The Germans during the Second World War tested a number of different vehicles to be used
on the battlefield and on the seas. The U-boats were considered incredibly feared, but they
also had a fleet of mini submarines which were used to attack shipping vessels. The
Biber or the Beaver was the smallest submarine at the disposal of the Kriegsmarine, and they
were developed quickly to help stave off the threat of an Allied invasion of Europe. However
they were rather disastrous, and the story of the mini submarine the Biber 90 was rather
shocking and it remains a rather mysterious part of the Second World War. To support our
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The Biber or the beaver was part of a German naval unit that would operate what was known
as midget submarines or explosive speedboats. The training for the operators was rushed
through in just 3 weeks and the pilot inside the vessel would be given caffeine laced chocolate
and also drugs such as pervitin to keep them away longer, and on longer missions. The first
Biber operation took place on the 30th August 1944 from Fecamp harbour, and 22 boats were
launched and only 14 managed to leave the harbour and only 2 got to the place where
they were meant to be.
Operations continued in December 1944 when they were deployed against shipping traffic
heading to the port of Antwerp, and the mini submarines attacked in the evening of the
22nd December, but only one submarine returned. They were equipped with torpedo’s on board,
but many of the vessels would never return and one reason was due to the carbon monoxide
that would leak into the submarine from the petrol engine, creating a deadly execution
chamber inside.
But on the 29th December 1944 off the Kent coast of Southern England, a Royal Navy minesweeper
named HMS Ready was greeted with a shocking site. The ship had been sent to investigate
a suspicious object in the water, and they believed it was a marker bouy that had gone
out of position. However the men onboard the small vessel instead came across a grey painted
German submarine which was slowly sinking. The minesweeper watched and whilst the small
vessel was sent to go and investigate, the men in this vessel discovered the German mini
submarine Biber 90. It was just 9m’s long, and it had a crew of one on board.
The boat launched from the British ship closely watched and approached the vessels but onboard
it was clear to see that the German pilot inside was dead. The sole man or the pilot
of this submarine was Joachim Langsdorff who was the son of a Kriegsmarine Captain, Hans
Langsdorff who would scuttle a ship, a German Cruiser named the Graf Spee in 1939, and he
took his own life three days after this. He would write, ‘I can now only prove by my
death that the fighting services of the Third Reich are ready to die for the honour of the
flag. I alone bear the responsibility for scuttling the panzerschiff Admiral Graf Spee.
I am happy to pay with my life for any possible reflection on the honour of the flag. I shall
face my fate with firm faith in the cause and the future of the nation and of my Führer.’
Joachim Langsdorf had died from carbon monoxide poisoning shortly after setting out from a
port in The Netherlands, as the fumes from the engine seeped into the mini submarine.
HMS Ready with the German pilot inside towed the small submarine to Dover Harbour, but
it sank near to the entrance of the harbour but then the Royal Navy raised it and during
trials it was found that this submarine was unsafe due to the carbon monoxide leaking
into the vessel. It was then modified and made safe for testing, but it was also found
that the submarines had many different faults including electrical issues onboard. It was
also found that it could only operate in calm waters and that conditions onboard would have
been hellish if someone was trapped on it for two days.
However what was also strange was what the Royal Navy sailors found inside the submarine
under the seat of which the German pilot had died in. A message in a bottle was found and
it was said that, there was ‘a bottle hidden under the seat and inside was a document in
English which romantic as it read, appeared to have some bearing upon the capture of the
submarine and possibly the explanation as to why the pilot met his end.’ Today Langsdorff’s
mini submarine is on display in the Imperial War Museum, and it is an incredibly artefact
and you can really see how small it is. Inside would have been very cramped and to think
someone would be underwater for up to 2 days in it is shocking. But the real story of the
mysterious mini submarine Biber number 90 has not completely been uncovered, but inside
were the remains of a German sailor whose father was rather senior in the navy.
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