Hagen in Westphalia and the Submarines

The Accumulator Battery Works Co. Berlin-Hagen

1904 - the first batteries for submarines

The Hagen battery works, 1913.

Between the years 1905 and 1945 the Akkumulatoren Fabrik Aktiengesellschaft Berlin-Hagen (AFA) - (known as VARTA Batterie AG since 1962) - was the sole manufacturer of special batteries for the submarines (U-Boats) of the German Kriegsmarine.

AFA's great Hagen plant is situated in the Wehringhausen district of the city of Hagen on the Southeast edge of the industrial Ruhr valley. It was built in 1887 and within ten years had become one of the worlds greatest and most important storage battery works world-wide.

In 1904 the AFA began construction and distribution of submarine batteries. The first Hagen built battery was for the Swedish submarine Hajen. Soon after the Germaniawerft in Kiel ordered four submarine batteries during 1905: 3 for Russian submarines, and one for the first German U-boat, U-1. In 1906 and 1907 the AFA works in Hagen built submarine batteries for the Lake-submarine construction yard in the USA.

Most important manufacturer world-wide

An engineer in the Hagen plant with a large battery cell of the AFA type 40 MAS 1100, designed for U-boat cruisers in 1917.

Between 1905 and 1918 the AFA factory in Hagen was the sole manufacturer of batteries for U-Boats of the German Kriegsmarine. AFA also produced numerous submarine batteries for other countries as well, such as Russia, Spain, Italy, Holland, Austria, and Sweden. In addition, and in conjunction with the Siemens & Halske company, the AFA helped produce Electro torpedoes beginning in 1916. In the First World War the Hagen plant was completely working at full capacity with the production of submarine batteries.

Following World War I, the Versailles agreement in 1919 forbade the construction and building of U-boats by Germany. However, the AFA did produce submarine batteries during the period between 1919 and 1933 for many foreign countries, most notedly for the new Soviet submarine fleet. There were also extensive contracts with the Ingenieurbüro vor Schepbuilding in Holland.

With the rebuilding of the German Kriegsmarine after 1935, the AFA increased its production of batteries for submarines and Electro torpedos. Many new battery types were constructed, and an extensive research and development program was carried out at the Hagen plant. From torpedo batteries the company designed a main battery for the rocket V 2.

World War II

	An AFA technician removes a battery cell from a submarine of the class IX, 1942.

During World War II, the Hagen plant was unable to produce sufficient quantities to meet the needs of the Kriegsmarine. AFA then built new battery plants near Hanover, Posen and Vienna, which began production in 1940, 1943 and 1944 respectably.

AFA peaked in its production during the war years. Its monthly production goals during the 1942-1944 period were more than 50 U-boat and over 1000 Torpedo-batteries produced by the Hagen, Hanover and Posen plants.

In 1941-1944 the production of U-boat batteries by the AFA was often mentioned in British Air Ministry and SHAEF directives for the RAF Bomber Command and the 8th US-Army Air Force, but Hagen was not heavily bombed until 1/2 October 1943.

In 1941 and in the Pointblank-Directive 1943 the Allies under-estimated the importance of this industry and its production of U-boat batteries. The Hagen plant was the only known production site that the Allies had information about. The Hanover and Posen plants were not discovered by the Allies until autum 1943.

Damage by air raids, 1943-1945

The picture shows heavy damage in the AFA submarine battery plant at Hagen caused by British air raids, photographed on 8 May 1945 after occupation by US-troops.

Most of the buildings in which were over 50% of all German submarine batteries was manufactured were damaged in two British Bomber Command raid on 1/2 October 1943 and on 2/3 December 1944. In the raid on 2/3 December 1944 more than eight complete batteries for German XXIII and XXI Electro-U-boats and many torpedo batteries were destroyed in the plant.

The AFA works in Hanover lay for November because of shortage of energy to 50 per cent quietly. The AFA works in Posen was occupied in January 1945 by Soviet troops. In Vienna bomb damage had likewise developed, which prevented a production. As consequence of this air raid several batteries for Seehund "mini-U-boats" were destroyed and damaged.

	A Sergant of the USSBS examines a box press for submarine batteries in the AFA works at Hagen, 8 May 1945 (National Archives, College Park)

From April to August 1945 the AFA battery work was occupied by American and British research teams of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS) and the British Bombing Survey Unit (BBSU), and Military Intelligence.

After a detailed investigation of captured documents and the questioning of leading employees, the Allies commented that their under-estimating of the production of U-boat batteries was a great failure because the consequential elimination of the Hagen and Hanover plants would have resulted in a reduction in the shipbuilding of U-boats and would have had serious consequences for the operational fleet as well.

In fact after a large Bomber Command raid on Hagen in December 1944, and the heavy damage sustained to the AFA plant there, a serious reduction in the construction and delivery of both the Electro-U-boats and Seehund - "mini-U-boats" was experienced during the final months of the war.

It must be said that the Kriegsmarine was particularly dependent upon the AFA and its production of batteries for their U-boat needs, and in hind sight the Allies suffered a missed opportunity to cripple the U-boat fleet's effectiveness much earlier in the war than was done.

Post-war period

	The new German submarine class 212 (c) HDW

Starting from 1955 the AFA played again an important role as supplier for the new submarine fleet in the Federal Republic of Germany. 1962 the AFA were renamed in VARTA Battery Co. At that time the company began with the supply of batteries for the new developed German submarine classes 201-206.

1965 the VARTA took up again supply of batteries for the export. Up to the year 2005 the Hagen battery works supplied batteries for over 100 foreign submarines world-wide. Together with the rival business Wilhelm Hagen Co. (1975: Hagen Battery Co., now part of the Exite group), the VARTA designed special cells for submarines, which are particularly efficient.

Since 1995 the Varta is a part of the British Hawker company and the EnerSys group. As VHB (Varta Hawker Batteries) the battery works in Hagen is involved in the building of storage batteries for the new German submarine class 212. These submarines can nearly constantly operate under water. They are supplied by fuel cells with energy.

The content are based on the research of the historian Ralf blank. In the near future he will publish the research as book. In the Museum of Hagen is to be seen a battery cell from the German submarine U-534.

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© Ralf Blank, All rights reserved.