Ernst Bauer (naval officer)

Ernst Bauer (born January 3, 1914 in Fürth ; † March 12, 1988 in Westerland ) was a German naval officer during the Second World War .

Life

Bauer joined the Reichsmarine on September 23, 1933 and was promoted to lieutenant at sea on October 1, 1936 after completing basic training and completing the Mürwik naval school in Flensburg - Mürwik . A short time later he was transferred to the light cruiser Königsberg and stayed there until January 1938, when he was transferred to the submarine weapon . There he was nicknamed "dwarf farmer" to distinguish himself from officers of the same name.

On June 1, 1938, he was promoted to lieutenant at sea and at that time served as an officer on watch on the training submarines U-10 and U-37 . From November 1938 he was a participant in a commanders course that was to last until January 1940.

Second World War

From April 1940 to March 21, 1941 he was in command of the U-120 training submarine and received detailed building instructions from the Flender shipyard in Lübeck and the Deschimag shipyard in Kiel . He was promoted to lieutenant captain on March 1, 1941 . He took command of U-126 on March 22, 1941 and carried out five enemy voyages with this boat, during which he sank a total of 25 ships with 118,660 tons and damaged four more with a total of 31,304 tons. His area of ​​operation was mainly in the Caribbean and off the coasts of Africa. On March 16, 1942 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross .

In March 1943 he gave up command of his boat and became a training officer with the 27th U-Flotilla . The command of the flotilla was transferred to him in August 1944 and the command in October 1944. He was promoted to corvette captain on April 1, 1945 and took over command of the 26th U-Flotilla in the last days of the war .

He got into British captivity at the Naval School Mürwik, because at that time and until October 1945 he was there in the Naval Hospital Flensburg-Mürwik . His captivity lasted until December 31, 1945.

After the war

He joined the German Navy on December 10, 1955, where he was promoted to sea captain, before retiring on March 31, 1972.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd class on November 8, 1939
• Iron Cross (1939) 1st class, August 1, 1941
• Mentioned in the Wehrmacht report on July 30, 1941
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on March 16, 1942
• Submarine War Badge (1939)
• War Merit Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class on July 20, 1944 and April 1, 1945, respectively
• Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class on November 10, 1971

literature

• Franz Kurowski: The bearers of the knight's cross of the iron cross of the submarine weapon 1939–1945 , Friedberg 1987, p. 8.