The Secret of U-530

By John M Gundry

Two months after the end of WW2, a German U-boat surrenders in an Argentinian port. Badly crippled, missing its main gun. Its deck damaged by intense heat. Crewed by men who carry no identification, that give conflicting accounts of their last mission. Who are starving in a vessel stocked with food…

So begins one of the greatest mysteries of WW2. A mystery that deepens when a month later a second U-boat makes its sudden appearance.

With all the ingredients of a Hollywood blockbuster. The story of the last two German submarines to surrender involves tales of stolen art treasures and smuggled gold. Escaping high ranking Nazis and alien artifacts. Nazi UFOs and a secret Antarctic base. Death rays and a planned nerve gas attack on New York. The result of intensive research.

The Secret of U-530 sifts fact from fiction and reveals how the Soviet Union was behind a conspiracy theory that has lasted decades. How the British Secret Service concealed Nazi advances in chemical warfare. How Churchill secretly planned to turn swaths of Europe into an uninhabitable waste.

A must for both those interested in the hidden history of WW2, followers of Conspiracy Theories and lovers of unexplained mysteries.

Approx. 52,840 words

• Language: English
• Publisher: John M. Gundry
• Release date: Oct 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223475897

Book preview

2

A Tale Of Two Subs

In the early hours of Saturday, May 5, 1945, just three days before Nazi Germany surrenders, a single code-word is flashed to what remains of the German U-boat fleet.

Regenbogen.

Rainbow.

To the U-boats receiving it, the word means one thing. For them, the fight is over. In one last act of defiance, by Commander of U-boats, Admiral Karl Dönitz. The remains of Germany’s once massive fleet of submarines are to be scuttled. Over the next week, their crews send over a hundred and ninety U-boats to the bottom. More surrender.

Tuesday, January 16, 1945. Hitler retreats to the safety of his Berlin Führerbunker. With him, Hitler takes about thirty support staff, secretaries, medical personnel, and bodyguards.

Three days later, his long-term lover, Eva Braun, joins him. With her comes Hitler’s propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels, his wife Magda, and their six children aged from four to twelve.

Built in 1936, in the Reich Chancellery garden as Hitler’s personal air-raid shelter. The bunker has a lower level added in 1944, comprising thirty extra rooms. Fifty-five feet below ground. Protected by ten feet of reinforced concrete and a heavy steel door. It is here that Hitler and his personal staff seek refuge.

The bunker is well-equipped with its own heating, water and power supplies. Entered by a rich, red-carpeted corridor. The furnishings are lavish. Antiques fill every room. Many of Hitler’s favorite oil paintings adorn the walls. However, it is far from a pleasant place in which to live. The walls run with damp and pumps work night and day to prevent flooding.

Once seen as a place of safety, it fast becomes a trap. As the fighting gets closer, conditions in the bunker worsen. Its inhabitance become increasingly isolated. Cut off from the rest of the world, soon, ironically, BBC radio broadcasts are their only reliable source of news.

The beginning of April 1945, sees over two and a half million Russian soldiers poised on the outskirts of Berlin. On the sixteenth of the month, the Soviet army begins its ultimate attack. Closing in from three sides, the north, south, and east. Their advance is steady and brutal. Nothing, it seems, can stop them. In four days, they are closing on Hitler’s last refuge.

Friday, April 20, 1945 is Hitler’s fifty-six birthday. He visits the surface for the last time and meets with two of his closest supporters. Commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Göring, and the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler. Both men swear their unfailing loyalty. Assure Hitler of their full and total allegiance and beat a hasty retreat from the city. That afternoon the Russians shell the center of Berlin for the first time.

Two days later, with bloody hand to hand fighting taking place in the city itself, Hitler admits for the first time Germany has lost the war. He tells his staff of his intention to remain in Berlin to the very end. He will, he says, take his own life rather than face capture.

Newspaper headlines are made on April 25, when United States forces meet up with members of the Soviet army. Effectively cutting Germany in half.

April 28, 1945, the BBC reports an attempt by Himmler to do a deal with the Western Allies. The SS chief offers Germany’s conditional surrender, in exchange for the Allies joining in a united fight against the Soviet Union.

The Western Allies reject the offer out of hand. Hitler, on learning of what he sees as the worse kind of treachery, orders the man he once called the Loyal Heinrich arrested for treason.

On the same day, Göring, afraid, Hitler’s private secretary, Martin Bormann, will oust him as deputy Führer and seize control of Germany. Sends Hitler a message begging permission to take over as the country’s leader.

Unfortunately for Göring, Bormann intercepts the communication. It is all Hitler’s secretary needs. He shows Göring’s message to the increasingly paranoid Führer. The German leader, convinced that Göring is also plotting against him, flies into a rage.

Betrayed by his closest supporters and with Soviet troops getting ever closer, Hitler makes his will. He denounces Göring and Himmler as traitors. Awards Goebbels with the title of Chancellor, naming him as Head of Government. The position of Head of State and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, he passes to Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz.

A staunch supporter of Hitler, Dönitz holds the dual positions of head of the German navy, — the Kriegsmarine — and Commander of U-boats.

Soviet troops are now only 300 m (330 yards) from Hitler’s bolt hole. With his thousand-year Reich laying in ruins about him. Isolated. Betrayed by his most loyal supporters, Hitler draws up a marriage contract. In a civil ceremony, he marries his long-term partner, Eva Braun.

Less than two days later, on April 30, 1945, Hitler and his new wife commit suicide.

The next day, Goebbels follows his Führer’s example and, after poisoning his entire family, takes his own life.

Around midday, several of Hitlers’ staff, Martin Bormann among them, flee the Führerbunker. Most are quickly captured. Borman, however, makes his escape and disappears into the ruins of Berlin.

Allied forces at once begin an intensive search for him. In the chaos, rumors of Bormann’s whereabouts quickly flourish. There are various sightings of him, both in Berlin and abroad. None produce the wanted man.

As the search continues, Bormann is tried in absentia and on October 15, 1945, he is sentenced to death.

Goebbel’s suicide leaves Dönitz as the sole representative of the crumbling Reich. The German navy, now decimated, is reduced to little more than a single heavy cruiser. Allied troops prepare to take the remaining German ports. On the edge of defeat, only the U-boat service is left to continue the fight at sea.

On the 2nd of May 1945, with the Soviet flag flying over Berlin, the Dönitz led government moves to the town of Flensburg. That night, Dönitz makes a radio broadcast. He assures the German people that the fight will continue in the East to save Germany from the advancing Bolshevik enemy.

In a last desperate effort, to protect the county’s few remaining assets. Dönitz orders the last of his U-boats to the tenuous security of German bases in Norway. Immediately, the fleeing vessels came under fierce attack from British and American sea and air patrols. In just one week, the Allies destroy twenty-three U-boats as they run for safety.

Dönitz had long proclaimed his submarine force would never surrender. They would fight to the very end. Not one vessel, he vowed, would be taken intact.

To fulfill the promise, Operation Regenbogen was prepared. On receiving the code-word, all U-boat commanders were to scuttle their vessels. Sea valves were to be opened and demolition charges detonated. The Allies would not lay their hands on a single working U-boat.

During the first three days of May 1945, over seventy U-boats are scuttled on Dönitz orders.

On May third, fearing acts of retaliation against German refugees fleeing the advancing Russian army, Dönitz begins talks with the Western Allies.

The next day, Dönitz sends Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg to France. His orders are to contact Allied Commander Field Marshal Montgomery and negotiate terms of surrender.  

Montgomery refuses to make any concessions. He demands nothing less than total unconditional surrender.

Left with no choice, Dönitz, agrees. The following day, Montgomery accepts the surrender of German forces in northwestern Europe. Including all U-boats.

In no mood for concessions, Montgomery makes it a condition that all remaining submarines are to be surrendered intact.

On May 5, 1945, before Dönitz can broadcast the instruction to surrender, the Regenbogen signal goes out. Its source and who gave it remains unknown. Eight minutes later, Dönitz countermands the oder.

The Regenbogen signal is to be ignored. All remaining U-boats are to surrender at once. A blue, white or black flag is to be hoisted, and any ammunition jettisoned. They are then to proceed on the surface to the nearest United Nations port.

Despite the cancellation of the Regenbogen order, their crews sink around eighty-five submarines on the first day. By the end of the week, more than one hundred and eighty U-boats have been scuttled. Another hundred follow the Dönitz order and give themselves up at sea or in port.

Two do not.

3

The First Submarine

When, in July 1945, two months after hostilities in Europe had ended, the badly damaged U-530 limps into the Argentinian harbor. It gives birth to one of the greatest and longest lasting mysteries of World War Two.

Within an hour of flashing its message of surrender, Argentinian Naval experts are undertaking a painstaking search of the submarine. As they continue the investigation, the more mystified they become.

While the U-boat shows no sign of enemy attack, it carries extensive and unexplained damage. The ship’s engines barely function. Important pieces of equipment are missing, ripped out, or smashed. Part of the deck is badly burned.

A four-inch deck gun is missing, although two other smaller guns remain in place. The ship’s log, charts, and other documents are all missing. Anything that might hold a clue to the vessel’s last voyage has disappeared. Even more inexplicable, not one officer or crewman carries any form of identification.

As the news of the U-boats’ surrender quickly spreads, a crowd rapidly gathers to line the harbor. They watch as the early morning mist clearing, armed guards lead the dejected crew from the submarine. The voyage has taken its toll on the men. Unshaven and drawn, they move unsteadily. Some eye the crowd with apprehension, others just look relieved.

The Argentinians provide the U-530’s officers with accommodation on board a coastguard vessel. The men they house in hastily erected tents in a nearby football stadium.

A medical examination shows the crew to be suffering from malnutrition and the early stages of scurvy. Fresh fruit and food rations are distributed to the men.

As the investigation continues, so the mystery deepens. While the starving officers and crew are being fed, a search of the submarine uncovers lockers packed with untouched food.

Questioned, the crew can provide no satisfactory answers. Interrogated separately about the missing gun. The officers and men give different, conflicting stories.

The crew’s lack of identification causes its own problems. One man identifies himself as the U-530’s commander, Oberleutnant zur See Otto Wermuth. But like the rest, he carries no identification and can produce nothing to support his claim.

A local newspaper prints a photo of an officer, incorrectly labeling it as Wermuth. Adding to the confusion. Rumors of a secret exchange of identities circulate.

One imaginative story claims Wermuth had secretly left the vessel, going ashore along the Argentinian coast and leaving a stand-in to face questioning. Another maintains the crew had mutinied. Wermuth had been killed and his body tossed overboard. To be replaced by a stand-in.

It takes several days for Argentine officials to confirm Wermuth’s identity. According to one popular story. They only established his identity after officials discover that while at sea, one of the crew had married a girl in Kiel, Germany.

The marriage was conducted over the radio with a crew member acting as the bride. Wermuth, as commanding officer, had signed the marriage document.

A romantic story, but probably untrue. Proxy marriages took place and someone sailing on a dangerous mission might well have wished to marry his sweetheart. However, throughout its voyage, the U-530 maintained a strict radio silence.

It seems doubtful Wermuth would have broken it by conducting a wedding ceremony involving a long radio transmission.

As the word spreads, the press, both local and international, seizes on the story of the submarine’s mysterious arrival. In days, it becomes the focus of wild speculation. The U-530 has smuggled looted Nazi art treasures. It has transported millions in stolen gold to finance the rise of a Fourth Reich. It has whisked top Nazi leaders away to a new life in South America. Even secretly ferried Hitler into a comfortable retirement.

As the speculation grows, Brazil’s chief of Naval intelligence weighs in with an accusation of piracy and murder. With a blatant disregard for evidence. Vice Admiral Jorge Dodsworth Martins claims the U-530 had sunk a Brazilian cruiser with a massive loss of life after Germany’s surrender.

The cruiser Bahia had a checkered history. Built for Brazil, in Britain. The Bahia was the third ship to carry the name. Launched on January 20, 1909, it became the fastest cruiser in the world.

In 1910, it is one of four ships involved in a mutiny, that is to become known as The Revolt of the Lash. Although banned by law, flogging had continued to be used as a punishment in the navy. Particularly against black sailors. The rebellion leads to the abolition of flogging and a general improvement in living conditions for all seamen.

When, in the First World War, Brazil declares war on Germany, the Bahia is given the job of escorting convoys off the African coast. In the 1920s, the ship is given a complete renovation and an extra funnel installed.

Bahia’s role as a convoy escort continues during World War II, when Brazil joins the Allies in August 1942.

At the time of her sinking, the Bahia is on patrol in the Atlantic, acting as a rescue vessel. The fighting in Europe has ended, but in the Pacific it continues. With troops and equipment being transported by air from Europe to the Pacific area. Ships are placed at intervals in the Atlantic to act as rescue vessels in case of emergency.

On Wednesday, July 4, 1945, the Bahia has taken up its position in the central Atlantic, midway between Brazil and Africa. Without warning, a massive explosion splits the ship in two, causing it to sink in around three minutes. Almost all the crew are killed immediately. Those who survive the explosion become prey for the sharks.

The few men that gain life-rafts face four days without food, water, or protection from the sun. Many die from a combination of thirst and exposure. Others, according to one newspaper report, driven mad, jump into the sea only to be devoured by circling sharks.

Unable to send out an S.O.S, the tragedy goes undiscovered until around the eighth of July, when a cruiser, the Rio Grande do Sul, arrives to take over rescue duties from the Bahia. Around the same time, a British merchant ship, the SS Balf, hears shouts for help.

Between them, the two ships rescue twenty-eight to thirty-six survivors. The final death toll is placed at between 336 and 349, including four U.S. servicemen.

It is first thought the Bahia had struck a mine, causing the ship’s magazine to explode. The arrival of the U-530 in Argentina brings with it fresh possibilities. It offers the perfect scapegoat. The claim that it had sunk the Bahia, in a deliberate act of terrorism, finds eager support.

The Argentinian navy, prompted by Martins’ accusations, begins an investigation. It quickly concludes it was impossible for the submarine to have traveled the distance between the site of the sinking and Mar del Plata within the required time.

Even today, despite conclusive proof that the U-530 was not to blame, it still continues to be cited as responsible for the sinking.

A mysteriously damaged U-boat suddenly appearing weeks after the rest of the German fleet had surrendered. Crewed by starving men who carry no identification should have been sensational enough for anyone. However, it does not prevent a surge of wild, unsubstantiated rumors appearing in the press.

One of the first to circulate claimed that the U-530’s torpedo racks had been removed to gain extra room for hundreds of gold bars and looted art treasures. One newspaper even went so far as