IMMH

Submarine U 979

„The Submarine U 979 in the submarine bunker of La Pallice (La Rochelle)“ is displayed on deck 5 of International Maritime Museum Hamburg.

„The Submarine U 979 in the bunker of La Pallice (La Rochelle)“ is one of the two last objects that our founder Prof. Peter Tamm purchased for his collection before his passing over 5 years ago now. It was created by Siegfried Möhrmann in a scale 1:35 using a combination of elements from model manufacturers and structures built from scratch.


The diorama shows a scene from the bunker and dry dock in La Pallice near La Rochelle, France. The submarine U 979, which has returned from a mission, is being overhauled and equipped for her next „Feindfahrt “  (raid). Torpedoes are ready for reloading and the hull is being refitted.

Planning for the submarine bunker in La Pallice began in April 1941, and the first U-boat arrived in November of that year. Three wet and seven dry docks with a total capacity for 13 submarines were available. The total area of the bunker was 23,000 m². For more information on the history of the U-boat Bunkers built by Nazi Germany in the French Atlantic coast, feel free to check our post on the other diorama from November the 13th 2021.

U 979, a submarine of the type VIIC/42 was commissioned on 20 May 1943 under the command of Johannes Meermeier. She was shortly a training vessel, until she was set for war duty on August the 1st 1944, assigned to the 9th U-flotilla in Brest. Transferred to the 11th U-flotilla in Bergen from October 1944. U 979 operated off Reykjavik at the end of the war. In total, the submarine went on three missions. Despite the order to all German submarines to surrender to the Allies after the German capitulation, U 979 managed to voyage to German waters and reach the island of Amrum on May the 24th, where the boat was grounded and scuttled with explosives after the crew was safe on land. The wreck still exists today.