[tazjet]

Little known fact but of the 40 odd U-boats which reached or attempted to reach South East Asia in 1943-44, one actually patrolled New Zealand waters.

U-862 sank a freighter near Sydney on Christmas eve 1944 and then voyaged around NZ not making a single sinking in NZ waters. The voyage's purpose is still mysterious as the U-boat's war diary (kept in Germany from radio logs) disappeared on a Junkers Ju-290 flight to Barcelona on 5/6 April 1945.

U-862's sister sub U-196 simply vanished from history on the same voyage in even more mysterious circumstances. Her engineering officer Heinz Haake was an avowed anti Nazi. His grave is found on a former German plantation on the shores of Sunda straits. Claims that U-196 was sunk by an allied mine are also likely false since these were sewn by a Free Dutch forces submarine in the Sunda Straits a fortnight after U-196 passed by.

So if you come to NZ, bring a mask and snorkel because you just might find the bones of Nazi U-boat one day.

[tazjet]

Here's a link for a website all about submarines in the pacific war:

Imperial Submarines