U Boot POW records

Hello folks, I've noticed a wealth of knowledge on these pages. I've been researching U464 for a while now and I wonder if there are any submarine buffs here as members who might give me some pointers to more than i have found out already.
Basicaly U464 left Bergen in Norway in 14 August 1942. Somewhere between the Farao Islands and Iceland on 20th August the U Boat was spotted above the surface by a US Coastal Command PBY Catalina. Bombed and damaged, subsequently scuttled, Crew where picked up by an Icelandic fishing vessel Skaftiellingur. Transfered to HMS Newark and HMS Castleton.
The Crew where to spend the rest of the war as prisoners.
I've basically got all the info that available on the internet, which is far more than than i started out with. Particularly interesting would be actual interrogation reports of individual crew, and hints on how to track and trace their internment.
The reason i'm interested in this U Boot is that my wife's Grandad was a chief petty officer on board. Obersteuermann.
Is there anyone on here who knows thier way into prisoner of war records?

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Originally Posted by Pete110119

Icelandic fishing vessel Skaftiellingur. Transfered to HMS Newark and HMS Castleton.

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Pete, As the named vessels were involved with the crew of U464, there should be some mention of these in there log books etc, the UK National Archives is the first point I'd go to, the fact he was a POW there should be some record.

interviews etc I'm not sure on but you may get lucky.

U-boat Archive - U-464 - Interrogation Report

This is probably the only records available unless you go directly to the British Archives
Prisoners of war in British hands - The National Archives

3. Second World War
The National Archives does not hold comprehensive lists of ex-PoWs, detainees, displaced persons (DPs), persons released or tried or former forced labourers from the Second World War but does hold administrative records relating to the same. There are other organisations that may prove better places to start your research if you are looking for records of individual PoWs in British hands – see section 7 for details.

Those records that we do hold relating to enemy PoWs include the following:

3.1 PoWs, 1939-1945
incomplete sets of interrogation reports for enemy prisoners (mostly German) held by the British – search within WO 208 for the term ‘interrogation report’ in combination with ‘German’, ‘Italian’ or ‘Japanese’ or browse from WO 208/5521 to WO 208/5556 for interrogation reports of PoWs held in the United Kingdom and from WO 208/5507 to WO 208/5520 for interrogation reports of PoWs held in British hands in Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean
Control Commission interrogation reports in FO 1050/169
interrogation reports for enemy airmen in AIR 40/2394 and captured naval survivors in ADM 186/806-809

Thanks Guys, i'd got all those details from the U-boat archive. what i didn't know was where to turn to next. 3. and 3.1 have pointed me in the right direction on that.
Unfortunately Grandad passed away before i met the wife, she says he and I would have got on well. We know he was a POW in Yorkshire and was highly impressed with the kindness of the British. So much so that he learned the language well and was employed by the Royal Navy after the war, before serving in the Deutsche Marine after its founding in 1956. Motherinlaw says Grandad was sunk more than once, so he was one of the experienced chief petty officers mentioned in the U-Boat archive and hat previous tours under his belt, but as of yet i've not managed to find anything on that, its highly difficult trying to find such military information here in Germany and I'm putting snippets here and there together as i can. Looks like a visit to the National Archives will be on the cards in the future. Thanks Guys.

Eden camp near York, Yorkshire, England is a very interesting place to visit and was an Italian, then German POW camp during WW2. Many of the original huts are still on site and form part of the privately run Museum that is normally open to the public. It is currently closed because of the virus. Obviously I don't know if your relative was held in this particular camp but it would have likely been a similar camp to this.

Award Winning Visitor Attraction, Malton, North Yorkshire - Eden Camp

Some interrogation reports, like some other material, may not necessarily have been declassified yet because 100 years hasn't passed yet since they were made. Some things are still secret from WW2 with the relevant files not yet having been made public.

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

Eden camp near York, Yorkshire, England is a very interesting place to visit and was an Italian, then German POW camp during WW2. Many of the original huts are still on site and form part of the privately run Museum that is normally open to the public. It is currently closed because of the virus. Obviously I don't know if your relative was held in this particular camp but it would have likely been a similar camp to this.

Award Winning Visitor Attraction, Malton, North Yorkshire - Eden Camp

Some interrogation reports, like some other material, may not necessarily have been declassified yet because 100 years hasn't passed yet since they were made. Some things are still secret from WW2 with the relevant files not yet having been made public.

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Yes mate, I know it well, originaly bieng from that area of the world (i was born in Beverley). Eden Camp is certainly worth a visit. I was there not to long ago with some of my German mates whilst on a lads trip to York. Certainly apparent to us all that its better when Brits and Germans don't fight each other and what an entwined history we have. There where loads of POW camps in the North East though. You might be right about not declassified yet.
The old adage of "Don't mention the War" seems to be the key word here in Germany, so many facts are lost or hidden. Our 2nd oldest boy is a Luftwaffe officer and i think its important for him to be aware of his family Military history, but the Bundeswehr seem to put less of an onus on studying such.
I do get further with it 1 step at a time, and the links above to Kew are probably the way to go.

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Originally Posted by Pete110119

The old adage of "Don't mention the War" seems to be the key word here in Germany, so many facts are lost or hidden.

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For me growing up it was totally different as both my parents had lived through the war, as children, and the war was constantly being discussed and analysed. Added to the mix, one of my Grandmothers lived with us for quite a few years and she had lived through WW1 as a child but was old enough to help out doing odd jobs, part-time, in a Red Cross hospital.

One of the most unusual but true events to happen to my Grandmother and her mother during WW1 was to be held at gun point by a German spy. It is slightly complicated as to how and why my Gran and her mother came to be held at gunpoint by a German spy during WW1 but my Gran's mother was able to resolve the matter by thrusting the ornamental handle of her walking stick hard up the nose of the German spy. Unsurprisingly, the German spy did not like having the ornamental handle of a walking stick thrust hard up his nose, especially when it is done with such force that it damaged part of the decoration of the handle to the walking stick. The spy legged it but my understanding is that he was eventually caught. I do still have the walking stick somewhere and when I rediscover it, I will post some photos of it.

Back in 2018 the German president took part in the UK's remembrance day event in London for the first time which I regard as a great act of reconciliation between Britain and Germany.

Once the Blitz had ended and my Mum and her older sister came back to London from evacuation in Scotland with their Grandmother they used to have to walk to school right past POW Camp No.669 which was built alongside the A40 in Greenford.
It was full of Afrika Korps and Italian POW's captured in North Africa, and many of the girls that lived in my Mum's road would get chatted up by the Italians and Germans through the fence alongside the pathway.
The older girl that lived opposite my Mum ended up marrying a German POW after the war ended. He took her back to Germany soon after they were married, but the few remaining members of his family gave him a hard time for marrying an English girl, and within 12 months they decided to return to the UK, and moved into a house just up the road from her parents. It must have been odd for him over the coming years to be living only half a mile from where he had been held as a POW for 5 or more years. The POW's from that camp helped to build the new Greenford Underground station before they were all released.
By the early 70's the old POW camp was all overgrown and only a few of the brick fireplaces and chimney bases from some of the huts remains dotted among the overgrown shrubbery. As kids we used ride out push bikes all around the place.

Same with me growing up, most of the family had served in one capacity or another, or been in reserved occupations. Veterans don't tend to talk about experiences much with civies, but when you've a family full of vets, its like been down the workshop bar on a Friday night..so i was ear wigging plenty of stories as a kid. This influenced my career choice. Once i'd joined up and served a while myself, i could relate to these oldtimers and often spent time with them. But the Germans seemed to do just the opposite, very touchy subject in most circles. It annoys the hell out out of me that they don't look after their war memorials properly, sets a crap example for current generations of service personell
Funnily enough, Charles de Gaul was a WW1 POW held in what eventualy became a British Army Camp in Osnabrück Germany. What used to be Scarborough Barracks, is just round the corner from my parents in laws place. And one of the camps i served in here Quebeck Barracks, was also a POW camp, mostly for captured Jugoslavian officers.
Surrounded by history we are. we live in a village on the southern edge or what was Achmer trainig area.. which was a Luftwaffe base during the war, and where Messerschmitt ME262 flew from. The estate where i shot my first ever wild boar (Ostenwalde near Melle) was Montgommery's HQ for a while, and the cellar rooms of the large house still bear the british markings from the occupation.

Back in th late 1970's I did tour the U-505 in Chicago, very close quarters

Pete, let us know how you get on in the future, be very interesting. I've mentioned it a few times before, I had the pleasure of a tour of U534 before it was cut up into sections, I was in Birkenhead at the time looking after one of the company vessels that was laid up.
After signing a disclaimer (a form saying we wouldn't sue if we got injured) on board an old lightship, we moved on to U534, just before the tour, the Guide asked if anyone had been on a submarine, I stuck my hand up and said yep, Trafalgar class and Trident class subs.... the guide looked over my shoulder and said "and you Sir whats your experiance,"
"I used to sail on one of these"

The Guy was on his second tour when they surrendered, he was taken POW and was in a POW camp in Wales, after the war he stayed in Wales as he had nothing to go back to in Germany.
never had much time to talk to him as he was with some of his family, just wished I'd had more time and get his details etc.

My Grandfather was a machinist with the Pere Marquette, C&O, Chessie System, now CSX railroads for 42 years. He worked in St. Thomas, Chatham and Sarnia over the course of his career. I spent a lot of time with him at the yard in Sarnia before he retired in the mid 70's. He told a wartime story of German prisoners from a POW camp in Chatham being used to clean up a derailment near Blenhiem that contained raw sugar from processed sugar beets. Needless to say, the German prisoners, many who moved back to Canada post WWII ate a pile of the unprocessed sugar and my Gramps said that it was quite a site with all of them lined up at gun point squatting with their pants down in the ditch as it gave them instant dysentery!

The farm next door to our old home place in Harwich, (Kent County back then/Chatham-Kent now), had German prisoners happily working the fields. They were outdoors and fed very well with lots of goodies from the local farm Mums so life wasn't too bad with all things considered. My Dad remembers when he was little seeing the Canadian soldiers armed with what he thinks were Ross rifles. The prisoners had a big red circle printed on the backs of their shirts as a target in case they took off. As far as anyone knew, at least in that neighborhood, no one even tried to escape. My Great Uncle who owned the farm directly behind our neighbors, taught vehicle mechanics at the basic training camp in Chatham. I have a picture of him in uniform, also with a Ross Mk.III.

I'm so lucky to have had an intertest in history from a very young age. The stories were being told and they were endlessly interesting to me. My Grandmother and Great Aunt were amazing and kept the history alive. It's been lost now as they have all passed. Unfortunately, most of my relatives up there now have no interest in it.

I'll give updates as and when i get any further. Motherinlaw if quite ill at the mo, so we cant push there for info. I'm also researching the Grandfather on the fatherinlaw side, he was killed in battle agains the red army on 2nd Feb 1945 in a place called Finkenwalde near Stettin in Poland.

Also interesting would be info on the USAAF unit flying the Catalina that bombed U464.

The whole thing is fairly well documented.

Apparently my Motherinlaw gave all historical stuff she had to the Naval museum in Wilhelmshaven,, so a trip up there in order as soon as this crisis is over.

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Originally Posted by Pete110119

Also interesting would be info on the USAAF unit flying the Catalina that bombed U464.

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It was a USN Catalina, not USAAF.
There's a very detailed account of the sinking of U464 in the book 'Sighted Sub, Sank Same: The United States Navy's Air Campaign Against the U-Boat' by Alan Carey, which was published last year. Its available on Amazon here.....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sighted-Sub...s=books&sr=1-1

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Originally Posted by RCS

Back in th late 1970's I did tour the U-505 in Chicago, very close quarters

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When U-505 was brought to Chicago under tow, we saw it as it passed Sarnia. We were on the banks of the St. Clair River, under the Blue Water Bridge. Some time later, we went to Chicago, and toured it.

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Originally Posted by GeeRam

It was a USN Catalina, not USAAF.
There's a very detailed account of the sinking of U464 in the book 'Sighted Sub, Sank Same: The United States Navy's Air Campaign Against the U-Boat' by Alan Carey, which was published last year. Its available on Amazon here.....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sighted-Sub...s=books&sr=1-1

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That Right. USN.. and thanks for the link..

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Originally Posted by bigduke6

Pete, let us know how you get on in the future, be very interesting. I've mentioned it a few times before, I had the pleasure of a tour of U534 before it was cut up into sections, I was in Birkenhead at the time looking after one of the company vessels that was laid up.
After signing a disclaimer (a form saying we wouldn't sue if we got injured) on board an old lightship, we moved on to U534, just before the tour, the Guide asked if anyone had been on a submarine, I stuck my hand up and said yep, Trafalgar class and Trident class subs.... the guide looked over my shoulder and said "and you Sir whats your experiance,"
"I used to sail on one of these"

The Guy was on his second tour when they surrendered, he was taken POW and was in a POW camp in Wales, after the war he stayed in Wales as he had nothing to go back to in Germany.
never had much time to talk to him as he was with some of his family, just wished I'd had more time and get his details etc.

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U534 Geoff, I remember it very well. I had a good a tour around her 1999.

Absolutely disgusting cutting her up, bloody vandalism!

A mate of mine has toured all three WW2 survivors, Birkenhead, Chicago and Kiel.