Heat and damp spoiled bread, potatoes, meat, milk, pasta, and rice during long U-boat patrols. Sailors scraped mould from bread and ate what remained beneath it. A U-505 veteran remembered sorting rotten potatoes as their smell mixed with diesel fumes, exhaust, eggs, and bilge water. A naval doctor's 1943 account described cockroaches consuming provisions and biting sailors, causing irritation and infection. Infestations sometimes required fumigation when boats returned. Poor food and unsanitary living spaces reduced morale and threatened crew strength even without enemy action.
Chapter · 40:23-42:15
Spoiled food and vermin weakened U-boat crews
Rotten provisions, diesel fumes, bilge water, cockroaches, and infection made patrol endurance a problem of health and morale as well as submarine performance.