[LoGH] The Historical Ulrich Kessler
Hank Wong (hankwong@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU)
Thu, 28 Sep 2000 17:29:02 -0700 (PDT)
Getting into the spirit of historical research behind LoGH names and
places, Here's some interesting stuff about the historical Ulrich Kessler.
Be warned, if you are not a history buff, this will probably be boring.
The real Ulrich Kessler was a German Luftwaffe (air force) general whose
greatest claim to fame was that he was a passenger on U-234, a German
submarine which was enroute to Japan with a cargo of radioactive material
for Japan's atomic bomb program, when she was ordered to surrender.
>From the articles, sounds like the historical Kessler was quite different
from the LoGH Kessler.
...
Luftwaffe General (General der Flieger) Ulrich
Kessler, a Prussian-born diplomat and military strategist, was originally
a naval officer, but resigned his commission in 1933 and became commander
of Luftwaffe Stuka squadrons operating in Poland, Norway, and France. He
was disliked by Goering and rumored to have been involved in anti-Hitler
activities, including the infamous assassination plot. Kessler was being
sent to assist the Japanese in combat tactics using squadrons of ME 262
and ME 163 aircraft against Allied bombers.
...
The passenger list also
included German Luftwaffe Lieutenant General Ulrich Kessler, former
commander of special bombing and attack wings based in Norway. Submarine
officers may not have become familiar with him on the trip as he and they
had little in common.
Kessler, with a monocle over one eye and a perpetual
air of arrogance, passed his time reading books and, upon arrival in
Portsmouth, would surrender with a smart salute to the highest-ranking
U.S. officer on hand. He later bragged to reporters that he'd learned how
to accept defeat in style after World War I and expected he might have to
do so even a third time.
But, displaying another, more practical side,
Kessler admitted during interrogation that he had intended all along to
get off the sub at Argentina -- not an unbelievable story in light of the
fact that many top-ranking Germans already had fled to that South American
country.
Whether Kessler knew of the atomic cargo remains a mystery today.
Researchers find it more likely Kessler, knowing the war was about to be
lost, had boarded the sub as a means of escape.
...
The 1,600-ton U-234
arrived at the lower harbor or Portsmouth at 7:30 in the morning. Key
prisoner Luftwafer Leutnant-General Ulrich Kessler was described as "a
typical Hollywood version of a German general."
"He wore a long leather
greatcoat," the WHEB evening news report continued, "which reached to his
ankles, highly polished leather boots and an Iron Cross [a Knight's Cross,
actually] which hung tightly about his neck. He posed for newsreel
cameramen and seemed to be enjoying the publicity he was receiving. He was
tall and wore white gloves."
References
"Review of Germany's Last Mission to Japan: The Failed Voyage of U-234"
http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/reviewsw54.htm
"Stories about Vance"
http://www.capecod.net/~jbetters/Vance/nazisub.htm
"20th Century - The German Subs at Portsmouth Yard"
http://www.seacoastnh.com/20th/uboat.html
