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RoaldLarsen · 05-09-09, 05:04 PM

There was a thread at the end of March / early April about the book Iron Coffins by Herbert A. Werner, a u-bootwaffe officer who survived the war. The thread was closed after it had, in part, degenerated into a squabble about whether the book was accurate. With some trepidation, I reopen the topic to provide some specific references.

I have recently obtained a copy of the book, and have begun reading it. But rather than just reading it through cover to cover, I thought I'd treat it as a research project, and compare its claims with other sources, such as the FdU KTBs, the databases at uboat.net, uboatarchive.net and ubootwaffe.net and with various books, such as Blair's two volumes. I checked sailing dates, dates of engagements, sinking claims, award of medals and promotions, and postings.

The innaccuracies, exaggerations and falsehoods start on the cover page. The author is identified as "Commander Herbert A. Werner". I can find no record that Werner was ever promoted higher than Oberleutnant zur See. The equivalent American rank is Lieutenant, Junior Grade. Werner has promoted himself three grades.

Werner claims that his first u-boat assignment was to U-551. No precise date is given, but the assignment was delivered to him at least one day after "a day in late April 1941". U-551 was sunk on March 23, 1941. BdU was aware that U-551 was missing as of the next day, considered her existence doubtful on April 1, 1941, and had ceased to list her as present on patrol by 15 April 1941. It seems unlikley to me that a Faehnrich would be assigned to a u-boat already considered lost.

Werner claims that KptLt. Paulssen grew up in the same town and went to the same high school as Werner. Werner claims he grew up in two small towns in the Schwarzewald in southern Germany. The only biographical information on Paulssen I could find claims he was born in Berlin-Charlottenburg. It would be unusual for somebody born in the capital to move to a rural area of the south-west.

Werner claims his duties when first assigned to U-557 included assisting the IIWO in decrypting "top secret messages". It is my understanding that top secret messages were only seen by senior officers. Werner probably did assist with decyphering regular encrypted traffic.

The timelines between Werner's graduation on "a day in late April 1941" and the arrival of U-557 at Kiel on April 26 1941 don't add up. Between those two dates Werner claims

1 day of travel to Kiel
"Several days passed" and he heard of the loss of U-551
"Nothing materialized after several more days."
"The next day" he gets his assignment to U-557.
One day of travel to Koenigsberg.
One day at Koenigsberg.
A five day voyage from Koenigsberg to Kiel, arriving on April 26 1941.

if "several days" means no more than three, then from graduation to arrival in Kiel is 1+3+3+1+1+1+5=15 or more, so "a day in late April 1941" can be no later than April 11.

Werner gives May 13 1941 as the date of departure for U-557's first war patrol. This corresponds with other sources.

Werner claims U-557 sank a 7000 ton ship on May 19, at a location SW of the Shetlands at latitude 59 degree. I can find no record of such a sinking being attributed to U-557, and position records of U-557 do not show her being this far south on her outbound leg.

Werner claims U-557 sank three ships in a convoy on May 25 1941. No such loss is recorded. In fact on the previous day BdU had ordered U-557 to move to AJ68 for arrival on May 25

Werner claims U-557 visited the site of the sinking of the Bismark on May 29 to look for survivors, but found none. Position records for U-557 have her just south of Greenland at the time, where she is credited with her only sinking on this patrol: Empire Storm, in convoy HX-128. BdU KTB archives agree that one ship of this size is all that was claimed by U-557 on this patrol.

The day after "an afternoon in early June" Werner claims U-557 sank a large fast freighter travelling independantly one day's sailing from AK50 . There is no record of such a loss and position records for U-557 show it operating further south-east at this time.

After the above sinking, Werner claims U-577 was directed westward to AJ94 and arrived two days later. In fact, U-557 had been travelling southward and then moved eastward. Werner claims an order to refuel from Belchen arrived at this time. BdU records show the order was issued on May 29.

Two days after this, Werner has U-557 refueling from Belchen 80 miles south of Greenland. Given the chronology of the previous two paragrpahs, the earliest this could have been was June 6. Belchan was sunk on June 3. Uboat.net shows Belchen refueling U-577 on June 2. Werner claims to have seen three London class cruisers in the area. In fact there were two Fiji Class cruisers.

Werner claims an attack on U-557 by a British Thames Class sub. Fdu has a record of this report.

Werner has U-557 operating in BB90 and CC36 in "mid-June". This seems correct.

Werner claims a ship sunk by U-557 in a convoy late on June 24th, followed imediately by an attack by escorts on U-557. There is no record of such a sinking or attack.

Werner clams U-557's commander Oblt.zS Paulssen was promoted to KaptLt during this patrol. In fact, this promotion came through after U-557's second patrol.

That's it for Werner's account of U-577's first patrol. For this one patrol alone he claims six sinkings that did not exist and were not claimed by the boat, a detour that did not take place, fails to mention the one sinking that did occur, (because it happened when he claims U-557 was elsewhere?), gets dates and ship identities wrong and makes up patrol assignments and a promotion. The pattern of fictional aggrandizement continues for the account of the second patrol, which is as far as I have yet read.

Clearly there are a lot of statements in this book that are inaccurate. Probably there are several accurate statements as well. The problem is to identify which unprovable statements are correct. Some of the inacccurate claims may be simple confusion or error due to faulty memory or missing notes. Others are clearly fabrications. Given that many of the inaccurate claims are of a type which Werner must have known to be untrue, we cannot rely on any of his other statements that do not have outside corroberation. Therefore I would suggest that it would be unwise to rely on this book as providing any useful insight into life on u-boats or of the times.

Iron Coffins is a work of fiction masquerading as fact.
In contrast, Das Boot, a work of fiction that never claimed to be fact, probably comes closer to communicating some truth.

05-09-09, 05:04 PM	#1
RoaldLarsen Weps Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Control Room Posts: 355 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 0	Iron Coffins Redux There was a thread at the end of March / early April about the book Iron Coffins by Herbert A. Werner, a u-bootwaffe officer who survived the war. The thread was closed after it had, in part, degenerated into a squabble about whether the book was accurate. With some trepidation, I reopen the topic to provide some specific references. I have recently obtained a copy of the book, and have begun reading it. But rather than just reading it through cover to cover, I thought I'd treat it as a research project, and compare its claims with other sources, such as the FdU KTBs, the databases at uboat.net, uboatarchive.net and ubootwaffe.net and with various books, such as Blair's two volumes. I checked sailing dates, dates of engagements, sinking claims, award of medals and promotions, and postings. The innaccuracies, exaggerations and falsehoods start on the cover page. The author is identified as "Commander Herbert A. Werner". I can find no record that Werner was ever promoted higher than Oberleutnant zur See. The equivalent American rank is Lieutenant, Junior Grade. Werner has promoted himself three grades. Werner claims that his first u-boat assignment was to U-551. No precise date is given, but the assignment was delivered to him at least one day after "a day in late April 1941". U-551 was sunk on March 23, 1941. BdU was aware that U-551 was missing as of the next day, considered her existence doubtful on April 1, 1941, and had ceased to list her as present on patrol by 15 April 1941. It seems unlikley to me that a Faehnrich would be assigned to a u-boat already considered lost. Werner claims that KptLt. Paulssen grew up in the same town and went to the same high school as Werner. Werner claims he grew up in two small towns in the Schwarzewald in southern Germany. The only biographical information on Paulssen I could find claims he was born in Berlin-Charlottenburg. It would be unusual for somebody born in the capital to move to a rural area of the south-west. Werner claims his duties when first assigned to U-557 included assisting the IIWO in decrypting "top secret messages". It is my understanding that top secret messages were only seen by senior officers. Werner probably did assist with decyphering regular encrypted traffic. The timelines between Werner's graduation on "a day in late April 1941" and the arrival of U-557 at Kiel on April 26 1941 don't add up. Between those two dates Werner claims 1 day of travel to Kiel "Several days passed" and he heard of the loss of U-551 "Nothing materialized after several more days." "The next day" he gets his assignment to U-557. One day of travel to Koenigsberg. One day at Koenigsberg. A five day voyage from Koenigsberg to Kiel, arriving on April 26 1941. if "several days" means no more than three, then from graduation to arrival in Kiel is 1+3+3+1+1+1+5=15 or more, so "a day in late April 1941" can be no later than April 11. Werner gives May 13 1941 as the date of departure for U-557's first war patrol. This corresponds with other sources. Werner claims U-557 sank a 7000 ton ship on May 19, at a location SW of the Shetlands at latitude 59 degree. I can find no record of such a sinking being attributed to U-557, and position records of U-557 do not show her being this far south on her outbound leg. Werner claims U-557 sank three ships in a convoy on May 25 1941. No such loss is recorded. In fact on the previous day BdU had ordered U-557 to move to AJ68 for arrival on May 25 Werner claims U-557 visited the site of the sinking of the Bismark on May 29 to look for survivors, but found none. Position records for U-557 have her just south of Greenland at the time, where she is credited with her only sinking on this patrol: Empire Storm, in convoy HX-128. BdU KTB archives agree that one ship of this size is all that was claimed by U-557 on this patrol. The day after "an afternoon in early June" Werner claims U-557 sank a large fast freighter travelling independantly one day's sailing from AK50 . There is no record of such a loss and position records for U-557 show it operating further south-east at this time. After the above sinking, Werner claims U-577 was directed westward to AJ94 and arrived two days later. In fact, U-557 had been travelling southward and then moved eastward. Werner claims an order to refuel from Belchen arrived at this time. BdU records show the order was issued on May 29. Two days after this, Werner has U-557 refueling from Belchen 80 miles south of Greenland. Given the chronology of the previous two paragrpahs, the earliest this could have been was June 6. Belchan was sunk on June 3. Uboat.net shows Belchen refueling U-577 on June 2. Werner claims to have seen three London class cruisers in the area. In fact there were two Fiji Class cruisers. Werner claims an attack on U-557 by a British Thames Class sub. Fdu has a record of this report. Werner has U-557 operating in BB90 and CC36 in "mid-June". This seems correct. Werner claims a ship sunk by U-557 in a convoy late on June 24th, followed imediately by an attack by escorts on U-557. There is no record of such a sinking or attack. Werner clams U-557's commander Oblt.zS Paulssen was promoted to KaptLt during this patrol. In fact, this promotion came through after U-557's second patrol. That's it for Werner's account of U-577's first patrol. For this one patrol alone he claims six sinkings that did not exist and were not claimed by the boat, a detour that did not take place, fails to mention the one sinking that did occur, (because it happened when he claims U-557 was elsewhere?), gets dates and ship identities wrong and makes up patrol assignments and a promotion. The pattern of fictional aggrandizement continues for the account of the second patrol, which is as far as I have yet read. Clearly there are a lot of statements in this book that are inaccurate. Probably there are several accurate statements as well. The problem is to identify which unprovable statements are correct. Some of the inacccurate claims may be simple confusion or error due to faulty memory or missing notes. Others are clearly fabrications. Given that many of the inaccurate claims are of a type which Werner must have known to be untrue, we cannot rely on any of his other statements that do not have outside corroberation. Therefore I would suggest that it would be unwise to rely on this book as providing any useful insight into life on u-boats or of the times. Iron Coffins is a work of fiction masquerading as fact. In contrast, Das Boot, a work of fiction that never claimed to be fact, probably comes closer to communicating some truth. Last edited by RoaldLarsen; 05-09-09 at 05:48 PM.