Egenolf von Berckheim
Egenolf von Berckheim (born July 2, 1881 in Berlin ; † August / September 1915 in the Baltic Sea ) was a German submarine commander in the First World War .
His parents were Count Siegmund Theodor von Berckheim (1851–1927), Baden envoy in Berlin, raised to Count in 1900. In 1900 they bought Windeck Castle (Weinheim) for 10,000 marks. He was married to Adolfine von Berckheim, b. Baroness Wambolt von Umstadt (1859–1916). His younger brother was Count Philipp Christian Paul von Berckheim (1883–1945). Berckheim joined the Imperial Navy in 1902 after graduating from high school , as a member of the so-called Crew 4/02. He was promoted to lieutenant captain on March 22, 1914 , and on August 1, 1914, he was given command of the U 26 submarine , a diesel- electric ocean-going boat. He commanded U 26 until its sinking in autumn 1915, only interrupted by a short command of the sister boat U 23 from December 18, 1914 to January 12, 1915.
Berckheim and his boat were used in the Baltic Sea. There he had his greatest success on September 28th July. / October 11, 1914 greg. when he torpedoed the Russian armored cruiser Pallada at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland 16.5 nm off Russarö . The ammunition chambers exploded on the cruiser and it sank within a few minutes with its entire crew of 597 men. This was the first total loss of a ship in the Russian Navy in World War I.
Berckheim on U 26 also sank three merchant ships ( Frack , Pechora , Semlja ) with a total of 3,700 GRT and in May 1915 the Russian mine-layer Yenisei .
U 26 did not return from a patrol in August 1915. It is believed that the boat ran into a Russian mine off the Finnish coast and sank. Berckheim and all 29 men of his crew were killed. The boat was discovered and identified by divers in the Gulf of Finland in May 2014, it is very close to the place where the Pallada sank and is well preserved.
Web links
- U26 at www.denkmalprojekt , with the names of the fallen crew members
Individual evidence
- ↑ His fate moved the citizens. Article on the 100th anniversary of Berckheim's death in Weinheimer Nachrichten on August 25, 2015, accessed on June 5, 2017.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Berckheim, Egenolf von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Berckheim, Egewolf Freiherr von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German submarine commander, captain lieutenant |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 2, 1881 |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 1915 or September 1915 |
| Place of death | Baltic Sea |