U-2533

Maschinengefreiter Alfred Philipp from the 31st U-Flotilla's Type XXI U-2533 
remembered their voyage:

At the end of March we were in harbour at Hela. We lay there for two to three 
days until the final day we learned that Russian troops had cut off the Hela 
Peninsula. In the meantime 50 members of the Hitler Youth had arrived and our 
commander [Oberleutnant zur See Horst Günther, an experienced submariner, 
ex-IWO from U275] gave the order to bring them onboard. We brought them all 
onboard and accommodated them in the forward compartment. Surprisingly, we 
were able to sail for some way after departure surfaced until Russian air 
attack forced us to make an emergency dive. During the dive we momentarily 
lost control. Our LI had guessed his recalculations with the 50 Hitler Youth 
in the bow compartment, so when we dived it was with much greater speed and 
we charged into the depths. At about 98 metres we hit the seafloor hard. But, 
apart from terrifying us, nothing happened. After a short while we emerged 
and continued our voyage. Our commander set course for the island of Bornholm 
and we entered port at Rönne where the kids left the boat. Afterwards, we 
continued our training.

Ref: Black Flag by Lawrence Paterson