The Seaweed

USS Champlin DD-601  

1999

U-856: Another Viewpoint

The following is excerpted from the recently published work of Clay Blair and can be found in greater detail in his book "Hitler's U-Boat War, The Hunted 1942-1945" published by Random House. It is a companion piece to the first volume, "Hitler's U-Boat War, The Hunters". I urge all of you to acquire these books. They are fascinating reading.

Page 561: "After duty as a weather boat, the new IXC40 U-856, commanded by Friedrich Wittenberg, age twenty-five, followed U-550 into Canadian waters. Forewarned by Allied codebreakers Canadian ASW forces hunted for Wittenberg, but they had no immediate luck.

"Upon learning from the codebreakers that U-856 intended to follow U-550 into the area off New York, American authorities mounted an all-out hunt for her by the "jeep" carrier Croatan and her five destroyer escorts plus two American hunter-killer groups comprising a total of seven destroyers.

"In the early hours of April 7, one of two Avengers from Croatan, piloted by Wilburt A. Lyons, got U-856 on radar but could see nothing by eye. As the Avenger approached, Wittenberg made the mistake of firing at it with flak guns, giving away his position. In excited response, Lyons dropped a Fido rather than a flare, but U-856 was moving too fast for the Fido to home and Wittenberg escaped and went deep.

"Other aircraft from Croatan and the armada of destroyers and destroyer escorts mounted a U-boat hunt to exhaustion. The destroyer Boyle got a sonar contact on U-856 and attacked with thirteen depth charges, but Wittenberg escaped again. Ten hours later, the veteran destroyer Champlin, which had sunk the IXC U-130 a year earlier, again found U-856. Assisted by the destroyer escort Huse, commanded by R. H. Wanless, who attacked with Hedgehogs, Champlin dropped twenty-one depth charges. These savaged U-856 and forced her to the surface.

"Wittenberg ordered his crew to abandon ship and scuttle, but the conning-tower hatch was jammed shut and had to be pried open with a crowbar. While the Germans coped with this blockage, Champlin and Huse opened up with 6" and 3"/50 caliber guns. The Captain of the Champlin,...

(continued top of next column)

John J. Shafer III, then rammed U-856 solidly in the stern. Not to be outdone, Huse also steamed in to ram, but she missed. Presently, U-856 upended and sank, Tragically, an errant 20mm on Champlin wounded four of her own men, Skipper Shaffer mortally. The destroyers Nields, and Ordronaux fished out eleven and seventeen Germans, respectively. The twenty-eight survivors of the U-856 included Wittenberg and his first watch officer."

U-Boat War: Final Score

From the book "U-Boat Commander, a Periscope View of the Battle of the Atlantic" by Peter Cremer, published by Naval Institute Press: "Out of 820 U-boats that participated in the Battle of the Atlantic, 781 were destroyed in action; out of 40,000 men, more than 30,000 lost their lives."

U-856: Your Story

Well, there you have it. The story of the U-856 encounter as described in the Ship's Log and by the author, Clay Blair. Now, it's your turn. I have often said to our shipmates "If we don't write the history of the USS Champlin, then someone who wasn't there will write it for us". Unfortunately, the world is full of revisionist authors and pundits. Many of the members of the Champlin Reunion Group participated in this event. Please take a few minutes, yes even a few hours, and tell me what you remember about this event. I would like to put your collective stories together, weave them into the story outlined in the articles above, and then publish OUR story of the U-856 encounter in a future issue of the Seaweed. Tell me your battle station, age and rank/rating at the time, your recollection of events, and yes, your opinion.

And, while your at it, let me know what Champlin stories you would like to have presented in future issues of the Seaweed. Here's some ideas:

The commissioning, the decommissioning, the U-130 encounter, convoy duty, the invasion of Southern France, the rescue of the SS Wyoming survivors, the rescue of Lt. Cole, operations off Italy, Sicily and southern France, bombardment of Wake Island, the typhoon off Okinawa . . .you name it and we will consider your selections. Thanks for your help.