarine's officers estimated that they were carrying 240 tons of cargo plus sufficient diesel fuel and provisions for a six- to nine-month voyage.

The cargo included technical drawings, examples of the newest electric torpedoes, one crated Me 262 jet aircraft, a Henschel Hs 293 glide bomb, and what was listed on the US Unloading Manifest as 560 kg of uranium oxide. As evidenced by Hirschfeld and Brooks in their 1997 book, Wolfgang Hirschfeld reportedly watched the loading into the boat's cylindrical mine shafts of about 50 lead cubes with 9 inches (230 mm) sides, and "U-235" painted on each. Aaccording to cables sent from the dockyard, these containers held "U-powder". However, according to author and historian Joseph M. Scalia, who discovered a formerly secret cable message at Portsmouth Navy Yard, the uranium oxide had been stored in gold-lined cylinders. This document is discussed in the book, "Hitler's Terror Weapons". The exact characteristics of the uranium remain unknown. it has been suggested by Scalia and historians Carl Boyd and Akihiko Yoshida that it may not have been weapons-grade material and was instead intended for use as a catalyst in the production of synthetic methanol for aviation fuel. From the U-234's officers, Lt. Pfaff oversaw the loading of the cargo. When the cargo had been loaded, U-234 carried out additional trials near Kiel, then returned to Kiel where her passengers came aboard.

The Final Voyage of the U-234

The U-234 sailed from Kiel for Kristiansand, Norway in the evening of 25 March 1945, accompanied by escort vessels and three Type XXIII coastal U-boats, arriving in Horten two days later. U-234 spent the next 8 days carrying out trials of her snorkel apparatus.

A wily fellow, KPLT Fehler realized that several other U-Boats had been sent to Japan with such war materiel but at a certain point in the Atlantic, they disappeared. Once at sea, Fehler disregarded the orders that told him which course to follow since he felt there might have been an ambush waiting for him - and he was right. The Allies had known of each U-Boat making a trip to Japan with special cargoes aboard, and a Royal Navy submarine was lying in wait for them. All of these special boats were sunk, except the U-234, whose skipper decided to go his own route.

The U-234's voyage started off badly. During these sea trials, the U-234 accidentally collided with a Type VIIC U-boat performing similar sea trials. Damage to both submarines was minor. Despite a diving and fuel oil tank being holed, U-234 was able to complete the sea trials. The only loss was that of precious time. The U-234 finally proceeded to Kristiansand, arriving on about 5 April. There, the U-234 underwent repairs and topped off her provisions and fuel.

When the U-234 finally departed Kristiansand for Japan on 15 April 1945, it was one day before the Soviets opened what was to become their final offensive destined to capture Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. The Americans, British, and Canadians had launched their own coordinated offensive through Germany's heartland and were nearing the Elbe River, the agreed-upon stopping place for the link-up of the Western Allies with the Soviet Red Army.

On the other side of the world, the US Army and US Marine Corps had invaded Okinawa and were experiencing the desperate attacks of Japan's suicide weapon, the Kamikaze. By the 15th of April, time was indeed running out for the "hail mary" play.

The U-234 ran submerged at snorkel depth for the first 16 days of its journey. The Allied Command had obtained the fully decoded messages about the U-234. The Allied anti-submarine forces struck some time after the U-234 managed to get out of the English Channel into the open waterways of the Atlantic. The U-234 dived close to sea bottom and was able to withstand all Allied depth charge attacks designed to either bring the U boat to the surface or else sink her.

The "Hail Mary" Play Comes To An End

Finally, the depth charge attacks appeared to subside. The U-234 attempted to surface, but after that they found that a severe Atlantic Ocean storm had moved in. This storm appeared to have driven off the Allied Command destroyers that were attacking the U-234. Fehler considered he was safe from further attack on the surface in the prevailing severe storm. From then on, the U-234 spent two hours running on the surface by night, and the remainder of the time submerged.

The voyage continued without any further incident. However, the first sign that world affairs were overtaking the voyage was when the German Navy's Goliath transmitter stopped transmitting, followed shortly thereafter by the Nauen station. KPLT Fehler did not know it, but Germany's naval HQ had fallen into Allied hands.

Then, on 4 May, the U-234 received a fragment of a broadcast from British and American radio stations announcing that Admiral Karl Döenitz had become Germany's head of state. Adolf Hitler had committed suicide in his bunker, together with his wife Eva Braun. Following the reported suicide of Adolf Hitler. U-234 finally surfaced on 10 May in the interests of better radio reception. On the surface, KPLT Fehler received Grossadmiral Döenitz's last order to the submarine force, ordering all U-boats to surface, hoist black flags, and surrender to Allied forces. Fehler suspected a trick and managed to contact another U-boat (U-873), whose captain convinced him that the message was authentic. The radio message was so stark and so shocking, KPLT Johann Heinrich Fehler wasn't about to take it on face value. He would have to test it out, make sure it was authentic, before deciding what his response would be.

At this point, Fehler was practically equidistant from British, Canadian and American ports. He decided not to continue his journey, and instead headed for the east coast of the United States. Fehler thought it likely that if they surrendered to Canadian or British forces, they would be imprisoned and it could be years before they were returned to Germany, and believed that the US, on the other hand, would probably just send them home.

Fehler consequently decided that he would surrender to US forces, but he radioed on 12 May that he intended to sail to Halifax, Nova Scotia to surrender to ensure Canadian units would not reach him first. U-234 then set course for Newport News, Virginia, Fehler took care to dispose of his Tunis radar detector, the new Kurier radio communication system, and all Enigma related documents and other classified papers.

On learning that the U-boat was to surrender, the two Japanese passengers were in a quandary over what to do. Germany was no longer at war with the Allied nations. Japan however, was still at war in the Pacific with all of the Allied nations, now including the Soviet Union. According to Samurai warrior code, a surrender was unthinkable. Moreover, they had placed their Samurai swords in the care of KPLT Fehler. Fehler explained to the Japanese that he had to surrender because he had to obey his high command just as they would have to follow theirs.

There was only one way out. Unwilling to be captured, Hideo Tomonaga and Genzo Shoji committed suicide. An officer later recalled, "They returned to their bunks where they took Luminol, a very powerful barbiturate, lay down and pulled the curtains and we knew they were killing themselves, and that was their right. They took more than 36 hours to die. Then we buried them at sea, as we would do for any one of our own."


The Capture of the U-234

The capture of the U-234, its cargo, and its crew is a tribute to the seamanship of KPLT Fehler. When U-234 signaled their position to the Allies an intention to surrender at a U.S. port, she was told by the Royal Canadian Navy that this was not acceptable - that she must head for Halifax and to radio their position to Halifax every hour. As ordered, Fehler sent a radio message to Halifax stating his speed at 8 knots and his position - the position he would have been in if he were indeed heading for Halifax at 8 knots. Instead, this crafty old sea captain was headed for the U.S. at maximum speed. Finally, the destroyer escort USS SUTTON came over the horizon and took control of the boat. Fehler related in subsequent interviews that the US Navy crew acted properly and respectfully, allowing the German crew to take down their flag with dignity and ceremony. Most of the German crew was taken aboard USS SUTTON with only a skeleton crew aboard to operate the boat with an American crew overseeing the move. The Royal Canadian Navy was rather shocked when they demanded a radio transmission from U-234 and got one instead from the American prize crew.

The difference between Fehler's reported course to Halifax and his true course was soon realized by US authorities who dispatched two destroyers to intercept U-234. On 14 May 1945 she was encountered south of the Grand Banks by the USS Sutton. Members of the Sutton's crew took command of the U-boat and sailed her to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, where the U-805, U-873, and U-1228 had already surrendered.

News of the U-234's surrender with her high-ranking German passengers made the event a major news story. Reporters swarmed over the Navy Yard and went to sea in a small boat for a look at the submarine. The fact that she had a half ton of uranium oxide on board was covered up and remained classified. This was to last for the duration of the Cold War, now beginning to unfold between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.

A classified US intelligence summary of 19 May merely listed U-234's cargo as including "a/c [aircraft], drawings, arms, medical supplies, instruments, lead, mercury, caffeine, steels, optical glass and brass. The uranium subsequently disappeared, most likely finding its way to the Manhattan Project's Oak Ridge diffusion plant; it has been calculated that it would have yielded approximately 7.7 pounds (3.5 kg) of U-235 after processing, around 20% of what would have been required to arm a contemporary fission weapon.]

U-234 was taken to the Portsmouth, NH naval base where her secret cargo were quickly removed. What happened to the uranium aboard is a mystery to this day. Many feel that it was used in one of the bombs dropped by the USAAF on Japan but - strangely, all the files pertaining to that uranium have disappeared....................

AT first, the men on the submarine thought it was a trick. The radio message from the German High Command told them the war was over; they were to surrender to the nearest Allied authorities The message, issued under the auspices of Admiral Karl Doenitz, former German U-boat chief elevated to supreme commander after the death of Adolf Hitler, praised all U-boat crews for "fighting like lions" for more than six years and then informed them that the enemy's material superiority had driven Germany to defeat.

"We proudly remember our fallen comrades," Doenitz consoled. "Long live Germany!" He ordered surrender. U-234 immediately submerged. "They are trying to trick us," Fehler speculated, "they" being the enemy -- Britain, Canada, the United States.

Fehler knew all about tricks. As an officer aboard the German raider Atlantis, he'd become familiar with the ship's somewhat infamous means of surface deception. The Atlantis would disguise itself as a friendly ship and lure enemy ships to within range of its camouflaged guns before opening fire. The Atlantis had thus bagged 22 Allied ships before it was sunk by the British cruiser, Devonshire; in November 1941.

U-234 sent out a message of its own to a nearby U-boat, in a special code that only captains could send and decipher.

"We have received a very funny message," Fehler radioed. "Have we surrendered? Is it true?"

The reply was one word, "Ja!!" This convinced Fehler the message was no trick. His orders were to surface, to hoist a black flag on U-234's periscope, and to report his position to the Allies.

It wasn't over...not yet.

Fehler was a German officer which meant when he gave orders everybody snapped to. However, for whatever reasons, the man who had earned the nickname "Dynamite" for his job of scuttling captured vessels decided to exercise some democracy that day.

The democracy issue was how To surrender with A load Of uranium oxide aboard ship. The U-234 had a cargo that could blast US Cities -- 1,235 pounds of uranium oxide, destined for a Japanese atomic bomb program. However, nobody knew about the cargo except KPLT Fehler and his exec officer Lt. Karl Ernst Pfaff. The officers and crew therefore, were not thinking of uranium when they replied. "We have enough food to last us for years," remarked the boyish second officer, Lt. Pfaff. "I think we should go to the South Sea and find a deserted island with beautiful girls."

It had momentarily slipped Pfaff's mind that he was engaged to Fehler's sister-in-law. Fehler laughed. "That is wishful thinking," he told the 22-year-old Berliner who would never be his brother-in-law.

A pattern of responses emerged, the younger men tending to share Pfaff's compulsion to run from it all while the older ones just wanted to go home to their families and forget the war. Geography was a major factor in that U-234's position lay at the convergence of four Allied zones established for U-boat surrenders. Fehler could have surrendered to the enemy port of his choice. Britain, Gibraltar, Canada or the United States; or he could have attempted to return to Germany.

The latter would have been risky, Fehler knew, because the Russians -- no admirers of Hitlerite fighting men -- had been expanding naval operations in German waters. Neither he nor anybody on board wished to become a Soviet prisoner.

KPLT Fehler's Coice: He Picked Surrendering to the U.S.

Fehler surmised that if they surrendered to Canada or Great Britain, they would be taken prisoner, first in Canada, then England, and eventually France, and it could be many years before the men returned to their homes.

Fehler perceived Americans as "not warfaring people, not very military." At worst, he predicted they could be paraded through the streets of Washington DC, showcased so to speak as proof that real, live U boat crew members had been captured , and then sent home.

Fehler decided to turn U-234 into the gentle Americans. But he had to make sure the Canadians didn't get to him first. U-234 radioed authorities in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that it was headed northwest, toward Halifax, at 8 knots (8 nautical miles an hour). In reality, U-234 was barrelling across the Atlantic at 16 knots on a more or less southwest course, to the port of Newport News, Va.

The discrepancy between Fehler's reported and actual course was soon recognized by U.S. authorities who dispatched two destroyers to intercept U-234, wherever it was.

One evening as it plowed the seas south of Newfoundland Banks, U-234 spotted a huge searchlight on the horizon. The destroyer Sutton approached and asked U-234 to identify itself. Crew members of the Sutton boarded and took charge, redirecting it to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard where three other U-boats, U-805, U-873 and U-1228, had surrendered within the last few days.

News of the surrender of the giant sub with its high-ranking Luftwaffe passengers turned the surrender into a major news event. Reporters swarmed over the Navy Yard and went to sea in a small boat for an earlier view of the prize.

But the big story -- the more than half a ton of uranium oxide on board -- was promptly covered up.

The United States military, in collaboration with worried officials of the top-secret Manhattan Project, had its own atomic program that would culminate in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August. Even after the war ended, documents reporting the uranium cargo on U-234 remained classified for the duration of the Cold War as America guarded all its atomic secrets from the new enemy: The Soviet Union.

The men of U-234 joined the officers and crews of the three subs that preceded them, as prisoners in the custody of the U.S. Navy. While at the Charles Street Jail in Boston, where they were being held while in transit to more permanent quarters, the commander of the U-boat U-873 slashed his wrists and was taken to a hospital where he died.

U-234 officers were taken to Washington, D.C. for interrogation. Second Officer Pfaff -- he who would rather have been on a South Sea island -- was taken to what he believed to be a top secret Navy installation in Virginia and into a room in which the cargo unloaded from U-234 was being stored.

Pfaff was ordered to oversee the opening of a metal container. The reluctant welder with the cutting torch pleaded with Pfaff not to let him die because he had a family. The military watchdogs stood back, out of harm's way. "He begged me not to let both of us get blown up," Pfaff said, I'and I assured him that I too did not want to die young. Why would these boxes be booby trapped? They were on their way to our ally (Japan). Why would we want to blow them up?"

When they saw that it was safe, the military came out of hiding. Pfaff said he was then asked to open the boxes -- little cigar-box shaped boxes, he recalled -- that contained the uranium oxide. A "tall, skinny fellow" wearing an "Eillot Ness" hat -- that is, a hat fashionable in the 1930s and 40s -- appeared. The only civilian in the room, he went about supervising the opening of the boxes. Who is that? Pfaff asked. Oppenheimer, somebody said.

"I had no earthly idea who Oppenheimer was," Pfaff said. But later, when the war finally ended, Pfaff, in a detention center in Louisiana, read news reports about atomic physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Los Alamos laboratory where the design and building of the first atomic bomb took place.

"I didn't know for sure that it was Oppenheimer in there," Pfaff said. "I had to take this man's word."

Japan's A-Bomb

Robert K Wilcox is an historian who has written about World War II, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War. In 1985 Wilcox wrote a book,' "Japan's Secret War -- Japan's Race Against Time To Build Its : Own Atomic Bomb," that said the listing of 560 kilograms of uranium oxide for the "Jap Army" on U-234's manifest had elicited such concern with the War Department that it was kept from the public and subsequently became a classifted document.

The cargo was not officially revealed. But even if it had been, few Americans would have understood its significance. This was three months before the United States would drop the world's first two atomic bombs, unlocking the secrets of atomic fission to an incredulous world.

Wilcox cited the story of the U-234 as evidence that the Japanese may have been close to developing their own atom bomb and would not have hesitated to use it.As the recent public hand wringing over the Smithsonian's Enola Gay exhibit attests, the issue of whether the U.S. was morally justified in its atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki continues to generate controversy. Wilcox's publisher is reissuing his book in time for the 50th anniversary of those bombings this summer.

Lieutnant Pfaff Comes Back

Lt. Karl Ernst Pfaff was held in prisoner of war centers in Louisiana and Arkansas until early 1946 when he returned to Germany and married a girl from Heidelberg, not Fehler's sister-in-law.

"I had taken a liking to this country and to the American style," Pfaff said, and he immediately began planning his strategy: to return. He found his way to Montreal in 1951, and lived there 19 years, working for the Caterpillar Company. He lived in Memphis, Tenn., for another 19 years, and retired to Bellingham, Wash., four years ago.

'The war was a different part of my Life," Pfaff said in an interview. "something people don't understand. When the war was over and we had lost it, I had to do something and start another part of my life. I disappeared from the surface. Nobody, except my close friend Fehler, knew where I was."

After the war, Fehler acquired an international reputation for clearing waterways such as the Suez Canal of sunken ships. His career as a ship's captain endured, and he ran a supply ship for Kuwait at one time and a hospital ship to Saigon at another.

Pfaff and Fehler lost contact until 1991 when they met for the last time at a U-234 reunion in southern Germany. KPLT Fehler died at his home in Hamburg in 1992. U-234's reunions, like the reunions of all World War II veterans' groups, are attended by fewer people as the years go by. In 1985, there were 60 crew and wives; in 1991, there were 40.

This September Pfaff will be the highest officer attending the reunion of U-234. "There aren't many of us left, Pfaff, now 72, observed, and excused himself to go out and rake the lawn as he had promised his wife he would do.

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Fifty-three men had sailed up from Kristiansand Bay
Rolled off of their ship, and here's what they had to say
"We're callin' everyone to ride along to another shore
We can laugh our lives away and be free once more"

But no one heard them callin', no one came at all
'Cause they were too busy watchin' those old raindrops fall
As a storm was blowin' out on the peaceful sea
Fifty--three men sailed off into history

Ride, captain ride upon your mystery ship
Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip
Ride captain ride upon your mystery ship
On your way to a world that others might have missed

KPLT Fehler Was A Colorful Fellow, Wasn't He?

Captain Fehler, or "Hein" as he was known to his fellow officers was a merchant skipper before the war. When WW II began, he was a Naval Reserve officer in the Kriegsmarine. Fehler was activated when the war began. According to most descriptions of Fehler, he was the farthest thing away from being a Nazi. He was a professional "sea dog" and found a position to his liking. He became the Demolitions Officer aboard Schiff 16 - the famed raider "ATLANTIS", operating in the southern oceans. He earned his nickname of 'Dynamite' at this time, because everything he did - he tried to find some way to use explosives, sometimes to the exasperation of Captain Rogge, the Skipper of ATLANTIS.

During one stop at an old abandoned whaling station in the Kergulan Islands, Captain Rogge sent Fehler and a party ashore to find an easier way to fill their water tanks from the waterfall and stream ashore. Fehler immediately began to formulate a plan to blow something up to divert the flow of the water. Rogge asked if it wouldn't be simpler to merely rig a giant funnel of sorts connected to the ship's fire hoses, and bring the water to the ship that way.

During another action, after the crew of ATLANTIS had stopped a British ship and gotten the crew and foodstuffs on board ATLANTIS, Fehler sent his men to the lifeboats while he set the timer fuse for the explosives to sink the ship. As he was headed for the lifeboat, he noticed a number of crates of fine wine, so as the fuse continued to burn, Fehler calmly handed the cases of wine to his men in the lifeboats.....as Captain Rogge nervously watched,

When ATLANTIS was scuttled after being discovered by a British cruiser, the entire crew went to PYTHON, another raider operating in the southern oceans. When she too, was discovered by a British cruiser and scuttled, the crews of two large ships were left in the waters of the Atlantic, thousands of miles from a friendly port. Captain K-F Merten called other U-Boats to the scene and they all towed a great number of lifeboats all the way from the southern Atlantic back to the French coast - and all the while, Fehler was chasing about in these strings of lifeboats in a power launch, distributing the rations of food to the men.

Fehler was a colorful man, and was ever so quick to grant interviews at his home in Hamburg in 1988. Fehler was never lacking for all the charisma he had as a U-boat captain. He had one sea story after another, and he had a great deal of information about the war that could not be found anywhere else. He was never at a loss for surprises. During one interview, he was well into his 80's. A young man of 16 came through the study where he was holding court. "Your grandson?" he was asked. No, he said, it was his son! Truly an incredible guy.