Helmut Witte (naval officer)

Helmut Witte (born April 6, 1915 in Bojendorf ; † October 3, 2005 in Duisburg ) was a German naval officer in the Reichsmarine and the Kriegsmarine before and during the Second World War , most recently with the rank of lieutenant captain and manager .

Military background

Patrols

U 159

1. April 22, 1942 to May 3, 1942
2. May 14, 1942 to July 13, 1942 (11 ships of 50,504 GRT sunk)
3. August 24, 1942 to January 5, 1943 (11 ships with 63,740 GRT sunk)
4. March 4, 1943 to April 25, 1943 (1 ship with 5,449 GRT sunk)

After graduating from high school in 1933, Witte did Reich Labor Service . On April 8, 1934, he joined the Reichsmarine and received his basic military training until June 13 in the 2nd division of the ship master division of the Baltic Sea in Stralsund . He completed his training on September 20, 1936 with the promotion to ensign at sea . He then served on the light cruiser Cologne from September 21, 1936 to March 24, 1938 . During this time he was promoted to senior ensign at sea (January 1, 1937) and lieutenant at sea (April 1, 1937). On March 25, 1938 Witte I. became an officer on the torpedo boat Kondor , later on the boats Seeadler and Tiger , with which he took part in security trips as part of the Spanish Civil War .

From September 7, 1939 to April 11, 1940 Witte II was an officer on the destroyer Anton Schmitt , on which he took part in the occupation of Narvik in April 1940 as part of the Weser Exercise Company . After the sinking of the destroyer, Witte was involved in the fighting for Narvik on land until May 1940. After his return to Germany, he switched to submarine weapons on July 1st, where he attended various underground courses until mid-December. On December 22, 1940, Witte I. became a watch officer on U 107 under the command of Günter Hessler , with whom he ran out on two patrols. After attending the commanders course from July 28 to September 7, 1941, Witte was delegated to the building instruction for U 159 , whose commanding he was on October 4, 1941. His promotion to lieutenant captain had already taken place on September 1st. On four patrols , Witte was able to sink 23 ships with a total of 119,693 GRT with U 159 , for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on October 22, 1942.

On June 4, 1943, Witte handed over the command to Heinz Beckmann and was then in a hospital until November. He had repeatedly suffered from severe tonsillitis, which he had to cure after the boat was handed over to Beckmann. U 159 was sunk by a US fighter-bomber on the first patrol under the new command on July 15, 1943. After his recovery, Witte attended the naval academy in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe until February 1944 and was then a member and consultant of the shipbuilding commission from March to April 1944. In April 1944 he moved to the small combat units of the Navy , where he was the permanent representative of Vice Admiral Hellmuth Heye in the naval command . Towards the end of the war he was also head of the Panther Einsatzgruppe (combat swimmers) in the Rhine-Weser area.

After May 8, 1945 Witte was first used in the naval command of the Baltic Sea. There he was naval liaison officer to the 8th British Corps in Schleswig-Holstein . He then came into British captivity for a short time , from which he was released on July 14, 1945.

Activity in business

At first he got by as a laborer. In 1949 he started at Philips . He later became operations manager of the vehicle factory in Dortmund. From 1952 he was head of human resources and social affairs for the group. In 1961 he moved to Demag as HR manager .

Awards

• Service award IV class April 1, 1938
• Bronze Spanish Cross on June 6, 1939
• Narvik shield
• U-boat war badge (1939) on July 10, 1941
• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class January 12, 1940 and July 10, 1941
• Mentioned in the Wehrmacht report on June 18, 1942
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on October 22, 1942
• Bronze submarine front clasp on December 23, 1944
• Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon on December 10, 1980
• War Merit Cross (1939) 2nd class with swords on January 30, 1944

literature

• Dirk Bavendamm , Lothar Witte: Originally I just wanted to see the world. Helmut Witte - Commander of U-159 on the human and inhuman in naval warfare . Self-published, Siegburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-00-020645-0 .