Home leave in Germany

5th June 1943: A U-boat officer hoping to see his girlfriend must face the grim reality of Berlin - the bomber war is already causing devastation

A U-boat returns to base in 1943

Digging air raid trenches in a Berlin park, 1943. The Nazi regime did not publicise the actual bomb damage.

Herbert Werner¹ had just returned from the sea where his U-boat had had a narrow escape from the attentions of the Royal Navy. He knew only too well that there had been a change in fortunes in the Battle of the Atlantic. More and more of his colleagues were failing to return from patrols.

I boarded a streetcar bound for the center of the capital. That ride was appalling. Large sections of the city had almost been leveled by the saturation bombings, leaving rubble, dust, and a million tragedies.

Now he wanted to try to forget about the war. Once his leave started he made his way to Berlin as soon as he could, meeting up with his girlfriend was what he had dreamt of and what he wanted most: