Hans Diedrich von Tiesenhausen

Hans Diedrich Freiherr von Tiesenhausen (born February 22, 1913 in Riga (then Livonia Governorate , Russian Empire ); † August 17, 2000 in Vancouver ( Canada )) was a German naval officer in the Imperial and Navy , most recently in the rank of lieutenant captain .

Military career

Hans Diedrich von Tiesenhausen came from the Baltic German aristocratic family of the von Tiesenhausen family . He joined the Reichsmarine on April 8, 1934 and received his basic infantry training from June 14, 1934 in the 2nd Company of the 2nd Ship Mastery Division in Stralsund . Following the subsequent board training in the sail training ship Gorch Fock , he was on 26 September 1937 midshipman and other trips on the light cruiser Karlsruhe and a cadet course at the Naval Academy Mürwik finally Midshipman . He then served from May 5, 1937 to March 30, 1938 as an adjutant on the light cruiser Nuremberg . He then moved to the 5th Marine Artillery Department, where he initially worked as a platoon leader of an anti-aircraft company and later as an adjutant. It was here that he was promoted to lieutenant at sea on April 1, 1939 . During the attack on Poland , Tiesenhausen was deployed in the Pillau Marine Flak Regiment before switching to the submarine weapon on October 2, 1939.

The subsequent U course lasted until November 26th. This was followed by a news course. From December 28, 1939 to May 5, 1940, Tiesenhausen was a watch officer on U 23 . Under the command of Otto Kretschmer, he took part in three enemy voyages, for which he was awarded the U-boat war badge . Tiesenhausen completed another patrol on the same boat under the commandant Heinz Beduhn. On July 30, 1940, he became the first watch officer on U 93 and undertook two patrols under the commandant Claus Korth until November 29 .

Tiesenhausen then completed a commanders' shooting course and from February 18, 1941, the building instruction for the U 331 under construction , which was put into service on March 31, 1941 under his command.

Patrols U 331

1. July 2 to August 19, 1941
2. September 24 to October 11, 1941
3. November 12 to December 3, 1941 (1 battleship sunk)
4. January 14th to February 28th, 1942
5. April 4 to 19, 1942 (3 sailors with 600 GRT sunk)
6. May 9-21, 1942
7. May 25 to June 15, 1942
8. August 5th to 10th, 1942
9. 7th to 17th November 1942 (1 ship with 9,135 GRT sunk)

The battleship Barham explodes (November 25, 1941)

On a total of nine patrols , Tiesenhausen was able to sink a cargo ship with 9,135 GRT and three small sailors with 600 GRT with U 331 . His first and greatest success was the torpedoing and sinking of the British battleship HMS Barham with 31,100 ts on November 25, 1941, for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on January 27, 1942. When the Barham sank , 862 British seamen died, only 449 were rescued.

On November 17, 1942, U 331 was sighted by aircraft of the British 500th Squadron in the Mediterranean north-west of Algiers and sunk shortly afterwards by a Fairey Albacore of the British aircraft carrier HMS Formidable . 32 men of the boat crew were killed. Tiesenhausen came with 16 of his crew members into British captivity . From 1944 to 1947 he was a prisoner of war in Canada .

Post-war years

After his release and return to Germany, he initially worked as a carpenter, but then went back to Canada in 1951. He lived near Vancouver until the end of his life , where he worked as an interior designer and also earned a reputation as a nature photographer.

Awards

• Service award IV class on April 8, 1938
• Submarine War Badge (1939) on February 26, 1940
• Medal to commemorate the return of Memelland on June 25, 1940
• Medal in memory of October 1, 1938 on September 6, 1940
• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class on January 31, 1940 and December 7, 1941, respectively
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on January 27, 1942
• Mentioned in the Wehrmacht report on January 27, 1942
• Italian silver medal for bravery on March 25, 1942

literature

• Rainer Busch and 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. Mittler and Son, 2003, ISBN 3-8132-0515-0 .
• Franz Kurowski: Hans Diedrich Freiherr von Tiesenhausen. In: Franz Kurowski: Hunter of the Seven Seas. The most famous submarine commanders of World War II. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1998 (2nd edition), pages 325–337. ISBN 3-613-01633-8 . (Biographical, representation of the patrols)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.uboat.net/men/tiesenhausen.htm