Matrosengefreiter Franciszek Machoń (18 March 1918 – 1968), known as Franz Machon and later as Frank J. Machon, was the only survivor of the sunken , and one of few

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

U-boat survivors. His story strikes remarkable similarities with

Klaus Bargsten Klaus Bargsten (31 October 1911 – 25 October 2000) was the captain and sole survivor of the sunken German submarine . He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Career ''U-521'' under Bargsten's command was sunk on 2 June 19 ...

of . After his capture, Machon agreed to help the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

observe behaviour characteristics of fellow German

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

Early life

Machon was born in Kattowitz (Katowice) to John and Anna Machon, two Polish commoners. In his early years he worked as a streetcar conductor while attending school. He married a woman named Mary Munik (Maria Munik) who gave birth to a son (his son was 15 months old when he was captured). After the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, Machoń was drafted into the Pioneer Corp. He later requested a transfer to the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

for

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

training.

''U-512''

Sinking

On 2 October 1942, several hundred kilometers north of

Cayenne Cayenne (; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Caye ...

(at position ), was intercepted by depth charges from an American

Douglas B-18 Bolo The Douglas B-18 Bolo is an American twin-engined medium bomber which served with the United States Army Air Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force (as the Digby) during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was developed by the Douglas Airc ...

of the 99th Bomb Squadron. The German

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

quickly filled with water leaaving the entire crew panicking in fear. Soon, the entire cabin was filled with chlorine gas and the crewmen began to cough. (It was guessed that the

chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between ...

gas was produced from the batteries of the electric torpedoes.) A short time previously it had been discovered that the escape lungs had been improperly stowed and that the majority of them had become wet from a buildup of condensation in the boat. Soon, air pressure in the compartment began to mount and speech became very difficult. Men began to collapse rapidly from the combined effects of

and high pressure. Others started to bleed from the mouth and ears in agony.

Escape

In the next several minutes, all 51 crewmen died, except for Machon. He and a boatswain's mate opened the torpedo loading hatch. Because his crewmate had no snorkel, he let him go first and quickly followed. After exiting the boat, his crewmate got confused about the direction to the surface and swam horizontally, only to lose himself between the hull and the superstructure. Upon reaching the surface, Machon swam around for roughly 1.5 hours, unsuccessfully looking for his partner until an inflated life jacket was dropped to him from a circling airplane from the 99th Bombing Squadron. This was soon followed by a drop of a thermos outfitted with water, a signal pistol, paddles and about of rope.

The raft

The

raft A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barre ...

provided by the aircraft was his only form of shelter for the next 10 days. Several times, Machon unsuccessfully attempted to attract the attention of various tankers and passing

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

by firing his signal pistol. To escape the heat, he would usually swim in the water during midday. On the ninth day at sea, he was attacked by

seabirds Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same envi ...

which pecked him on the shoulders so violently he was left with permanent scars. He managed to capture two of the birds, which he split and dried in the sun. Later, with his provisions running low, he decided to eat them, complaining slightly of their fishy taste to his interrogator. Machon, on the verge of death, etched his name into the paddle so that his body could be identified. The next day, 12 October, he was rescued by the United States destroyer at position .

Interrogation

When Machon was rescued, the interrogators gave some time for him to recover his health. When he was found, he was severely sunburned and emaciated. On 19 October, he was formally interrogated. At first he was very nervous giving details to the Navy officials, but then opened up after realizing Nazi propaganda about Allied torture as an interrogation method was false. During his stay he helped Navy officials gather intelligence data on other prisoners and was extremely co-operative to his captors. After being relieved from his duties, he stayed at Fort Hunt until his release.

Later life and death

On 16 April 1945 he was handed over to the Polish authorities. He briefly settled in Wirek,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, before relocating to the United Kingdom. He married Alice Homer in Thanet,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, in 1951. Machon died in 1968 after suffering from an allergic reaction to a

bee sting A bee sting is the wound and pain caused by the stinger of a female bee puncturing skin. Bee stings differ from Insect bites and stings, insect bites, with the venom of stinging insects having considerable chemical variation. The reaction of a p ...

. At the time he was working as a chef at the Bungalow Hotel in

Birchington-on-Sea Birchington-on-Sea is a village#United Kingdom, village in the Thanet District, Thanet district in Kent, England, with a population of 9,961. Note that the village's name is actually Birchington - 'Birchington-on-Sea' is the name of the railwa ...

.Frank J. Machon in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Machon, Franz 1918 births 1968 deaths Kriegsmarine personnel of World War II People from Katowice Military personnel from the Province of Silesia Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom