U-320 history - Boat, Crew, Cargo and the final resting place for the boat

[gtangen]

Hi!

I have for some years tried to collect information about the German Submarine U-320 - especially the history regarding U-320's 2nd patrol ending in scuttling of the boat west of Bergen.

Still I am in lack of many details about U-320 and its last patrol, but hopefully members of Marine Archives have and can share some of these details with me.

Search on the Internet, in US National Archives and Deutsches U-Boot Archive in Cuxhaven-Altenbruch, has not given me all needed details about U-320.

Therefore i am still seeking for;
   * KTB for U-320
   * Cargo list for 2nd Patrol
   * Ammunition load for 2nd Patrol
   * Crew member list for 2nd Patrol
   * Crew members from 2nd Patrol who may still be alive
   * Loss position (not the site of attack by Bristish aircraft - 61.32N, 01.53E)
   * Crew members arrested and detained in Norway May 1945
   * Pictures of U-320 and Crew members
   * Links to articles, books or archives with information related to U-320

In forward thanks!

Regards
Gtangen

[Teddy Suhren]

Hai

http://historisches-marinearchiv.de/projekte/crewlisten/ww2/ergebnis.php?site=1&var1=wert1&var2=wert2
http://historisches-marinearchiv.de/projekte/duikboot/ergebnis.php

Edit: Sorry, trotz Deeplink gehen die Links nicht mehr dahin wo sie sollen.

[gtangen]

Thanks for the links Jörg!

In the crew list i found this name especially interesting; Heinrich Steding (cook) - service time both onboard U-320 and U-3018.

Fortunately, two years ago i found this article on the internet about U-320's last patrol;
http://www.blnz.com/news/2008/04/23/GARLANDS_MARKS_GRAVE_U-320_4065.html

If this article is representing a true story from a crew member who was embarked on U-320 on the subs last patrol, i reckon that the interviewed person could be Heinrich Steding.
A year ago i wrote to the original publisher of the content in the article - The magazine Sea Classics, for more information about the author and the interviewed person. No reply has been received from Sea Classics so far.

Do you or anyone else reading this Post, have more information about Heinrich Steding?
I am also interested in contact information for the author of the article; Mr Eric Freiburger.

------------------
The last link you gave me had important information about the time of scuttle for U-320; May 8 03:40. This information is very valuable for my ongoing calculation of the track the rubber rafts followed from U-320 to the shore.

Regards
gtangen

[gtangen]

Some more details from me regarding U 320 - please correct me if details about the pick up vessel is wrong.
Hopefully the information below can be of interest for readers of this post;
---------------
I know that the crew from the submarine landed about 80 Nautical Miles (NM) south of the place where it was attacked and damaged by a Catalina using depth charges on May 8th, 1945 at position 61°32'N-01°53'E.
I have never seen information about the actual loss position for U 320 - a loss position which obviously must be at a long distance from 61°32'N-01°53'E.
A year ago I met an eyewitness to the landing of the crew from U 320, so the landing part of the history i have confidence in.
I am now in a process of using meteorological data to calculate where the possible loss position can be, based on the fact that the crew said to have used 8-9 hours in their rubber rafts from U 320 to the coast where they landed.

The eyewitness have told me that the crew splitted up and landed on two separate places on the coast, with an approximately distance of 5.5 NM between the two sites. When landing had taken place, both group of crews used binoculars and tried to spot the other landed crew group.
Both group of crew was thereafter picked up by a vessel (likely to have been a German minesweeper) that brought them to detention and arrest.

Best regards
Gtangen