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Kriegsmarine Knight's Cross Signatures.
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This page gives brief biographies of
those Knight's Cross winners who have signed our prints. We aim to
provide some detail on the service history of the signatory - perhaps
details of U-boats served in or details of combat tours, and can
occasionally provide a photograph too.
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 | Alfred Eick
Alfred Eick joined the Kriegsmarine in 1937, first serving on the destroyer Hermann Beitzen during the frist year of the war. In November 1940 he joined the u-boats, first sailing on two trips on U-176. He bacame commander of U-510 in May 1943, patrolling the Brazilian Waters on his first u-boat patrol. His second patrol was on U-510 as a Monson Boat which was a Wolfpack operating far away from Germany out of Japanese bases in Indonesia at Jakarta, Penang and Sebang. U-510 operated in the Indian Ocean until January 1945 when they were ordered back to Germany, taking with them important materials including tin. U-510 was re-supplied with fuel from U-861 but ran out of fuel in the North Atalnatic, finally managing to reach St Nazaire in April 1945. His awards were as follows: 12th Janaury 1940 Iron Cross 2nd Class, 1st August 1943, Iron Cross 1st Class, 16 March 1944 German Cross in Gold, 31st March 1944 Knights Cross.
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 | Jurgen Oesten (deceased)
Jurgen Oesten joined the Kriesgmarine in April 1933. He first served on the Admiral Graf Spee and Karlsruhe but transfered to U-Boats in May 1937. In October 1937 he became Watch Officer on U-20 and in August 1939 he joined the new U-Boat U-61 which he served on for 8 patrols, sinking 6 ships during his mine laying patrols. In November he joined U-106. During her first patrol U-106 sank two ships on her way to her new base at Lorient. Jurgen Oesten was awarded the Knights Cross on his second patrol, off Africa where he sank eight ships. During this attack he torpedoed and damaged the British attleship HMS Malaya. In March 1942 he became Admiralstabsoffizier in Norway with Admiral Nordmeer and directed U-boat operations in the Arctic. In September he again joined the U-boats and joined U-861 and in April 1944 she joined the Monson Boats which was a special Wolfpack operating far away from germany, out of japanese bases in Indonesia at Jakarta, Penang and Sebang, sinking two ships on her way to Penang. U-861 operated at sea for five months, after which she was ordered back to Germany with vital supplies. On the 15th January 1945 U-861 left Soerabaya in Indonesia. On the return journey off Greenland Oesten struck an Iceburg but managed to reach Trondheim on 19th April 1945. His awards were as follows: 6th June 1939, The Spanish Cross, 3rd December 1939 Iron Cross 2nd Class, 27 February 1940, Iron Cross 1st Class, 26th March 1941 Knights Cross. Sadly, Jurgen Oesten passed away on 5th August 2010.
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 | Otto Kretschmer (deceased)
Otto Kretschmer was born in May 1912, joining the navy in 1930, and transferring to u-boats in 1936. He was the Watch Officer aboard U-35 from 3rd November 1936 to 30th July 1937. He briefly took command of U-35 after the death of the Captain, Hermann Michahelles, assuming command until 15th August 1937, after which he was Watch Officer once again until 30th September 1937. During this time, U-35 was involved in the Spanish Civil WarHe was in command of U-23 at the outbreak of war in 1939, and had successful patrols with U-23 which included the sinking of HMS Daring, before taking command of U-99 in April 1940. In March 1941, Kretschmer was captured after scuttling U-99 due to damage suffered from depth charges from British destroyer HMS Walker. After his capture, Kretschmer was imprisoned until December 1947. Despite his capture early in the war, Kretschmers total tonnage sunk of over 273 thousand tons was enough to make him the top scoring u-boat Ace of the war. Kretschmer was awarded the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. Otto Kretschmer died 5th August 1998.
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 | Carl Emmermann (deceased)
Carl Emmermann was born 6th March 1915, and joined the Kriegsmarine in 1934, transferring to u-boats in November 1940 with U-A On his first patrol, he damaged the British steamer "Empire Attendant". Emmermann then commanded U-172 from November 1941, completing five patrols, with the notable success of sinking the British 23,500 ton troopship Orcades. On his fifth patrol, he brough back half the crew of U-604 which had been badly damaged and subsequently scuttled. After these five patrols with U-172, he took up training and staff positions, befre returning to command U-3037 for one month in March 1945. In total, he sank 26 ships - a total of over 150,00 tons. He was awarded the Knights Cross with Oakleaves, and was the 13th highest ranking U-boat Commander. Carl Emmermann died 25th March 1990.
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 | Karl-Friedrich Merten (deceased)
Karl-Friedrich Merten was born in 1905, joining the navy in 1928. After a ten year stint on warships and serving on the WW1 battleship Schleswig-Holstein during the attack on the Polish Westerplatte in Septmeber 1939, Merten joined the U-boat arm on 1st May 1940. He operated all over the world, patrolling in the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Indian Oceans. U-68 was in the U-boat wolfpack Eisbar (Polar Bear) which in the course of a few weeks during September - October 1942 sank more than 100,000 tons of shipping off South Africa. In January 1943 Merten became the commander of the 26th U-boat Flotilla in Pillau. There the new U-boat crews received their final training before going to the front. In March 1943 Merten moved to the 24th U-Boat Flotilla in Memel where he also was the flotilla commander. This was the training flotilla for future Commanders. After Merten gave up command of U-68, the boat had 4 commanders during the next 15 months. On April 10th 1944 U-68 was sunk off Madeira, Portugal by aircraft from the carrier USS Guadalcanal. A lookout survived. The remaining 56 crew members went down with the boat. After the war Merten salvaged sunken ships in the Rhine river along with another famous former U-boat commander, Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock. Later he wroked in the shipbuilding industry. In his time commanding U-68 he sank 27 ships - over 170 thousand tons of shipping, making him the 7th most successful u-boat Ace. He was awarded the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves. Karl-Friedrich Merten died 2nd May 1993.
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 | Erich Topp (deceased)
Born 2nd July 1914 - Died 26th December 2005. Born in Hannover, Topp joined the Kriegsmarine in 1934, serving on the cruiser Karlsruhe, before transferring to U-Boats in 1937. He was assigned to U-46 for a number of combat tours before taking command of U57 in June 1940, sinking six ships over two missions before being sunk in a collision on the 3rd of September the same year. Surviving this, Topp then commanded U-552 from December that year, sinking 30 ships, predominantly in the North Atlantic, including the first American ship of the war to be sunk, the destroyer "Reuben James". From October 1942 he commanded the 27th submarine flottilla. He also took command of two further U-Boats, these being U-3010 for about a month in 1945, and subsequently U-2513 from April 1945 until surrendering this vessel on May 8th. His highest award was the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. The 3rd highest scoring U-boat Commander, Topp sank a total of 36 ships totalling almost 200,000 tons
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 | Hans-Gunther Lange
Hans-Gunther Lange was born 28th September 1916. He joined the navy in 1937, gaining experience as an officer aboard the torpedo boat "Jaguar" before transferring to u-boats in 1941 with U-431. In September1942 he commissioned U-711, commanding a total of eleven patrols, all of which were in Arctic waters, which included an unsuccessful attack on HMS Royal Sovereign - on loan to Russia as Archangelsk. In May 1945, Lange survived the sinking of U-711 spending the next three months in captivity. He had been awarded the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves on 29th April 1945, one month prior to being captured. He had sunk 4 ships with a total tonnage of over 15,000 tons. In October 1957 Lange joined the Bundesmarine. Here he took part in the construction of a new German U-boat weapon. For two years he commanded the 1 Uboatgeschwader and in January 1964 became commander of the entire U-boat force. Later he held several staff positions, ending his second naval career in 1972 as staff officer in the Marinedivision der Nordsee. In a branch of the German navy whose survival rate was calculated in days, Lange survived for over four years.
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 | Georg-Wilhlem Schulz (deceased)
Georg-Wilhelm Schulz was born in 1906, and joined the German Navy in 1933, transferring to u-boats in 1935. In January 1939, he took command of U-10, then U-64 in December of the same year, going on the u-boats first patrol in April 1940. Soon into the patrol, the u-boat was attacked and sunk by a Swordfish aircraft from HMS Warspite, with Schulz among the 38 survivors. Some months later he took command of U-124, undertaking several successful patrols before handing over command in September 1941, after which he took on a succession of training and staff positions. He was awarded the Knights Cross in April 1941. Georg-Wilhelm Schulz died 5th July 1986.
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 | Peter Cremer (deceased)
Peter Cremer joined the German Navy in 1932, joining the surface warships Koln, Deutschland and Theodor Riedel before joining the u-boats in 1940, commissioning U-152 in January the next year before taking command of U-333 some months later. He sank three enemy ships on his first patrol, and although absolved of blame later, he also sank the German ship Spreewald on this tour. On his second tour, Cremer sank four ships before bringing U-333 back home damaged, a result of being rammed. U-333 was in battle with British corvette HMS Crocus on Cremers third patrol, with the British vessel suffering damage, while 7 crew of U-333 were killed by gunfire from the corvette, Cremer himself being seriously wounded in the incident. Once again U-333 returned to base with heavy damage. After a brief spell on the staff of Donitz, Cremer embarked on another patrol with U-333, again returning with damage from a depth-charge attack. U-333 was lost on the next patrol, but Cremer had by then left the boat. Towards the end of the war, Cremer commanded U-2519. He was captured and spent a short time in captivity before his release. He was awarded the Knights Cross in June 1942, with a total of 6 ships sunk - almost 27,000 tons. Peter Cremer died 5th July 1992.
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 | Klaus Scholtz (deceased)
Klaus Scholtz commanded U-108 during World War Two, sinking a total tonnage of 111,546 tons. He was awarded the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, and was the Kriegsmarines 18th ranked u-boat Ace. Klaus Scholtz joined the German Navy in 1927 and before the outbreak of world war two, spent his first naval years on the german Torpedo Boats G-8, G-11 and Jaguar. He joined the U-boat arm of the Kriegsmarine in April 1940 and joined the new Type IXB U-Boat U-108 sailing on their first patrol in February 1941 where U-108 sank 2 ships. in April 1941 on their second patrol in the Straits of Denmark, U-108 sank the AMC Rajputana, the British Armed Merchant Cruiser. Klaus Scholtz commanded U-108 on three more Atalantic patrols, and in January 1942 Scholtz took U-108 to join the U-baot attacks on Allied shipping of the Coast of the US sinking five more ships. He had a further two more patrols until October 1942 when Klaus Scholtz became the commander of the 12th Flotilla based at Bordeaux. The 12th Flotilla was equipped with long range U-Boats which operated in the South Atalntic and also the Indian Ocean. Scholtz commanded this flotilla until August 1944. he was captured by the Americans and spent 18 mpnths as a prisoner of war. Klaus Scholtz died 1st May 1987
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 | Reinhard Hardegen
Reinhard Hardegen was born 18th March 1913, and joined the German navy in 1933. Prior to the outbreak of war, he underwent training as an aircraft observer and pilot with the Marineflieger, before a crash hospitalised him for several months, and he subsequently joined the u-boat fleet. After some time on U-124, he became commander of U-147 in December 1940, before taking over U-123 in May 1941, with several successful patrols. In December 1941, U-123 was part of Operation Drumbeat, a mission to the east coast of the United States on which U-123 sank several more ships, and after which Hardegen was awarded the Knights Cross. After another successful Drumbeat patrol, Hardegen was awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knights Cross, before leaving U-123 in July 1942 to take up a series of training and staff posts.
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 | Kapitanleutnant Heinrich Schroeteler (deceased)
Heinrich Schroeteler was born 10th December 1915, joining the Navy in 1936 and transferring from minesweepers to u-boats in September 1941. A year later he commissioned U-667, taking the u-boat on four patrols before taking up several training posts. In February 1945 he returned to u-boats, commanding U-1023 for a few months before surrendering U-1023 in the UK, spending three years in captivity. Heinrich Schroeteler was awarded the Knights Cross. He died 19th January 2000.
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