[jimbob]

Irony, karma or whatchacallit:

The first Skipper of U-181 was Wolfgang Lüth, the second most successful submarine Skipper of WW II. Lüth earned the KNIGHTS CROSS with OAK LEAF, CROSSED SWORDS and DIAMONDS. He had commanded several U-boats previously, including U-13, U-9, U-138 and U-43 before taking command of U-181 on 9 May 1942. He became the right-hand man to GrossAdmiral Dönitz after the alleged suicide of Adolf Hitler when Dönitz was Chancellor of Germany. Because of his position, Dönitz was allowed to maintain armed security around himself well after Germany had surrendered. Lüth was in overall command of the security forces and it was his own order that a sentry should ask for the password only once – and if the correct password was not replied, the sentry should shoot to kill. Lüth was walking through the grounds of the Germany Naval Academy at Flensburg/Mürwick one night, his mind on other things, and he did not hear the sentry challenge him for the password. As Lüth himself had ordered, the sentry fired one shot, killing Lüth instantly. There was a quick Court of Inquiry and the young sentry, who was under command of our good friend GERD THÄTER (194-1987), was found totally innocent of any wrongdoing.