On a secret location off Laesoe is the last submarine. The U-2359. A – for its time – extremely modern Type XXIII submarine, which since the end of World War II has been a great mystery. There is simply no submarine in the position where the English pilots claims to have sunk the U-2359. The specified area around Laessoe has for years been carefully searched by divers without result. Until now.
On October 2. 2007 the divers Little Ole, Jenner and Allan Greisen had a long-awaited report to the skipper of Ternen, Aage Jensen – Dynamite-Aage – when they broke the surface after having been in the water to check yet another marking from the ship’s sonar.

So there it was there. U-2359 was for the first time since 2. May 1945 visited by humans, and it was therefore the last submarine in the inner Danish waters, which was finally found.

The beginning of the ending
The story of U-2359s last journey begins as the result of the final convulsions of a Nazi Germany under great pressure. In the final days of the war, the German leadership launched “Operation Regenbogen” ordering all submarines during the 56th latitude just south of Aarhus to trapmine and sink themselves on low water so as not to fall into the hands of the Allies.
The plan is that they shall be raised and enter the war again when the attack on the heart of the Third Reich is turned back. Submarines at the 56th Latitude must proceed directly to the safe bases in Norway, where the fight continued undeterred.

On May 2. the U-2359 together with her sister submarine, U-2334, sets course towards Kristiansand in the southern Norway.
The 29-year-old captain Gustav-Hinrich Bischoff and his 12-strong crew is escorted by a Class M minesweeper, which has the task to pave the way through the mine-filled Danish waters and provide protection in case of air raids.

The hunt
The same morning at 06.04 35 British and Norwegian Mosquito-fighters is taking of from bases in England. The mission is to hunt the many fleeing German ships, which is sailing through the relatively narrow Danish waters.

Mosquito had repeatedly proved to be an extremely unpleasant acquaintance of the German vessels. Partly because its heavy armament of rockets and machine guns, partly because of its long range capability combined with high speed and maneuverability. All results of the aircraft very light construction of the unconventional material: plywood.

The trip over the North Sea takes place in bad weather where the long-range aircraft is escorted by 12 smaller Mustang-fighters to keep the German resistance at a safe distance. About two hours later the Mosquitos begin the hunt off the east coast of Jutland.

At 08.53 o’clock there is bid. A north transient minesweeper is observed in the northern Kattegat. Squadron-leader A.G. Deck ordering his aircrafts to continue without attacking, because there is supposed to be submarines in the area. He will not risk alerting them by attacking a target that can be taking care of later. If the submarines slips under water, they will escape and the pilots miss a popular Submarine checkmark. With an estimated 1,500 flight hours between Submarine contacts this situation was almost a turkey shoot.

The submarines are expected to be at the surface due to the fact that they usually had prohibition – and rarely an opportunity – to dive in inner Danish waters. The reason was simply the low water depth combined with the risk of encountering English bottom mines. Moreover, submarines mostly only able to operate submerged for a very limited period before the batteries had to be recharged with the diesel engine at the surface. Therefore, the trip from the submarine base at Kiel and the first deep water around Skagen had been very risky for the many submarines that took this journey.

The Attack
The Squadron leaders assumption appears to be right. Just one minute after the spotting the minesweeper, at 0853, two pilots spot two submarines in formation only 5-7 nautical miles to the southeast. The aircrafts is immediately ordered to attack and even though the first submarine is hit it still dives and slips away. That same luck doesn’t follow Captain Bischoff and the 11 sailors aboard U-2359.

Although the small Type XXIII submarine only need nine seconds to crash dive the Mosquito succesfully deliveres 48 rockets mixed with salvos of machinegun fire directly against them. Most of the rockets hitting into the water but the pilot reports “many strikes from machine guns, although the splashing water prevents precise observations.

Picture from the actual attack on U-2359

The result is not to be mistaken. Shortly after the attack the submarine stops, and with hedges out of the water it sinks leaving oil and debris chunks on the surface. The twelve men aboard are not taking the trip down into the depths. The pilots count four rafts with survivors, while others are still in the cold water.

The Mosquito fighters immediately sets course towards the minesweeper, which has been saved as an easy prey. A destiny that the crew aboard knew was coming since their initial meeting with the aircrafts. While the submarines have been attacked, the M293 desperately tried to put distance to the aircrafts and enter the Swedish waters. Escape is vain.
Before the fighters turn back home, they have sent rockets in below the ship’s waterline, so that water is pouring in. Before, all resistance from anti-air guns have been swept away from the deck by covering it with fire from machine guns, which also has the ship’s superstructure in the fire. Minesweeper M293 is left behind in “sinking condition” and no survivors. Only one Mosquito Fighter is damaged during the attack and seeking refuge in the neutral Sweden. The rest is back in England before the lunch is served.

Survivors?
The destiny of the crew in the liferafts from the U-2359, no one knows. The most likely is that the 12 men between age 20 and 29 freezes to death in the Kattegat – unless they has been picked up by another ship or made it ashore, before the cold and the rough sea kills them. It wasn’t unusual vision to see dead sailors on the Danish and Swedish beaches at the end of the war in which up to 20 submarines and ships was sunk while fleeing The Third Reich. A bloody period in Denmark that war graves in several coastal cities cemeteries gives its testimony to this day.

News report from www.tv2nord.dk brought on october 15 2007