Goetsch, Klaus Rudolf Georg (Oral history)

German midshipman served aboard Prinz Eugen in Baltic, 1943; officer cadet trained at Naval Officers School, Naval Academy, Flensburg, Germany, 1943-1944; officer trained as midget submarine commander with Kleinkampverbande in Germany, 1944-1945; served with 1st Heligoland Detachment, Kleinkampverbande in Germany, 1945

REEL 1 Background in Friedrichshafen, Germany, 1924-1942: family; education; his father's pacifist beliefs; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 1/9/1939; French Air Force raid on town, 2/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training as seaman with German Navy in Germany, 1942-1943: reasons for joining navy, 11/1942; training on Danholm Island. Recollections of period as midshipman aboard heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen in Baltic, 1943: joining ship at Gotenhafen; Royal Air Force attack on ship at Gotenhafen, 8/10/1943; duties on board; attitude of crew to ship; discipline on board and execution of shipmate for stealing. REEL 2 Continues: attitude of crew towards execution; training role of ship. Aspects of period as officer cadet with Naval Officers School, Naval Academy, Flensburg, Germany, 1943-1944: attitude towards compulsory boxing; quality of training at school; submarine training at Gofenhafen, summer 1944; prior recollection of exhibition of Cossack dancing on deck of Prinz Eugen; second hand story of Royal Navy X craft attack on Tirpitz, 10/1943. Recollections of operations as midget submarine commander with Kleinkampverbande in Germany, 1944-1945: joining midget submarine force after wounding on naval auxiliary off Norway; training on two man submarines at Neustadt, early 1945; his narrow escape from death in Seehund Midget Submarine during training early 1945; Allied bombing attacks on Wilhelmshafen. REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of operations as midget submarine commander with 1st Heligoland Detachment, Kleinkampverbande in Germany, 1945: joining unit; opinion of detachment commander; midget submarine training at Heligoland; anticipations of possible Allied attack in Heligoland Bight, 3/1945-4/1945; issue of arms to deal with possible mutiny at Heligoland, 17/4/1945; Royal Air Force attack on Heligoland, 17/4/1945; move to Wilhelmshafen, 4/1945; attack on his midget submarine by Royal Air Force Bristol Beaufighter, 4/1945; discovery of what his commanding officer knew of attack at Ijmuiden, Netherlands; story of how father discovered that British signal intelligence was very effective; sight of Royal Air Force aircraft dropping food to Dutch civilians, 5/5/1945. REEL 4 Continues: capture by Canadians, 6/5/1945. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Netherlands, 1945-1946: Dutch guards shooting into German prisoner of war camp; self ignition of ammunition supply at Ijmuiden; punishment he received in camp; removal of Dutch Princess Irene Bde troops who fired into German prisoner of war camp; mine removal work; conditions in prisoner of war camp; accident he had whilst removing mines at Bemmel, near Nijmegen, 1946; his release from captivity. Aspects of period as civilian in Germany, 1946: arrest by French Occupation forces in Friedrichshafen autumn 1946; three week period working in coal mines near Belfort; conditions for his family in Friedrichshafen, 1946; Allied bombing of V2 Rocket propulsion works near Friedrichshafen during Second World War; fate of his father after 1945 and his own employment.