Heinrich Bleichrodt

Captain Heinrich Bleichrodt, probably after being awarded the Knight's Cross with the Oak Leaves.

Heinrich "Ajax" Bleichrodt (born October 21, 1909 in Berga (Kyffhäuser) , † January 9, 1977 in Munich ) was a naval officer and one of the most successful submarine drivers of the Second World War .

Life

Heinrich Bleichrodt joined the Reichsmarine on April 1, 1933 with the rank of ensign at sea . He served on the Gorch Fock and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper before he was transferred to the Navy submarine weapon in October 1939 .

Bleichrodt was the first officer on watch on the VII-A boat U 34 under Lieutenant Wilhelm Rollmann . On September 4, 1940, he took over command of the VII-B boat U 48 from Lieutenant Hans-Rudolf Rösing . Bleichrodt made two patrols with this boat. On the first, he sank the British liner City of Benares on September 18, 1940 near Rockall , killing 248 crew members and passengers, including 77 children. Various members of the crew apologized to the survivors after the war; A corresponding apology has not been handed down from Bleichrodt. Among the victims were the German journalist Rudolf Olden and the art historian Jenö Lányi , the husband of Monika Mann , who was one of the 158 survivors. After both patrols, Bleichrodt was named in the Wehrmacht report : The submarine under the command of Lieutenant Bleichrodt sank nine steamers with a total of 51,862 GRT (September 21, 1940) and a submarine led by Lieutenant Bleichrodt ..., on its last venture, had a total of 42,000 BRT enemy merchant space sunk (October 18, 1940).

On January 22, 1941, he put U 67 ( IX C ) into service as commander . He gave up command on June 4, 1941 and became commandant of U 109 ( IX B ). With U 109 , Bleichrodt undertook six enemy voyages from July 1941 to January 1943, during which he sank 13 ships.

Due to illness, Bleichrodt had to hand over command to his first officer on watch. The submarine was lost on the next voyage on May 4, 1943.

Bleichrodt was transferred to the 27th U-Flotilla in Gotenhafen and from July 1943 was a tactics instructor in the 2nd U-Boat Training Division. In November 1943 he was promoted to corvette captain. In July 1944 he took over the 22nd U-Flotilla from frigate captain Wolfgang Lüth .

During the war Heinrich Bleichrodt sank 27 ships with a total of 158,923 GRT and damaged three ships with 11,594 GRT.

Awards

Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class
U-boat war badge (1939) with diamonds
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves
- Knight's Cross on October 24, 1940
- Oak leaves on September 23, 1942 (125th award)

literature

Rainer Busch / Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 3. German submarine successes from September 1939 to May 1945 . Mittler Verlag Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn 2001, ISBN 3-8132-0509-6
Hirschfeld, Wolfgang, patrols. The log of a submarine radio operator , Neff Verlag, Vienna 1982, ISBN 3-7014-0189-6

Web links

uboat.net

Individual evidence

↑ 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. 225.

personal data
SURNAME	Bleichrodt, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Bleichrodt, Ajax (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German corvette captain
DATE OF BIRTH	October 21, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH	Berga (Kyffhäuser) , Saxony-Anhalt
DATE OF DEATH	January 9, 1977
Place of death	Munich

[1] 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. 225.