U-107
The U-107 left Lorient for a short voyage under the command of Leutnant zur See Karl-Heinz Fritz on August 16, 1944 with a load of snorkels for the U-boats based at La Pallice, France. On August 18, 1944 a British Sunderland aircraft (Flight Lieutenant L.H. Baveystock) of the RAF’s 201st Squadron dropped an accurate string of depth charges on the U-107; all fifty-nine crewmen perished in the attack southwest of St. Nazaire. (Dönitz’s Crews: Germany’s U-Boat Sailors in World War II)
**********
Walter Henke. Walter Henke had a lifelong reminder of the Kursk Offensive – he lost an eye because of the fight. Born April 28, 1923 in Augarten near Konin in what would become the Warthegau, Henke – who stood 5’11” tall – joined the SS in April 1941 and the Waffen-SS on June 20, 1942; he had blood type O. He joined the 1st Panzer Regiment on October 10, 1942 and received Tiger training two months later. At the Kursk Offensive SS-Panzerschütze Henke was a loader on Tiger 1325 until July 13, when near Oktiabrskii Sovkhoz, he was wounded in the left eye. Evacuated to a reserve military hospital in Dresden, Walter’s eye could not be saved, and surgeons removed it on August 16, 1943; this resulted in the bestowal of the Wound Badge in Silver. (Waffen-SS Tiger Crews at Kursk: The Men of SS Panzer Regiments 1, 2 & 3 in Operation Citadel, July 5-15, 1943)