I can't find this man ... does anybody know anything about him ? Adolf K.G.E. von Spiegel commanded a German U-boat during the First World War. He published his memoirs in 1919 - here he describes the attack on a cargo vessel in April 1916 ......... http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/sub.htm
Hi Annie - You are right in that there is not much information on the net about Von Spiegel and his exploits during the First world War. Neither is there very much about him in the fairly extensive library that I have. The best that I can do is show this brief "potted history" that I got from the U-boat.net site. Edgar Freiherr von Spiegel served on the U32 and U93. In the early postwar years he wrote "War Diary of U202" which sold very well in the US. In his book, he accused the British of using hospital ships to transport troops to France. Until today this has never been solved and it may still take some years before the truth comes out. On April 30, 1917, von Spiegel's ran out of luck when the U 93 met the small sailing ship Prize in the Channel. He surfaced and planned to sink the ship with his gun. Members of the sailing ship's crew took to the life boats. However, then suddenly the White Ensign was hoisted and the Prize showed her 12 pounder guns. The Prize turned out to be a Q-ship! The Q-ship was badly damaged in the exchange of fire and nearly sank but she also scored numerous hits on the U-boat. At one point, U 93 tried to ram, apparently went out of control, and disappeared into the mist. Three men, including Spiegel, were rescued from the water by the panic party. Prize's crew as well as von Spiegel assumed the German submarine had been sunk. The Prize's commanding officer, Lieutenant Wilson Sanders RNR, was awarded the Victoria Cross for the action. Despite heavy damage, however, the U 93 was able to limp home on the surface under the command of her IWO. Spiegel spent the rest of the war in a POW camp...
Hi Cally ... thanks for that ... but is that the same von Spiegel do you think ? How many names did he have ??
