German U-boat crewmen buried in Indonesia

[Story]

A really curious tale -

The Thinker: German Mystery In the Heart of Java

Knowing that I was hard at work on a little book about the British military intervention in Indonesia in 1945-46 that had been inspired by visits to Commonwealth graveyards in Java, Ian Swan, a retired British Army officer then living in the Bogor area, asked if I would like to see the German graveyard at a wee place near his home called Arca Domas.

Set high in the volcanic countryside outside Bogor, Arca Domas, “The Place of 800 Statues,” to give it an English-from-Sundanese name, is a historically quixotic site. Sundanese Pajajaran royalty were once buried in these parts, so how did German U-boat men come to be interred here on the slopes of the Gede-Pangranggo volcanic massif?

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/article/4140.html

 

[Rufus]

Hi Story,

Very interesting article!
The Germans were trading with the Japanese via Uboat (Opiates and rubber were desperately needed by Germany), in exchange for metals.

Perhaps it was on one of these missions that they met their fate?

Yours,
Rufus

 

[David Conwill]

I didn't fully understand the article (was it translated into English?), but it seems to suggest that these men were veterans of German operations in the Pacific who found themselves stranded far from home after the Axis surrender and were forced to hike inland looking for Quinine supplies and were either killed by restless natives or succumbed to the malaria they were hoping to treat.

The parts about WWI, while interesting, seemed completely unrelated to the U-boat story.

-Dave

 

[Story]

The parts about WWI, while interesting, seemed completely unrelated to the U-boat story.-Dave

Could be the 'Grandpa Simpson' effect, in print.

Meanwhile, one of the Germans buried in Arca Domas
http://www.uboat.net/men/commanders/1224.html