Leutnant zur See Walter Ernst Adolf Burghagen

[John Beech]

Afternoon All

 

Completely outside my comfort zone on this one!

 

I am currently researching the Kegworth POW Camp at Sutton Bonington and have come across the above officer who was one of those who made a mass escape on 24th September 1917. He was recaptured after the escape and spent the rest of the war in various camps, returning to Germany in 1919

 

This is not the purpose of my enquiry, but rather the Unterseeboote he was on when he was originally captured.

 

According to information I already have, Burghagen was captured during November 1916, he was certainly at Donington Hall on 6th December 1916. Whilst I know he served on three Unterseeboote during 1916, U-44, U-49 and U-50, these were all lost with all hands so it doesn't appear he was captured from one of these. A possible clue is the ICRC register A5406 which lists Burghagen amongst officers and men captured from 'U-19' - the POW numbers being in sequential order.

 

According to the website uboat.net (a mind of information on the Unterseeboote war) U-19 actually survived the war and was surrendered in 1918. However, UB-19 was lost on 30th November 1916. Unfortunately, uboat.net records the loss as being eight men killed and sixteen captured, which corresponds with the ICRC Register entries which shows sixteen names from UB-19, plus Burghagen and one other man with no boat listed. The website also shows a list of the Unterseeboote losses, and shows the following Unterseeboote losses during November 1916:

 

U-56 reported as missing on 3rd November 1916 with all hands. It has been suggested that she was sunk by gunfire from the Russian destroyer Grozovoi off Khorne Island, Norway, but her fate is officially unknown.   
U-20 grounded on the Danish coast on 4^th November 1916 and destroyed by her crew. All crew survived.
UB-45 struck a mine off Varna on 6^th November and sank at once. Fifteen crew were killed and five survived. As Varna is on the Black Sea in Bulgaria and they were an ally of Germany it seems unlikely that the survivors should end up in Britain.
UC-15 was reported as missing off the mouth of the Danube on 30^th November, but may have been lost prior to this date. She was lost with all hands.
UB-19 sunk by gunfire from Q-Ship Penshurst on 30th November 1916. UB-19 was sunk in the Channel, with all survivors brought to the UK.

 

The last sinking prior to November was UB-7 which sank with all hands after striking a mine off Varna on 27^th September 1916. Three boots were lost in December; UC-19 was lost in the Channel when she was depth charged from the destroyer HMS Ariel, with the loss of all hands. On 7^th December, UB-46 was lost with all hands when she struck a mine in the Bosporus and on 13^th December, UB-29 was lost south of the Goodwin Sands with all hands when she was sunk by two depth charges from HMS Landrail.

 

The sinkings listed in January 1917 saw three boats lost, and with all hands and after Burghagen was safely at Donington. 

 

As two boats were lost with all hands in November, one with no casualties and one off the coast of a German ally, it is certainly suggestive that Burghagen must have been lost on UB-19. 

 

To quote Sherlock Holmes: ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?’

 

But am I right?

 

Regards

 

John

 

[Michael Lowrey]

John,

 

No, the answer really is U 49 and U 50. Let me explain.The two U-boats operated off the Spanish coast under prize rules. U 49 sailed on October 23, 1916 with Burghagen on board. The U-boat would use a captured steamer to hold the crew of the ships it had stopped and sunk. Burghagen was in command of such a ship, the Swedish steamer Väring, which he took to near Cape Finisterre to drop off captured crew members from other ships on November 10. Burghagen then sailed to a prearranged location to meet up again with U 49, but misconnected, instead coming across U 50 on November 12.

 

U 50 under Kplt. Gerhard Berger had sailed from Germany on October 27. Berger was at the time looking for a vessel to put the sailors from ships he'd recently sunk onto, so he took Burghagen and the rest of U 49's prize crew on board, put the captured sailors on Väring and let the Swedish steamer go.

 

On November 13th, U 50 stopped the Norwegian steamer Older carrying a cargo of coal for Cardiff to Gibraltar. Berger decided to try to sail the ship back to Germany and put a prize crew on board under the command of Burghagen. On November 16th, the two vessels ran into a very heavy storm off the Hebrides and lost contact with each other. Burghagen was forced to try to make it the rest of the way without the aid of the submarine and was captured on November 18th with his prize crew when Older was stopped by the armed merchant cruiser Otway. U 50 made it safely back to Germany.

 

Best wishes,

Michael

Edited 22 January , 2017 by Michael Lowrey
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[John Beech]

Hi Michael

 

Many thanks for both the speed and the depth of your answer - just goes to show that you can't always believe what you read!

 

I think sometimes when you don't know a subject in depth, it is easy to confuse your U,  UB and UC boats!

 

Regards

 

John