The mystery regarding U 196 (2024)

Hi Everybody...

U 196 ( type IXD2, Monsun Gruppe 33 Flotilla, last commander Werner Striegler ) was officially reported lost in the Sunda Straits off Java in Dec 1944. However it has been reported that this boat has been discovered in 1981 off the beach near Dargaville, Kaipara District, Northland, New Zealand, in shallow waters. There is a lot of talk about the crew ( one SS officer was apparently shot, in a dispute, on disembarkation ) having settled down in that locality and their descendants still around at that place.

U 196 is famous as the sub which carried out the longest patrol for any U boot in WW II ( 225 days, from March 13 to October 23, 1943 ). There is talk about transporting weapons grade Uranium to Japan and picking up payment for the same in gold ingots.

Does any member have any authentic information on this pl?

Ciao
Sandeep

From German records, it was reported lost in the Indian Ocean off Sukabumi with the loss of 65 crew. It left Jakarta on 29th Nov '44, and passed thru the Sunda Straights. On the 30th they reported taking damage from hitting a mine. This itself is odd since the Sunda Straits were not mined (by air) from the Allies until two weeks later.

Despite the lack of info about the deaths of the crew members, there is one that is stated to have died in Indonesia. There is a grave of Dr. Heinz Haake in Village Arca Domas, Bogor, long with nine other Germans. Some seem to have been interred there post war. There is little information why Haake is buried there with his colleagues, just that it was at the request of his family.

There are various claims that she was intended to sail around Australia to Japan for fresh batteries ( Stevens, U 862, Uboat far from Home) however contrary claims state she was ordered to refuel another U-boat mid Indian Ocean. U 196 was also hailed by radio until mid January 1945, which also puzzles one, considering had Haake been recovered from the sea following a sinking in the Sunda Straits one would expect the BdU to stop sending messages to her?

It appears a mullet net was snagged on this submarine wreck in 1988 and it was first dived on then. the location was lost but claimed to be rediscovered a decade later. There has never been any independent verification of this wreck.

In New Zealand a salvage diver & curator of a small museum in Dargaville was cited in a couple of articles claiming he located a submarine with a deck gun semi-buried in sand just beyond the surf zone along the coast north of Dargaville. He told me by email that because the law for claiming salvage had changed & also because he could not lay claim to a foreign military vessel that he would not disclose the exact location. He said too that he was approached by first a kiwi with a story relating to a historic murder near Dargaville in WW2 which was claimed related to landing spies and then by two people claiming to be descendants of those German spies connecting their stories with the alleged discovery. The story recounted to me via email seemed rather nonsensical.

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/259 ... -154793179

2 unknown
8 identified


Heinz Haake of U-196

Interestingly if his body was found and identifed this means that 196 was lost in sundra straits...his dod is the day the U-196 began its last voegue...
On 30 November, U-196 left Batavia (Java, in Indonesia), now commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Werner Striegler.[2] After departure U-196 was reassigned to refuel a sister U-boat in the Indian Ocean, but the rendezvous never took place. Efforts to contact U-196 during early December 1944 failed to elicit a response. When she failed to return to Jakarta and failed repeatedly to signal her position, she was listed as missing in the Sunda Straits south of Java, effective from 12 December 1944
Cause?
"...It has been suggested that she struck an Allied mine laid by the British submarine HMS Porpoise. However, Porpoise did not lay the mines until 9 December 1944."

Yet as noted above she was apparently missing between 30 November 1944 and 12- December 1944

related link

COmentator wrote: ↑

15 May 2024, 16:03

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/259 ... -154793179

2 unknown
8 identified


Heinz Haake of U-196

Interestingly if his body was found and identifed this means that 196 was lost in sundra straits...his dod is the day the U-196 began its last voegue...
On 30 November, U-196 left Batavia (Java, in Indonesia), now commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Werner Striegler.[2] After departure U-196 was reassigned to refuel a sister U-boat in the Indian Ocean, but the rendezvous never took place. Efforts to contact U-196 during early December 1944 failed to elicit a response. When she failed to return to Jakarta and failed repeatedly to signal her position, she was listed as missing in the Sunda Straits south of Java, effective from 12 December 1944
Cause?
"...It has been suggested that she struck an Allied mine laid by the British submarine HMS Porpoise. However, Porpoise did not lay the mines until 9 December 1944."

Yet as noted above she was apparently missing between 30 November 1944 and 12- December 1944

related link

It couldn't possibly involve the minefield laid by Porpoise in Dec 1944. Not only is the date off but so is the location. U-196 was reportedly lost in the Sunda Strait which lies between Sumatra and Java. Porpoise was laying mines off Penang several hundred miles away to the north in the Malacca Strait. Her patrol history with maps can be found here.
https://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3412.html

You can find details of all the RN submarine mining operations in WW2 here
https://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Ops-Minelaying.htm#4

And patrol histories for RN subs here with maps.
https://uboat.net/allies/warships/types ... =Submarine

In 1944/45 the RN minelaying operations were by subs operating out of Ceylon in the SEAC area, and were in the waters around the north end of Sumatra, Burma & Malacca Strait.

The SEAC /SWPA boundary was the southern coast of Sumatra meaning Sunda Strait itself fell into SWPA. So any minefields there would have been laid by US 7th Fleet subs operating out of Fremantle, Australia. While RN subs began to move to Fremantle in Sept 1944 (8th Sub Flotilla based on HMS Maidstone), they were not engaged in minelaying operations.

Unfortunately I have no information to hand about US sub operations out of Fremantle.

The other thing to bear in mind is that Sunda Strait was and is difficult to navigate. The northern end is shallow, there are strong currents through it generally flowing south and it has never been very well charted. It was a major challenge for Allied submarines transitting to patrol areas in the Java Sea to the north. So it is entirely possible that U-196 became a navigational casualty.

thank you

in regard to the other 3 submaines...
U-196 was apparently lost between 30 november 1944 and 12-12-1944 when she failed to respond to german radio calls
https://seapower.navy.gov.au/history/fe ... ian-waters

sunk by Austrailan Mine?

"....In August 1943 the RAAF flew over 1,000 miles to attack the headquarters for Japanís Second Southern Expeditionary Fleet at Surabaya. Their mines sank seven ships, and damaged eleven. On this, and other, long-range flights, the Catalinas extended their reach by refueling with U.S. Navy seaplane tenders on the return route. For the next two years the Australians flew missions throughout the Netherlands East Indies, including New Guinea, Halmahera, Celebes, Java, and Borneo...."

P.20 https://media.defense.gov/2017/Dec/28/2 ... S_AWAY.PDF

I don't believe it could have been an RAAF laid mine. While RAAF Catalinas based in northern Australia, reached out to mine the waters around Soerabaya, which lies at the Eastern end of Java on a regular basis from mid-1943, it was another c450 miles (c900 round trip) to the Sunda Strait, at thevwestern end. I believe that was beyond the range of the RAAF Catalinas. RAAF history here with a chapter on mining.

https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com ... 519684.PDF

I'd recommend spending some time with a map of the region. Only problem is place names of the war get repeated and since WW2 manybhavevchanged.