Birthday Card to U Boat Ace Made by the Crew of U81 at Sea

An absolutely unique U-Boat artefact being a Birthday Card made by the crew of U-81 for their commandant and U-Boat ace, Knights Cross with Oakleaves recipient, Friedrich Guggenberger who sank the aircraft carrier Ark Royal in the Mediterranean on 13 November 1941.

The card itself is crude in its making, measuring 220mm 160mm and using whatever bits and piece could be found onboard U-81. The covers are made from a file and opens with lovely cartoon of four seamen loading a bendy torpedo. The caption reads “Happy Birthday”, “The Local Group V, U-81 (Intelligence division)”. The next page has the heading “We congratulate you” and is decorated with news paper cut outs and the well know picture of Guggenberger wearing his Knights Cross. The following pages have the heading “We congratulate you, we wish our Kommandant a good Birthday” and are again decorated with cut outs from newspapers and large image of a Knights Cross with Oakleaves.

In addition, there is a period postcard sized photograph of him attached to white card, the reverse of which bears a gold raised Bundesmarine eagle above “Konteradmiral Guggenberger” the rank he achieved during his post war service.

From November 1940 until his capture in July 1943, he was credited with sinking 17 ships with a total of 66,848 gross register tons (GRT) and damaging another for 6,003 GRT. He sank the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal in November 1941. For these achievements he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. His last U-Boat was sunk off the US coast and he was taken prisoner. During his time in US P.O.W. camps he twice escaped and came close to getting to Mexico. After the war he became the Deputy Chief of Staff in the NATO command Allied Forces Northern Europe.

On 13 May 1988 he went for a walk in the forest from which he never returned. His body was not found until two years later.