Mass surrender of Nazi U-boats documented in new book

For 65 years residents of a remote Scottish village have paid heed to the wartime warning that “loose lips sink ships”.

The surrender of German submarines in Loch Eriboll in Sutherland was one of the strangest episodes at the end of World War II. Locals were sworn to secrecy and it has often been assumed that only “two or three” crews gave themselves up in the sheltered inlet.

But a new book marking the 65th anniversary of the incident reveals that no fewer than 33 U-boat commanders surrendered in the space of 12 days in the 10-mile long loch.

The Highland fjord in the far north-west of Scotland, close to Cape Wrath, was the only Scottish rendezvous point for U-boats. In the space of two weeks, from May 10 to May 25, 1945, it turned into the biggest single gathering of the German submarine fleet anywhere in the world. The U-boats — nicknamed grey wolves — were part of Hitler’s plan to starve Britain of food, raw materials and equipment.

David Hird, 65, a former local government officer, has spent two years researching The Grey Wolves of Eriboll.