Surrender of German U-Boats from film drama "Q Ships"

German boats are escorted by British flotilla into Harwich harbour.

An intertitle from a drama film shows two German naval officers. The order is given for the surrender of the U boat to the British fleet at Harwich. In the actuality film that follows, a U-boat with people standing on top approaches a ship. The German sailors board the ship. UB143 is shown alongside several other U-boats. This is a brief extract from the 1928 British film drama “Q Ships”, copied from the shortened Pathescope version distributed on 9.5mm. “Q Ships” included some actuality film of the German U boats during the First World War but this sequence may not actually show the Harwich surrender.

Intertitles

“An English Flotilla will conduct you to Harwich. This is the last order I shall ever give you.”

Background Information

“Q Ships” was a First World War drama directed by Geoffrey Barkas and Michael Barringer. Based on the book “Q Boat Adventures” by Lieutenant Harold Auten, it told the story of Captain Lieutenant Stockmar based on the real events surrounding the German U boats. Although acquired for its connection with the surrender of the U-boats off the Essex coast, this film extract may not show the surrender at Harwich. According to Wikipedia, UB143 surrendered to Japan in 1918 and served in the Japanese Imperial Navy until she was broken up in 1921. This sequence may be a reconstruction - it has been questioned whether the U-boats would have carried their numbers so prominently at the time. During November and December 1918, Harwich in Essex was the scene of the surrender of German U-boats to Admiral Tywhitt’s cruiser squadron. There was initial concern that the submarines might be booby-trapped. 122 U-boats were surrendered in total and remained at Harwich until scrapped. As a condition of the armistice, Germany was to surrender all submarines, and on 24 October 1918 all German U-boats were ordered to cease operations and return to their home ports. The Allies required that all seaworthy submarines be surrendered to them and that those in shipyards be broken up. http://www.harwich.net/histewe.htm http://www.harwichmayflower.com/joomla/index.php/20th-century-ww1/history1.html