Eric C. Rust - U-Boat Commander Oskar Kusch

U-BOAT COMMANDER

OSKAR KUSCH

Titles in the Series:

Progressives in Navy Blue: Maritime Strategy, American Empire, and the Transformation of U.S. Naval Identity, 18731898

Learning War: The Evolution of Fighting Doctrine in the U.S. Navy, 18981945

Victory without Peace: The United States Navy in European Waters, 19191924

Admiral John S. McCain and the Triumph of Naval Air Power

Churchills Phoney War

COSSAC: Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick Morgan and the Genesis of Operation OVERLORD

The Emergence of American Amphibious Warfare, 18981945

Studies in Naval History and Sea Power

Christopher M. Bell and James C. Bradford, editors

Studies in Naval History and Sea Power advances our understanding of sea power and its role in global security by publishing significant new scholarship on navies and naval affairs. The series presents specialists in naval history, as well as students of sea power, with works that cover the role of the worlds naval powers, from the ancient world to the navies and coast guards of today. The works in Studies in Naval History and Sea Power examine all aspects of navies and conflict at sea, including naval operations, strategy, and tactics, as well as the intersections of sea power and diplomacy, navies and technology, sea services and civilian societies, and the financing and administration of seagoing military forces.

U-BOAT COMMANDER

OSKAR KUSCH

Anatomy of a Nazi-Era Betrayal and Judicial Murder

ERIC C. RUST

NAVAL INSTITUTE PRESS

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND

Naval Institute Press

291 Wood Road

Annapolis, MD 21402

2020 by Eric C. Rust

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Rust, Eric C., date, author.

Title: U-boat Commander Oskar Kusch : anatomy of a Nazi-era betrayal and judicial murder / Eric C. Rust.

Other titles: Anatomy of a Nazi-era betrayal and judicial murder

Description: Annapolis, Maryland : Naval Institute Press, [2020] | Series: Studies in naval history and sea power | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019056331 (print) | LCCN 2019056332 (ebook) | ISBN 9781682475140 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781682475157 (pdf) | ISBN 9781682475157 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Kusch, Oskar, 19181944. | World War, 19391945Naval operationsSubmarine. | World War, 19391945Naval operations, German. | Kusch, Oskar, 19181944Trials, litigation, etc. | Germany. KriegsmarineOfficersBiography. | Submarine captainsGermanyBiography. | Trials (Treason)Germany.

Classification: LCC D781 .R87 2020 (print) | LCC D781 (ebook) | DDC 940.54/5943092 [B] dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019056331

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019056332

Print editions meet the requirements of ANSI/NISO z39.48-1992

(Permanence of Paper).

Printed in the United States of America.

28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 209 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First printing

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

F OR VERY SOUND REASONS, Nazi crimes against those who came under German control before and during World War II are among the best documented and most frequently treated subjects in historical works, fiction, and film. By contrast, public knowledge and discussion of Nazi crimes against non-Jewish German people remain at best uneven seventy years after the Third Reich collapsed. This book constitutes, in part, an attempt to address and redress this imbalance; but above all it is the story, the true and tragic story, of one remarkable individualOskar Kusch.

On May 12, 1944, Lieutenant Oskar Kusch, formerly skipper of the German submarine U-154 on two patrols to South American waters, was executed for repeatedly having made remarks critical of the Nazi regime. In the opinion of the court-martial, Kuschs words and actions had undercut his crews will and readiness to fight. The judges did dismiss an additional charge of cowardice in the face of the enemy that one of Kuschs subordinate officers had brought against his captain, while a navy expert testified that Kusch had acted at all times responsibly and in line with his military duties.

U-154s first patrol under Kusch in the spring of 1943 had been a successful one. He managed to sink one enemy ship and damage two others off Brazil. On his second patrol to the same waters later that summer and fall, increasingly sophisticated Allied countermeasures prevented Kusch from harming the enemy and inflicted serious damage to his boat. He did, however, bring his crew home safely at a time when German U-boat losses at sea were reaching catastrophic levels.

The denunciation of Kusch by fellow officers struck him like a bolt out of the blue. His has remained the only charge of subverting the will and readiness to fight ever directed against a prominent representative of the German U-boat service. After the verdict, Kuschs defense counsel repeatedly entreated his client to request clemency. Kusch always refused. While Grand Admiral Karl Dnitz, legendary founder and guiding spirit of the U-boat arm, would later state that, in this case, the navy needed to put its foot down and set an example, Kuschs superiors, including Dnitz at the time, promised half-heartedly to do everything they could to save his life. In the end they did nothing. When put to the test, the acclaimed sense of camaraderie that supposedly pervaded the U-boat service turned out to be a hollow illusion. Neither his flotilla commander, nor the officer in charge of U-boat forces in France where Kusch was based, nor Grand Admiral Dnitz himself, felt compelled to visit Kusch in his prison cell, to talk or correspond with him, or otherwise to make his agony more bearable even while the march of injustice was pressing on without mercy.

By contrast, Kuschs true friends visited him in his cell in Kiel, wrote letters of encouragement, and kept in touch with his family and his fiance. One of them even managed to put pressure on the judge in the case, only to be told vaguely that the whole matter was still under review and that mitigating circumstances were likely to come into play. Such statementsnot unlike others made elsewhere in the naval hierarchyshow how, in the final analysis, no one wanted to be drawn into the case. Thus the real motives behind the indifference to Kuschs plight remained concealed.

Except for Kuschs mother and his fiance, few of his friends were allowed to see him during his 106 days on death row. A navy staff judge determined who could and could not have access to Kusch, and under what conditions. This man also censored and often confiscated incoming and outgoing letters. On one occasion, he warned Kuschs prospective brother-in-law, an army officer, that no more letters sympathetic to a convicted criminal would be tolerated and would be duly reported to his superiors for punitive action. This is an example of how narrow-minded chicanery and other unwarranted intrusions made a mockery of an individuals basic human dignity in those days. Toward the end, even the already restricted visiting rights were curtailed. Only Kuschs mother was allowed to see her only child.

After the war, in 1949 and 1950, Kuschs judges were put on trial for crimes against humanity. However, West German courts deliberately downplayed the political character of Kuschs actions and the ideological reasons behind his conviction. Instead, they emphasized Kuschs supposedly grave military transgressions. This legal maneuver allowed those responsible for Kuschs death sentence to go free. Only in the 1990s, fifty years after his execution, did German authorities finally declare Kusch innocent and his sentence null and void.