Diamonds Winner Wolfgang Luth of U-181, Carl's Fave...

Hello,
Is it true that Luth and his U-181 were at sea for one patrol of 7 staright months in which he sank 38-47 ships (Source sketchy)????

 

Dear Ryan--its true. I wish my book "Shooting The War" was not in storage, or I could quote you some great stuff about that patrol, as told by the U 181 2nd watch officer Otto Giese. By the way, Otto Giese is living in Florida, but is very ill.

I have a few U 181 vet/friends who did serve with Luth, and on that patrol. I will be writing to them to ask more details of that patrol and their service with Luth. One of these men of u 181 that I am friends with, served with Luth when he was in command of the 2nd Marine Battalion; near the wars end.

I tell you what, those men loved both of U 181s Kapitans (Luth and Kurt Freiwald) as they were great leaders and good friends with the crew. I will check tonight in another book I have that mentions U 181, and see what it says about that patrol and will let you know.

 

Here is something worth bragging about and I shall. I actually handled Luths spare Oak Leaves and Swords, while in Germany. Only a few people know where his awards are kept (I only because I am a member of a certain "organization" and because I am an honorary member of U 181)

Believe me, they are kept under lock and key, and in an area that noone would bother looking in, if they were so inclined as to wanting to look for them to steal them.

There HAS been several attempts of someone stealing those awards along with other items like: Grossadmiral Doenitzs complete uniform, and some of Erich Topps items-among others.

I took a few photos of Luths awards, but, I dont know if I will ever submit them to be shown, its something I will have to think about for a long time. The reason being is, that if these photos wer shown, it would also give away the location of where the awards were being kept. Someone would know because of some of the items that were also in the photos, and to my knowledge, these items are one of a kind, and most of them are kept in the same building.

It is estimated that, if someone had been able to steal these particular awards, that ob the black market, they could fetch appx $100,000+++ just because they are known to bt Wolfgang Luths items. That is amazing for these two awards, because a standard set of Leaves and swords would cost you around $7,000 for both.

Only the lord knows where Erich Topps items are, and which pig, stole them to begin with.

 

Ryan, sorry it took me so long to get back to you on this but, here goes it.

----------<Wolfgang Luth>----------

Born on Oct 15, 1913 in Riga.
Class of 1933, last rank was Kapitan zur See.
Captain of U 9, U 138, U 43, and U 181.
Knights Cross on Oct 24, 1940; Oak Leaves (142nd recipient) on Nov 13, 1942; Swords (29th recipient) on April 15, 1943; Diamonds (7th recipient) on August 9th, 1943.

Sunk: 47 ships totalling 221,981 tons, including the submarine: Doris.

Last service position: Commander of the Flensburg-Murwik Naval Academy. Accidentally shot and killed by a sentry on May 14th, 1945. and

Wolfgang Luth, a Baltic german, served on four u-boats. He joined the submarine service immediately after his promotion to Oberleutnant zur See. He sailed on U 38 under Liebe as a trainee commander. In December 1939 he took over U 9, the vessel symbolic of the u-boat arm. While commanding the U 9 Luth sank the French submarine: Doris.

As Capitan of U 138 and U 43, Luth achieved significant success against large steamers and tankers, including the 13, 801 ton New Sevilla. He sank eleven ships in the course of three patrols and 192 days at sea on u 43. On May 9th 1943 Luth comissioned U 181 (My guys)the first Type IX-D2 u-boat. He took the new vessel out of port on its first patrol on September 12 and returned after 129 days at sea with twelve sinkings.

Luth's last patrol saw the U 181 at sea for 206 days, patrolling the waters between Capetown and Madagascar. Ten ships were sunk, including the 10, 528 ton Clan McArthur.

Luth was sent to the Naval Academy in Flendburg-Murwik by Donitz, becoming the academy's last commander. There he was mistakenly shot by a sentry on May 14th 1945. Luth was given a state funreal on May 16th, 1945. the only submarine captain so honored.

Additional stuff for you:::::

Kapitanleutnant Karl-August Landfehrmann, served as Leading Engineer on U 181 under Wolfgang Luth.

Heres more:::::::::::::::::::

Johann Limbach, was Watch Officer on U 181, and was on board serving with both Kapitans: Wolfgang Luth and Kurt Freiwald. Landfehrmann , Limbach and Luth were all Knights Cross Recipients. This is also very unusual that three were on the same u-boat at the same time. I do not know of any other such u-boats to have this distinction.

I can sure pick the right submarine to become an honorary member of--eh?

[ 28 June 2001: Message edited by: C.Evans ]

 

U-181 sank a ship called the Empire Lake in May 1943. My brother, Merchant Seaman John Harry Morgan age 19 years was one of the crew lost. I never knew John, he was the eldest of 8 siblings, I am the youngest, born in April 1945.

Could you possibly provide me with "any" details of the sinking? All his family have ever known is the date of sinking, thank you. Please know that I hold no acrymony toward the crew of U-181, from all I have read, Captain Luth and his crew were men of honour caught up in the horror of war, as was John.

Thank you, George

 

George may I suggest you go to uboat.net - The U-boat War 1939-1945

and find the forums and ask here. incredible knowledge on this forum of anything U-Boot related although CArl may have some good materials in hand