What i love so much about this channel is that you don't just tell the same old cliche stories of history like so many others, but tell genuinely unknown and very interesting stories, which really give you a better and deeper knowledge of world history.
Born and raised in Jakarta here. And through this video, I'm surprised that it and Surabaya had U-boat bases. I love learning about WW2 history and yet this is a first for me. To know that my hometown once had a U-boat base is amazing.
I can only imagine how miserable the crew of U-862 must have been patrolling in tropical waters. German subs had no air conditioning, and their ventilation systems were built for heating the ship in the North Atlantic, not dealing with 90 degree waters in the Pacific. The log of another U-boat, U-195, tells of condensation below decks so bad that green strings of moss hung from every horizontal surface and water ran down the interior hull, along piping, and dropped in the men's faces while they slept. It was rare for a German sub to reach Penang with any working radios because the condensation had shorted them all out. The Italian subs weren't obsolescent. In many ways they were superior to the German boats for Pacific operations. Because they build to operate in the warm Mediterranean, their ventilation systems were far better than on U-boats. They had higher surface speeds and marginally higher underwater speeds. The Italian boats were just too large and clumsy to operate successfully against Atlantic convoys. Their size and long range (more than 10,000nm) made them ideal transport boats between Europe and Japanese ports for a two way trade in strategic and scarce minerals and supplies. Two Italian boats became the only Axis naval vessels to serve under the flags of all three Axis powers.
Don't forget that Italy deserted the Axis, surrendered to the Allies and then turned against their old Axis comrades, by mid-1943...that's when Dönitz started sending his largest U-Boats to Penang base, Malaysia.
@@kevinanderson3849 Actually, some of the boats continued to fight with the axis in the pacific. These Italian boats were transferred to the German U-Boat command in Penang and continued operating with a mixed Italian-German crew. After the German surrender, on May 8th 1945, about 20 sailors kept fighting along the Japanese (5).. For the record, the Torelli operated in Japanese waters until August 30th, 1945 and was even able to shoot down an American B-25 Mitchell, the last success of a "Japanese" naval vessel in War World Two.
German U-boats were built to different concepts to Japanese, US and RN. The German U-boats had much thicker skins and about 2-3 times the diving depth. They were also ruggedized to handle depth charging. Japanese and US submarines were larger, focus on longer range and speed to keep up with a fleet. The were generally called fleet submarines. The German U-boats also had the most sophisticated passive sonar the GHG phased array which could accuractly direction find a convoy to about 150 nautical miles and a single ship to about 30. The Japanese did have one innovation: magnetron based microwave radar on their subs. This was all their own work, actually developed before Randall and Boot did but deployed more slowly.
Well that is a new one to me. I knew that U-Boats had taken part in supplying Japan, but I was not aware they had taken part in operations while out there. Thanks for that.
One or two were sunk by US subs operating out of Fremantle. The USS Tarpon also sank the German blockade runner Michel as it approached the Japanese home islands.
Mein Opa war als 17 jähriger auf diesen U Boot, er hat 2 Feindfahrten mitgemacht und dafür das EK 2 und das U Bootabzeichen bekommen. Zum Glück hat er als Ubootfahrer den krieg überlebt ! TÜTETIMM 🍀
Excellent video. My wife's grandpa spent the war on a Corvette boat in the north Atlantic watching out for these. He never really talked about it so videos like these give me some insight into what they encountered.
My uncle was an airgunner on RAF 265 squadrons H for Harry Catalina. He and the crew were killed on 20th August 1944 When their aircraft was shot down whilst attacking U862 in the Mozambique Channel.
The book "U-Boat Far from Home" tells the complete story of the truly amazing journey of U-862 and it's Pacific adventures around Australian, New Zealand and south-east Asian waters. A great read. Highly recommended.
On the topic of obscure Axis cooperation, it would be interesting to see something about the Italian role in the Battle of Britain and in the U boat campaign against American and British shipping in the Atlantic.
U-168 and U-537 were supposed to rendezvous with U-862 and conduct wolfpack operations off Australia's west coast, but were sunk enroute in the Java Sea. U-537 had made the only armed German landing in North America a year earlier when her crew installed an automatic weather station in Martin Bay, Labrador.
I cant believe I've never heard of these incidents, when I live on the same coast its happening in.. Thank you for this video and your previous "Japan Invasion" video too. Cheers Mark
They are in the record of course but history sadly focuses on broad strokes. This is why these short videos are so important. You would have to wade through archives of material to happen upon these snippets of history!
Id assume very well. Some German POWs in WW1 even stayed in Japan. There is a memorial in Tokushima dedicated to the Bandō camp and the Orchestra they formed. In WW2, since they were allies and spent alot of time based in Singapore, im sure those men were treated as friends.
Further to the U862 story, U862 actually reached the New Zealand coast the U-boat came around the northern tip of our north Island and sailed down the east cost then entered the port of Napier looking for prey, whilst surfaced in the night the crew could see the city lights and hear dance music so it must have been on a weekend. They then took a torpedo shot at a steamer ( Penguin ) leaving the harbour but the torpedo missed it's target. Not long after that the U-boat received orders to sail to Singapore and upon arrival they were interned by the Japanese Authorities.
You should do a video about Uboats helping crews they sunk. Giving them water and food, and towing them towards shore. Before the merchant ships were armed some used to surface and allow the crew to get into lifeboats before sinking the ships. Finally you should talk about the Laconia Incident that stopped all of the rescue attempts.
German U boat off Napier New Zealand .. Frank Steiner a local farmer swore the crew came ashore and got milk from his dairy herd.. also a German Torpedo was said to be found at Westshore beach
Thank you Mark, interesting point for me, the Japanese Navy had Subs based at Penang Island during the war. I spent many days at Penang on R&R when i served in the New Zealand Army in Malaya during the early 1960s. It was a nice place though i got rolled there once and had my wallet cleaned out.
I have been watching your videos for about 2 months now and I have to say I love your videos! The music is great and a good mix of facts and entertainment.
For the long stretches into the Indian Ocean, the U-boat ballast tanks were partially filled with light fuel oil. This meant they could motor the vast distances between submarine tenders but could not trim the boat for deep underwater maneuvering. Keep up the good work.
When you think about how much effort it took German to sink a single Liberty Ship, it’s shocking that the US shipyards were kicking out more than one of those a day all during the war.
That is some amazing footage. I love seeing the crashing of the waves and the sub riding the high seas and that sunset or sunrise in black and white is fascinating. Must have been beautiful in real life.
In SE Asia, a number of sunken ships from the war that have been located over the years are suddenly vanishing. They are being salvaged for their metals, despite being war graves, by unknown actors.
I`ve got the book on this,written by an australian naval officer-what this clip didn`t say was that on the surface off africa they were attacked by a flying boat,timms by careful manouvring of his boat shot down the aircraft with the two guns on the`wintergarten`one of which jammed- an interesting story !
You keep going from strength to strength. I can’t wait for your next video to show up on RUclips. Like the other commentator, I also love the History Guy. I love his obscure stories but my main interest has always been European history of the 20th century with a particular interest in the Nazi era. You really scratch my itch for new and heretofore untold stories from those days. Thank you again and again!
"Many thanks" for the time and effort that you put forth on the videos. Such is your reputation with me that I clicked the "like" button prior to actually watching your video. After watching the video, I- quite naturally- have no reason to change my decision...
"Attacked a Greek tanker." Greece was at the least a protectorate if not occupied by Axis after 1940. The Greek tanker might have been flagged as government in exile say Great Britain.
Another video gem, like so many of your followers I live in Australia and believed I was well informed of our involvement in WW2, once again I find I have much to learn. Many thanks, Mark.
Correction - The ship U862 Fired a Torpedo at just outside Napier harbour in New Zealand was the MV Pukeko and not Penguin. MV Pukeko was owned by Richardson's a New Zealand coastal shipping company. According to U 862 Pukeko was sailing with all lights burning and so was very visible to the U Boat.
Thank you, Mark! Fascinating as usual. I've always wondered just how close the Germans got to making an "A" bomb. Perhaps, you could do a story on this topic?
MFP is the best historical resource to utilize all current video and media resources to present well edited and narrated historical facts. Thanks Well Done. Carry On.
Brilliant! I had no idea U Boats operated so far away from Germany. I wonder - if they had more U Boats they could have sunk a lot more shipping in this area. U 862 seems to have been really successful and professional.
This is one of my favorite war topics and I've have been searching for years for ww2 submarine footage of actual depth charge action inside a sub from any nationality but I don't think any exists. The only thing I've found is reenactment for training and propaganda film.
Congratulations, Mr. Felton, very interesting vid full of almost unknown facts about the Axis submarine warfare in Asia. Excellent footage and unbiased comments. However, I have never heard - or failed to find records - about Italian submarines carrying materials from Europe to Japanese bases. You have to keep in mind that Italy surrendered in Sept. '43 and the following month it declared war on its former Axis allies, so such "cargo transportation" - if it ever took place - had to occur before Sept. '43, and the only Italian activity I've been able to find happened in April '43, when the submarine "Da Vinci" sank a Liberty ship in the Indic...they never got farther than that. No way they ever reached any Japanese Pacific base.. If you have records of any Italian subs activity in the Pacific, please mention the subs' names, ports of destination and date of arrival. Thanks a lot in advance and compliments for your vids.
What i love so much about this channel is that you don't just tell the same old cliche stories of history like so many others, but tell genuinely unknown and very interesting stories, which really give you a better and deeper knowledge of world history.
Born and raised in Jakarta here. And through this video, I'm surprised that it and Surabaya had U-boat bases. I love learning about WW2 history and yet this is a first for me. To know that my hometown once had a U-boat base is amazing.
British soldiers after finding I-502 in Singapore:
*"Man, these U-boats are everywhere!"*
I can only imagine how miserable the crew of U-862 must have been patrolling in tropical waters. German subs had no air conditioning, and their ventilation systems were built for heating the ship in the North Atlantic, not dealing with 90 degree waters in the Pacific. The log of another U-boat, U-195, tells of condensation below decks so bad that green strings of moss hung from every horizontal surface and water ran down the interior hull, along piping, and dropped in the men's faces while they slept. It was rare for a German sub to reach Penang with any working radios because the condensation had shorted them all out.
The Italian subs weren't obsolescent. In many ways they were superior to the German boats for Pacific operations. Because they build to operate in the warm Mediterranean, their ventilation systems were far better than on U-boats. They had higher surface speeds and marginally higher underwater speeds. The Italian boats were just too large and clumsy to operate successfully against Atlantic convoys. Their size and long range (more than 10,000nm) made them ideal transport boats between Europe and Japanese ports for a two way trade in strategic and scarce minerals and supplies. Two Italian boats became the only Axis naval vessels to serve under the flags of all three Axis powers.
These are the things I want to learn about history. I can only imagine how fucking miserable it must have been back then.
Don't forget that Italy deserted the Axis, surrendered to the Allies and then turned against their old Axis comrades, by mid-1943...that's when Dönitz started sending his largest U-Boats to Penang base, Malaysia.
Sar Jim right
@@kevinanderson3849 Actually, some of the boats continued to fight with the axis in the pacific. These Italian boats were transferred to the German U-Boat command in Penang and continued operating with a mixed Italian-German crew. After the German surrender, on May 8th 1945, about 20 sailors kept fighting along the Japanese (5).. For the record, the Torelli operated in Japanese waters until August 30th, 1945 and was even able to shoot down an American B-25 Mitchell, the last success of a "Japanese" naval vessel in War World Two.
@@johnblackstone5261 These were all young men too, as my dad said a young man can take more of a beating than an older man.
Excellent, I did not know U-boats were actually stationed in the Far East, fascinating.
I live in Indonesia and there is a cemetery in Indonesia which is the grave of the u-boat crew
German U-boats were built to different concepts to Japanese, US and RN. The German U-boats had much thicker skins and about 2-3 times the diving depth. They were also ruggedized to handle depth charging. Japanese and US submarines were larger, focus on longer range and speed to keep up with a fleet. The were generally called fleet submarines. The German U-boats also had the most sophisticated passive sonar the GHG phased array which could accuractly direction find a convoy to about 150 nautical miles and a single ship to about 30. The Japanese did have one innovation: magnetron based microwave radar on their subs. This was all their own work, actually developed before Randall and Boot did but deployed more slowly.
Well that is a new one to me. I knew that U-Boats had taken part in supplying Japan, but I was not aware they had taken part in operations while out there. Thanks for that.
One or two were sunk by US subs operating out of Fremantle. The USS Tarpon also sank the German blockade runner Michel as it approached the Japanese home islands.
Mein Opa war als 17 jähriger auf diesen U Boot, er hat 2 Feindfahrten mitgemacht und dafür das EK 2 und das U Bootabzeichen bekommen. Zum Glück hat er als Ubootfahrer den krieg überlebt ! TÜTETIMM 🍀
I always find the U-Boat stories of extra special interest...thanks Mark.
Excellent video. My wife's grandpa spent the war on a Corvette boat in the north Atlantic watching out for these. He never really talked about it so videos like these give me some insight into what they encountered.
Have you read HMS Ulysses by Alistair MacLean? Fiction, but based on his experiences in the NorthAtlantic/Murmansk convoys.
My uncle was an airgunner on RAF 265 squadrons H for Harry Catalina. He and the crew were killed on 20th August 1944
When their aircraft was shot down whilst attacking U862 in the Mozambique Channel.
The book "U-Boat Far from Home" tells the complete story of the truly amazing journey of U-862 and it's Pacific adventures around Australian, New Zealand and south-east Asian waters. A great read. Highly recommended.
Who is the author, please.
Wayfearer is a duck? He sank a duck? What a bastard. (2:30)
Phillip Cowell
It's goose was cooked...lol..
These stories of the German pacific operations in World War II are probably my favorite naval topic of WWII. Thank you for this great video.
R&N RailProductions i love hearing about them being sunk.
On the topic of obscure Axis cooperation, it would be interesting to see something about the Italian role in the Battle of Britain and in the U boat campaign against American and British shipping in the Atlantic.
Bismarck *cough* *cough*
Love the seagul @2:30 passing by while anouncing another successful strike....
So many of my family served in the Pacific(my Father, two of his Brothers, and cousin).
How,
Close they came to death by U-Boat.
U-168 and U-537 were supposed to rendezvous with U-862 and conduct wolfpack operations off Australia's west coast, but were sunk enroute in the Java Sea. U-537 had made the only armed German landing in North America a year earlier when her crew installed an automatic weather station in Martin Bay, Labrador.
I cant believe I've never heard of these incidents, when I live on the same coast its happening in.. Thank you for this video and your previous "Japan Invasion" video too. Cheers Mark
Same
They are in the record of course but history sadly focuses on broad strokes. This is why these short videos are so important. You would have to wade through archives of material to happen upon these snippets of history!
Matthew Dobbs the main reason i love this channel is that id probably never even have a chance of finding most of the info in these videos
Amazing. I'd like to know more about uboats in the far east. I wonder how those interred Germans were treated by the Japanese.
You can bet a lot better than allied soldiers.
As allies and friends
Most of the crew were Croatian, so as to maintain the appearance of neutrality.
I know there was the crew of one German ship that got thrown into Changi prison camp with the Aussie’s
Id assume very well. Some German POWs in WW1 even stayed in Japan. There is a memorial in Tokushima dedicated to the Bandō camp and the Orchestra they formed. In WW2, since they were allies and spent alot of time based in Singapore, im sure those men were treated as friends.
I like " the sitting duck " in the video's periscope shot. Subtle 😯.
Further to the U862 story, U862 actually reached the New Zealand coast the U-boat came around the northern tip of our north Island and sailed down the east cost then entered the port of Napier looking for prey, whilst surfaced in the night the crew could see the city lights and hear dance music so it must have been on a weekend. They then took a torpedo shot at a steamer ( Penguin ) leaving the harbour but the torpedo missed it's target. Not long after that the U-boat received orders to sail to Singapore and upon arrival they were interned by the Japanese Authorities.
You should do a video about Uboats helping crews they sunk. Giving them water and food, and towing them towards shore. Before the merchant ships were armed some used to surface and allow the crew to get into lifeboats before sinking the ships. Finally you should talk about the Laconia Incident that stopped all of the rescue attempts.
Best channel on RUclips! Mark comes up with stories nobody else has/can. Great work Mark.
Great story about a fighting sub commander and his crew. Harsh that they were held for nearly 3 years after the war by the British.
I have always wondered what for...!
German U boat off Napier New Zealand .. Frank Steiner a local farmer swore the crew came ashore and got milk from his dairy herd.. also a German Torpedo was said to be found at Westshore beach
Never a problem submerging this U-boat with the giant balls of steel carried by the captain.
Coolest looking cats of WW II, German U-boat Commanders!
You should do a video about U-156 and the sinking of the Laconia. Extremely interesting and sad story which not many people know about.
I thought for a moment that Timm was going to torpedo that seabird.
There's u boat crew grave in Bogor, West java
Thank you Mark, interesting point for me, the Japanese Navy had Subs based at Penang Island during the war. I spent many days at Penang on R&R when i served in the New Zealand Army in Malaya during the early 1960s. It was a nice place though i got rolled there once and had my wallet
cleaned out.
Mark, you just keep outdoing yourself! Keep 'em coming!
I have been watching your videos for about 2 months now and I have to say I love your videos! The music is great and a good mix of facts and entertainment.
For the long stretches into the Indian Ocean, the U-boat ballast tanks were partially filled with light fuel oil. This meant they could motor the vast distances between submarine tenders but could not trim the boat for deep underwater maneuvering. Keep up the good work.
Great story, I live in West Australia and never knew about the patrol in our area.
Always a good start to the day with your clips at breakfast😃😃👍👍
When you think about how much effort it took German to sink a single Liberty Ship, it’s shocking that the US shipyards were kicking out more than one of those a day all during the war.
That is some amazing footage. I love seeing the crashing of the waves and the sub riding the high seas and that sunset or sunrise in black and white is fascinating. Must have been beautiful in real life.
Very interesting video. Some German/Japanese submarines operated off the Southern African coast too, as you mentioned, causing quite a scare.
In SE Asia, a number of sunken ships from the war that have been located over the years are suddenly vanishing. They are being salvaged for their metals, despite being war graves, by unknown actors.
Excellent,Thanks Mark!
"Scuttled by the British" is another way of saying some drunk British sailors took it for a joy ride, and pulled the wrong lever.
Another ‘I did not know this’ historical tidbit. Many thanks!
Well there you go.. I didn't know german u boats operated off the Australian coast. Thats why I love watching, you learn something new everytime
You guys should stop pouring praise on Mark Felton's videos. He already knows you like them. Comment something about the content, come on.
Thank you for this video very informative. I never had a clue they went into the Pacific
I`ve got the book on this,written by an australian naval officer-what this clip didn`t say was that on the surface off africa they were attacked by a flying boat,timms by careful manouvring of his boat shot down the aircraft with the two guns on the`wintergarten`one of which jammed- an interesting story !
Always interesting, informative and most importantly , easy to absorb. Well done....and thank you for re-awakening interest in the past.
Another great story/video. Makes me want to install my old PC game Silent Hunter 3 w/Gray Wolves mod. Had a lot of fun with that.
Outstanding piece of work. Really enjoy the Genealogical research of the skipper.
As usual, so much interesting information. My favorite WW2 historical channel.
You manage to find the most obscure aspects of the Second World War.
Nevertheless, you do sustain one's interest. Thank you for your labours.
Interesting history. I've never heard anything about German U-boats operating in the Far East. Thank you.
You keep going from strength to strength. I can’t wait for your next video to show up on RUclips. Like the other commentator, I also love the History Guy. I love his obscure stories but my main interest has always been European history of the 20th century with a particular interest in the Nazi era. You really scratch my itch for new and heretofore untold stories from those days. Thank you again and again!
"Many thanks" for the time and effort that you put forth on the videos. Such is your reputation with me that I clicked the "like" button prior to actually watching your video. After watching the video, I- quite naturally- have no reason to change my decision...
Mark is the best !
I'm pretty sure there were a lot more ships sunk by German U Boats off the east coast of Australia than mentioned here.
No, the rest were taken by Japanese subs
Wow what an amazing story!!
"Attacked a Greek tanker." Greece was at the least a protectorate if not occupied by Axis after 1940.
The Greek tanker might have been flagged as government in exile say Great Britain.
This is in december 1944, Greece has already been liberated
Most of the merchant fleets of the occupied European countries joined the British in WW2, and retained their national identities.
Very interesting. My friend's grandfather was a general in the Wehrmacht and also in the Bundeswehr.
"machen sie Fotos beim einlaufen, nicht beim auslaufen"
"wieso"
"weil sie dann Bärte haben"
Seems legit
Wow very interesting a skilled
U-boat captain to have made that many kills and survived the war
Gallant Kraut Tim was a U-boat Ace n a menace for the Allies in the Pacific. A huge fan of War film DAS BOOT 1981.
@MarkFeltonProductions thank you for doing this video. I requested this a couple months ago. Keep up the great work!
Great video, thanks again.
I need to fact check most internet posts. Never need to do so with Mark Felton Productions. Incredible accuracy and rare information.
Yet again small piece of history that I had not come across - some journey that boat made.
Amazing story, brave U-boat men 👍
Another great bit of history.
Some really great n informative info which I never knew about WW2. Uboats all the way in the far east!? WOW!!!
Most interesting. Never knew about these munsoon boats. Heard of it. Never knew more about it.
Fascinating
Great video! Interesting bit of history about a part of the Pacific War I am not familar with. Thank you.
Awesome video
U boats were awesome
Excellent Content !
Mark videos: release
Me: *CLICKED IT*
Can u make a video about the aerial ramming of the Iranian RF-4C Phantom by a Soviet MiG-21 during Project Dark Gene?
U-Boat in New Zealand waters : U 862's war patrol of Gisborne and Napier in 1945
Another video gem, like so many of your followers I live in Australia and believed I was well informed of our involvement in WW2, once again I find I have much to learn. Many thanks, Mark.
Love love love all these in depth stories on this channel!!!! Bravo bravo!!!! Always wanted to hear these individual tales!!!!
Wow never learnt in school about U boat activity in my country, Singapore. Thanks a lot, Mark!
Mark ...is the most amazing historical researcher ..I've come across.
In my youth I know a crewmember of U-862. His name was Huder.
10 seconds in and im thinking the sub was crewed completly by hipsters!
Correction - The ship U862 Fired a Torpedo at just outside Napier harbour in New Zealand was the MV Pukeko and not Penguin. MV Pukeko was owned by Richardson's a New Zealand coastal shipping company. According to U 862 Pukeko was sailing with all lights burning and so was very visible to the U Boat.
Wonderful video! I especially enjoy the U-Boat stories you tell, they're very interesting! Keep up the amazing work Mark!
Thank you, Mark! Fascinating as usual. I've always wondered just how close the Germans got to making an "A" bomb. Perhaps, you could do a story on this topic?
Thankyou, I knew that Germany had subs in the Pacific but didn't know they had dedicated bases for them.
More interesting stories, great work Mark!
Thanks for looking into the sides of history that are being methodically ignored.
MFP is the best historical resource to utilize all current video and media resources to present well edited and narrated historical facts. Thanks
Well Done. Carry On.
I've been watching your channel for 3 months or so and really enjoy it. I don't comment much. Sorry. Thanks for a very interesting channel.
Brilliant! I had no idea U Boats operated so far away from Germany. I wonder - if they had more U Boats they could have sunk a lot more shipping in this area. U 862 seems to have been really successful and professional.
This is one of my favorite war topics and I've have been searching for years for ww2 submarine footage of actual depth charge action inside a sub from any nationality but I don't think any exists. The only thing I've found is reenactment for training and propaganda film.
Learn something new every day.
I like the Hunt For Red October, Das Boot, Crimson Tide or really any film with sub-titles
Very good!
Mark is killing it
Congratulations, Mr. Felton, very interesting vid full of almost unknown facts about the Axis submarine warfare in Asia. Excellent footage and unbiased comments. However, I have never heard - or failed to find records - about Italian submarines carrying materials from Europe to Japanese bases. You have to keep in mind that Italy surrendered in Sept. '43 and the following month it declared war on its former Axis allies, so such "cargo transportation" - if it ever took place - had to occur before Sept. '43, and the only Italian activity I've been able to find happened in April '43, when the submarine "Da Vinci" sank a Liberty ship in the Indic...they never got farther than that. No way they ever reached any Japanese Pacific base..
If you have records of any Italian subs activity in the Pacific, please mention the subs' names, ports of destination and date of arrival. Thanks a lot in advance and compliments for your vids.
Fantastic, I kept going back a listening again to bits . Lots of info . Good job 👍
Another great job. I love these unknown footnotes of history!