The Disappearance of U-491

Before the invasion of France by allied forces began, Hitler ordered one of his newest U-boats to be modified for an extremely long-distance mission. After the modifications were complete, which included the total removal of the torpedo tubes and firing equipment, a very secretive cargo was loaded by the SS immediately before the U-boat was to depart France for the final time. Under the strictest of security, and in the dead of night, the U-boat slipped out of its moorings and...
More Description

Before the invasion of France by allied forces began, Hitler ordered one of his newest U-boats to be modified for an extremely long-distance mission. After the modifications were complete, which included the total removal of the torpedo tubes and firing equipment, a very secretive cargo was loaded by the SS immediately before the U-boat was to depart France for the final time. Under the strictest of security, and in the dead of night, the U-boat slipped out of its moorings and disappeared into the Atlantic. Only a very few of Hitler's most trusted inner circle knew of the U-boats mission and even less knew of its cargo.Hitler personally kept track of the U-boat until it simply vanished never to be seen again. For weeks, the Kriegsmarine listened for the U-boat; however, it was never heard from again. Soon enough, the landings on Normandy took precedent, and the missing U-boat and its secretive cargo were never seen or heard from again. Or were they? Now, some seventy-five years later, as an elderly man walks along a beach on an island paradise in the Pacific Ocean, he tells his adult son a fascinating story about being onboard that very U-boat, the cargo it held, and what happened to the crew.