B12 · Contemporary German war diary · privately hosted page facsimile and translation

U-74’s war diary

The search and recovery of three Bismarck survivors, their condition and the difficulty of the transfer.

Author
Kapitänleutnant Eitel-Friedrich Kentrat · U-74
Date
27 May 1941
Passage
Second patrol · page 14 · entries 1600 and 1930–2020

What has been checked

Retained German page image visually rechecked on 18 October 2026 alongside the translation by Jerry Mason with Robert Derencin and Andi Forster.

How to read it

Archival chain of custody not independently authenticated. Diary clock retained without synchronising to Tovey. Direct rescue observations are distinct from survivor recollections of the battle. This page does not identify Dorsetshire’s suspicious object.

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Photograph

Enlarged historical photograph

Web copy resized and compressed; original framing retained. Open image file ↗