For almost 15 years the Oil Directorate has been the government agency responsible for cleaning up the seabed of the North Sea. During this period of time it has made many interesting finds, among them ship wrecks. Each wreck tells a tale of tragic loss of lives, often buried with them. Of fear, suffering, widows and fatherless children. In many cases the wrecks are only marked by symbol s on the charts of the Norwegian Hydrographic Institution. The different naval commands have more data, but often they are hard to come by in a military hierarchy reluctant to disclose information. What sharpens the interest and zest for exploration of some of the people who have followed the Directorate's work is maybe the discovery of submarines buried in the seabed. It would appear that submarines are particularly appealing to the human proclivity for mysteries. It is a fact that announcements in the media that unknown submarines have been found in Norwegian, and for that matter also Swedish waters, attract the public's attention.
In the summer of 1986, when the Oil Directorate cleaned up the Viking Bank, it found the wreck of a submarine at 190 metre deep water. The Directorate contacted the Norwegian Navy submarine specialists in Bergen. Then alI the information collected was handed over to Knut Sivertsen, a police constable at the Trondheim police station who has a passion for submarines. It did not take him long to decide that this had to be the German U-35 which was sunk by three British fighters on November 29, 1939. The submarine had a crew of 44. AlI 44 men were brought to the UK as POWs. The Oil Directorate transmitted this information to the Norwegian Navy, asking that it be forwarded to their German colleagues
The following summer another submarine was found on the seabed, this time west of Lindenes, at a depth of 70 metres. Again the Navy's submarine inspectorate in Bergen and Knut Sivertsen joined forces. They found out that the submarine had to be the German U-319 which was sunk by British aircraft on July 15, 1944. Onboard the U-319 were 51 - alI of whom lost their lives. The submarine was built in Lubeck. The flag was hoisted on December 4, 1943. Commander of the submarine was 32-year old Oberleutnant zur See, Johannes Clemens, who already had a good knowledge of Norwegian waters from his time as marine officer at Hafenschutzflotille Narvik from August 1940 to July 1942. After that he had been sent on submarine training in Germany. The U-319 was tasked to operate in the North Sea, and one of its ports of calI was Stavanger. The submarine left Stavanger on July 5, 1944, to go on what was to be its final voyage as it was sunk only ten days later.
The commander's body was found on the shore of the Jear-coast and was buried in the German war cemetery in Stavanger. After the war the German graves were moved to Havstein war cemetery in Trondheim where Johannes Clemens' grave still is.
The information the Oil Directorate had gathered, among it the video tapes, this time also was sent to the Norwegian Navy and forwarded to the German navy. There was never any response from Germany.
In the summer of 1993 a third submarine was discovered. This time it was found west of Egersund, 180 metres down. On August 13 the crew onboard the MS SEAWAY COMMANDER opened their eyes wide when they saw the pictures taken from the unmanned submarine owned by the StoIt Comex Seaway AIS company. What they saw were clear pictures of the characteristic bow of a submarine. The wreck was videotaped in its entire length. In a provisional report Cruise Chief Jan Brekke stated that the submarine was 75 metres long.
As is usual at the end of an operation, the Oil Directorate invited interested parties -fishermen, reporters, representatives from the oil industry, authorities and Defence Command South Norway - to a brief in Egersund on August 23. The discovery of the submarine was reported and video tapes shown. A press release was issued on the find and several national newspapers brought reports.
As is usual when submarines are found, the Navy's submarine experts in Bergen and at the Navy Museum in Horten were informed. The director of the museum, commander Steinar Sandvold and commander Hakon Smebol, both of whom have served long periods on submarines, examined the video and got hold of other relevant documentation. At an early stage of their investigations they realized that the wreckage could be the Polish submarine ORP ORZEŁ or the Dutch 0-22. ORZEŁ disappeared on a cruise between Scotland, the Norwegian coast and Jutland in late May or early June 1940, while 0-22 was lost on a cruise along the Norwegian coast in November 1940.
Is this ORZEŁ?
The chance that this could be the Polish ORP ORZEŁ seemed exciting. ORZEŁ holds a special place in the hearts of the Polish people, but the submarine also played an important role in Norwegian war history. It was ORZEŁ that on April 8, 1940, sunk the German troop carrier, RIO DE JANEIRO off Lillesand, thus giving the Norwegian a clear warning that a German attack was impending.
ORZEŁ was designed by Polish engineers and built at a shipyard in the Netherlands. The money to build it, one of the best and heavily armed submarines at the time, came partly from a fund-raiser in Poland. The submarine was set afloat on January 15, 1938. It was to have a crew of 63 men and was equipped with 12 torpedoes, one 10,5 cm Bofors gun, a double 40 mm retractible anti-aircraft gun, and a double 13,2 mm Hotchkiss MMG.
Soon after it had be en launched, ORZEŁ went on its first visit to Norway. In November 1938 the ORZEŁ called at Horten where it was to conduct cruise speed tests with the Norwegian navy. It was a spectacular visitor, and alI the newspapers covered the visit. The submarine was said to weigh 1100 t and capable of making 20 knots. Besides speed tests it also did pressure tests at great depths.
When WW2 broke out when Germany attacked Poland on September l, 1939, the ORZEŁ was at its home base in Gdynia. After the first attacks of the naval base by the German fighter bombers, ORZEŁ cast off and mad e for a pre-arranged patrol area in the Baltic. Under difficult conditions and increasingly in danger of being attacked by German aircraft, trawlers and patrol boats, ORZEŁ had to stay on deep water most of the time. Only in very darkest hours of the night could the submarine sneak up to the surface, but even the Clerks of the Weather were on the side of the Germans. It was fulI moon and the sky was clear so the risk of being spotted was great. Radio connections with the base in Gdynia was disturbed by German interference, and after a while they were lost completely. The crew began to show signs of stress and fatigue, and shortly after the, commander and one of the medical orderlies felI seriously iII. By then the commander had watched over the vessel for 12 days and nights. It was decided that the submarine should calI on Tallinn in neutral Estonia so the sick could be taken to hospital. The last days of the voyage the captain was so sick that he had to be hoisted up and down the sail, being too weak to climb the Lauder.
In the evening of September 14, ORZEŁ arrived in the port of Tallinn. The captain and medical orderly were transferred to a local hospital. Estonian port authorities ordered submarine moored in the inner port basin. The poles stated they would cast off again within 24 hours and that their stay was regulated by international law - to which the Estonian authorities agreed.
In the port was a German freighter. When the polish submarine arrived in port, flying the polish naval flag, the German freighter lowered its flag. The Germans were keen on avoiding a clash with the polish crew who no doubt had a burning hatred for the German nation which had invaded their country.
Soon after their arrival, the polish crew got on with repair work, ordered fuel, fresh supplies and water. The submarine was ready to set out to sea again in the evening of September 15, but when he reported this to the Estonian port authorities the 2lC, who had taken command of the vessel, was summoned before the Estonian Duty Officer. He was told that departure could only take place six hours later, at the earliest. The Estonians referred to international law which provided that the arships of warring countries had to depart with a timelag of at least six hours when departing from the same port. The German freighter had reported it was leaving, therefore the polish submarine had to wait. The polish crew was worried when the German vessel showed no signs of preparing to leave, and they sensed trouble brewing. Without any warning an Estonian military detachment came marching down to the pier where ORZEŁ was moored. Estonian guards were posted on board, and the captain was told the Estonian government had devided that ORZEŁ and her crew were to be detained.
Besides posting guards on board and on the pier, the Estonians demanded that alI weapons and torpedoes be removed from the submarine. The charts of the submarine were impounded, but the new captain managed to burn alI secret documents and the code books.
The reason that the Estonians acted so unfriendly and in violation of international law was that the German minister to Tallinn had pressurized the Estonian government. At the very time alI this happened the German armed forces were defeating the Polish army and taking large parts of Poland. coming from the east the Red Army prepared to attack the Polish army in the rear. On September 17 the Russians launched their attack. This is the background the disgraceful detention of ORZEŁ by the Estonians must be viewed against.
Escape from Tallinn
The new captain of the ORZEŁ, 33-year old Jan Grudzinski and his crew at one and the same time raged and despaired. They immediately began to estimate their chances of escape.
Meanwhile work on removing torpedoes and making the guns unserviceable continued the following day. As soon as the Estonians had removed the breeching of the gun, the German freighter - which had not left port - hoisted its swastika flag again. The poles tried to give the impression that they were cooperating with the Estonian officers who directed the disarmament of the submarine, but in reality they did everything in their power to sabotage the work. When the last torpedoes were ready to be put ashore, the hoisting device broke down - the wire had, conveniently, been cut. One of the officers of ORZEŁ, pretending to be fishing, measured depths in the port basin and mouth of the port. The engineer saved the vi tal engine parts the Estonians demanded removed by telling them that they had to be cleaned and oiled first. One of the boatswain cut the hawsers the submarine was moored with almost through. The Estonians never suspected what the Poles we re up to. The Estonian officer in charge of the work promised the poles they would be alI right once they were in the detention camp. They should count their blessings for being out of the war, he said.
To avoid raising suspicions the Polish crew turned in at the usual time that night, but at 2 am on September 18 there was silent alarm. The two Estonian guards were overpowered and brought down into ORZEŁ. The main power cable in the port was cut so the entire area was blacked out, the engines of ORZEŁ powered up, and the almost ruptured hawsers cut through. As ORZEŁ started to sneak out, fire was opened against it. It lost precious time by grounding a sand bank so it had to reverse. But it got away, and when the coastal batteries opened fire it was on sufficiently deep water to dive. Once again ORZEŁ was on its own in the Baltic. It had no weapons, no charts, and now more than ever it was a prestige target for the German navy.
The courageous escape was reported alI over the world. Already on September 19 Stavanger Aftenblad told its readers about the Polish submarine, ORZEŁ, that had been detained in Tallinn but succeeded in escaping despite being under fire of the port batteries. The newspaper also reported that the commanding admiral of the Estonian navy and the chief of general staff had been discharged.
But the escape was to have other and more serious consequences for Estonia and her population. The Soviet leaders now fel t they had a plausible excuse for invading Estonia, claiming this was a case of country having failed to protect her neutrality. The Estonian minister to Moscow was summoned before Molotov on September 19 and was admonished that if Estonia could not protect her neutrality herself, the Russian navy had to do it. The same night units of the Soviet fleet, in a demonstration of power, anchor up alI along the entire coast of Estonia. A few days later Moscow sent for the Estonian foreign minister. He met with Molotov and Mikojan who referred to ORZEŁ's escape and demanded that Estonia conclude a military pact with the Soviet Union. The treaty would give the USSR the right to build air and naval bases on Estonian territory. The Estonians felt they could do nothing but accept the Soviet demands. On October 2, 1939, the first train carrying the Russian military commission to Estonia rolled in. Estonia was caught in Stalin's web.
Meanwhile the ORZEŁ plied the Baltic. Despite violent protests, the two Estonian guards were put on board the only dinghy ORZEŁ had off the coast of Gotland. Over the radio the Poles listened to reports about the fightings that we re still going on in their country, about the advance of the Soviet army from the east, about the fall of Warsaw, about how the Polish government and supreme command had to flee across the Romanian border. In spite of the bad news from home the captain and crew decided to go on fighting, and the best way they could do it would be to go to Great Britain and join the British navy, they felt.
After a nerve-wracking voyage through the Danish straits, surrounded by German vessels, ORZEŁ sailed into the North Sea and approached the coast of England. A radio message in clear text about ORZEŁ's situation and position was intercepted by the Brits at six o'clock am on October 14. A British fighter was sent up to escort ORZEŁ to Rosyth. A report of the British Admiralty after its inspection of the submarine says: "ORZEŁ arrived looking smart and clean, with her crew in excellent health and spirits. Apart from the suspected damage to the duct keel and bow torpedo tube caps sustained on grounding, she has minor defects only. Her entire personnel are eager for war service with a British Flotilla."
The successful escape created a sensation. The captain was awarded the highest Polish decoration, Virtuti Military, and the British Distinguished Service Order. The submarine was visited by the Polish prime minister and chief in command, General Wladyslaw Sikorski, and later King Georg VI of Great Britain. Winston Churchill stated that "the young Polish Navy had distinguished itself", and that "the escape of the submarine ORZEŁ is an epic."
Even in Goebbel's propaganda material, which otherwise saw it as its prime duty to present the Poles in the worst possible light, mentioned the escape with some admiration.
On Cruise Along the Coast of Norway
The crew of ORZEŁ was however more keen on setting out for sea as soon as possible to fight the Germans. After a minimum of repair and re-supply, but without having replaced the gun breechings, ORZEŁ on December 10 set out on her first escort and patrol mission on British orders, but under Polish flag. In the winter and spring of 1940 it carried out one mission after the other, most of them a10ng the coast of Norway. At the end of December the submarine was tasked to escort a convoy from Bergen bound for Shet1and, in March ORZEŁ was patrolling near Stavanger and at the mouth of the Jossingfjord, with orders to prevent ALTMARK going out to sea. In early April ORZEŁ was at the Sorland coast. It was on this mission that the duty officer in the morning of April 8 discovered the German RIO DE JANEIRO off Justoy near Lillesand.
The submarine hoisted a signa1 ordering RIO DE JANEIRO to heave to and send a dinghy over with he ship's papers. RIO DE JANEIRO gave no signs of intending to obey the order, and it was only after ORZEŁ had fired warning shots from the MMG in front of her bow that she s10wed down. The gun breeching still had not been replaced instead of the ones the Estonians had removed in September 1939. It took a while before a dinghy was lowered from the boat, and the Poles found out that the German captain was sending radio messages to German aircraft asking them for support. The Polish captain then gave orders to RIO DE JANEIRO to leave the vessel or he would torpedo it. It was not until the torpedo had been fired that there was some sort of response on board RIO DE JANEIRO. Suddenly uniformed men scurried on deck, and several of them jumped into the sea. The torpedo hit but did not do much damage. When an aircraft approached, ORZEŁ sent another torpedo off. There was a big explosion as the second torpedo hit its target, and the German ship broke in half and sank.
The aircraft however was not a German aircraft but the Norwegian F-332 flown by Lt Reidar Kristian Hansen. Soon Norwegian vessels came to the rescue and carried survivors and bodies to Lillesand, Ny Hellesund, Marvika and Kristiansand. The German forces said they were on their way to Bergen to protect the Norwegians against the British forces.
ORZEŁ continued her patrol up along the coast of Norway. On May 2 ORZEŁ was located off Stavanger, now occupied by the Germans, where she observed searchlights and flak. The submarine went on and on May 4 reported that four German minesweepers were positioned off Jearen reef. The Germans observed that an enemy submarine was operating in the coastal waters. The German Hafenkommandant Stavanger on May 2 reported that a submerged submarine had been spotted near Feistein. It was probably ORZEŁ.
On May 23 ORZEŁ left Rosyth on what was to be her last voyage. Her mission was to patrol the waters between Norway and Denmark, and then go up farther north. After ORZEŁ had left Rosyth, on May 23, at 2300 hrs, nothing more was heard from hero She had been ordered to be back in Rosyth in the morning of June 8. She never came back. On June 17 the British Admiralty announced that ORZEŁ was presumed lost and the crew - 61 Poles and two Britons - gone down with hero
On May 17, 1992, in the town park of Lillesand an unpretentious monument in memory of ORZEŁ and the sinking of RIO DE JANEIRO was unveiled. The year after, on May 17, the Polish corvette METALOVIEC and rescue vessel PIAST called at Liliesand. The officers and crew attended the celebration of the Norwegian national day and laid a wreath at the monument. There was an embarrassing incident when well-meaning Norwegian started a collection of money for the Polish sailors who they found had very little money. For the Poles this was both offensive and hurtful, and they did not know how to react. The end of the story was that the donation was passed on to a hospital in Poland.
Video Tapes Analyzed
ORZEŁ's special place in Norwegian and Polish naval history meant that there was a great deal more excitement about this find among the persons involved at the Oil Directorate, and the navy officers and civilians who were consulted when the tapes were to be analyzed. If this was indeed the wreck of ORZEŁ it was a sensation in naval history. The video pictures and other circumstances surrounding ORZEŁ's disappearance could mean this was in fact ORZEŁ.
With the kind and competent assistance of The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London, .Mr. R.M. Copock with the British Ministry of Defence and the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport photos were procured as well as information about the two submarines it could be, ORZEŁ and 0-22. The Dutch were more difficult to get in touch with. The Dutch military attaché in Oslo could not be reached by telephone, and a couple of attempts to get through to the Dutch naval authorities failed, but a calI direct to the Dutch naval museum, Den Helders Marinemuseum, paid off. Sub-lieutenant of the special services of the Royal Dutch Naval Reserve, Leon Hamburg, was very helpful. From then on the Dutch part of the investigations went smoothly. Lt. Hamburg very quickly sent a copy of the
construction drafts of the two submarines to Norway, photos from the construction phase and launching, and photos of 0-22 during a visit to Scotland in 1940. Thanks to the assistance and obligingness of Lt Hamburg and the documents and information he got hold of, the Norwegian investigation team could soon establish that the wreck very likely was either that of ORZEŁ or 0-22.
Since the preliminary result could bring painful memories back to the surviving relatives of the men who died in the shipwrecks, the Oil Directorate insisted that no information about the investigation should be made public before the identity of the wreck had been established beyond doubt, a stand the Norwegian navy officers involved in the case shared and respected. It also became evident that to be absolutely certain about the identity, more video tapes had to be recorded, and the navy experts of the two countries involved, Poland and the Netherlands, consulted.
By virtue of persona l contacts with officers in the Polish navy it was no problem to get information through to them, During a visit to the naval base at Gdynia a copy of the video tape and other relevant documents were handed over and viewed by representatives from the Polish navy museum, The Chief of the Polish navy, Vice Admiral Romuald Waga became so interested in the case that he made room in his busy schedule for a briefing about the circumstances of the discovery and study of photos and drafts, He stressed the import ant role ORZEŁ had played in the Polish navy's history and promised he would have his experts examine the case. The chief of the navy museum in Gdynia, Commander dr. Zbigniew Wojciechowski, was tasked to head the examination.
The Dutch Navy Infermed
Valuable as the contact with Lt Hamburg of the Dutch navy museum had been, the Oil Directorate wanted to make sure the Dutch navy command was informed of the find since the wreck could be its 0-22. By a formal letter Den Helders Marinemuseum in 1993 received a copy of the video tape and same of the documents. The museum was asked to forward them to the Dutch navy agency concerned. At the same time the Oil Directorate expressed its thanks for the assistance it had received from its distinguished and extremely helpful staff member, Lt. Hamburg.
The Norwegian navy still took an interest in the find. Vice Admiral Bjornar Kibsgaard and Rear Admiral Hans P. Sem of Defence Command South Norway (DEFCOMSONOR) in an interview in early November were briefed about the status of the investigations, and Rear Admiral Sem promised he would have his submarine experts look at the video and the documents. At a meeting at the Oil Directorate in mid-November submarine officers from DEFCOMSONOR were briefed and given a copy of the material available. The Oil Directorate confirmed in a letter to DEFCOMSONOR that the meeting had been held and the material handed over.
Sometime in November the Oil Directorate received a call from the chief of the Dutch submarine service. He asked that the press be barred from the investigation pending a definite answer to the question which submarine it was. This was the last sign of life from the Dutch navy for a long time. It 1ater turned out the Dutch had taken the case seriously and that already from the middle of October experts from the navy's submarine service and the construction division of the Navy's Materiel Command in the Hague had studied the information to establish if this was their 0-22. Participating in the work was H.M. Ort, Commander (Ret'd), the eldest son of the last captain of 0-22.
There also was no further feedback from the Polish and Norwegian navies. It was as if the report s on the find had been entangled in red tape in the military agencies of the three navies, but in the event that turned out to be wrong. The Dutch had taken a great interest in the matter and set up an expert group to try and find out if this could be 0-22. The Poles also we re investigating the case, but then quite unexpected developments gave the investigation a push in the right direction.
Polish Press on the Track
The Polish and Dutch navies in the last six months of 1993 were negotiating an agreement on cooperation. In February 1994 high-ranking Dutch navy officers visited Gdynia to wrap up the negotiations. On February 14 a press conference was held at the navy's headquarters in Gdynia. Both the Chief of the Polish navy and the Dutch officers were present. The press conference was intended to focus on the cooperation agreement, but a journalist from Gazeta Morska took Vice Admiral quite by surprise when he asked if it was true that the wreck of ORZEŁ had been found in the North Sea. The Admiral sa id that the Polish navy had indeed received a video tape from Norway, but so far it had not been possible to say for certain which ship it was. He added that perhaps the wreck could now be examined closer in cooperation with the Dutch. It is unknown if the Dutch officers commented on this. The next day Gazeta Morska brought a 10ng article in which it reported that maybe the wreck of ORZEŁ had been found in the North Sea, but that it was not yet qui te certain it was ORZEŁ. The news reached Warsaw and was broadcast by Polish radio and printed in the biggest Polish newspapers. The important Warsaw newspaper Zycie Warszawy had a long article on the front page of its weekend issue March 5-6. This apparently led to a certain pressure on the Polish navy to get on with the work.
There were also proposals and demands that a collection should be started so the wreck could be examined properly and if possib1e brought to the surface. The case was slowly developing into a hot potato for the Polish navy. Also the Norwegian embassy in Warsaw received enquiries about the find.
The Polish navy now studied the video and papers thoroughly, under mounting outside pressure. At the end of March it called a meeting at the Navy's headquarters in Gdynia. The meeting was chaired by Rear Admiral Jedrzej Czajkowski, who has 17 years' experience of submarine duty. Present at the meeting were Marek Bluz, the journalist who had put the question to Admiral Waga at the press conference on February 14, Adam Sigielski, engineer and employed at the navy's main shipyard, Marek Twardowski, an expert from the civil marine museum in Gdansk, and editor Aleksander Gosk who works for both TV and Gazeta Morska. For the first time the Polish navy allowed civilian individuals and experts to view the video tapes. Rear Admiral Czajkowski gave a commentary as the video was shown, pointing out details which proved the wreck cou1d not be that of ORZEŁ. He believed the damage to the hull. And the fact that the valves were closed indicated that the boat had be en hit by depth bombs. The civilian experts present agreed it could not be ORZEŁ, but was probably the Dutch 0-22 which the Poles knew had been sunk by two German warships on November 8, 1940. The Admiral ended the meeting by urging the media reporters to report this in such a way that no false hopes we re raised that this could be ORZEŁ.
The case attracted much attention in Poland. At a meeting of the Association of Submarine Officers on May 28 in Gdynia the submarine was the main topic. The Oil Directorate gave the permission to play the tapes at the meeting and on Polish TV. Also the Polish Ministry at Defence must have had the sunken submarine on its agenda. In mid-May the Polish ambassador to Oslo received orders from
Warsaw to get intormation from Norway for the Defence Minister.
In Norway endeavours to glean more information from the video were continued by the navy history enthusiasts, Knut Sivertsen. Trondheim, 0istein Berge, Stavanger, and Wojciech Kauczynski, Trondheim. Kauczynski is Ph.D, Engineering, and works as a researcher of nautical hydrodynamics at Marintek, Trondheim. Barn in Poland, he did his service onboard the sister ship of ORZEŁ, the submarine ORP "SEP", and so should have the best possible background for interpreting the video. His thorough and factual report was available in early April. His conclusion was that the wreck was not ORZEŁ but probably the Dutch 0-22.
It is 0-22!
In early March the Chief of the Dutch submarine service contacted the Oil Directorate and said the Dutch had arrived at the conclusion that the wreck was 0-22, and that the navy would announce this outcome publically two months later. He asked that the Oil Directorate keep this information under its hat until then, out of respect for the relatives. On April 14, the Oil Directorate had another call tram the Chief of the Dutch submarine service who said that a press release would be issued in the Netherlands on April 19 about the find and the circumstances of the case, and that a press conference would be held the same day. The san of the captain of 0-22 would be present at the press conference. He further said 10 widows of crew members were still alive. They were from 87 to 91 year old. He would call on them in person so they were to1d of the submarine wreck before the news came out.
The statement about 0-22 then came in the Dutch mass media on April 19 and the case was given massive coverage. 0-22 had been launched on January 20, 1940, and had not been fully combat ready when the Netherlands joined the war on May 10. A10ng with the other vessels of the Dutch navy it had sai1ed to Great Britain where they would be operating for the rest of the war together with British, Polish and Norwegian naval vessels. 0-22 was soon ready for combat, and before leaving Dundee bound for her last cruise, she already had four cruises in the North Sea behind hero The final cruise would take her to the coast of Norway where she would be patrolling between Skudenes and Lista. Captain on bard was Lieutenant J.W. Ort, and the crew counted 45 men, of which three were from the British Royal Navy. After she had left Dundee on November 5, no further radio signals we re received from her, and as she did not return at the appointed time, November 21, she was declared lost.
Position Declared War Grave
The Dutch navy has decided that the wreck of 0-22 is to be left as it is, a war grave, untouched respectful of the men who had died and their relatives. In memorial ceremonies on May 4, 1994, the day of the liberation of the Netherlands, those who gave their lives when the 0-22 went down were commemorated at the annual memorial ceremony in Den Helder at the monument to the submarine crews that felI during WW2. In late summer 1994 there will be a memorial ceremony at the very place at the Egersund bank where 0-22 went down. There will be laying of wreaths by the navy and relatives.
The studies will be continued. Now that new information has been received about the position and state of the wreck the Dutch hope to find more details in the British and German archives about the circumstances of the loss of 0-22. An early assumption that 0-22 was sunk on November 8, 1940, by the German minesweeper M-144 and anti-submarine vessel UJ-177 could now be ruled out.
The articles in Dutch newspapers we re read in Norway, too. The first Norwegian newspaper to bring a report was the Agderposten which through its contacts with the Netherlands and supplementary information from the Oil Directorate wrote an exhaustive report on April 22. Stavanger Aftenblad had a impartial article about the circumstances of the loss and discovery of 0-22, but already the following day it took a new angle by claiming that the case was unknown to Norwegian military agencies. The newspaper was trying to get a quarrel started between the Oil Directorate and the armed forces about
insufficient communication. The Oil Directorate decided to stay out of the public discussion. But a letter was sent to the two military commands whose press spokesmen we re alleged to have said that the armed forces had not been informed. In the letter the Oil Directorate recalled the nearly constant flow of information from the Oil Directorate to the Navy, right from the time the wreck was found in August 1993.
The report s that the grave of 0-22 had been found raised a stir in the Netherlands. Several relatives expressed relief to know what had happened and to know there was a grave of sorts. The Dutch navy has shown tact and empathy in dealing with the interests of the relatives. Beside the ten widows whom the chief of the Dutch submarine service visited, many sisters and brothers and children of the crew have been affected. The Dutch navy has sent a letter to alI relatives explaining about the find and what is known about the loss of the submarine.
For the Polish relatives the unsubstantiated report that was publizised was a cruel and unnecessary reminder of a tragedy that happened 54 years ago. The admonition of the Polish Rear Admiral Czajkowski to the press to show respect came to late. But his hope that some day ORZEŁ will also be found is shared by everybody who takes an interest in the history of seamen and their efforts during
World War 2.
