Wolfgang Heyda was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

 commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

War service

After U-boat commander training aboard , Lieutenant Commander Heyda took command of on 21 June 1941, and began his first war patrol on 11 November 1941. Near Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

 Heyda would become embroiled in a great convoy battle, and find himself a victim in the battle of the Atlantic. Commander Frederic John Walker

Frederic John Walker

Captain Frederic John Walker, CB, DSO and three Bars, RN was a British Royal Navy officer noted for his exploits during World War II...

, C.B. D.S.O., commander of the 36th Escort Group sank four U-boats on his first war patrol, including U-434. Heyda was eventually sent to the Bowmanville POW camp

Bowmanville POW camp

The Bowmanville POW camp Camp 30 was a Canadian-run POW camp for German soldiers during World War II located in Bowmanville, Ontario.Prisoners Otto Kretschmer and Wolfgang Heyda were the subject of an elaborate escape attempt named Operation Kiebitz....

 in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, near Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

Prisoner of war

At Bowmanville in October 1942 an insurrection of the prisoners protesting their being shackled took place for three days. The insurrection became known as the Battle of Bowmanville

Battle of Bowmanville

The Battle of Bowmanville was a 1942 revolt in the Bowmanville prisoner of war camp, Ontario, Canada. The prisoners, most of whom were highly ranked German officers, objected to the intended shackling of 100 prisoners...

. Commander Otto Kretschmer

Otto Kretschmer

Flotilla Admiral Otto Kretschmer was a German U-boat commander in the Second World War and later an admiral in the Bundesmarine. From September 1939 until being captured in March 1941, he sank 47 ships, a total of 274,333 tons. For this he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak...

 was instrumental in the rebellion, having assaulted a Canadian guard and taking him prisoner.

Escape attempt

Operation Kiebitz

Operation Kiebitz

Operation Kiebitz was a failed Kriegsmarine operation during World War II in 1943 to organize an escape of four skilled German U-boat commanders from a Canadian POW camp . Its counterattack by the Royal Canadian Navy, Operation Pointe Maisonnette in Chaleur Bay became a key operation in the Battle...

, a plan to have Otto Kretschmer

Otto Kretschmer

Flotilla Admiral Otto Kretschmer was a German U-boat commander in the Second World War and later an admiral in the Bundesmarine. From September 1939 until being captured in March 1941, he sank 47 ships, a total of 274,333 tons. For this he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak...

, Horst Elfe, Hans Ey and Hans Joachim Knebel-Döberitz escape and picked up by a U-boat, was developed in 1942 and was to be executed in September 1943. Knebel-Döberitz was the former adjutant of Admiral Karl Dönitz

Karl Dönitz

Karl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...

. The successful escape of Otto Kretschmer

Otto Kretschmer

Flotilla Admiral Otto Kretschmer was a German U-boat commander in the Second World War and later an admiral in the Bundesmarine. From September 1939 until being captured in March 1941, he sank 47 ships, a total of 274,333 tons. For this he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak...

, a top U-boat ace, would be sensational. However, the escape plan was foiled, and Heyda made an escape via electric wires over a barbed wire

Barbed wire

Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...

 fence. He then traveled 1400 kilometres (869.9 mi) to Pointe de Maisonnette

Pointe de Maisonnette, New Brunswick

Point de Maisonnette is a cape located in northeastern New Brunswick, Canada. Its geographic coordinates are 47º50'15"N, 65º00'13"W.It is the dividing point for delineating the northern limits of Caraquet Bay from Chaleur Bay...

, New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

 on Chaleur Bay

Chaleur Bay

frame| Satellite image of Chaleur Bay . Chaleur Bay is the large bay opening to the east;the [[Gaspé Peninsula]] appears to the north and the [[Gulf of St...

 where he was to be picked up by a U-boat.

Police forces in Canada and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 started a manhunt for the escaped POW. Heyda was captured on the beach at Pointe de Maisonnette where Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Navy

Royal Canadian Navy

The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...

 were waiting for the U-boat to surface off-shore (the RCN had a substantial anti-submarine task force led by hidden nearby). Heyda was taken to the Pointe de Maisonnette lighthouse where Lieutenant Commander Desmond Piers

Desmond Piers

Rear Admiral Desmond William Piers, CM, DSC was a rear-admiral in the Royal Canadian Navy. Born in Halifax and long-time resident of Chester, Nova Scotia, Piers served in the RCN from 1932 to 1967. In 1930, he was the first graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada to join the RCN...

 of the Royal Canadian Navy

Royal Canadian Navy

The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...

 commanded the operation. There, Piers confronted Heyda who claimed to be a tourist on vacation. Depth charge

Depth charge

A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...

s were heard in the bay, but the commander of , Lieutenant Commander Rolf Schauenburg, evaded the attacking ships and made it safely into the Atlantic only to be sunk six weeks later by the RCN.

Death

Heyda was returned to Camp 30 and was eventually released as a POW in May 1947. Heyda died of polio on 21 August 1947 in the Kiel University health clinic just three months after his release.

Further reading

• Rodney J. Martin, Silent Runner, Wolfgang Heyda, U-boat Commander ISBN 0-9740651-0-2