Heinrich Besold

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Heinrich Besold (born October 18, 1920 in Nuremberg ; † December 28, 2018 in Cologne ) was a former German naval officer and submarine commander during the Second World War .

Entry into the Navy and training

Besold joined the Navy on September 16, 1939 as a candidate for sea officer of Crew X / 39, attended various courses until August 1940 and received his basic and on-board training. From August 1940 to November 1940 he worked as an auxiliary professional at the naval artillery equipment office in occupied French Boulogne . From February 1, 1940, he held the rank of cadet of weapons officers , and from July 1, the rank of ensign of weapons officers. Subsequently, from November 1940 to April 1942, further training courses took place and he attended several courses, where his rank was increased to Oberfähnrich der Waffenoffiziere in 1941 and in 1942 to lieutenant of the weapons officers . From April 1942 to March 1943 he was appointed adjutant and company commander at the naval artillery equipment office in the occupied Dutch city of The Hague , which he left in March 1943 in order to complete his three-month navigation course at the helmsman's school in Gotenhafen . After its end he joined the submarine weapon and received his submarine training until March 1944. After completing his submarine training, he was posted for three months as a commanding student on the Hamburg Type VII C boat U 981 under the command of Lieutenant to the Sea of the Reserve Walter Sitek. With U 981 , however, Besold did not carry out any patrols from March to May 1944, before it was made available to the 2nd U-Flotilla stationed in Lorient . In July he was transferred as a commanding student and officer on watch to the Type IX C boat U 518 , led by Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Werner Offermann , with which Besold carried out a 105-day patrol on which a ship of 7,171 GRT could be damaged .

After his return with U 518, he went to the 1st warship construction training department in Kiel to prepare for his own boat, the Flensburg Type VII-C / 41 boat U 1308 . On January 17, 1945, the time had come: Heinrich Besold, a first lieutenant at sea since October 1, 1943 and bearer of the Iron Cross 2nd Class and the 1939 U-Boat War Badge, officially took command of U 1308 and went for five months in the Baltic Sea to test the boat.

Abandonment of his boat on May 1st

When Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz gave the rainbow order , Oberleutnant zur See Besold in Warnemünde also received the message about the scuttling. After most of the crew had left the boat, Besold and some officers steered U 1308 into the middle of the fjord and sank the boat by opening the flood valves.

He joined the armed forces and retired in 1977 as a frigate captain. Frigate Captain a. D. Besold was widowed twice and spent his twilight years in Cologne-Seeberg. After the death of Korvettenkapitän a. D. Hardegen the last surviving submarine commander in the Kriegsmarine.

literature

• Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 1: The German submarine commanders. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Heinrich Besold: Obituary notice. In: wirtrauern.de. Kölner Stadtanzeiger , January 12, 2019, accessed on January 13, 2019.