The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1919-04-24
lGERMAN COMMANDER RELATES
| EXPERIENCES.
German Submarine Commander Tells
How Enemy Submarines Were
Handled.


base in America" said Captain Bar
tenbach, commander of submarine
bases in Flanders during the war to
an American correspondent in Berlin
few days ago. Nor, did German
submarines, operating off the Ameri-
can coast, have mother ship or re-
eeive any aid or supplies from shore"
Captain Bartenbach became identi-
fled with the submarine service in
Germany thirteen years ago, when it
was in it's experimental stages. He
commanded the first German subma-
rines the Vi. He is still in the subma-
! rine service and has his office in the
Admiralty building in Berlin.
/ asked the first question regard
ing the base of submarines in Amer
lea, because / had often heard it ar
gued that German U boats could not
have operated off our coast unless
supported by nearby base or moth
er ships. Captain Bartenbach said
the submarines that harried the
American coast were outfitted and
sailed from Kiel and received no sup
plies on tine voyage.
One submarine which visited Amer
lea was absent five months. 1t was
commanded by Captain Kopenhamel,
and reached America in August OF
l1s1S. 1t did not succeed in getting
back to Kiel until January of this
year. Captain Vonnoskit, who was off
the American coast last July and
August, was away from Kiel for three
months, while another of our unwel-
come visitors was Captain Rose.
Captain Bartenbach said the La
comic was sunk by Captain Berger
and the Lusitania by Captain Sch
weiger, both OF whom had died when
their submarines were destroyed dur
ing the war. s
Captain Bartenbach said the great
est enemy of the submarine was not
the depth bomb, but the anchored
mine. The exact figures are impos-
sible to give, but the captain said
about three U-boats were sunk by
anchored mines to every one sunk by
a depth bomb.
One of the most important duties
of. submarines, said the captain, was
planting anchored mines. II. was an
anchored mine, planted by a German
U-boat, he said that sank the British
ship on which General Kitchener was
Ia passenger. The mine had not been
placed especially to sink Kitchener's
ship, but because the Germans made
it practice promptly toblace mines
along every new route to which traf-
fic would be diverted. -. !.
asked Bartenbach how long the
British tied up his operations by at
tacks on Ostend and Zeebrugge.
During the entire time Of the
war" he said, "the channel for the
passage of German submarine boats
at Ostend and Zeebrugge was never
closed for as much as two consecu-
tive minutes. The British attack was
"a glorious thing, done with splendid
|audacity and dauntless bravery, but 1t
was an absolute failure from a mill
tary standpoint. In the first attempt
at Ostend two British boats missed
the channel and went ashore, their
bones are rotting their now, while
in the second attempt the .Tindictive
found the entrance to the harbor,
but was sunk alomst Immediately.
The wreck is still there" -,
1 told Captain Bartenbaeh that
presence of an "oil slick" on the
water, after a destroyer had dropped
depth bombs, was hailed as conclu-
sive evidence of the destruction Of
the submarine by the enemy. The
captain said oil and also fresh water
was carried by submarines in the
outer skin of the boat which was
thin and would be pushed in by force
of the explosion of the depth bomb.
The ell would be released and would
ascend TO the surface and from an
"oil Slick" while the U-boat had Ne
ceived no material damage: If the
depth bomb made clear hit on the
submarine, or exploded very close
alongside, it would of course destroy
the submarine.
The submarine captain could ex-
ercise his judgment when making an
attack, but in case. of passing spot
full of anchored mines, he must try
to go through. If the submarine COM
mander saw that the attacked ships
were in convoy with guard of des-
troyers, he would simply submerge,
let them pass and wait for a boat
without an escort. After leaving his
base he would not turn back because
Of being afraid to go through the
mine field.
Captain Bartenbach was positive
that none of his submarine command
ers ever fired on or rammed small
boats in which survivors were at
tempting to escape from the wreck.