What follows is an account of the loss of U 617 taken from "U-boat versus Aircraft" by Norman Franks and Eric Zimmerman.
On 11/12 September 1943 Wellington aircraft were in action against U 617 (Kapitanleutnant Albrecht Brandi) The U-boat had been located and attacked initially by Wellington 'P' of 179 Squadron at 0050 hrs off the northern Moroccan shore, heavy flak being met as soon and the Leigh Light went on. Squadron Leader D B. Hodgkinson RCAF straddled the boat with his depth charges and the boat began to leave a trail of oil. Keeping the boat under observation they homed in Wellington 'J' of the same Squadron.
It appeared as if the submarine was trying to make neutral waters, the boat clearly seen by 'J''s crew on a calm sea under a cloudless sky. The radar picked her up then the oil trail could be clearly seen in the moonpath. 'J' attacked up the moonbeam in position 3517/0302, the boat opening up with heavy flak almost as the Leigh Light came on, and the aircraft was hit in several places, the rear gunner being fatally wounded.
The front gunner had tried to keep the u-boats gunners heads down, hits being seen to splatter around the conning tower, then the depth charges were going down from 80 feet. Knowing his aircraft had been hit around the port side, the pilot kept on going and stated to climb to 500 feet, but upon inspection the damage was not too server so he turned back to the results of his attack.
About a minute later flames could be viewed comming from the conning tower for almost a minute and the boat could be seen down by the stern. The aircraft continued to shadow the boat for 45 minutes until it finally beached herself on the Moroccan coast in position 3513/0329. Next morning U 617 was lying on her port side with the conning tower awash; her crew were ashore, drying their clothes. She was finished off by attacks from Hudsons, Swordfish and finally gunfire from HM ships. The German crew suffered no casualties and all 49 men survived. Interned by the Spanish, they were later repatriated to Germany.
Wellington J/179 Squadrons wounded rear gunner made no mention of being hit, but as the captain finally turned for home, there was no reply from an R/T check, so one of the crew went to investigate. He had remained at his post and bled to death.
Crew of Wellington J/179
P/O. W H. Brunini. Pilot
Sgt. A. Jones. 2nd pilot.
F/O. V H. Johnson. Navigator.
Sgt. F M. Crowdis. Wop/Ag.
F/S. H W. Barnfield. Wop/Ag.
F/S. W. Jones RNAF. Died of wounds.