Republic of Ireland and the U-Boats

[St Germain]

I know that the Republic of Ireland was neutral during the second world war but is there any truth in the myth that there were (secret) Nazi U-Boat refuelling stations there?

[Lonnie]

http://uboat.net/special/myths/

[Octavius]

Whilst they were neutral, and Lonnie's link confirms this is a myth, there were a lot of shenanigans going on over there in the Emerald Isle.

Some good background reading here, might convince you that whilst it was a possibility that a secret port somewheer could offer refuelling services, it is very unlikely that this really happened.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emergency

[johnlambert]

When Hitler's death was announced the Irish Govenment was the only one to send a message of condolence to the German government

[noxlumos]

That is, I am afraid, horribly true, working on the old ( and misguided) theory that any enemy of the British was a friend of ours. By a very peculiar contrast ( and covering his arse for all he was worth) Dev brutally surpressed the IRA during the war,effectively preventing them from re-taking the north.

[Andyvon]

German U-boats frequently called into the ports of neutral Republic of Ireland . They boats and their crews were welcomed with open arms as they were enemies of Britain. It is well-known that newsreels showing British defeats, bombings and sinkings etc were loudly cheered in Irish cinemas.

[Whickerman]

We also had prisoner of war camps here, for both British and German servicemen. (If they landed here they were considered hostile...)

In fact, there are cases where British servicemen walked out of the camps (prison camps in name only) and got home, only to be handed back by the British govt!