Georg Lassen

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Georg Let (* 12. May 1915 in Berlin-Steglitz , † 18 January 2012 in Calvia , Mallorca ) was a German naval officer who, during World War II most recently as Commander as well as submarine - Commander worked.

Life

Georg Lassen joined the Navy on September 25, 1935 . After his appointment as first lieutenant at sea , he served as first officer on watch on U-29 under Kapitänleutnant Otto Schuhart . Lassen was instrumental in the sinking of 13 ships, which amounted to around 80,000 GRT , through this boat, including the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous . From September to January 1941 he was in command of the boat, but did not undertake any patrols, as he needed four months to train the crew. On October 16, 1941, he took up service as commander of U-160 . With this boat he undertook a total of four patrols. On the first patrol in March 1942, he sank six ships with 43,560 GRT. On August 10th he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . On September 1, he was promoted to lieutenant captain. On his last patrol in March 1943 he sank five ships (23,092 GRT) of the convoy DN 21 off Durban within less than five hours on the night of March 3 and 4 . On March 9th he was informed by radio message that he had been awarded the Oak Leaves for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

On June 14, 1943, he gave up command and from then on headed the officer company of the 1st U-Training Division as a tactics instructor , where future commanders were trained. On April 1, 1945 he was appointed corvette captain.

All in all, he is one of the ten most successful submarine commanders of the Second World War due to the sinking of ships with a total of 156,082 gross register tons.

Lassen became a businessman after the war and later worked as an authorized signatory for a large company. He lost an arm in a traffic accident. His wife died after 55 years of marriage. He later moved to a retirement home on Mallorca , where he died on January 18, 2012 at the age of 96.

Awards

  • Iron Cross (1939) 2nd class on September 26, 1939
  • Iron Cross (1939) 1st Class on July 18, 1940
  • Submarine War Badge (1939) on July 18, 1940
  • Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves
    • Knight's Cross on August 10, 1942
    • Oak leaves on March 7, 1943 (208th award)

literature

  • Rainer Busch / Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939–1945 The knight's cross bearers of the U-boat weapon from September 1939 to May 1945 . Publishing house ES Mittler & Sohn. Hamburg 2003. ISBN 3-8132-0515-0 . Pp. 234-236

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Georg Lassen . Retrieved January 31, 2012.
  2. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, March 1943 , accessed on May 3, 2014
  3. ↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939-1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 495.
personal data
SURNAME Let, Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naval officer, most recently corvette captain and submarine commander in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH May 12, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin-Steglitz
DATE OF DEATH January 18, 2012
Place of death Calvià , Mallorca