Lawrence Paterson - U-boat War Patrol, The Hidden Photographic Diary of U564 (2006).jpg

FIFTY-FIVE years after the end of the Second World War in Europe, history's long arm reached out from the distant shadows I of long silent battlefields to the most unlikely of places. During April 2000, in a tiny Post Office at Staintondale, on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors, a unique time capsule arrived unexpectedly into the hands of the Post Office's owner Frank James. Twenty black-and-white photographs, some dappled with age, were handed over by a man unsure of their provenance, or indeed of what to do with them. The photographs showed young men aboard a submarine, the national cockade on their caps surmounted by an eagle clutching in its talons the unmistakable swastika symbol of the Third Reich. Ob­viously it was a U-boat crew, but who they were, and where, remained a mystery to Frank.
With an interest in all aspects of history, but no knowledge of the U-Boat Service, Frank proceeded to research what he could about the random photographs. Aiding him enormouslv was the fact that most boats carried an unofficial symbol, a distinctive Wappen (emblem, or coat of arms) painted somewhere on the conning tower. In this case it was instantly recognisable —a large black cat, tail held proudly upright and back arched over the digits '3X'. Although some fourteen U-boats carried cats as part of their Wappen, this must be one of the five U-boats that carried the dreimal schwarze Kater symbol — 'Three Black Cats'. In turn it soon became apparent that the photographs were all taken aboard U 564, commanded by the legendary Reinhard 'Teddy' Suhren.