12 ships were sunk in total. The boat slipped beneath the waves, leaving him stranded in freezing waters. Correct optics: how the binoculars of the best underwater ace of the Reich became a symbol of relations with Britain #___historydocs Four of his years as a prisoner of war were spent in Canada at Bowmanville POW camp. He joined the German navy - the Reichsmarine - on April 1, 1930, as an officer candidate. It went passed its crushing depth of 700m, and all looked lost. [51] Kretschmer was awarded the 6th Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub) on 4 November 1940. Later in the war, his ship was torpedoed; before that he nursed a bent-nosed destroyer back to port after ramming a U-boat. Only five survived. Pyers Symon. [36] Kretschmer's tenth patrol (27 June21 July) yielded over 20,000GRT. [72], Once in London, Royal Navy interrogators questioned the crew. He hand signed some of our very rare fine art prints. In the Atlantic, Kretschmer became bolder and bolder. Otto Kretschmer, Comandante alemn de U-Boot de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, fue sin duda el ms eficaz de toda la Kriegsmarine. For this he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves . Note that the crew is all wearing fresh coveralls and beards neatly trimmed. It was not this way with, . Prien along with his crew disappeared, presumably in a depth charge attack. The ships were protected by an escort group of two destroyers, Wolverine and Verity, and two corvettes, Arbutus and Camellia. A Short Sunderland appeared briefly, and Kretschmer was forced to accomplish the destruction of the ship with torpedoes, submerged. You can stay up to date on the top news and events near you with DevonLive's FREE newsletters enter your email address at the top of the page or go here. [46] Kretschmer's logbook recorded the chaos. The ship was loaded with coal, set for Buenos Aires, Argentina. On the night of 18/19 October, Berndt escaped from the camp. He was on a holiday cruisefrom Regensburg to Budapest when he tried climbing some almost vertical steps. Kretschmer purportedly confined his remarks to the lack of air support from the Luftwaffe, a point Raeder was fully aware of. [40] The BdU acquired new bases along the French Atlantic coast after the Battle of France. Allied courts and Rahmlow sought justice against Kretschmer after the war, but he was never vigorously pursued for trial for his role in the death of Berndt. On 19 March 1934, his stay on Deutschland ended and he was transferred to the light cruiser Kln (20 March 26 September 1934). [20] On his fifth patrol (515 December) he was ordered to explore the inner waters around the Orkney Islands and engage any remaining Home Fleet units that had departed from Scapa Flow in the aftermath of Gnther Prien's attack. 176 men died. That same day the British escorts scored another success against the Kriegsmarine when the noted U-boat skipper Joachim Schepke was killed aboard U-100, having been depth charged, rammed and sunk by Vanoc. A detachment of the Home Guard apprehended him, shooting him when he tried to escape. Kretschmer was born in Heidau in what is now part of Poland, but then belonged to Germany. Patroclus of 11.314 brt as well as the armed Britsish merchantman Casanare of 5.376 brt. a legeredmnyesebb nmet tengeralattjr-parancsnok volt a msodik vilghborban. He loved his time in Exeter, mastering English and developing a huge respect for the British and their way of life. He became known as the Golden Horseshoe by his men. He met Adolf Hitler on more than once occasion, even having lunch with the Fhrer. After the completion of his submariner training he was promoted to Oberleutnant zur See (senior-sub lieutenant/Lieutenant Junior Grade)[12] on 1 June 1936. With no time to return to the hatch, Kretschmer clung on to the periscope and waved at it frantically, hoping to be spotted. Kretschmer learned its identity from frantic radio signals. 19 men were killed in the sinking; only two were saved. Admiral Sir George Creasy considered the manoeuvre so dangerous he thought it had been done by mistake. U-99 was returning from her seventh Feindfahrt (war patrol) and this was to be OTTOs last Feindfahrt. From September 1939 to March 1941, Germany's Otto Kretschmer terrorised Allied shipping on the high seas. Otto Kretschmer. [32] Loch Maddy Seeing that the boat was still diving and the hatch beneath him to the Zentralle had slammed shut, Schnee had the presence of mind to close and secure the hatch above him to the bridge, thus saving the boat and himself. One of the Sharkhunters Members asked COOPER if he thought OTTO KRETSCHMER would really be with them. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. [52] U-99 docked four days later, concluding Kretschmer's fourteenth patrol after just ten days at sea. For this he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, among other awards. Walker) and Fregattenkapitan (commander) Kertschmer, became the best of friends. After completing his officer training and time on the training ship Niobe he served aboard the light cruiser Emden. Sign up to get updates about new releases and event invitations. On February 22, 1941, Kretschmer set off on his final patrol. Otto had 4 siblings: Cecilie Hulda and 3 other siblings. In this work, Kretschmers success is appraised through the analysis of the key characteristics of his attacks, and the conditions of the battlefield in which he operated. Miraculously, power was restored and it limped back to the surface. Kretschmer and U-23 had departed from Wilhelmshaven on 25 August, one week before the start of World War II. Otto Kretschmer Fregattenkapitn ( Crew 30) U-boat Commands Kptlt. The vast majority of Kretschmer's attacks - at least 83 - were launched on the surface. Otto Kretschmer (1 May 1912 - 5 August 1998) was a German naval officer and submariner in World War II and the Cold War . When giving their wartime histories, the normal U-Bootfahrer would tell what boat he rode. 3099067 Exhausted and unable to move, OTTO ordered one of his men to go back over the side, into the cold sea, and retrieve his cap from the water. He then caused havoc in the rest of the convoy, winning him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. ; otherwise, remain on the surface, This page was last edited on 6 December 2022, at 20:17. The OKM was established as the supreme command of the navy responsible for all facets of naval warfare. The boat went to the yard for repairs and. He wants to be a naval officer.". The ships used barrels for ballast to prevent them sinking. He departed from Wilhelmshaven for his eighth war patrol on 9 February. His school report contained the remark: "Kretschmer demonstrated his extraordinary courage in many instances. Did you know that with a free Taylor & Francis Online account you can gain access to the following benefits? Rsing's successor, Hermann Michahelles, was killed in a car accident and Kretschmer assumed command for two weeks. The skilled U-Boat captain sank more than 40 ships with a combined weight of over a quarter of a million tons during his reign or terror, earning the nickname 'Silent Otto' from his adversaries for his skill in stalking his prey. The Emden made stops in Ceylon, the Philippines, China and Japan; then Guam, South Africa, Angola and Spain on the return journey. Hitler invited Kretschmer to sit in on a lunch meeting with Hitler and Vyacheslav Molotov, the Soviet Union's ambassador to the Third Reich. [18], From 1 March to 31 October 1958, Kretschmer served as Admiralstabsoffizier (Astoofficer of the admiralty staff) with the Fleet Command. [69] Kretschmer surfaced and, under fire from the British vessels, scuttled his boat. As the passengers got into the lifeboats, OTTO noticed a great number of women and children. Kretschmer was taken separately, but his crew had to negotiate the streets of Liverpool and were subjected to missiles thrown by angry civilians; the city had been heavily bombed and was closely linked with the Atlantic war. [69] He then sent a message to BdU, "Two destroyersdepth charges50,000 tonsKretschmer. Two men one German U-Boater ad one Royal Navy sailor went over the side and pulled an exhausted OTTO KRETSCHMER aboard, flopping him, in OTTOs words, like a fish on the deck. This was not OTTO KRETSCHMER! On 1 October 1937, Kretschmer took command of U-23. Ezzel a teljestmnyvel kirdemelte a Tlgyfalombokkal s kardokkal . In later years, Kretschmer was often interviewed for television and radio programmes - including an appearing in the landmark British 1974 documentary series The World at War. [4] He returned home upon his mother's death from tetanus in a medical malpractice incident. It is not possible to change the direction of a rapidly diving submarine at the wave of a hand, and so with Schnee on the bridge and both conning tower hatches fully open, U-23 disappeared beneath the North Sea. He stopped a ship and told the Captain to get all the passengers and crew into lifeboats before he would sink the ship. After the war he served in the German Federal Navy, from which he retired in 1970 with the flag rank of commodore. Such were his expertise, he re-joined the navy in 1955. [28] Kretschmer returned to Wilhelmshaven on 15 January. Por todo ello y entre otras, recibi Its commander, Hugo Frster, was repatriated to Germany and committed suicide before the end of the war. Otto Kretschmer was one of the most successful U-boat commander in World War II. For this he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, among other awards. While on holiday in Bavaria in the summer of 1998, Kretschmer died in an accident during a boating expedition on the Danube to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary, at the age of 86. On 1 November 1958, he was transferred to the position of commander of the Bundesmarine's Amphibische Streitkrfte ("amphibious forces"), a position he held until 15 January 1962. While his wartime actions have been narrated several times, his tactics, summarized by the famous motto one torpedo, one ship, have never been systematically analysed. The boat went to the yard for repairs and OTTO left no doubt that he wanted his boat and his crew back at sea in the shortest possible time. There were no deaths among the crew. [71] Winston Churchill disclosed the capture of Kretschmer to the House of Commons on 21 March. Kretschmer was subsequently awarded the Iron Cross second class. His particularly brazen and risky innovation was to execute these night surface attacks inside the convoy. When U-23 was stabilized at her depth and the sound man could no longer hear any noises of the other boat, they came to periscope depth, confirmed that all was safe, and KRETSCHMER was ready to begin the hopeless task of looking for Schnees body. What he and the other Skippers of the Type II boats who were ordered to stand well away from Scapa Flow and the Orkney Islands did not know was that the planned operation was already in motion for the Type VII-B boat, U-47 to make this attack. Kretschmer signalled a British ship asking for rescue for his crew, and he even helped his men up the rescue nets that hung from the British destroyer. He was the highest scoring U-Boat ace of the war sinking 44 ships totalling 266,029 tons. The seaman did as he was ordered and brought the cap back to OTTO. They were both sunk within seven hours, during which the U-boat fired ten torpedoes and four rounds from the deck gun, while the vessels returned fire without damaging the U-boat. Upon the death of Kptlt. After completing his officer training and time on the training ship Niobe he served . Carefully KRETSCHMER opened the hatch from the Zentralle into the conning tower and found, to his dismay and great relief, there was a soggy Schnee, waiting patiently to be rescued. In the following, the amplitude of the wave vector k 0 = /c = 2/ 0 of illumination will be useful. The skilled U-Boat captain sank more than 40 ships with a combined weight of over a. He spoke English quite well, though he lacked practice. Kretschmer's strength was evidently failing in the cold ocean; his own rescue was at the hands of a British sailor who climbed down the nets and plucked him from the water. [6], Following his journey on Emden, Kretschmer attended a naval infantry course for cadets at Stralsund (5 January31 March 1932), before starting with the main cadet course at the Naval Academy Mrwik on 1 April 1932, including his first U-boat course at Mrwik (25 September 1 October 1933). "Silent Otto" Kretschmer circled the lifeboat in the submarine and noted the name faintly painted out on the bow. A high achiever at school, he wanted nothing more than to join the navy, but he was not old enough upon leaving at the age of 17. A single torpedo was fired, then Kretschmer ordered a u-turn and sped away on the surface; the destroyers neither sighted him nor detected him with ASDIC. A prize crew boarded to sail it to Bordeaux. [21] He returned to Kiel, rather than Wilhelmshaven, on 16 October. Kretschmer then met Hitler at the Reich Chancellery and he repeated his opinions on the war situation. From September 1939 until his capture in March 1941 he sank 44 ships, including one warship, a total of 274,333 tons. It was on his third patrol that he sank his first ship, the Glen Farg, a small freighter was carrying pulp and Ferrochrome. [31] 157 of the Daring crew were killed, including Commander Sydney Cooper. Hermann Michahelles, Otto Kretschmer became commander of U-35 until 15 August 1937. Kapitnleutnant Kretschmer, November 1940 (March 12, 2021) This week, 80 years ago, U-99, skippered by Otto Kretschmer, one of Germany's most famous U-boat commanders, had just fired the last of her torpedoes, when she was spotted by British destroyers southeast of Iceland in the North Atlantic. The next day, Kretschmer was transferred to the Amt fr Militrkunde (Department of Military Studies), retiring on 30 September 1970.[18]. Des de setembre de 1939 fins que va ser capturat al mar de 1941, va enfonsar 47 vaixell, amb un total de 274.333 tones. So how was it that he was sunk? It took nine torpedoes and one dud to sink them; the latter was sunk after it stopped to pick up survivors from the former. [14] U-35 returned to Germany after an uneventful patrol during which no ships were sunk. Kretschmer attempted to sink the ship with gunfire, but return fire and the appearance of an aircraft forced him to submerge. [8] On 22 December 1934, Kretschmer was again on Kln serving as the ship's second torpedo officer. [20] Kretschmer departed from Kiel for the third war patrol on 1 October. The presentation was made by Dnitz following his return to Lorient. The 28-ship convoy was poorly defended by a destroyer and a corvette. He dispensed with the standard practice of firing salvoes of torpedoes from long distances. She told COOPER that he was such a fine man that she knew there would never be another like him. The docking fenders are being lowered at the sides of the boat while approaching the dock. Remember that on the surface it is easier for you to spot the enemy than for the enemy to spot you, Dive only for two hours before dawn each day, to rest the crew, sweep with sound detection equipment, etc. He fired a single torpedo that missed before he lost the ship in thick mist. 1871), a Germanborn naturalised Briton. Prien and Kretschmer, along with U-70 (Matz) and UA, attacked the convoy. Not the crew of U-99. I gratefully acknowledge the help of Marianna Colasuonno for patiently reading the manuscript and providing valuable suggestions throughout the drafting of this paper. His wife was so devastated that she just gave up and died two years later, almost to the day. Comes with leather case. OTTO replied;It was necessary. BACK TO ADVISORS PAGE. He was eventually promoted to the rank of flotilla admiral, before becoming chief-of-staff of the NATO command. From September 1939 until his surrender in March 1941, he sank 47 ships, a total of 274,333 tons. When war broke out, Kretschmer was on U-23, a short-range submarine which could not operate as far as the Atlantic, so had to stay in the North Sea. [53] Upon reaching port, he was summoned to Berlin to meet Erich Raeder. Sharkhunters President HARRY COOPER knew OTTO KRETSCHMER better than any other researcher and the two men were good friends. Kretschmer was released after seven years as a prisoner of war. [34] His greatest success was the sinking of Auckland Star, a 13,212GRT ship on 28 July followed by another two totalling 12,811GRT on 29 and 31 July. Kretschmer was soon missed and the U-boat surfaced to find him before he succumbed to the cold. One signalman sent a message to the escorts "we are sinking" and the firing stopped. We do not come into port looking like pirates with dirty uniforms, untrimmed beards and with legs hanging over the side. The boat returned to Wilhelmshaven on 4 September. Kretschmer achieved good results in mathematics and chemistry and passed his Abitur (school-leaving certificate) at 17. Dave Powell. The British report noted of Kretschmer, "His political views were less extremely Nazi than had been assumed. A British intelligence report on him said: "His political views were less extremely Nazi than had been assumed.