The day the U-Boats came to Loch Eriboll

Loch Eriboll is an impressive sight whichever direction you approach it from, with the single-track road revealing an immense stretch of water enclosed by mountains. Even in peaceful weather, its scale can be slightly intimidating, although the depth and shelter that make it such a remarkable anchorage also explain an extraordinary episode in its history. In May 1945, German submarines begin arriving here to surrender, bringing the closing days of the war into a corner of Sutherland that seems an unlikely setting for so much naval activity.

Germany has surrendered, and U-boats still at sea have been ordered to surface, fly a black flag and proceed to designated Allied ports. U-1009 reaches Eriboll on 10 May, with others following from patrols across the North Atlantic and Arctic, but accepting their surrender involves considerably more than directing them to an anchorage. British sailors must board the vessels, disarm their crews and search for intelligence material, explosives and anything that could endanger the men taking possession. The fighting may have ended, but these are unfamiliar submarines belonging to an enemy they were pursuing only days earlier, so there is good reason to proceed carefully.

The most remarkable arrival comes on 19 May, as fifteen submarines from Norway enter the loch in two columns beneath naval and air escort. Picture standing beside one of the crofts or watching from the road as those hulls move through the water below the mountains, filling a familiar view with something its inhabitants can hardly have expected to see. Their arrival takes only a few hours, but the work continues as thirty-three U-boats pass through Eriboll in total. Ammunition, explosives and torpedo components are removed, with some material thrown directly into the loch, before the vessels are sent south. Many will eventually be sunk during Operation Deadlight.

Telling guests about those submarines often produces a searching look across the water, as though there ought to be something substantial left to confirm the story. There is a modest roadside account, and discarded material may remain beneath the surface, but little interrupts the view that draws people to stop here today. You can admire the mountains, take a photograph and continue around the loch without knowing anything about its brief role in the surrender. Once you know, however, looking across that great anchorage and imagining fifteen German submarines coming in together becomes rather difficult to resist.

To learn more, book one of our North Coast Explorer private tours.