U-Boat Commanders, Signed photos

Otto "Silent Otto" Kretschmer, U-23, U-99, On 16 patrols he sank 46 ships for 273,043 tons and damaged 5 more for 37,965 tons and 2 ships were a total loss for a total of 15,513 tons. Of these were, 3 auxiliary warships sunk for a total of 46,440 tons and 1 warship sunk for a total of 1,375 tons. He was the most successful submarine commander of WWII.



Erich Topp, U-57, U-552 "Red Devil Boat", U-2513, On 12 patrols he sank 35 ships for 197,460 tons and damaged 4 more for 32,317 tons



Heinrich Liebe, U-2, U-38, On 9 patrols he sank 34 ships for 197,460 tons and damaged 1 more for 3,670 tons



Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, U-5, U-96, On 10 patrols he sank 25 ships for 179,125 tons and damaged 2 more for 15,864 tons. The Book and Movie "Das Boot" were about him and his U-Boat, U-96



Karl-Friedrich Merten, U-68, On 5 patrols he sank 27 ships for 170,151 tons. He was involved in the rescue of the survivors of the German Raider ships Python and Atlantis



Georg Lassen, U-29, U-160, On only 4 patrols he sank 26 ships for 156,082 tons and damaged 5 more for 34,419 tons



Ernst Kals, U-130, On 5 patrols he sank 20 ships for 145,656 tons and damaged 1 more for 6,986 tons. Of the ships sunk 3 were auxiliary warships for 34,407 tons.



Klaus Scholtz, U-108, On 8 patrols he sank 25 ships for 128,190 tons one of these was an auxiliary warship, the British armed merchant cruiser AMC Rajputana for 16,644 tons, in the Straits of Denmark.



Helmut Witte, U-159, On only 4 patrols he sank 23 ships for 119,554 tons

 

Reinhard Hardegen, U-147, U-123, On 5 patrols he sank 22 ships for 115,656 tons and damaged 5 more for 46,500 tons. Of those was an auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 3,209 tons and 1 auxiliary warship damaged for a total of 13,984 tons.


Victor Oehrn, U-14, U-37, On 4 patrols he sank 23 ships for 103,821 tons of these was 1 warship sunk for a total of 1,025 tons.



Jurgen Oesten, U-61, U-106, U-861, On 14 patrols he sank 19 ships for 101,744 tons and damaged 4 more for 51,668 tons. Of these were 1 auxiliary warship sunk for 1,737 tons and 1 warship damaged for a total of 31,100 tons.



Gunther Krech, U-558, On 10 patrols he sank 19 ships for 100,771 tons and damaged 2 ships for 15,070 tons. Of these were 1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 913 tons and 1 ship a total loss for a total of 6,672 tons.



Harald Gelhaus, U-143, U-107, On 11 patrols he sank 19 ships for 100,373 tons and damaged 1 ship for 10,068 tons



Reinhard "Teddy" Suhren, U-564, On 6 patrols he sank 18 ships for 95,544 tons and damaged 4 more for 28,907 tons. Of these was 1 warship sunk for a total of 900 tons
He was one of 5 men in the entire Kriegsmarine to recieve the Knights Cross with Oakleaves and Swords. Before he became a Commander he was watch officer aboard U-48 (the most successful U-Boat of the war) where he played an important role in the sinking of over 200,000 tons of shipping in just 9 patrols.


Georg-Wilhelm Schulz, U-10, U-64, U-124, On 8 patrols he sank 19 ships for 89,886 tons



Georg Schewe, U-60, U-105, On 10 patrols he sank 16 ships for 85,779 tons



Hans-Georg Friedrich "Fritz" Poske, U-504, On 4 patrols he sank 16 ships for 85,299 tons



Klaus Korth, U-57, U-93, On 14 patrols he sank 15 ships for 73,015 tons and damaged 2 more for 15,187 tons. Of these were 1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 8,240 tons and 1 ship a total loss for a total of 10,191 tons.

 

Otto Von Bulow, U-3, U-404, U-2545, On 6 patrols he sank 14 ships for 71.450 tons and damaged 2 more for 16,689 tons. Of these, 1 warship was sunk for a total of 1,120 tons.




Otto Schuhart, U-8, U-25, U-29, On 7 patrols he sank 12 ships for 67,277 tons. On his first patrol he sank the Aircraft Carrier, HMS Courageous for 22,500 tons.



Alfred Eick, U-510, On 4 patrols he sank 10 ships for 67,191 tons and damaged 2 more for 13,672 tons. Of these 1 auxiliary warship was sunk for a total of 249 tons.



Hans Rudolf Rosing, U-11, U-35, U-10, U-48, On only 2 patrols he sank 12 ships for 60,702 tons and 1 damaged for 5,888 tons



Reinhart Reche, U-255, On 6 patrols he sank 10 ships for 54,420 tons and another ship listed as a total loss for 7,191 tons.



Wilhelm Dommes, U-431, U-178, On 11 patrols he sank 8 ships for 40,103 tons and damaged 1 ship for 3,560 tons. Of these were 2 warships sunk for a total of 3,548 tons. 1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 313 GRT. 1 warship damaged for a total of 450 tons.



Horst von Schroeter, U-123, U-2506, On 4 patrols he sank 6 ships for 31,557 tons and damaged 1 for 7,068 tons. He sank 1 warship sunk for a total of 683 tons.



Gunter Jahn, U-596, On 4 patrols he sank 6 ships for 27,326 tons and damaged 2 ships for 14,180 tons

 

Peter Erich "Ali" Cremer, U-152, U-333, U-2519, On 9 patrols he sank 6 ships for 26,873 tons and damaged another ship for 8,327 tons.


Otto Westphalen, U-121, U-968, On 7 patrols he sank 2 ships for 14,386 tons and damaged 1 ship for 8,129 tons also damaged another ship a total loss for a total of 7,200 tons.



Hans-Werner Kraus, U-83, U-199, On 10 patrols he sank 7 ships for 12,606 tons and 1 ship damaged for a total of 2,590 tons. He also damaged 1 auxiliary warship for 6,746 tons.


Kurt Diggins, U-458, On 7 patrols he sank 2 ships for 7,584 tons



Siegfried Koitshka, U-7, U-616, On 9 patrols he sank 2 for a total of 2,181 tons and damaged 2 ships for a total of 17,754 tons.


Karl-Heinz Marbach, U-953, U-3014, On 7 patrols he sank 1 ship for a total of 1,927 tons.


Heinrich Andreas Schroeteler, U-667, U-1023, On 5 patrols he sank 1 warship for a total of 335 tons and damaged 1 ship for a total of 7,345 tons.


Gunther Lange, U-711, On 12 patrols he sank 1 warship for 925 tons and 1 small merchant vessel for 10 tons, he also damaged 1 ship for 20 tons

 

Lacy

glad you were able to get back to downloading your imagery, excellent !

note A. Eick's Boot with the pop gun MG 81 zwilling an almost worthless AA protection for the crew on tower. used for close-in fighting the same typical set-up for the later war Ju 87 D Stuka variants

 

Erich,

Glad you mention the MG81, I was looking at that photo and first thing I noticed were those MGs and wondered what the heck they were on there for. Those are definitely not the best AA guns by any means and I could see that just by looking at them. They appeared way too small compared to the gun you usually see on the right edge of the photo

 

those
are
awesome

thanks for sharing!!

 

Otto "Silent Otto" Kretschmer



Erich Topp



Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock



Karl-Friedrich Merten, photo signed "In memory of Teddy Suhren"



Karl-Friedrich Merten, photo of his U-boat, U-68, towing survivors of the German Raider ship Atlantis which was sunk by HMS Devonshire.



Georg Lassen



Klaus Scholtz, Celebration upon returning from a patrol






Klaus Scholtz, celebration of Teddy Suhren's return from a patrol


Helmut Witte



Helmut Wittle and Wilhelm Dommes



Reinhard Hardegen, Returning from a patrol with pennants flying to show the ships they sunk with the tonnage printed on each pennant



Georg-Wilhelm Schulz, Receiving Knights Cross from Admiral Donitz



Georg-Wilhelm Schulz



Georg-Wilhelm Schulz



Georg Schewe, awarded the Knights Cross by Admiral Donitz upon completion of a patrol



Georg Schewe, celebration upon return from a patrol and he just recieved the Knights Cross from Admiral Donitz



Otto von Bulow



Reinhard Reche, he has just been awarded the Knights Cross



Peter-Erich "Ali" Cremer, returning from a patrol with pennants flying for ships sunk and their tonnage



Hans-Rudolf Rosing and Heinz Frank, celebration upon Frank's return from a patrol and he has just been awarded the Knights Cross
Heinz Frank commanding U-262 completing 5 patrols and he sank 3 ships for a total of 13,010 tons and 1 warship sunk for 925 tons.

 

Erich Topp, Reinhard Hardegen, Helmut Witte and Wilhelm Dommes



Georg-Wilhelm Schulz, Reinhard Reche and Hans-Rudolf Rosing

 

Just added more photos from my collection, hope you enjoy them
Cheers
Lacy

 

Simply outstanding!

 

Fabulous photos, Lacy! Thanks for share!

By the way, what is the function of these gas bottles in the tower of U-667?




Jan.

 

Jan

Thank you Jan, I have over 100 photos that were signed by various U-boat commanders and I will update this thread by adding some more of my signed photos soon.

I recall I read in one of the books I have, that were written by some of the commanders, that they were used to blow up some kind of metallic type of balloon to counter the Allied radar equipped planes.
I will look through my books to find out more detail on this and I will let you know.

regards

 

Thanks for your answer, Lacy!

Then, these gas bottles are a part of Radar decoy device called Aphrodite.






Jan.

 

Jan

I just looked through the book by Ali Cremer and there is a photo in there of the gas bottles and it is labeled that they are for the Aphrodite balloons that you mentioned

LJS

 

Does anyone know if there were several copies of these signed photos produced?
Thanks in advance, Chris.

 

You mean copies of autographs or the original photos where the men put signatures? Of course post-war it depended on the KC awarded soldier whether he wanted to send photos with signatures to people who asked for one or more, usually the photos were repros of the original.