Wolfgang Hirschfeld was radioman on U-109 under Korvettenkapitän Hans-Georg Fischer and then under Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Bleichrodt when they hunted in American waters during the late phases of Operation Paukenschlag, or Drumbeat. At the end of the war, he was Oberfunkmeister (Master Chief - Radio) aboard U-234, the converted Type X-B mine-layer on her way to Tokyo, and in her belly was a vast array of highly secret people and materiel.
Personnel aboard included a General der Luftwaffe (General Ulrich Kessler), who was to take over the Luftwaffe liaison duties in Tokyo, a Naval Fleet Judge Advocate to try cases of German traitors in Japan, Dr. Heinz Schlicke (renowned German scientist later grabbed up by the USA in Operation Paperclip) and two Japanese technical officers, who committed suicide during the voyage.
Technical material on board included the newest torpedoes, two Me-262 jet fighters (crated) and all the technological data necessary for the Japanese to begin building these very fast fighters - and there were 560 kilos of uranium oxide consigned to the Imperial Japanese Army for use in the Japanese atomic bomb. Unknown to most, Japan test fired their first nuclear device a week before the Americans test fired theirs. Japan merely lacked the fissionable material to make the bomb - and U-234 was bringing it to the Empire.
Wolfgang Hirschfeld was the Master Chief Radioman on this submarine.
He began his "Eternal Patrol" in early 2005.
Oberfunkmeister Wolfgang Hirschfeld
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