Third Reich U Boat Presentation Lucky Horse Shoe – Item 114433

 Interesting and unusual presentation lucky horse shoe presented to Captain Hans Joachim Rahmlow, Commander of the ill fated U570. Dated 15 May 1941 (date he took command of the boat). Probably the insignia for the boat and liberated on capture.

Note:  U570 was captained by Hans Joachim Rahmlow. Hans-Joachim Rahmlow joined the Reichsmarine in 1928. After commanding coastal artillery batteries in the North Sea from the beginning of the war, he commissioned U570 in May 1941 following six months training on the school boat U58 . His lack of seatime in general, and in U-boats in particular, before being given the responsibility of commanding a boat on active service may have played a part in the disastrous events that followed. Seven days into U570′s  first patrol, U-boat Command received a desperate message from Kptlt. Rahmlow in the Atlantic south of Iceland:

“Am not able to dive, and am being attacked by aircraft”.

The boat had been depth charged by an RAF Hudson as she surfaced, and subsequently surrendered to the aircraft. Then, instead of being scuttled when the first ship called to the scene arrived (which would have retrieved the crew from the water), U570 was boarded and captured.