This is a German Navy Officers dagger, maker Eickhorn, vintage 1941 trademark. The dagger is in near mint condition, but does show some used. The blade is the usual anchor and sea vines engraving. The dagger itself is common. What makes it unique is the name that is engraved on the scabbard, H. Jager. The practice of engraving names on personnel sidearms was greatly discouraged within the German Arm Forces. I have included a picture of the dagger, engraving and H. Jager. I purchased the dagger several years ago and the only thing I started with was a name and an entry in the 1942 Navy Ranklist. The 1942 Ranklist does give the full first name of Heinz-Gebbard. With this information I thought it would be an easy research project. I contacted a note edged weapons researcher and he did not produce any information. Next to Jager’s name, within the ranklist, is the abbreviation “Tu”. This proved to be the key. I discovered that Tu stands for besitzt das Zeugnis zum torpedoffizier fur U-Boote. With this information I contacted the U-Boat Archive in Germany and they did confirm the H. Jager was a U-Boat officer and the on U-660! This really got the ball rolling with my research. I next dug up all information that I could on U-600. Through the website U-Boat.net I got the following information about U-600:
Laid down 15 Feb., 1941. Commissioned: 8 January 1942, Commander 01.42-11.42 Kptlt. Gotz Baur. Three patrols, Three ships sunk. Fate: scuttled 12 November 1942. from damage inflicted my HMS Lotus and Starwort. 2 dead, 45 survivors. These are the bare facts, but nor the full story of what happened to H. Jager. By a stroke of luck I was able to get a picture of HMS Lotus from a website in England.
The best luck I had was when the U-Boat Archive informed me that Jager’s brother was alive and that they would forward a letter to him! I promptly wrote a letter and was rewarded several weeks later with a large envelope form Germany. Uwe Jager, brother of H. Jager wrote me the full story and sent several pictures of Heinz-Gebbard Jager.
Here is the tale of U-660. During the invasion of Africa in November 1942 U-660 was sent to the Mediterranean to strike at the invasion fleet. U-660 was engaged in heavy action by HMS Lotus and Starwort. Subsequent damage forced U-660 to the surface where the crew tried to escape from the U-Boat and scuttle her. The English wanted to get their hands on a captured German U-Boat to get the codes and code machine. As a result when the U-Boats surfaced and the crew tried to escape the destroyers machined gunned the escape hatches to force the crew to stay inside and surrender. One of the first people out of the conning tower of U-660 was Jager and he was killed in action. The crew did escape and U-660 was scuttled. The crew was sent to Canada as POWs.
This has proven to be an outstanding research project and most enjoyable. I have even contacted Gotz Baur, U-660 captain. He is a very interesting man. He ended one of his letters “The hull (of U-660) of the boat rest on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, about 10 miles off Oran and 3000 meters deep” So does the body of Heinz-Gebbard Jager. May he rest in peace.
Laid down 15 Feb., 1941. Commissioned: 8 January 1942, Commander 01.42-11.42 Kptlt. Gotz Baur. Three patrols, Three ships sunk. Fate: scuttled 12 November 1942. from damage inflicted my HMS Lotus and Starwort. 2 dead, 45 survivors. These are the bare facts, but nor the full story of what happened to H. Jager. By a stroke of luck I was able to get a picture of HMS Lotus from a website in England.
The best luck I had was when the U-Boat Archive informed me that Jager’s brother was alive and that they would forward a letter to him! I promptly wrote a letter and was rewarded several weeks later with a large envelope form Germany. Uwe Jager, brother of H. Jager wrote me the full story and sent several pictures of Heinz-Gebbard Jager.
Here is the tale of U-660. During the invasion of Africa in November 1942 U-660 was sent to the Mediterranean to strike at the invasion fleet. U-660 was engaged in heavy action by HMS Lotus and Starwort. Subsequent damage forced U-660 to the surface where the crew tried to escape from the U-Boat and scuttle her. The English wanted to get their hands on a captured German U-Boat to get the codes and code machine. As a result when the U-Boats surfaced and the crew tried to escape the destroyers machined gunned the escape hatches to force the crew to stay inside and surrender. One of the first people out of the conning tower of U-660 was Jager and he was killed in action. The crew did escape and U-660 was scuttled. The crew was sent to Canada as POWs.
This has proven to be an outstanding research project and most enjoyable. I have even contacted Gotz Baur, U-660 captain. He is a very interesting man. He ended one of his letters “The hull (of U-660) of the boat rest on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, about 10 miles off Oran and 3000 meters deep” So does the body of Heinz-Gebbard Jager. May he rest in peace.
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