Third Party Press

U-Boot Captain Soldbuch with a twist.

Peter U

Moderator
Staff member
The latest addition in my collection a Soldbuch of a demoted U-Boot commander.
Helmut Franzke born in 1907 lost his father in WW1 but nevertheless chose for a career in the Germany Navy, he began his naval officer training in October 1927, four years later he was commissioned as a lieutenant.
He attended U-Boot training and in January 1940 as a "Leutenant zur See" he was appointed first watch officer (second in command) of U26, with this submarine he did three successful
war patrols.
The third patrol of the submarine was done in the North Atlantic in February 1940, on the 12th the Norwegian ship Nidarholm was sunk, two days later the British ship Langleeford and on the 15th another Norwegian ship Steinstad was sent to the bottom.
The forth patrol was done as part of operation "Weserubung", the occupation of Norway, first they delivered AAA guns and ammunition in Trondheim and on April 21 1940 the British ship Cedarbank was sunk.
The fifth patrol at the end of May 1940 was once again part of operation Weserubung and again they delivered supplies in the harbor of Trondheim, no ships were attacked.
For these actions he was awarded the EKII, U-Boot combat badge, promoted to Kapitänleutenant and at the end of July 1940 he was given command of his own submarine: U3.
With the U3 he did training missions but in November 1940 his career went to the bottom!
During a drunken night of partying he and few men of his crew engaged in some homosexual deeds but what was worse was that they were denounced and arrested.
When the Nazi's came to power in Germany laws against homosexuality became more strict, men kissing men was also seen as a homosexual act and could be prosecuted, also the penalties were more severe, up to 10 years in prison and you could also be deported to a concentration camp.
Franzke was court-martialed, found guilty for §175 (homosexuality) and given 15 months in prison, discharged from U-Boot service, demoted to sailor and he could never hold a command position again.
He served his prison sentence in the notorious Army prison in Anklam, afterwards he was sent to 4. Schiffstammabteilung in Wilhelmshafen and afterwards to the 11th Sicherungsdivision.
With the 11th security division he served on coastal patrol ships in the Adriatic Sea, because of his experience he soon became an acting commander again, his service resulted in the award of the "Minensuchabzeichen" and a promotion to sailor third class.
Someone in the Kriegsmarine administration must have found out that Franzke was again taking leadership positions in the fleet and decided to act, this is right at the time (March 1944) that this replacement Soldbuch was issued, once again Franzke was transferred and demoted to sailor.
He now arrived with the 1 Flottillenstammregiment, a marine infantry training unit based in Belgium (Beverloo and Bruges), he was issued infantry equipment such as a French rifle with 60 bullets, a bayonet, an entrenchingtool and 2 handgrenades.
At the end of March 1944 he got 20 days of "Einsatzurlaub", the type of leave you get before you go in to action again but it was cut short 13 days.
He also gives back his infantry equipment, so we can conclude that he was given once again a task on a coastal patrol vessel.
But he never saw action on sea again, on May 28 1944 the allies bombed the German naval bases in Belgium and it was on this day that he was KIA, he now lays buried in the German wargraves cemetery in Lommel.

Enjoy the images of his Soldbuch, it is loaded with details about his equipment: tropical kit for the Adriatic Sea and the infantry gear he had while being in Belgium.
 

Attachments

  • 001.jpg
    001.jpg
    296.1 KB · Views: 70
  • 002.jpg
    002.jpg
    299.5 KB · Views: 83
  • 002a.jpg
    002a.jpg
    59.6 KB · Views: 131
  • 003.jpg
    003.jpg
    315 KB · Views: 66
  • 004.jpg
    004.jpg
    301.6 KB · Views: 51
  • 005.jpg
    005.jpg
    310.1 KB · Views: 57
  • 006.jpg
    006.jpg
    316.4 KB · Views: 53
  • 007.jpg
    007.jpg
    318.5 KB · Views: 48
  • 008.jpg
    008.jpg
    314.1 KB · Views: 47
  • 009.jpg
    009.jpg
    314.8 KB · Views: 50
Last edited:
More images
 

Attachments

  • 011.jpg
    011.jpg
    310.8 KB · Views: 29
  • 012.jpg
    012.jpg
    309.8 KB · Views: 28
  • 013.jpg
    013.jpg
    309.5 KB · Views: 24
  • 014.jpg
    014.jpg
    302.8 KB · Views: 21
  • 015.jpg
    015.jpg
    308.1 KB · Views: 20
  • 016.jpg
    016.jpg
    298.5 KB · Views: 19
  • 017.jpg
    017.jpg
    312.7 KB · Views: 23
  • 018.jpg
    018.jpg
    313.8 KB · Views: 23
  • 019.jpg
    019.jpg
    309.1 KB · Views: 21
  • 020.jpg
    020.jpg
    310.1 KB · Views: 26
He carried his privately owned pistol, an 08 which he inhirted from his stepfather.
 

Attachments

  • 021.jpg
    021.jpg
    294.6 KB · Views: 68
Where did you obtain all of the information about his criminal case? I don’t see that much in the buch.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Where did you obtain all of the information about his criminal case? I don’t see that much in the buch.

His story, just like that of all other U-Boot commanders, is well documented and you can find it easily with a google search.
Plus there is a lot of reading between the lines like a sailor born in 1907 with a 12 year service medal for example and you can see his last demotion on page one and confirmed on page 3.
 
Wow, that's crazy stuff!

I guess he forgot the old Navy saying, its not gay if you're underway...they were not underway! :facepalm:


But interesting story for sure!

As always, thanks for posting this fascinating look into the past!
 
What a bizzare story. I appreciate the time you took to put all of this information together. Sometimes its easy to get lost in the overarching history of WW2 and miss out on the individual stories. This has to be one of the most peculiar Kreigsmarine careers period. Quite honestly, I can't believe they let him serve again.
 
Again, outstanding Peter. Was this SB on him when he was killed? Sent to the family? One of your more interesting SBs for sure. Pretty tragic for Franzke all the way around. Given the U-Boat losses and his success and capability, it's odd (I guess) that the KM just didn't simply write it off with a warning and a mark on his "permanent record." You really bring these SBs alive, thanks :happy0180:
 
His story, just like that of all other U-Boot commanders, is well documented and you can find it easily with a google search.
Plus there is a lot of reading between the lines like a sailor born in 1907 with a 12 year service medal for example and you can see his last demotion on page one and confirmed on page 3.

Ah, I got you. External sources. Thank you.
 
It is indeed a bizar story.
What I also find odd is that he was apparently partying with the EM of his crew, officers and EM didn't tend to mingle, even off duty in the Kriegsmarine.
He was lucky that the Sipo/SD didn't pick up his case; if they had done, he would have ended up in a concentration camp were there was a chance that he would have been euthanized.
(The Waffen SS executed/hanged those found guilty of homosexuality.)
I also wonder what happened with the EM of his crew that were also caught.


His case is also typical of how the Nazi's had a bad influence on the armed forces, although homosexuality was illegal in Germany before they came to power, such a trivial case as that of Helmut Franzke would never have been prosecuted, but now that they were in power they saw enemies everywhere, I guess typical behavior for dictatorships.
So in a time when the needed "every swinging dick" in the field, they preferred to remove a capable submarine commander from their fleet, put him in jail and then use him as a ordinary sailor on coastal patrol boats.
A slap on the wrist would have been more then enough and he could have carried on doing what he was trained for: destroying allied tonnage at sea, thus his conviction aided more the allied cause then that of the Reich.
 
Great follow up Amberg :thumbsup: That would be good if we could get more info. Very interesting SB and thread.
 
Fascinating history. Certainly not the first or last time something like this happened among service members in any branch on any side in WWII, but definitely a corner of WWII history not widely known about.
 

Military Rifle Journal
Back
Top