By the beginning of the war (by September 1, 1939), the Germans had only 57 submarines, of which 35 were coastal (with a displacement of 250 tons each) and 22 were ocean-going (with a displacement of 500 and 700 tons).

And with such insignificant forces, the German submarine fleet began the fight for the Atlantic. In the course of the war itself (after its submarines had demonstrated their high efficiency in the very first months), a grandiose construction of a powerful submarine fleet. For 5 years and 8 months of the war, 1157 submarines were built. Thus, the total resource of Germany amounted to 1214 submarines, of which 789 (according to Anglo-American data) or 651 (according to German data) were destroyed. A significant number of German submarines from the total number destroyed were lost during the intensive bombardment of naval bases and other anchorages. After the surrender of Germany, 159 submarines surrendered.

So, the most productive submariners:
GERMANY

1.Otto Kretschmer sank 44 ships, including 1 destroyer - 266629 tons.

2. Wolfgang Luth- 43 ships, including 1 submarine, - 225,712 tons (according to other sources, 47 ships - 228,981 tons).

3. Erich Topp- 34 ships, including 1 American destroyer - 193684 tons.

4. Herbert Schulze- 28 ships - 183432 tons (on his account the first of all ships officially sunk by German submarines - the transport "Bosnia" - was sunk on September 5, 1939).

5. Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock- 25 ships - 183253 tons.

USSR

1. Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko sunk 4 passenger and commercial vehicles with a total displacement of 42,507 tons. January 0, 1945 - passenger liner "Wilhelm Gustlov" - 25484 tons (on the submarine S-13); February 10, 1945 - major transport ship"General von Steuben" - 14660 tons (on S-13); August 14, 1942 - Helene transport ship - 1800 tons (on M-96); October 9, 1944 - a small transport "Siegfried" - 563 tons (on S-13). For the destruction of the Wilhelm Gustlov liner, Alexander Marinesko was "honored" to be included in the list of personal enemies of the Fuhrer and Germany. On the sunken liner, 3,700 non-commissioned officers - graduates of the diving school, 100 submarine commanders who graduated from a special advanced training course in managing boats with a single engine of the Walther system, 22 high-ranking party officials from East Prussia, several generals and senior officers of the RSHA, a battalion of the auxiliary service of the Danzig port from the SS troops numbering 300 people, and only about 8000 people (!!!). As after the surrender of the 6th Army, Field Marshal Paulus in Stalingrad, mourning was declared in Germany, and the implementation of Hitler's plans to continue the all-out submarine war was seriously hampered. For two outstanding victories in January-February 1945, all Marinesko crew members were awarded state awards, and the S-13 submarine - the Order of the Red Banner. The legendary submariner himself, who fell into disgrace, was awarded his main award posthumously only in May 1990. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union 45 years after the end of the war. Without a doubt, Alexander Marinesko deserved to have monuments erected not only in Russia, but also in Great Britain and the United States of America. His feat saved the lives of many thousands of English and American sailors and brought the hour of the Great Victory closer.

Captain 3rd rank Alexander Marinesko tops the list of Soviet submariner aces not in terms of the number of enemy ships destroyed, but in terms of the amount of their displacement and the amount of damage inflicted on Germany's military potential.

2.Valentin Starikov(captain-lieutenant, commander of the submarine M-171, K-1, Northern Fleet) - 14 ships

3. Ivan Travkin(captain of the 3rd rank, commander of the submarine Shch-303, K-52, Baltic Fleet) - 13 ships

4. Nikolai Lunin(captain of the 3rd rank, commander of the submarine Shch-421, K-21, Northern Fleet) - 13 ships

5. Magomed Gadzhiev(captain of the 2nd rank, submarine division commander, Northern Fleet) - 10 ships

"Wolf Packs" in World War II. Legendary submarines of the Third Reich Gromov Alex

Appendix II Illustrious German Submarine Officers of World War II

Appendix II

Famous German submarine officers of World War II

Otto Kretschmer graduated from school in Exeter (England). On October 9, 1930, he entered the Navy as a cadet. October 1, 1934 received the rank of lieutenant. He served on the training ship Niobe and the light cruiser Emden. In January 1936 he was transferred to the submarine fleet. From November 1936 he served as a watch officer on U-35. In connection with the death of the commander in a car accident on July 31, 1937, Kretschmer became the commander of U-35 and, in this capacity, sailed to the coast of Spain (to support Franco's troops). On August 15, 1937, a new commander was appointed, and Kretschmer continued to perform his duties as a watch officer for another month and a half, until September 30, 1937. On October 1, 1937, he was given command of the boat U-23, on which he made 8 trips.

January 12, 1940 torpedoed the tanker "Denmark" (10,517 tons), a month later sank the destroyer "Daring". On April 18, 1940, he was appointed commander of the submarine U-99. On the night of November 4, 1940, U-99 under the command of Kretschmer sank the British auxiliary cruisers Patroclus (11,314 tons), Laurentik (18,724 tons) and Forfar (16,402 tons). On March 17, 1941, U-99 was discovered by the British destroyer Walker and bombarded with depth charges. When the boat surfaced, the destroyers shot her, after which Kretschmer gave the order to flood the boat. The crew was taken prisoner. Kretschmer until the end of the war was in the Bowmanville POW camp. December 26, 1941 Otto Kretschmer was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. The commandant of the camp gave him the award.

In 1955, Otto Kretschmer joined the Bundesmarine. Since 1958, the commander of the amphibious troops of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1970, Kretschmer retired with the rank of flotilla admiral. Otto Kretschmer died on August 5, 1998 in a Bavarian hospital, where he ended up after a car accident.

Wolfgang Luth was born on October 15, 1913 in Riga. In April 1933 he joined the Kriegsmarine. On December 30, 1939 he was appointed commander of the submarine U-9. January 27, 1940 - commander of the U-138 submarine, October 21, 1940 - commander of the U-43 submarine.

On October 24, 1940, Lieutenant zur See Lut received the Knight's Cross for sinking 49,000 tons in 27 days. On May 9, 1942, he was appointed commander of the submarine U-181. By November 1943, he sank 43 ships (225,712 tons) and 1 Allied submarine, becoming the second most successful underwater ace of World War II, second only to Otto Kretschmer. For his success, Wolfgang Lüth became the first of two submariners to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (the second awarded was Albrecht Brandi). In January 1944 Luth was appointed commander of the training 22nd submarine flotilla of the Kriegsmarine. On August 1, 1944, he was promoted to the rank of captain-zur-see and was appointed head of the naval school in Mürwik, near Flensburg, which later became the seat of the Dönitz government.

Wolfgang Lüth was shot by a German sentry on May 13, 1945, 5 days after the end of the war, but before the Dönitz government was arrested. The sentry was acquitted as Lute did not answer the triple question "Stop, who's coming".

He was buried in Flensburg with full military honors. It was the last solemn funeral in the history of the Third Reich.

Erich Topp Born July 2, 1914 in Hannover (Lower Saxony) in the family of engineer Johannes Topp. On April 8, 1934, he joined the Reichsmarine and on April 1, 1937, he was promoted to lieutenant-zur-see. From April 18 to October 4, 1937, he was adjutant aboard the light cruiser Karlsruhe, which patrolled the Spanish coast in June 1937 during the Spanish Civil War.

Even before the outbreak of World War II, Karl Dönitz convinced the young officer to join the submarine forces of the Kriegsmarine. In June 1940, Topp was given command of the U-57 Type II-C submarine, with which he sank 6 ships in two cruises. When returning from a military campaign near Brunsbüttel, an accident occurred. The Norwegian bulk carrier Rona crashed into a submarine illuminated at night, and it sank within seconds. Six sailors died.

In December 1940, Topp was appointed commander of U-552, a Type VII-C submarine. On it, he made ten campaigns, in which he sank 28 merchant ships and damaged 4 more. On October 31, 1941, his boat sank the American destroyer Reuben James, which became the first American ship sunk in World War II. In October 1942, Topp became the head of the 27th submarine flotilla in Gotenhafen. Until the end of the war, he was the commander of U-2513, a class XXI "electric boat".

In total, Erich Topp sank 34 ships (about 200,000 GRT), 1 destroyer and 1 military support vessel. Thus, he became the third most successful submariner of World War II, behind Otto Kretschmer and Wolfgang Lüth.

From May 20 to August 17, 1945, Topp was a prisoner of war in Norway. On June 4, 1946, he began to study architecture at Technical University Hannover and graduated in 1950 with a diploma with honors.

On March 3, 1958, he rejoined the German Navy. From August 16, 1958, Topp served as a staff officer on the NATO military committee in Washington. On November 1, 1959, he was promoted to captain-zur-see, from January 1, 1962 he served as commander of the landing forces and at the same time, for one month, was and. O. submarine commander. On October 1, 1963, he was appointed chief of staff in the fleet command, from July 1, 1965 he served as head of a subdivision in the German Ministry of Defense. After receiving the rank of flotilla admiral on November 15, 1965, he became a deputy inspector of the Navy. December 21, 1966 was promoted to rear admiral. For his merits in the restoration of the naval forces and their integration into NATO structures, on September 19, 1969, he was awarded the Cross of Merit for the Federal Republic of Germany. December 31, 1969 retired. After leaving the Bundesmarine, Topp worked as a consultant for several years, including at the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft shipyard. Erich Topp died on December 26, 2005 at the age of 91.

Victor Ern was born in the Caucasus in Gadabay in the family of a German colonist on October 21, 1907. In 1921, the Ern family fled to Germany.

On October 1, 1927, he entered the Navy as a cadet. October 1, 1929 promoted to lieutenant. He served on the light cruisers Königsberg and Karlsruhe. In July 1935, one of the first naval officers was transferred to the submarine fleet.

From January 18, 1936 to October 4, 1937 he commanded the submarine U-14, in July-September 1936 he participated in hostilities off the coast of Spain. In 1939 he graduated from the Naval Academy and in August 1939 he was enrolled in the headquarters of Karl Dönitz.

On May 6, 1940, he was appointed commander of the U-37 submarine, on which he made 4 campaigns (having spent a total of 81 days at sea).

On the very first trip to Norwegian waters, Ern sank 10 ships with a total displacement of 41,207 gross tons and damaged 1 ship. In the second campaign, Ern chalked up 7 ships (with a displacement of 28,439 GRT), in the third - 6 more ships (28,210 GRT). In total, in a fairly short period, Ern sank 24 ships with a total displacement of 104,842 gross tons and damaged 1 ship with a displacement of 9,494 gross tons.

On October 21, 1940 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, and on October 26 he was again transferred as the 1st officer of the Admiral Staff to the headquarters of the commander of the submarine fleet.

In November 1941, he was sent to the Mediterranean Sea to coordinate the activities of submarines, and in February 1942 he was appointed 1st officer of the Admiral Staff at the headquarters of the commander of submarines in the Mediterranean.

In July 1942, during a business trip to North Africa, Ern was seriously wounded and taken prisoner. British troops. After recovery, he was placed in a prisoner of war camp in Egypt, and in October 1943 he was exchanged for British prisoners and returned to Germany through Port Said, Barcelona and Marseille.

Since 1943, 1st officer of the Admiral Staff in the Operations Department of the OKM. In May 1945 he was interned by British troops. After his release, he worked at Siemens, held high positions in Bonn. Died December 26, 1997

Hans Günther Lange was born on September 28, 1916 in Hannover. On September 1, 1937, he entered the Navy as a cadet. August 1, 1939 promoted to lieutenant. He served on the destroyer Jaguar.

September 1, 1941 transferred to the submarine fleet. As the 1st watch officer, he made a trip to the Mediterranean Sea on the submarine U-431.

In July 1942 he was transferred to the 24th submarine flotilla. On September 26, 1942, he was appointed commander of the U-711 submarine, on which he made 12 campaigns (having spent a total of 304 days at sea). U-711's main area of ​​operations was the waters of the Arctic, where Lange operated against allied convoys. In the autumn of 1943, he acted as part of the Viking submarine group, in March - April 1944 - the Blitz group, in April - May 1944 - the Kiel group.

Three times Lange attacked small Soviet radio stations located on the islands of the Barents Sea (Pravda, Prosperity, Sterligov). On August 23, 1944, Lange attacked the Soviet battleship Arkhangelsk (the former English Royal Sovereign, temporarily transferred to the USSR) and the Soviet destroyer Zorkiy, and 3 days later was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

On September 21, 1944, as part of the Grif group, he took part in the attack on the Soviet convoy VD-1 (4 transports, 5 minesweepers, 2 destroyers).

In March - April 1945, he participated in the attack on convoys JW-65 and JW-66.

On May 4, 1945, the Lange boat was sunk off the coast of Norway by British aircraft; 40 people died, 12 people, including Lange, were taken prisoner. Released in August 1945. In October 1957 he entered the German Navy. He took part in the development of new types of submarines, commanded the 1st submarine squadron.

From January 1964 - commander of the submarine fleet, and then held high staff positions. In 1972 he retired.

Werner Winter was born March 26, 1912 in Hamburg. On October 9, 1930, he entered the Navy as a cadet. October 1, 1934 promoted to lieutenant. He served on the battleship Silesia and the light cruiser Emden. In July 1935 he was transferred to the submarine fleet.

From October 1, 1937 to October 3, 1939, he commanded the U-22 submarine, on which he made 2 campaigns (22 days) at the very beginning of the war.

In November 1939 he was transferred to the headquarters of the commander of the submarine forces.

On August 13, 1941, he was appointed commander of the submarine U-103, on which he made 3 campaigns (having spent a total of 188 days at sea).

In total, during the hostilities, Winter sank 15 ships with a total displacement of 79,302 gross tons. From July 1942 - commander of the 1st submarine flotilla in Brest (France). In August 1944, he surrendered to the troops of the Western Allies who captured Brest. Released in November 1947. For some time he served in the German Navy. In March 1970, he retired with the rank of captain-zur-see. Died September 9, 1972

Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock famous as the commander of U-96, depicted in the novel "Das Boot" and the film of the same name.

Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock was born in Bremen on December 11, 1911. In 1931, with the rank of naval cadet, he joined the Reichsmarine, where he served on the light cruiser Karlsruhe and the training sailboat Horst Wessel, until in April 1939 he was transferred to the submarine flotilla. After serving as a watch officer on a "canoe" U-8 type II-B, he was promoted to lieutenant commander and in December 1939 took over as commander of the same small U-5 type II-A.

The first campaign, which lasted 15 days and ended in vain, was made by Lehmann-Willenbrock during Operation Hartmut, the invasion of German troops into Norway. After returning from a campaign, he received under his command a newly built medium boat U-96 type VII-C. After three months of preparation and training of the crew, the boat U-96 under the command of Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock began to make military campaigns in the Atlantic. In the first three campaigns alone, ships with a total displacement of 125,580 gross tons were sunk. In March 1942, Lehmann-Willenbrock left U-96 and took command of the 9th Kriegsmarine Flotilla based at Brest. In March 1943 he received the rank of corvette captain. In September 1944, he took command of U-256 and transferred it to Bergen. On December 1, 1944, he received the rank of frigate captain, then, in December, he took command of the 11th Kriegsmarine submarine flotilla based in Bergen and stayed at this post until the end of the war. After a year spent in a prisoner-of-war camp, Lehmann-Willenbrock, from May 1946, was engaged in butchering ships sunk in the Rhine. In 1948, together with three comrades, he built the Magellan sailboat, after which the four of them crossed the Atlantic and reached Buenos Aires, where they took part in the regatta.

Lehmann-Willenbrock was a captain on merchant ships. In March 1959, as captain of the Inga Bastian, Lehmann-Willenbrock and his crew rescued 57 sailors from the burning Brazilian ship Commandante Lira. In 1969 he became captain of Germany's only nuclear ship, the research ship Otto Hahn, a position he held for more than ten years.

For outstanding post-war service, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Honor in 1974 on a ribbon. For many years, Lehmann-Willenbrock was the head of the Bremen Submarine Society, the society still bears his name.

In 1981, Willenbrock acted as an adviser on the filming of the film Das Boot about the campaign of his U-96. Subsequently, he returned to his native Bremen, where he died on April 18, 1986 at the age of 74.

Werner Hartenstein born February 24, 1908, in Plauen. April 1, 1928 joined the Reichsmarine. After training on various ships, including the Niobe and the light cruiser Emden, he served on the light cruiser Karlsruhe, from September 1939 to March 1941 he commanded the Jaguar torpedo boat. In April 1941 he joined the submarine forces and in September he was given command of U-156. From January 1942 to January 1943, he completed five combat campaigns and sank about 114,000 gross tonnage of the enemy.

On September 12, 1942, the British Laconia transport (19,695 brt) attacked off the coast of West Africa. There were more than 2741 people on the ship, among them 1809 Italian prisoners of war. After the sinking of the ship, a rescue operation began, in which U-507, which was nearby, also took part. Hartenstein's boat took several lifeboats in tow and took many victims on board. Despite clearly visible flags with the Red Cross, the boat was bombed by American aircraft and was badly damaged. Several of those who were rescued died.

This bomb attack led Karl Dönitz on September 17, 1942, to issue the so-called "Laconia Order", which forbade German warships from taking any action to rescue people from sunken ships.

In mid-January 1943, Hartenstein went on his last combat campaign. On March 8, 1943, east of Barbados, his boat with the entire crew was sunk by an American Catalina seaplane.

Horst von Schroeter born June 10, 1919 in Bieberstein (Saxony). On June 28, 1938, he entered the Navy as a cadet. May 1, 1940 promoted to lieutenant. He served on the Scharnhorst battleship, on which he participated in hostilities in the first months of the war.

In May 1940 he was transferred to the submarine fleet. As the 1st watch officer, he made 6 trips on the submarine U-123, commanded by Reinhard Hardegen. On August 1, 1942, he was appointed commander of the submarine U-123, on which he made 4 trips (having spent a total of 343 days at sea).

On June 1, 1944 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, and on June 17 he handed over the submarine. On August 31, 1944, he was given command of the submarine U-2506 (stationed in Bergen, Norway), but he no longer took part in hostilities.

In total, during the hostilities, Schroeter sank 7 ships with a total displacement of 32,240 gross tons and damaged 1 ship with a displacement of 7,068 gross tons.

In 1956 he entered the German Navy, in 1976–1979. - Commander of the NATO Naval Forces in the Baltic. In 1979, he retired with the rank of vice admiral (this was the highest rank that a submariner in the German Navy could receive). Died July 25, 2006

Carl Fleige was born on September 5, 1905. In October 1924, he joined the Navy as a sailor. He served on destroyers, cruisers and training ship "Gorkh Fok".

In October 1937 he was transferred to the submarine fleet and in May 1938 he was assigned to U-20, commanded by Karl-Heinz Möhle. After Möhle received U-123 in June 1940, he took Fleige with him.

In August 1941, Fleige was transferred to the coastal units of the 5th flotilla in Kiel (the same Möhle became the commander of the flotilla). April 1, 1942 promoted to lieutenant.

On December 3, 1942, he was appointed commander of the U-18 submarine (type II-B) in the Black Sea, on which he made 7 campaigns (having spent a total of 206 days at sea).

Fleiga was particularly successful in military operations against Soviet convoys in the Black Sea.

July 18, 1944 awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. In August 1944, he surrendered command and in December was appointed instructor of the 24th flotilla and the 1st submarine training division.

In total, during the hostilities, Fleige sank 1 ship and damaged 2 ships with a displacement of 7801 gross tons.

Appendix II uses materials from the book by Mitcham S., Muller J. "Commanders of the Third Reich", sites: www.uboat.net, www.hrono.ru, www.u-35.com.

The first year of the Second World War Let the buds turn pink on the chestnuts And every bush raves again in spring, We won't write a single line for spring, The whole distant world is so tense and empty. Still calmly dozing, stopovers And the warm wind whispers about spring, And somewhere GERMAN SUBMARINES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR (EXCEPT FOR SUBMARINES OF TYPE XXI AND XXIII) crawl out somewhere U-ALaid down on February 10, 1937, Germaniawerft, Kiel. Launched September 20, 1939, first commander - Lieutenant Commander Hans Kohausch. 9 military campaigns. 7 ships sunk (GRT 40,706). 1

Von Dönitz Karl German submarines in World War II Abridged translation from German under the general editorship and with a preface by Admiral Alafuzov V.A. The following people took part in the translation: Belous V.N., Iskritskaya L.I., Krisental I.F., Nepodaev Yu.A., Ponomarev A.P., Rosenfeld

The USSR and Finland on the eve of the Second World War It is not my task to describe the events in detail Soviet-Finnish war, to which I had no direct relationship, but there was one personal moment that made me special attention keep an eye on everything that's on the line

DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR (1939-1945) Beginning of the Second World War September 3, 1939 Strengthening national security May 26, 1940 On the US military threat and assistance to countries - victims of aggression December 29, 1940 Declaration of a state of emergency May 27, 1941 On repulse

Beginning of World War II The invasion of Nazi troops into Poland led to the outbreak of World War II. Great Britain with its dominions and France declared war on Germany. What about the United States? England and France are in need of military and material assistance. In "Conversation"

7. The finale of the Second World War: the defeat of Japan After the end of the war in Europe, the only center of aggression and war remained - Japan. Stalin in his military-political strategy proceeded from the fact that Soviet Union must strictly fulfill its obligations,

The start of the Second World War was postponed to the week of September 1, 1939, with a military attack on Poland, a big war was started. During the week between August 26 and September 1, the British and French governments made an attempt to reach some kind of solution on the basis of

The beginning of the terrible Second World War There was no declaration of war. Contrary to the truth, Hitler without a twinge of conscience claimed that the Poles were the first to open fire, and he, Hitler, only answered him. In order to believe this, on his orders they staged the notorious "attack on

The stronger the enemy becomes, the more difficult it is to fight and win with him, the more difficult it is to achieve real success, and not wishful thinking. The commander of the German submarine U 515, Corvette Captain Werner Henke, was the last submarine ace of the Kriegsmarine, whose declared successes in the conditions of the total superiority of the allies at sea corresponded to reality. The fate of Henke is also notable for the fact that the death of this submariner was a direct consequence of one of his biggest successes.

The award system introduced in the German submarine fleet with the outbreak of World War II was effective and simple - the Knight's Cross for 100,000 tons of sunk tonnage and the Oak Leaves for it for 200,000 tons. Submarine commanders were motivated to receive the award, which was the hallmark of an underwater ace. But the race for the coveted cross also had a negative side - the so-called overclaim. This term, which came from the English-language military-historical literature, can be translated as "overstatement of the declared results." The more effective the anti-submarine defense of the Allies became, the greater was the discrepancy between the real and imaginary successes of the Kriegsmarine submariners.

Corvette Captain Werner Henke, 05/13/1909–06/15/1944

This led to the fact that now, after gaining free access to wartime documents, Dönitz's underwater aces (however, like any other aces, whether they are pilots, sailors or tankers of any warring army) can be divided into two categories: real and exaggerated. The first includes those boat commanders who fought in the Atlantic in 1939-1943. and really made a lot of progress. The second category included commanders who fought in the period 1944-1945. and often in secondary theaters of war. At the same time, the main number of cases of overstating the results associated with the use of homing and maneuvering torpedoes and the principle “heard an explosion means it hit” refers precisely to the last period of the submarine war.

Werner Henke and the ill-fated "Ceramic"

The personality of Corvette Captain Werner Henke is interesting, first of all, because he was one of the last real aces who fought in the Atlantic. Henke received the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross. These were the last Oak Leaves received in the submarine fleet for real performance - although Carl Emmermann was awarded the same day as Henke, he was presented for this award during his last trip and did not go to sea again. Henke continued to fight and drown.

After Henke and Emmermann, only three people received Oak Leaves: Werner Hartmann, Hans-Günther Lange and Rolf Thomsen. However, the famous Hartman, former commander U 37 and one of the leading aces of the beginning of the war, was awarded the award as commander of submarines in the Mediterranean. The last two, the commanders of the boats U 711 and U 1202, were awarded on the same day, April 29, 1945, and received a high award for absolute overbranding in attacks. However, it is possible that their awarding was purely propagandistic in nature.

German submarine U 124, famous for its emblem - the edelweiss flower. It was on it that Werner Henke served under the command of underwater aces Georg-Wilhelm Schulz and Johann Mohr. Having received his own boat U 515 under his command, Henke made edelweiss her emblem as well. Later, a second emblem was added to it - a hammer

But back to Werner Henke. He grew up as a boat commander under such famous aces as Georg-Wilhelm Schulz and Johann Mohr, for whom he served as a watch officer on U 124 for just over a year. Henke began his career as a submarine commander in February 1942. He did not have time to participate in the events that took place off the coast of the United States and in the Caribbean in the first half of 1942, as he took command of the new large submarine U 515 (type IXC) and during this time was engaged in its testing and crew training. However, having gone on his first combat campaign from Kiel on August 12, 1942, Henke began to sharply make up for lost opportunities.

During the campaigns he made, excluding the fourth, when the boat was damaged by aircraft and ships of the Allied PLO and returned to the base, and the last one in which it was sunk, he almost never returned to the base without pennants on the periscope, symbolizing the sunken ships and ships .

According to the German wartime version, Hencke was thought to have 28 vessels at 177,000 GRT. According to post-war research, the commander of U 515 sank 22 merchant ships at 140,196 GRT and the British destroyer mother ship Hecla (HMS Hecla, 10,850 tons). In addition, two ships (10,720 GRT) are listed as torpedoed, as well as a destroyer and a sloop (3,270 tons), which U 515 inflicted damage of varying severity. If you sum up these figures, it becomes clear that the declared tonnage practically corresponds to the actually sunk.

Above is the Hekla destroyer mother ship, below is the destroyer HMS Marne. On the night of November 12, 1942, west of Gibraltar, Henke attacked and sank the Hekla. The destroyer began to pick up survivors, but received a torpedo that turned her stern. Fortunately, the ship remained afloat and returned to service in January 1944. 279 out of 847 people died on the Hekla, 13 more sailors died on the Marne

One of the most famous episodes associated with Henke's combat activities is the sinking of the liner "Ceramic" (SS Ceramic), used by the British Admiralty as a troop transport, sailing between Europe and Australia. This ship has repeatedly become a target for German torpedoes since the First World War, but fate favored the Ceramics, its crew and passengers until December 7, 1942. On that fateful night, northwest of the Azores, the liner lay in wait for U 515. Henke pursued the ship for several hours, after which, having taken a convenient position for shooting, he accurately determined the speed of the victim (17 knots) and fired two torpedoes, achieving one hit. Thus began one of the most terrible tragedies of submarine warfare.

The explosion of the torpedo fell on the engine room, so the ship lost its course and electricity. There was no panic among the passengers, and the crew managed to launch the boats, despite the rough sea and total darkness. After that, within an hour, U 515 fired three more torpedoes into the liner. The last of them broke the ship into two parts, after which it quickly sank. The survivors were not lucky - the weather deteriorated, it began to rain and a strong storm began. The boats flooded, overturned, and people swam next to them, kept afloat by life jackets.

Henke reported to the headquarters about the sinking of the Keramik and received in response an order to return to the place of attack and take the captain on board in order to find out the route and cargo of his ship. As the commander of U 515 wrote in the war diary: “At the place of the shipwreck there are a large number of corpses of soldiers and sailors, about 60 life rafts and many boats, parts from the aircraft.” Later, members of the crew of U 515 recalled that Henke was very upset by the picture that opened before him.

The passenger steamer Keramik was built back in 1913 and managed to take part in the First World War. He is one of the 20 largest victims of the Kriegsmarine submariners in terms of tonnage.

The top watch noticed a boat with people. Women and children were visible in it, waving their hands to the submarine, but at that time a severe storm began, and Henke ordered to pick up the first person who came across from the water. This lucky man was the British sapper Eric Munday, who told the Germans that there were 45 officers and about 1000 ordinary soldiers on the ship. In reality, there were 655 people on the Ceramics: 264 crew members, 14 gunners of the liner's guns, 244 military personnel, including 30 women from the Imperial military service of nurses to Queen Alexandra, and also, according to purchased tickets, 133 passengers, including 12 children. All of them, except Mandeus, died.

They had no chance to survive in a storm, which even experienced sailors called one of the strongest in that area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe ocean. As former U 515 navigator Willy Klein recalled: “There was absolutely no possibility of saving anyone else – it was still that weather. The waves were huge. I served on submarines for many years, and I have never seen such waves. The commander of U 515 had no illusions about the fate of the people in the boats: he understood that his torpedoes caused the death of many people, and later this became a fatal circumstance for him, which led to Henke's death.

Another well-known incident involving Henke occurred on the night of May 1, 1943. Then U 515 made one of the most successful individual attacks on convoys in the entire war. The victims of her attack were seven of the 18 ships of the TS-37 convoy, en route from Takoradi (Ghana) to Freetown (Sierra Leone) guarded by one corvette and three anti-submarine trawlers. According to British historian Stephen Roskill, the convoy's escort commander delayed sending a message about the presence of a German submarine in the area after intercepting a radio message from it, and as a result, the headquarters was notified only after the convoy was attacked. Three destroyers, sent to reinforce the escort, arrived in time for the “cap analysis”. It is also worth noting that in the same campaign, U 515 managed to sink three more ships, and he entered the top ten most successful campaigns made by German submarines throughout the war - a total of 10 ships went to the bottom at 58,456 gross weight.

The last moments of the submarine U 515. The picture of the sinking submarine was taken from the side of one of the American ships that sank it

Werner Henke was on a special account with Grand Admiral Dönitz, as evidenced by a very curious incident that occurred between the underwater ace and the secret services of the Third Reich. On June 24, 1943, U 515 returned to Lorian from a 124-day campaign, the third in a row for the boat. Henke was rapidly turning into the "star" of the German submarine, and his success was in the hands of propaganda. In the first campaign, he reported on 10 ships sunk by 54,000 GRT (in reality, nine by 46,782 GRT and one damaged), in the second he announced the destruction of the Birmingham-class cruiser (in fact, it was the Hekla floating base mentioned above) , destroyer and liner "Ceramic" (18 173 brt). For this, Henke was presented to the Knight's Cross and named the most successful commander of the 10th flotilla. The third campaign proved to be the most successful: Henke reported 72,000 gross tons of tonnage sunk (in reality, 58,456 gross tons).

Werner Henke and the Gestapo

For their achievements, the entire crew received Iron Crosses. different degrees, and Henke flew on July 4 to Hitler's headquarters, where he handed him the Oak Leaves. The crew of U 515 got a vacation, and its commander went to rest in the ski resort of Innsbruck in the Austrian Tyrol, where his wife was waiting for him.

The underwater ace was very proud and ambitious, and the rewarding personally by the Fuhrer probably gave him even more self-confidence. As a result, when the ace found out about the Gestapo persecution of a family he knew from Innsbruck, in his opinion, innocent, he made a scandal in the reception room of the Austrian Tyrol Gauleiter Franz Hoffer ( Franz Hofer), where he scolded the Gauleiter's secretary for the arrest of his acquaintances. However, such intercession did not frighten the subordinates of Heinrich Müller, and a case was opened against Henk, which began to grow like a snowball.

As a result, when the details of the incident became known to Henke's superiors, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Dönitz and the commander of the submarine fleet von Friedeburg personally paid Himmler a visit to intercede for the "state criminal". In a letter to Himmler, von Friedeburg apologized for the actions of a subordinate, writing that Henke's behavior was the result of the stress received during the submarine war, which kept the submariners' nerves on edge. The admirals assured that the behavior of their officer was not justified and had already received from him complete repentance and regret about what had happened. The all-powerful Reichsführer accepted the apology and ordered the Gestapo to stop the investigation into the Henke case.

Pilots of the VC-58 deck squadron from the aircraft carrier Guadalcanal pose in front of one of their Wildcats. It was the Avenger and Wildcat pilots from the VC-58, together with the destroyers USS Pope, Pillsbury, USS Chatelain and USS Flaherty on April 9, 1944 years north of Madeira sank U 515 - 16 German submariners died, another 44 were captured

It is worth noting that the submariners did periodically have conflicts with the Gestapo. So, the captured members of the crew of the boat U 111 sunk in October 1941, during interrogation, told the British a curious story:

« According to the story of one of the prisoners of war, the crew of one submarine got into a fight with Gestapo agents near a cafe in Danzig. Gestapo agents roughly pushed a man in civilian clothes who was walking past a cafe. As it later turned out, this man was a submarine officer, who, without thinking twice, in response, gave one of the offenders in the eye, giving him blanche. To the misfortune of the Gestapo, sailors from the boat where this officer served were resting nearby, who rushed to his rescue. A fight ensued, which ended after the Gestapo drew their pistols. All sailors were arrested and taken to the nearest police station for investigation. After clarifying the circumstances of the conflict, the police asked the officer to apologize, which would end the conflict. However, he refused. The case went to the investigation, which, however, was soon terminated. The prisoner of war declared that if one of the Gestapo men had shot at the sailors during the brawl, then he (the Gestapo man) would have been dead.

In addition, another curious nuance arises - the story of Henke echoes the story of Herbert Werner (Herbert Werner) in his "Steel Coffins" about a similar case, where the author of the memoirs tells how he went to the Gestapo to free his father:

« I immediately went to the Gestapo station on Lindenstrasse, which was not far from our house. The naval uniform and awards allowed me to get past the guards without any questions. When I entered the spacious hall, the secretary at the table at the entrance asked how she could be useful.

I thought that he rarely saw submarine officers, and even those whose fathers were behind bars.

I had to wait a long time to meet the Obersturmbannführer. There was enough time to think about the plan of the conversation. The secretary then led me to a well-furnished office and introduced me to the SS chief in the city. So, in front of me was a powerful man who had to lift a finger to decide someone's fate. This middle-aged officer in a gray SS field uniform looked more like an imposing businessman than a cold-blooded punisher. Von Molitor's greeting was as unusual as his appearance.

“It's nice to see a naval officer for a change. - he said. - I know that you serve in the submarine fleet. A very interesting and exciting service, isn't it? What can I do for you, lieutenant?

I answered him in an icy tone:

“Herr Obersturmbannfuehrer, my father is being held in your prison. Without any reason. I demand his immediate release.

The friendly smile on his full face was replaced by an expression of concern. He glanced at my business card, read my name again and then stammered:

- I was not informed about the arrest of the father of a distinguished sailor. Unfortunately, lieutenant, there must have been a mistake. I will look into this matter immediately.

He wrote something on a piece of paper and pressed the call button. Another secretary came in from another door and took a piece of paper from the boss.

“You see, lieutenant, I am not informed about every specific case of arrest. But I suppose you only came to us on your father's business?

- Of course. And I think the reason for his arrest...

Before I could make the big blunder of speaking abruptly, the secretary re-entered and handed Von Molitor another sheet of paper.

He studied it carefully for a while, then said in a conciliatory tone:

Lieutenant, now I'm in the know. In the evening your father will be with you. I am sure that three months in prison will serve as a lesson to him. I'm sorry that this happened. But your father has no one to blame but himself. I'm glad I could be of service to you. I hope that your holiday will not be overshadowed by anything else. Farewell. Heil Hitler!

Standing up quickly, I thanked him briefly. Of course, the SS chief did not render me any service, he could hardly have ignored my demand to release my father.

If we compare Werner's story with the incident between Henke and the Gestapo, then it seems that Werner greatly embellishes his influence with the Gestapo, especially by saying that the latter could not ignore the demand for release. It is unlikely that the Obersturmbannfuehrer was so embarrassed by the visit of the submarine officer that he began to stutter and fawn. Therefore, we will have to leave this story on the conscience of the author of Steel Coffins, referring it to the list of tales that Werner published in his book.

Werner Henke and death in captivity

returning to future fate Werner Henke, it is impossible not to note the fact that he did not manage to avoid the fate of many of his fellow submarine commanders. On April 9, 1944, U 515 was sunk north of Madeira Island. Henke was captured by the Americans along with most of his crew. The commander of the American escort aircraft carrier USS Guadalcanal, Daniel Vincent Gallery, who commanded the anti-submarine group that sank the boat, managed to cunningly persuade the German ace and other members of his crew to cooperate.

Captain Gallery and his first officer, Commander Johnson, on the bridge of the Guadalcanal. German flags indicate attacks on boats U 544, U 68, U 170 (damaged), U 505 and U 515

Gallery subtly played on the fears of the Germans to fall into the hands of the British, as they believed that they were waiting for a tribunal for the sinking of the Ceramics. As the commander of the Guadalcanal wrote in his memoirs, Henke, in a conversation with one of the guards, said that shortly before U 515 left Lorian, the BBC radio broadcast a propaganda message to all German submarine bases. It said that the British found out that after the sinking of the Keramika U 515, it surfaced and machine-gunned people in the boats. Therefore, as stated later in the broadcast, if anyone from the crew of U 515 is captured by the British, he will be tried for murder and hanged if found guilty.

On Henk and his people, the radio broadcast made a heavy impression. Despite the fact that there was no shooting at the boats, the crew of U 515 was not at all eager to be in the hands of the British and go to trial for a fictional murder. Having learned about this from the foreman, Captain Gallery decided to use the information:

« Of course, he [Henke] completely denied the shooting of the boats, and, quite possibly, told this story in order to put the British in an unsightly light. Now the British claim that they never aired such a thing, but they cannot explain why Henke would invent such a story in 1944. Personally, I do not believe in the shooting of boats at all, but at the same time it seems to me that the British could well have broadcast something like this. In any case, this story told me gave food for thought. I already understood that Henke is not eager to get to England. I wondered how far I could go with the idea of ​​hypothetically sending him there. After weighing all the pros and cons, I decided to try one trick. I forged a radio message for Guadalcanal, ie. he himself wrote a fictitious text, allegedly coming from the Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet on official letterhead. The text read: “The British Admiralty requests that you hand over the crew of U 515 to them while refueling at Gibraltar. Given the overcrowding of people on your ship, I allow you to proceed at your own discretion.

When Henke was summoned to the commander of the Guadalcanal and acquainted with this "radiogram", he turned dead in the face. As Gallery wrote, the underwater ace was brave and tough, but managed to drive him into a "hellish situation." Gallery offered Henke a deal - the German submariners give a receipt for cooperation, and remain in the hands of the Americans. As a result, on April 15, Henke, and then other members of the U 515 crew, signed a pre-prepared document in which they promised to cooperate with the Americans in exchange for not extraditing them to the British:

“I, Lieutenant Commander Henke, swear on my honor as an officer, in the event that me and my team are placed as prisoners of war in the United States, and not in England, to speak only the truth during interrogations.”

It is not known to what extent Admiral Galleryri lied when he wrote that the British denied the very fact of the broadcast of such a program. The American historian Timothy Mulligan later wrote that after the return of U 515 to France, German journalists interviewed Henke and Munday, whom he had saved, about the Ceramics, using fragments from it in a propaganda radio broadcast that reported on the success of the German submariners who sank the liner. As Mulligan managed to establish, the answer to her was not long in coming:

“The Allies responded in March 1943 by airing their own propaganda broadcast under the name of the fictional character “Commander Robert Lee Norden” (U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Ralph G. Albrecht appeared on the radio under this pseudonym). Broadcasting on the frequency of German naval receivers, Norden accused Henke of shooting at least 264 survivors from the Keramik and called the commander of U 515 "war criminal No. 1", promising him a tribunal. The fact that this radio transmission was a fake was confirmed by a cipher in May 1944 from a high-ranking US Navy intelligence officer to his Canadian colleague: “Actually, the whole story is fiction, and, as far as we know, he [Henke] was sinking” Ceramics "acted quite legally."

It is worth noting that, having recovered from the first blow, Henke came to his senses and subsequently refused to cooperate and abide by the agreement he signed. This presented a serious problem for the Americans. Firstly, Henke was not a simple submariner, and his merits and character could make him a leader among German prisoners in the hands of the Americans. Secondly, he was the second underwater Oak Leaves ace to be captured. The first was the famous Otto Kretschmer, who fell into the hands of the British and became a big headache for them. He organized the trial of the officers of U 570, who had surrendered their ship to the enemy. He actively prepared escapes from POW camps and established a coded communication with Dönitz in letters sent through the Red Cross. Having suffered with the recalcitrant underwater ace, the British transported him to Canada, but Kretschmer distinguished himself there too, arranging a massive hand-to-hand fight between prisoners and guards, which went down in history as the “Battle of Bowmanville”.

The Americans understood that Henke could well be the same cause of trouble for them as Kretschmer was for the British. Therefore, after the commander of U 515 refused his receipt, the investigators interrogating the German officer decided to intimidate the recalcitrant ace by handing him over to the British, announcing that the day of his dispatch to Canada had already been appointed. This led to disastrous consequences: Henke decided to avoid the English tribunal by committing suicide. He chose a rather unusual way to part with his life.

Just fished out of the water, Werner Henke, surrounded by American sailors, on the deck of the destroyer "Shatelyn". He had just over two months to live.

On the afternoon of June 15, 1944, Henke, in front of the guards of the POW camp (Fort Hunt, Virginia), rushed to the wire fence and climbed on it, not responding to the warning shouts of sentries. When the submarine officer was already at the very top of the fence, one of the guards fired. Henke was badly wounded. The Americans tried to save his life, but the underwater ace died in the car on the way to the hospital.

The commander of U 515 died unaware that the enemy was trying to exploit his delusions about the sunken liner. Even if he fell into the hands of the British, it is unlikely that the latter would have been able to legally charge him with a war crime, despite the great loss of life. "Ceramic" was a legitimate target for the submarine, and from it they did not shoot at the boats with machine guns. But people who knew Henke described him as a proud and determined man, and, apparently, he decided not to allow himself the dishonor of being hanged. So absurdly ended the life of one of the last real German submarine aces, whom his biographer Timothy Mulligan called "Lone Wolf".

Literature:

1. Hardy C. SS Ceramic: The Untold Story: Includes the Rescue of Sole – Central Publishing Ltd, 2006
2. Gallery D. V. Twenty Million Tons Under the Sea – Henry Regnery Company, Chicago 1956
3. Busch R., Roll H. J. German U-boat Commanders of World War II - Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1999
4. Ritschel H. Kurzfassung Kriegstagesbuecher Deutscher U-Boote 1939–1945. Band 9. Norderstedt
5. Werner G. Steel Coffins- M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2001
6. Wynn K. U-Boat Operations of the Second World War. Vol.1-2 - Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1998
7. Blair S. Hitler's U-boat War. The Hunted, 1942–1945 - Random House, 1998
8. http://historisches-marinearchiv.de
9. http://www.uboat.net
10. http://uboatarchive.net
11. http://www.stengerhistorica.com

Otto Kretschmer entered the history of World War II under the nickname "King of the tonnage". For his achievements, he is often called the best Dönitz submariner or underwater ace No. 1. But is this so? After all, some of his colleagues also committed deeds that no one could surpass. Will they push Kretschmer off the pedestal? Let's try to figure out who could be the best submariner of the Third Reich.

German submarine aces

The French word "ace" began to be actively used in military terminology during the First World War. It meant "a specialist of the highest class" or "the best of the best." Initially, this was the name of military pilots who were fluent in the art of piloting and air combat and shot down at least five enemy aircraft. Soon aces appeared among the submariners. Already in September 1914, German submarines declared themselves as a formidable weapon, when their torpedoes sent four British cruisers to the bottom. After that, the submarines engaged in the destruction of merchant ships and achieved impressive success.

A distinctive feature of the submarine ace of the Kaiser fleet was the awarding of the submarine commander with the highest military order of Prussia "Pour le Mérite" ("For Merit"). IN armed forces In Germany, because of the color of the cross, he was nicknamed "Blue Max". The first cavalier of the order among submariners was the famous Otto Weddigen. In total, 29 submarine commanders were awarded this award in World War I. Prominent figures among them were Lothar von Arnaud de la Perriere and Otto Herzing.

The Treaty of Versailles deprived Germany of submarines for 16 years. But with the coming to power of Hitler, Versailles was denounced, and submarines reappeared in the German fleet. By the beginning of World War II, it consisted of 57 boats. The Kriegsmarine made extensive preparations for submarine warfare: as of September 1, 1939, 80 new submarines were laid down.

Since submarines were once again at war with merchant shipping, their commanders needed to be encouraged to sink as many ships as possible. Therefore, according to the new rules, the Knight's Cross relied for 100,000 brt, and for 200,000 - Oak leaves to it. The destruction of an enemy battleship or aircraft carrier automatically made the submarine commander a holder of the Knight's Cross.

During World War II, 124 commanders received this award. However, only 34 of them managed to overcome the bar of 100,000 GRT, another 50 sank over 50,000 GRT. Seven commanders were made knights of the Knight's Cross for sinking or damaging large warships: Prien, Shewhart, Esten, Hugenberger, von Tizenhausen, Bigalk and Rosenbaum.

Let us pay attention to the particularly outstanding submariners of Dönitz.

Otto Kretschmer

Kretschmer began the war as the commander of a small "two" U 23. He had all the qualities to achieve success: a fearless, prudent, cold-blooded and aggressive submariner. His dislike for chatter became the talk of the town on the submarine. Colleagues gave him the nickname "Silent Otto".

Until March 1940, U 23 operated in the North Sea. During this time, she was credited with the sinking of a destroyer and 25,738 GRT of merchant tonnage. But in reality, the "two" sank less: five ships at 10,736 gross tons - and caused irreparable damage to two ships at 15,513 gross tons.

On April 2, 1940, Kretschmer was appointed commander of the U 99, a type VIIB boat, which was being completed. On April 18, she entered the Kriegsmarine. From that moment, the ascent of the "silent Otto" to the underwater Olympus began, since the Atlantic was much more promising than the North Sea.

Otto Kretschmer in Berlin after the ceremony of awarding the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross for the sinking of 200 thousand brt. Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-L16644 / CC-BY-SA 3.0.
de.wikipedia.org

In his first campaign, Hessler acted confidently and aggressively, sinking four ships in the Atlantic with a total tonnage of 18,482 gross tons. The second campaign of U 107 was a unique event in the history of the Kriegsmarine. The boat was sent south to the African port of Freetown. After spending 96 days at sea, she sank 14 ships at 86,699 GRT. This was the best result shown by a German submarine in one campaign, and it remained unsurpassed.

Since the sum of the tonnage sunk in two campaigns of U 107 exceeded 100,000 GRT, Hessler was entitled to the Knight's Cross. But Dönitz was silent. The commander felt inconvenience: the one presented for the highest award was his son-in-law. Even the intervention of high authorities did not spur Dönitz to action. As a result, Grand Admiral Erich Raeder himself signed the award documents, and his headquarters sent a personal congratulation to U 107.

The third campaign of U 107 was the last for Hessler in his career as a submariner. He again received the task of operating off the African coast, but he could not repeat his previous success. After the Freetown massacre in the spring and summer of 1941, the British limited the movement of single ships by introducing a system of convoys there.

Nevertheless, Hessler managed to distinguish himself. On September 24 of the same year, U 107 successfully attacked convoy SL-87, sinking three ships at 13,641 GRT. Upon the return of the boat to the base, Günter Hessler was transferred to the headquarters of the commander of the submarine forces, where he served until the end of the war.

Erwin Rostin came to the submarine from minesweepers. At the beginning of the war, he commanded the 7th minesweeping flotilla, and then alternately was the commander of the minesweepers M 98 and M 21. In March 1941, already being a lieutenant commander, Rostin switched to submarines and, after completing his training, became the commander of the brand new "nine" U 158 .

Rostin literally burst into the ranks of the Dönitz underwater guard like a meteor. In the first half of 1942, he made two trips to the US coast, during which he sank 17 ships at 101,321 GRT. In the first of them, Rostin sent five vessels to the bottom at 38,785 gross tons.

The second campaign began on May 20, 1942. U 158 successfully operated in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Rostin made a real massacre there, sinking 12 ships with a total tonnage of 62,536 gross tons. Upon learning of this success, on June 29, Karl Dönitz sent a message to U 158 congratulating the commander on his award of the Knight's Cross.

Erwin Rostin's star went down as fast as it came up. The very next day after the commander's congratulations, U 158 was attacked by an American aircraft and sunk west of Bermuda. The entire crew was killed.

Wolfgang Luth

Now let's turn our attention to the last candidate - the outstanding submariner Wolfgang Lüth. His persona, well known to fans maritime history, needs no introduction. So let's move on to the arguments in his favor.

Lut became the first and only commander of a boat of the II series who was awarded the Knight's Cross for real, not imaginary success. During the command of the "twos" U 9 and U 138, he was credited with 12 merchant ships for 87,236 GRT. And although the real result was less - 13 ships (12 as a result of torpedo attacks and one more after laying mines) with a total tonnage of 56,640 gross tons - none of the commanders of the "twos" managed to get close to such figures.

Wolfgang Luth. By many standards, he was a unique submariner who stands out among the aces of Dönitz for his achievements.
4.bp.blogspot.com

Wolfgang Lüth holds the absolute endurance record among German submarine commanders. For four years he commanded combat submarines, having made 15 military campaigns with a total duration of 640 days. At the same time, Lut traveled more than 160,000 km, or, in other words, circled the equator four times, so that he can be recognized not only as a talented submariner, but also as an excellent navigator. Diesel submarines of that time were very far from comfortable conditions. It was necessary to be able to walk such a distance in that stink, dampness and other "charms" for which they were famous.

Separately, there is a question about its effectiveness. In the Kriegsmarine, Wolfgang Luth received the nickname "Great Hunter", which was quite right. In the official German and post-war assessments of the success of German submarines, Otto Kretschmer took the first place in terms of tonnage sunk. But it is precisely the trading tonnage that is more on Luth's account.

The result of the "silent Otto" consisted of 40 ships for 208,954 gross tons and three auxiliary cruisers with a total tonnage of 46,440 gross tons. This gave a total of 255,394 brt. Luth's successes amounted to 46 ships sunk at 225,204 GRT. That is, the "Great Hunter" sank the "merchants" more than Kretschmer. Of course, this does not deprive Otto of leadership in the overall results, but it clearly indicates that Lut was more successful in the war with merchant ships.

Who is who

The analysis of the successes and achievements of the above German aces allows us to conclude that Otto Kretschmer is the most effective submariner in the Kriegsmarine. But given the controversy of his merit in the sinking of the Terje Viken mother ship, the result can be reduced by 20,000 GRT. Although even with such a deduction, Kretschmer overtakes Luth in the overall standings: 234,756 against 225,204 brt.

Nevertheless, Wolfgang Luth showed a better result in the number and tonnage of merchant ships sunk than Kretschmer. This means that Lut can be recognized as the best submariner in the Kriegsmarine in terms of the war with merchant tonnage and share the first place with Kretschmer.

At the same time, it is worth noting the role of the much lesser-known Hessler and Rostin. They received their Crosses honestly, without any exaggeration. Of course, the specifics of the actions of the boats of the IX series differed from the "sevens", but this does not negate the uniqueness of the phenomenon of "100,000 brt in two trips", which no one could repeat. This allows Hessler and Rostin to also claim the title of the best submariner.

Thus, places on the pantheon of the underwater "Olympus" can be distributed as follows:

• Otto Kretschmer - the best result of the sunk tonnage in the overall standings;
• Wolfgang Luth - the best result in the number and tonnage of merchant ships;
• Günter Hessler and Erwin Rostin - the fastest achievement of the 100,000 GRT mark.

What about Prin? Günther Prien was and remains the No. 1 submarine ace. Thanks to the British fleet's raid on the holy of holies and success in the tonnage war, he retained this title in the history of the Kriegsmarine submarine.

Sources and literature:

1. NARA T1022 (captured documents of the German Navy).
2. Blair, S. Hitler's U-boat War. The Hunters, 1939–1942 / S. Blair. - Random House, 1996.
3. Blair, S. Hitler's U-boat War. The Hunted, 1942–1945 / S. Blair. - Random House, 1998.
4. Busch, R. German U-boat Commanders of World War II / R. Busch, H.-J. Roll. - Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1999.
5. Busch, R. Der U-boot-Krieg 1939-1945. Deutsche Uboot-Erfolge von September 1939 bis Mai 1945 / R. Busch, H.-J. Roll. - Band 3. - Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg-Berlin-Bonn.
6. Rohwer, J. Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two / J. Rohwer. - Annapolis, 1999.
7. U-Boat War in the Atlantic 1939–1945: German Naval History by Hessler, Günther (editor). - HMSO, London, 1992.
8. Wynn, K. U-Boat Operations of the Second World War / K. Wynn. - Vol. 1–2. - Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1998.
9. Churchill, W. II World War/ W. Churchill. - In 6 vols. Vol. 1: The impending storm. - M.: TERRA; "Bookshop - RTR", 1997.
10. http://www.uboat.net
11. http://www.uboatarchive.net
12. http://historisches-marinearchiv.de

The starting point in the history of the German submarine fleet was 1850, when the Brandtaucher double submarine, designed by engineer Wilhelm Bauer, was launched in the harbor of Kiel, which immediately sank when trying to dive.

The next significant event was the launch of the submarine U-1 (U-boat) in December 1906, which became the ancestor of a whole family of submarines, which fell to the hard times of the First World War. In total, until the end of the war, the German fleet received more than 340 boats. In connection with the defeat of Germany, 138 submarines remained unfinished.

Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forbidden to build submarines. Everything changed in 1935 after the establishment of the Nazi regime and with the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, in which submarines ... were recognized as obsolete weapons, which lifted all prohibitions on their production. In June, Hitler appointed Karl Dönitz as commander of all submarines of the future Third Reich.

Grand Admiral and his "wolf packs"

Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz is an outstanding figure. He began his career in 1910, enrolling in the naval school in Kiel. Later, during the First World War, he showed himself to be a brave officer. From January 1917 until the defeat of the Third Reich, his life was connected with the German submarine fleet. He is credited with developing the concept of submarine warfare, which consisted of sustained groups of submarines called "wolf packs".

The main objects of the “hunting” of the “wolf packs” are enemy transport ships that provide supplies to the troops. The basic principle is to sink more ships than the enemy can build. Very soon, this tactic began to bear fruit. By the end of September 1939, the Allies had lost dozens of transports with a total displacement of about 180,000 tons, and in mid-October, the U-47 boat, slipping unnoticed into the Scapa Flow base, sent the Royal Oak battleship to the bottom. The Anglo-American convoys were especially hard hit. "Wolf packs" raged in a huge theater from the North Atlantic and the Arctic to South Africa and the Gulf of Mexico.

What did the Kriegsmarine fight on

The basis of the Kriegsmarine - the submarine fleet of the Third Reich - were submarines of several series - 1, 2, 7, 9, 14, 17, 21 and 23rd. At the same time, it is worth highlighting the boats of the 7th series, which were distinguished by their reliable design, good technical equipment, weapons, which allowed them to operate particularly successfully in the Central and North Atlantic. For the first time, a snorkel was installed on them - an air intake device that allows the boat to recharge batteries while submerged.

Aces Kriegsmarine

German submariners were characterized by courage and high professionalism, so each victory over them came at a high price. Among the aces submariners of the Third Reich, the most famous were captains Otto Kretschmer, Wolfgang Luth (each with 47 sunk ships) and Erich Topp - 36.

Deadly duel

The huge losses of the allies at sea sharply intensified the search for effective means fight against "wolf packs". Soon, patrol anti-submarine aircraft equipped with radars appeared in the sky, means of radio interception, detection and destruction of submarines were created - radars, sonar buoys, homing aircraft torpedoes and much more. Improved tactics, improved interaction.

rout

Kriegsmarine met the same fate as the Third Reich - a complete, crushing defeat. Of the 1153 submarines built during the war years, about 770 were sunk. Together with them, about 30,000 submariners, or almost 80% of the entire personnel of the submarine fleet, went to the bottom.