Tweet
http://www.capegazette.com/storiescurre ... 80808.html
Historic submarine surrender recreated at Fort Miles
By Leah Hoenen
leah@capegazette.com
German submariners marched through Fort Miles this weekend as history buffs reenacted the historic surrender of the submarine U-858. The surrender of the U-boat was a watershed event at the end of World War II, and the popularity of its reenactment continues to grow.
During the Fort Miles event “The Dog Days of War,†held Saturday, Aug. 2, at the Fort Miles Historic Area in Cape Henlopen State Park, re-enactors replayed the events of that historic occasion. Dressed as German submariners, including the authentic leisure T-shirts bearing a German eagle holding a swastika, they marched through the cantonment (temporary troop quarters) area of the massive Battery 519.
Fort Miles, charged with protecting the Delaware Bay and River, had been built as an answer to the fearsome German navy and its flagships such as the Bismarck, Tirpitz and Graf Spee. Those vessels never made a threat to the Eastern Seaboard, but coastal inhabitants saw plenty of gruesome effects of other German navy ships. Operation Drumbeat was the German submarine operation that wreaked havoc on American shipping.
Many sailors from torpedoed vessels came into Lewes and other coastal Delaware towns, but nobody had seen one of the German submarines, said Gary Wray, president of the Fort Miles Historical Association. When the war was finally over, people were curious to see the mysterious attackers.
“Ours was the first to surrender. When word got out, everybody that could fly, get a blimp or jump on a boat to see it did so,†said Wray, so anxious were people to see one of the ships and its crew. “They had seen the damage, the bodies floating in and ships blowing up since January 1942,†he explained.
Two submarines surrendered on May 14, 1945, the U-858, which was taken to Fort Miles where it could be docked, and the U-805 that went to Portsmouth, NH.
On May 4, 1945, the German navy had announced hostilities were to cease the following day. U-858 captain Thilo Bode was in Canadian waters and steered the ship south to American waters. There, he was ordered to surface on May 9, with a black or white flag. The 27-year old Bode painted a shower curtain black. U.S. ships met the submarine off the coast of New Jersey May 10. The ship was directed to the deep waters around Fort Miles.
The modern-day Bode wore waterproof leather clothes and spoke to his crew in German. Wray said the re-enactors get better and more authentic every year. The crew were searched by Fort Miles soldiers and given work orders before being marched off toward the brig – now the Nature Center. They were then sent to Fort DuPont.
The 40,000 submariners made up a tiny sliver of the 5 million strong German military, and were heroes to their countrymen, Wray said. He said the few U-858 crewmen still alive remember Lewes and several have returned to visit.
Fort Miles was home to the 261st Coastal Artillery in the tense days of the Second World War.
Re-enactors in period American uniforms walked among the restored cantonment area of Battery 519, which is under the Great Dune, teaching people of all ages the importance of the 5,000-acre fort to national defense in the mid-1940s.
They fired some of the base’s 3-inch guns, setting off explosions that could be heard throughout the park.
Wray said turnout Saturday was one of the best the group has had for one of its events.
The historical association teams up with Delaware State Parks three times a year for events. The submarine surrender is a key part of the summer program.
For more information, visit www.fortmiles.org
Historic submarine surrender recreated at Fort Miles
By Leah Hoenen
leah@capegazette.com
German submariners marched through Fort Miles this weekend as history buffs reenacted the historic surrender of the submarine U-858. The surrender of the U-boat was a watershed event at the end of World War II, and the popularity of its reenactment continues to grow.
During the Fort Miles event “The Dog Days of War,†held Saturday, Aug. 2, at the Fort Miles Historic Area in Cape Henlopen State Park, re-enactors replayed the events of that historic occasion. Dressed as German submariners, including the authentic leisure T-shirts bearing a German eagle holding a swastika, they marched through the cantonment (temporary troop quarters) area of the massive Battery 519.
Fort Miles, charged with protecting the Delaware Bay and River, had been built as an answer to the fearsome German navy and its flagships such as the Bismarck, Tirpitz and Graf Spee. Those vessels never made a threat to the Eastern Seaboard, but coastal inhabitants saw plenty of gruesome effects of other German navy ships. Operation Drumbeat was the German submarine operation that wreaked havoc on American shipping.
Many sailors from torpedoed vessels came into Lewes and other coastal Delaware towns, but nobody had seen one of the German submarines, said Gary Wray, president of the Fort Miles Historical Association. When the war was finally over, people were curious to see the mysterious attackers.
“Ours was the first to surrender. When word got out, everybody that could fly, get a blimp or jump on a boat to see it did so,†said Wray, so anxious were people to see one of the ships and its crew. “They had seen the damage, the bodies floating in and ships blowing up since January 1942,†he explained.
Two submarines surrendered on May 14, 1945, the U-858, which was taken to Fort Miles where it could be docked, and the U-805 that went to Portsmouth, NH.
On May 4, 1945, the German navy had announced hostilities were to cease the following day. U-858 captain Thilo Bode was in Canadian waters and steered the ship south to American waters. There, he was ordered to surface on May 9, with a black or white flag. The 27-year old Bode painted a shower curtain black. U.S. ships met the submarine off the coast of New Jersey May 10. The ship was directed to the deep waters around Fort Miles.
The modern-day Bode wore waterproof leather clothes and spoke to his crew in German. Wray said the re-enactors get better and more authentic every year. The crew were searched by Fort Miles soldiers and given work orders before being marched off toward the brig – now the Nature Center. They were then sent to Fort DuPont.
The 40,000 submariners made up a tiny sliver of the 5 million strong German military, and were heroes to their countrymen, Wray said. He said the few U-858 crewmen still alive remember Lewes and several have returned to visit.
Fort Miles was home to the 261st Coastal Artillery in the tense days of the Second World War.
Re-enactors in period American uniforms walked among the restored cantonment area of Battery 519, which is under the Great Dune, teaching people of all ages the importance of the 5,000-acre fort to national defense in the mid-1940s.
They fired some of the base’s 3-inch guns, setting off explosions that could be heard throughout the park.
Wray said turnout Saturday was one of the best the group has had for one of its events.
The historical association teams up with Delaware State Parks three times a year for events. The submarine surrender is a key part of the summer program.
For more information, visit www.fortmiles.org