German Submarine U-852 - SS Peleus

SS Peleus

U-852's mission was to disrupt Allied communications in the Indian Ocean by attacking sea lanes there; this involved a high level of secrecy and so she had to avoid conflict on her passage. This plan was jeopardized when, on 13 March on the latitude of Freetown, she spotted the lone Greek steamer SS Peleus. Despite his mission, Eck decided to attack her, and, after stalking her until nightfall, sank her with two torpedoes. What followed has been the subject of much dispute.

The sinking Peleus left a large debris field, amongst which were an unknown number of survivors clinging to rafts and wreckage. As this field would have betrayed the presence of U-852 to aircraft and shipping patrolling the area, Eck controversially decided to destroy the wreckage with hand grenades and automatic weapons.

Eck ordered his junior officers to fire into the wreckage. These junior officers were:

• The ship's engineering officer, Hans Lenz (sentenced to life imprisonment)
• The ship's doctor, Walter Weisspfennig (executed 1945)
• The second in command August Hoffmann (executed 1945)
• An enlisted engineer, Wolfgang Schwender (sentenced to 7 years imprisonment)

Eck was present during the incident, while the remaining crew were below decks. Eck was also executed in 1945. As a result of this action, all but three of Peleus's 35-man crew perished.