1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,240 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio, 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:09,560 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: show that proves there's more than one way to make history. 4 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Blusier, and in this episode we're tackling an 5 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:20,959 Speaker 1: age old question, how many Nazis does it take to 6 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: flush a toilet? The answer just might surprise you. The 7 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 1: day was April fourteenth, nineteen forty five. The crew of 8 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:41,360 Speaker 1: a Nazi submarine had to abandon ship after a plumbing 9 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: issue forced them to surface right in the line of 10 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: enemy fire. That German U boat or under sea boat 11 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: had been operating in secret off the Aberdeenshire coast of Scotland. 12 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: It likely would have gone undetected if not for some 13 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: severe toilet trouble caused by the vessel's captain, Carl Adolph. 14 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: After accidentally releasing toxic gas inside the vessel, Schlid had 15 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,119 Speaker 1: to order his crew to surface before they all choked 16 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:11,639 Speaker 1: to death. Unfortunately for them, the Royal Air Force happened 17 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,400 Speaker 1: to be patrolling the area at that very moment, and 18 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 1: when they caught sight of a German U boat, they 19 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: opened fire right away. Plenty of naval subs have been 20 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: sunk over the years, whether by bombings, collisions, depth charges, 21 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 1: or mechanical breakdowns, but Captain Schlitt's U boat, the U 22 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 1: twelve O six, was a special case. It bears the 23 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:36,400 Speaker 1: dubious honor of being the only warship and naval history 24 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,960 Speaker 1: to be dispatched by its own toilet. First developed during 25 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:44,880 Speaker 1: World War One, Germany's U boats proved highly effective at 26 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:48,800 Speaker 1: punching holes in the British blockade. The stealthy vessels quickly 27 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 1: became the scourge of the Atlantic, disrupting shipping routes and 28 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 1: laying waste to merchant ships twenty times their size. The 29 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 1: U boat threat continued into the Second World War, with 30 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: when In Churchill later calling it quote the only thing 31 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: that ever frightened me during the war. The U boat, 32 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: captained by Karl Adolf Schlitt at the tail end of 33 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 1: World War Two, was a newer type seven C submarine. 34 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: It was equipped with two anti aircraft guns, five torpedo tubes, 35 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: and one state of the art toilet. Previous toilet designs 36 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: weren't able to be flushed while the submarine was submerged, 37 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,519 Speaker 1: and it often had to stay submerged for days or weeks. 38 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: At a time to avoid detection. That problem was compounded 39 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:35,920 Speaker 1: by the fact that there was only one toilet on 40 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 1: board for as many as fifty crewmen to share. The 41 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:44,960 Speaker 1: limitation often forced the crews to improvise with buckets, metal cans, 42 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: or whatever else they had handy. The U twelve O 43 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:51,520 Speaker 1: six was a welcome change in this regard, as it 44 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: boasted a highly improved plumbing system. The star attraction was 45 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:59,520 Speaker 1: a high pressure toilet that could release waste directly into 46 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,360 Speaker 1: the sea instead of storing it on board in a big, 47 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: heavy tank. Not only did that set up lighten the 48 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: subs load, it also meant the toilet could be used 49 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 1: indefinitely without the need for makeshift backups. There was one 50 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:17,639 Speaker 1: downside to the setup, though, The new system wasn't very 51 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: user friendly. Only a handful of crew members were trained 52 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: on how to use it, and everyone else was supposed 53 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: to consult those toilet specialists whenever they had questions. The 54 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 1: strange new arrangement probably would have taken some getting used to, 55 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: but the crew never really got the chance to adjust. 56 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 1: The newly commissioned U boat had left from Nazi occupied 57 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: Norway on its first combat patrol a few days earlier 58 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 1: April sixth. Its mission was to prowl the waters of 59 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: the North Atlantic and destroy any British or American ships 60 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: it found there. In the end, the U twelve oh 61 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:56,320 Speaker 1: six was only active for nine days before meeting its 62 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: ignoble fate. It didn't come across any Allied ships during 63 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,800 Speaker 1: that time either, so it basically set sail, did nothing, 64 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: embarrassed itself spectacularly, and then sank after barely a week 65 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 1: on the job. Here's how it happened. On April fourteenth, 66 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 1: the U twelve h six was cruising at a depth 67 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:17,479 Speaker 1: of two hundred feet about eight miles off the coast 68 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:20,839 Speaker 1: of Scotland. It was looking to be another uneventful day 69 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 1: until twenty seven year old Captain schlid took a bathroom break. 70 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: It was his first time commanding a submarine and he 71 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:30,239 Speaker 1: didn't want to look in nept by having to ask 72 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: for help from the toilet specialist. Schlidt tried to work 73 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:35,919 Speaker 1: out the directions on his own, but when it was 74 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:38,720 Speaker 1: no use, he swallowed his pride and called for help. 75 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: Two people came to his aid, but neither of them 76 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: had any luck either. The order of events gets a 77 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,839 Speaker 1: little murky from there. But what we do know is 78 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 1: that one of those three men mistakenly opened the wrong valve, 79 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 1: allowing a torrent of seawater and human waste to flood 80 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: inside the cabin. That would have been a big enough 81 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 1: problem on its own, due to the sub's unique configurations, 82 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:06,039 Speaker 1: things got about a million times worse from there. That's 83 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 1: because the giant batteries that powered the submarine were housed 84 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:14,360 Speaker 1: inside a compartment located directly beneath the leaking toilet. That 85 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:17,240 Speaker 1: turned out to be a deadly designed flaw, because when 86 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: the salty seawater combined with the batteries acid, it created 87 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:25,119 Speaker 1: a poisonous cloud of chlorine gas, which quickly spread all 88 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,839 Speaker 1: through the sub. The chemical reaction left the captain with 89 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: no choice but to surface and open the hatch, even 90 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 1: though the U boat would be within clear sight of 91 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:38,479 Speaker 1: the Scottish coastline. Sure Enough, once the sub was above water, 92 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:42,600 Speaker 1: British fighter planes swarmed their position. One U boat crew 93 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:45,720 Speaker 1: member was killed by the incoming fire, and three others 94 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:50,160 Speaker 1: were knocked overboard and drowned. Captain Schlid tried to retreat 95 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: once the sub had been aired out, but by that 96 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: point it was too badly damaged to dive back underwater. 97 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:59,680 Speaker 1: The only option left was to pile into the lifeboats 98 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:03,599 Speaker 1: and make a mad dash for the shore. Before abandoning ship, 99 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:07,720 Speaker 1: the captain ordered the sub to be scuttled or deliberately sunk, 100 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:11,320 Speaker 1: so that its secret equipment wouldn't fall into enemy hands. 101 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:14,800 Speaker 1: The U Boat may have avoided being captured, but the 102 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: crew itself wasn't so lucky. Thirty six of the men 103 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: were rescued from their dinghies and taken as prisoners of war. 104 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:24,040 Speaker 1: The remaining ten managed to make it to shore and 105 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: evaded capture for a while, but they were eventually apprehended too. 106 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:31,599 Speaker 1: If there was a bright side for Captain Schlitt and 107 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:34,200 Speaker 1: his men, it's the fact they didn't have to bear 108 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: their humiliation for long. Germany's surrender came only three weeks later, 109 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: making the sunken U Boat just another entry on the 110 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:46,599 Speaker 1: Nazis long list of failed campaigns. So to return to 111 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: where we started, how many Nazis does it take to 112 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: flush a toilet? The answer is nobody knows. They got 113 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,279 Speaker 1: flushed down the drain themselves before they could figure it out. 114 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:02,880 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Loucier and hopefully you now know a little 115 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. You can 116 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 1: learn even more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, 117 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have 118 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:17,280 Speaker 1: any comments or suggestions, feel free to pass them along 119 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 1: by writing to this Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks 120 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 1: to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett for producing the show, 121 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back 122 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: here again soon for another day in history class.