I recently learned that my Great Uncle served on, and died, on a German U-Boat, U-136. Can any of you provide background/educated guesses about what his life was likely like those last few months? (MIC)

by Mongo1021

Thank you for the help.

All I have been able to find is sources like http://uboat.net/boats/u136.htm that provide plenty of numbers, but it doesn't answer the tougher questions.

If it helps, his name was Kurt Engelken, Bts Mt.

The ship sank on November 7, 1942.

BTW, if you're curious, I'm not German. I was born and raised in Iowa. I knew that my family all descended from German immigrants, but I recently learned that my grandmother came over when she was young, and that her brothers stayed, and fought for Germany. I had no idea.

Charlemagneifrit

My grandfather served on British submarines during the war and said that the film Das Boot gave the most accurate picture of life aboard a sub. It might be particularly useful to you as it was filmed on a type VIIC U boat, the same type as U-136. from what I can find Kurt Engelkin was an NCO in the engine room. Born 24th march 1915. I have found a couple of links you may be interested in, a picture of the boat and a report of the sinking. http://typevii.tumblr.com/page/41 http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/os33/index.html?u-136.htm~mainframe33