Ive learned not to trust books supposedly written from diaries. Books such as "Last Letters From Stalingrad" for instance. Also, the auther most liklely will imbellish anything and is VERY unlikely he had access to the Diary od any uboat unless he is VERY close friends woth Horst Bredow, and THAT is VERY unlikely these days.
Carl : Have you written Horst before or is he alive ? You are of course correct, but thought I would ask just the same..... E
I met with him for two days last year at the Archiv. He opened it all day on saturday--just for Susanne and I to go there. We (Susanne and I) were doing research on U 534 and U 181 (of coarse) when a group of about 40 ww2 Uboat vets were touring the Archiv. I met another 2nd watch officer Herr Rolf Ryske, and several of the other Uboat vets. I might add, I just happened to have a stack of my "business cards" lying on the table and they all wanted one. This card I hand drew an exact copy of a schematic drawing of U 181. They loved my uboat introduction "business" card. I still have some in storage. Almost everywhere I went, and if someone saw my card-they wanted one. I ran through one box of 1000 cards in 2 weeks and had to have more made for my trip to Germany, and then I went through almost half the box in one week before going to Germany, THATS how popular my cards were. Hmmmm, maybe I shopuld have sold them for a dollar a piece--Hmmmm.. Anyway, Horst is still living tho is weak from a long illness he has had. By the way, Horst is the sole survivor of the crew of the uboat he was on. His uboat was destroyed in action, the time he was not with them due to illness. Had he been on board-he too would have been killed. Lucky for him his tooth kept him out of the sub long enough to miss their last patrol. If you want anything from Horst, be prepared to pay some hefty research fees. I think to get a copy of one photo, it will be $20.00. If you are a paid member of the Archiv, you pay half the fees. Since his Archiv isnt getting any monies from the German Govt, he relies on donations and peoples memberships fees-to keep in operation. The Zerstorer abziechen my Opa got from a U 181 vet he met after the war-who from 1940-to sometime in 1942, had served on Destroyers before going to Wilhelmshaven or Murwick ? for uboat training and becoming a member of U 181's crew. Anyway, I gave that badge to Horst, as the badge did belong in that collection because of this man having served on a surface ship before becoming a sea devil. I felt that the badge needed to be among those items.
Some very intersting information Carl......I wouldn't feel at all odd in sending funds of what I could for the archiv's. I have heard that many in Germany survive from acceptable donations from friends and family only. This is of course awfully tough and would indeed limit any type of visiting hours unless a small fee was given. Thought about sending me one of those classy business cards of yours ?? E
I would be glad to send you a card, but all I have access to are cards that have spelling errors on them and info left out. Like the misspelled Kapitan zur See, and left out the U 181's exact type which is a type IX-D2. After my move, I can send you a "corrected" card. If you want some of these other, just let me know--there were no changes on my drawing of U 181, just what was mentioned in paragraph #1.
OK, and im just today, starting to pack a few boxes and will be taking them to the new address tonight. I'm just trying to get a few things out of the way and done, before the big day arrives. GOD< I HOPE this is my last move for awhile--unless you grant me the job I want, THEN it will be a pleasure to move.
Hope the move will be a pleasant one. Tried calling you this morn but it was too late and you were off and running. Drop me a private line when you are situated and send your phone # and a good time to chat, and hopefully you can pull all your militaria and books out finally and see what you have. The last time we moved which was.....? I do remember all the boxes in storage and actually forgot what was in there / the mind sure plays a lot of tricks on a person. Hey is it still snowing in your parts partner ?! E
Get this, I got home at 2 am and went to bed. I have to get up at 7am to go to work (stupid Saturday schedule). So I tried to go to sleep, and as I was drowsing off (finally) a thunderstorm blew in-making plenty of noise and thus keeping me awake till about 3:30 am. next thing I knew, it was 5:00am--still little or no sleep Then I look at the clock and its 7:15 am and I forced myself up and at em, and VERY reluctantly, dressed for work. I left the house at 7:25 am and went straight to work I barely escaped seeing my sister that early in the morning and all she wanted to do is to have another argument. I waited 1 hour for someone to show up and open the doors, only to be told about an hour later, that there was no work I WAS seething, and still are [ 05 January 2002: Message edited by: C.Evans ]</p>
Ooops, I was so busy thinking about this morning that I forgot to answer your Q's. First I'll start with a Q, of meeeee own. Do you know who answeed the phone? was it a male or female? If it was a male, then it probably was my brother-in-law, and he will leave me a message telling me about your call. If it was a female (my--ugh-sister)I MIGHT be left a note telling of your call. If it was any of mu Nephews--I will not be told of the call. I'll definately look forward to the chat and will let you know the new number. I have a delimma, I might have two people I can now move in with. #1 would be a house with two other folks there, #2 would be sharing an apt with this pretty gal from work, but I will not know for sure on whether I can move in with her or not for a few weeks. The other--all I have to do is to give my acknowledgement that I want it, and im in. (I would much rather live with a pretty female--BUT she has 2 kids--and at least they are well behaved. I agree, I cannot wait till I again have access to all my books and info. So far I havent had the bad luck to buy an extra copy of some book thinking I didnt already have a copy. My next read, will probably be that new book published about Wolfgang Luth. At any rate, I think I will be moving within this month, or definately the first week of Feb. [ 05 January 2002: Message edited by: C.Evans ]</p>
Eeeeeeeeekkkks, family troubles, ugh, I know this and glad I am married, well at least sometimes it doesn't seem that way. Some guy with a very deep southern accent on a recording. Let me know what happens so we can talk bud ! dein freund E
