\KapitÓ“nleutnant Hans-Dieter Heinicke was commander of the U-576 and the brains and eyes of the operations. It is the commander’s responsibility to oversee the decisions, missions, and actions of his crew. The commander leads alone while the others follow blindly only performing the tasks and duties requested of them. Sometimes “wolf packs” were organized so the submarines could hunt the waters in groups. This wasn’t always feasible depending on the geographical location so it wasn’t uncommon for the U-Boats to hunt alone.
When a target was spotted by the U-Boat, the enemy vessels could be tracked for days until reinforcements were brought in by the German Navy. Attacks could originate from the surface or underwater depending on the circumstances. Equipped with guns and torpedoes, the crew would assess what damage they could visually see on the surface, before diving back into the water for protection from a counter attack.
It was already nighttime, the stars shined bright in the distance. The temperature was very pleasant for that time of the year although most of the time in the Caribbean, you cannot perceive the season changes. This particular U boat has caused severe damage across the Caribbean. Its mission causes the most damage to anything that moves and breathes around the Caribbean Sea as well as the Atlantic Ocean. The Barlovento Islands already paid a big and unfair price. If any American ships pass through their gun sight, they would cause damage. Their mission was clear… Make sure that all of that cargo did not reach its destiny. Make sure that the allies didn’t get enough supplies. They had to be very cautious, like a silent hunter waiting for its prey. During the daytime, they needed to be underwater much of the day. As soon as the sun goes down, the Commander gets ready to get some rest and recharge his batteries. He relaxed on the bridge of the submarine while observing the stars and breathing the fresh air, satisfied by the mission accomplished. The fresh air was necessary because when you are in a submarine environment, especially those German U boats, the faulty air produced by the Congregation of human life in a small space was not easy to breathe. At that moment, a Sailor came up and said, “My commander, the first officer is not doing any better.” He was very ill with a tropical disease that was putting in jeopardy his life and the life of others on the U-Boat.
He gave a direct order, “Give him the best medical treatment that we have available on board.” He hadn’t gotten much rest before the sailor returned shortly with the news that the first officer had died. The commander frowns with a little sadness and gave the final instructions, “Prepare everything The way we do for all our officers and make sure that you follow that to the point.” All of this was happening in the Caribbean Sea close to the Dominican Republic.
General elections in the Dominican Republic were held on May 16, 1942. Rafael Trujillo was the only candidate in the presidential election so he was elected and his Dominican Party won every seat in the congressional elections. This was the first election in Dominican history in which women could vote.
This era unfolds in a Caribbean environment that was particularly fertile for a dictator. All regimes in the countries of the Caribbean based alone, his dictatorship was concurrent in whole or in part with those in Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, Colombia, and Haiti in retrospect. This dictatorship has been characterized as more exposed, achieved, and brutal than those that rose and fell around it. Nobody there wanted to break the rules.
It was already 3:00 pm and there were two fishermen friends looking from a cliff that overlooks the beautiful sea in Barahona Province, located around 250 kilometers from Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic Capital. Things were not easy at that time in Barahona. The coastline is beautiful. It seems like when the waves come, they rush to the shore leaving a whitetail. It’s a beautiful sight to enjoy from land.
Those fishermen were just trying to kill time. Talking about one thing and moving quickly to another, not a coherent conversation let’s say. Hunger and frustration led the way. At a certain point, Nelson looked at Antonio closely and asked him, “Can you tell me what it is that you’re looking at? … So concentrated." Nelson said, “I’m not sure. It looks like there is something shining over there in the sea.” Antonio replied, “Stop paying attention to that, it must be a flying fish”.
And they continue with the conversation. But not too long from that Antonio said again, “Wait, a second. You are STILL looking that way. Tell me what it is”. Silence beams and then his response, “Something is wrong! I’m not going to stay here another second so let’s go over there. Let’s go right away to find out what it is." That’s when they realized that in order to do that, they would have to take the fishing boat out. Nelson said, “Remember that if the Navy Captain finds out about this we are both going to end up in jail.“ Antonio responded, “OK, but let’s do it anyways and we’ll do it very quietly “. When they arrived at the spot, they found a 55-gallon tank with a German Swastika and other German writing on it. That symbol was already very well known all around the world. There was always a continuous supply of merchandise coming up from the deep of the seas that would wash over the Caribbean island shores from the problems and sunk ships of the war. They could use all that to resale purposes. Nelson and Antonio quickly tied that tank onto their vessel and rushed to the shore as quietly as possible so nobody would find out what they were up to. They lifted the tank that they presumed was filled up with a combustible substance. They couldn’t be sure of the contents because everything was written in German. They quickly marked the location so they could find it the next day and finally see what the tank would contain, hoping for that precious liquid.
The next day, they managed to make a hole in the tank. From that hole, the liquid that was dripping was clear and golden. One of the men caught a little bit of that liquid in his hands and the smell instantly brought him to the realization that the liquid was alcohol. “Ahh Ahhh Ah! My brother, this is very good!” Nelson said. “Please let me try it too. Pour everything into this cup “ Antonio said. He swallowed a little bit and said: “Wow! This is marvelous!” Each one looked at each other suspiciously. Antonio demanded, “This Rum is OURS! So, that means it belongs to both you and me. It’s not just yours only so don’t start giving this away to everybody. And please don’t be a whistleblower. You know that if the Navy captain knows about this, we are going to jail. On top of that, this rum is meant to be enjoyed by us.” The two friends make a promise not to tell anyone but it was a promise not meant to be respected. One friend has a friend and that friend has another friend and Nelson had a childhood friend that he couldn’t wait to share the information with because after all, he had to try a taste of the finest liquor too.
Another friend noticed that they were all the time drunk. In a harsh manner. he got straight to the point, “Hey, wait for a second! Where are you finding money to drink all that?” Nelson replied, “Well, I have a secret. We found a treasure, a tank apparently from one of those ships that got sunk in the war and we have been drinking from that finest rum little by little. But it’s a secret so please don’t tell anybody.” He said, ”OK, I will keep my mouth shut but I need to have a fair cut of that treasure.“ And with that, he went on to tell his friend that told another friend and that promise between friends had been broken. The secret was out.
The Dominican Navy captain was noticing that it was increasingly common to find a fisherman wasted in the street. Knowing the current economic status of the nation at the time, he needed to find out how those people were able to finance their drinking. He looked at his surroundings, well aware that something was going on. He managed to capture a poor soul and put him on lockdown in the torture cell. He pulled out a piece of petrified wood they used to call the whistleblower. Because nobody could handle being beaten by that ancient stick, it only took one shot.
One swing in between the back of the knee and the ankle and the man immediately halted the torture. “Wait a second, wait a second. It belongs to Nelson and Antonio! They FISHED a 55-gallon tank in the sea and they have been drinking from that ever since!"
The Navy Captain responded, “Very well, very well. So they think they were going to fool me, huh?” The Navy captain went straight to meet Nelson to tell him “ Hey, So that means that I am worthless over here? That I am not the commander in chief Of all this region?“
“No, no my commander” they both pleaded, “don’t lock us down.”
“So, everybody over here is drinking, everybody over here knows what is going on and I am the last one that knows about it? And you know, I am the first one that needs to know what is going on.” The commander was stern.
The men were trying to tell him how everything happened but he interrupted, “It's obvious that you have had this for a long time. Everybody is wasted, everybody is drunk and I am the last one that happens to know about it. You’re going to go to jail. because I didn’t get a single drop.”
“Wait! Wait! Please forgive us. And here you can have the first of all the gallons you may want. When you finish this one, come and we will fill up another gallon.”
With that promise, the commander got his gallon of the finest liquor tasting it right away. “Oh my God, This is very good.”
Like everything in life, there would come an end to that precious liquid. But at that time everyone knew that the place where all the taste was coming from was still inside that tank. They believed the tank would reveal the secret to making their own supply of the rum. They agreed not to open the container until the last drop of liquid came out. Finally, they managed to go through the 55 gallons. On that day, the whole town concerted a big town ceremony. Everyone that had tasted little the finest liquor was in the presence. They wanted to have a piece of whatever it was that remained in that tank in order to produce their own batch of that exotic moonshine. So it was a big ceremony in front of Nelson And Antonio’s House. When they opened the tank, they found a fully dressed German officer with an impeccable white naval German uniform, even with the hat on. It was a German officer in a fetal position that was placed inside the tank preserved with pure alcohol.
We need to understand that the German system believed that they would last 1000 years. Each time a high-ranking officer died in the sea or in a U-boat, they prepared the body like that. They would then throw it to the sea so they could pick them up on their way back to Germany for a proper burial on Dutch land.
To preserve that officer in a good state. they placed the officer’s body in pure alcohol and all the people drank their share.
That day, everyone became ill. There were people in denial saying, “Of course, I never drink off that!” Others would say, “I do not drink alcohol.” So, in a complete shame, nobody ever spoke anything more about what happened. The German officer got a proper burial but everybody stayed silent because nobody wanted to admit that they drank from the German rum.
Today, you can go to Barahona Cemetery and you will find a cross that does not have a name. It reveals an inscription took from the side of that tank that translates, The Superior Race. But nobody ever knew who he was? Or what was his name?
But for sure in Barahona, they drank from the finest liquor.
Contribution by: Hugo Gonzalez
Sources:
Blaney, D. (2016, Sept 4). U-576: Life and Death on a World War II German U-boat.
Retrieved from http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov.
Images courtesy of NOAA and Ed Caram Collection
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