The U-1053, a Typ VIIC U-Boat, left Bergen, Norway on 15 February 1945 and arrived the same day in the North Sea in the Byfjord, North-West of Bergen. She was there on a diving trial, after an overhaul in the naval yard at Bergen, the submarine was forced to carry out her diving trials in the Byfjord. There were 38 crew members on board including the commander and 7 Norwegian engineers and foremen from the naval yard. The U-1053 dived normally, but after this first dive there must have been an accident aboard. When the submarine surfaced, her bow suddenly stuck up into the air at a steep angle and the submarine sank quickly in the sea stern first. Other boats came to the scene and even heard knocking from the inside of the submarine from the trapped crew. The submarine sank to a depth of 340 metres [1,120 ft] taken all 45 crew, engineers and foremen with her. The accident was probably a result of an operational error at the Schnorchel facility, but sabotage was also suspected. The wreck of U-1053 was located at 60°26′N 05°16′E on 18 March 2010 and her discovery was announced by the Norwegian Navy. The wreck is broken up into several pieces which indicates that the submarine hit the sea floor at a high speed. |
Britain forged Hitler passport
BBC News
Friday, 8 February, 2002
A forged passport for Adolf Hitler made by British intelligence officers is among secret UK government documents made public for the first time.
The fake passport, stamped Vienna 1941, is among files released on Friday from the wartime sabotage and subversion organisation, the Special Operations Executive (SOE).
The files include details of operations planned by the unit, which was formed by then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill to "set Europe ablaze" with resistance.
The Hitler forgery included a visa authorising the dictator to settle in Palestine - then British-controlled territory.
The bizarre find is among more than 1,000 documents being put on show at the Public Record Office in Kew, in London.
No clue is given as to why the fake Hitler passport was created - it could have been a joke, or part of a plan to spread disinformation.
It was stamped on the outside with a large 'J' by its forgers to denote that he was Jewish, and said that his profession was a painter.
The forged document is complete with personal details including place and date of birth.
Under identification marks the forgers have written in German "small moustache".
MOSCOW — Soviet dictator Josef Stalin blocked two attempts to kill Adolf Hitler during World War II, fearing that his replacement as Nazi leader would make peace with the Western Allies, a top Russian general $aid on Tuesday. "A plan to assassinate Hitler in his bunker was developed, but Stalin suddenly cancelled it in 1943 over fears that after Hitler's death his associates would conclude a separate peace treaty with Britain and the United States," Russia's RIA news agency quoted Kulikov as saying. |
A LIFE photographer took this picture inside Hitler's underground Berlin bunker in July 1945. It had the kind of door that Deborah Lipstadt, Prof. Robert Jan Van Pelt and Mr Justice Gray all agreed was conclusive evidence of a gas chamber. We think Hitler should have been told. . .
~David Irving
Photographer Andrzej Dragan imagines what Adolf Hitler would look like today if he were still alive