en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II)
2 corrections found
The Navy reported that no officers were aboard
This is incorrect: U-530 plainly had officers aboard, including its commanding officer, Otto Wermuth.
Full reasoning
Contemporaneous interrogation records for U-530 identify Oberleutnant zur See Otto Wermuth as the submarine’s commanding officer and explicitly mention that he made the decision to head for Argentina after discussion with the other officers. So the article’s wording that “no officers were aboard” is not supported by the documentary record.
This appears to confuse a narrower claim sometimes made in postwar reporting—that no high-ranking Nazi officials were aboard as passengers—with the much broader and false claim that there were no officers at all on the submarine.
In short: U-530 surrendered with its own officers on board; what was denied was the presence of senior Nazi leaders or special passengers, not the presence of the boat’s officer corps.
2 sources
- U-boat Archive - U-530 - Naval Attache Report
"WERMUTH stated that he is ... the Commanding Officer of the submarine U-530." The report also states that he entered Mar del Plata and surrendered the boat.
- U-boat Archive - U-530 - Interrogation Report
The interrogation report lists "Commanding Officer: Oblt. z.S. Otto WERMUTH" and says: "The commanding officer, after some discussion with the other officers, decided in favor of steering for Argentina."
He was unable to explain why the voyage had taken two months nor the absence of usual documents.
This is incorrect: interrogation records show that Wermuth did explain both the long voyage and the missing documents.
Full reasoning
The surviving interrogation records do not show Otto Wermuth as unable to explain these points. Instead, they record concrete explanations for both:
- For the two-month voyage, Wermuth said that after receiving surrender messages in May 1945, he chose to sail to Argentina for internment, traveled submerged by day and on the surface at night, and crossed the Equator on 17 June before reaching Mar del Plata on 10 July.
- For the missing documents, he specifically said he had dumped the log and other secret books overboard, along with torpedoes, ammunition, radar equipment, and other materials.
So the issue was not that he gave no explanation; rather, interrogators may not have found all of his answers persuasive. But the article’s flat statement that he was “unable to explain” is contradicted by the documentary record.
2 sources
- U-boat Archive - U-530 - Naval Attache Report
The report says Wermuth stated that after receiving surrender orders he headed for Argentina, traveled submerged during daylight, crossed the Equator on 17 June, and first sighted Mogotes Light on 10 July.
- U-boat Archive - U-530 - Interrogation Report
The interrogation report says the crew decided to steer for Argentina after mid-May. It also states: "Ammunition and secret papers were thrown overboard" and records that he dumped the "Log and other secret books."