Karl-Heinz Moehle

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Karl-Heinz Moehle (born July 31, 1910 in Norden ; † November 27, 1996 in Ahrensburg ) was a German naval officer in the Reichsmarine and the Kriegsmarine , most recently with the rank of corvette captain .

Military career

Patrols

U 20

  1. August 24, 1939 to September 20, 1939
  2. September 29, 1939 to October 17, 1939
  3. November 18, 1939 to November 24, 1939 (1 ship with 3,114 GRT sunk by a laid mine, 37 survivors)
  4. December 7, 1939 to December 13, 1939 (2 ships with 3,013 GRT sunk by torpedo and 1 ship with 4,815 GRT sunk by a laid mine, 36 dead and 37 survivors)
  5. January 6, 1940 to January 16, 1940 (1 ship with 1,524 GRT sunk by torpedo, 20 dead and no survivors)

U 123

  1. September 21, 1940 to October 23, 1940 (6 ships with 25,878 GRT sunk by torpedo, 35 dead and 186 survivors)
  2. November 14, 1940 to November 28, 1940 (6 ships with 27,895 GRT sunk by torpedo, 187 dead and 71 survivors)
  3. January 14, 1941 to February 28, 1941 (4 ships with 22,186 GRT sunk by torpedo, 164 dead and no survivors)
  4. April 10, 1941 to May 11, 1941 (1 ship with 6,991 GRT sunk by torpedo, 49 dead and no survivors)

Moehle joined the Reichsmarine on April 1, 1930 and was assigned to the 2nd ship master division of the Baltic Sea in Stralsund until June 30, 1930 . There and afterwards he completed the usual military training, which he finished on July 19, 1934 as senior ensign at sea . He was then a lieutenant on the watch on the Schleswig-Holstein and from July 1, 1935 to March 29, 1936 in the rank of lieutenant in the sea , platoon officer in the I. Department of the ship's master department of the Baltic Sea in Kiel . On March 30, 1936, Moehle switched to submarine weapons and completed a course for officers on watch. After his appointment as first lieutenant at sea on June 1, Moehle became a watch officer on December 20, 1936 on U 5 and later in the same function on U 32 .

After the building instruction for U 20 in April 1937, Moehle became its commander on October 1st. With U 20 Moehle ran out on five mission trips, where he was able to sink five ships with 12,466 GRT and received the Iron Cross 2nd class . There were 56 deaths. On January 17, 1940, he gave up his command of U 20 and was “kept available” from January 18 to February 29 with the 1st U-Flotilla due to a lack of commanding post .

From March to the end of May, Moehle was delegated to instruct U 123 on construction , and he became its commander on May 30th. With U 123 Moehle ran four mission trips up to May 11, 1941, during which he was able to sink 17 ships with 63,050 GRT. There were 435 dead. For his success in sinking he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class on October 24, 1940 and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on February 11, 1941 . On May 16, 1941 Moehle gave up command of U 123 . Moehle served as the flotilla chief of the 5th U-Flotilla from June 6, 1941 until the end of the war .

On May 8, 1945 Moehle was taken prisoner by the British . When the results of the Eck trial were presented as part of the Nuremberg trial in the trial against Karl Dönitz , Karl-Heinz Moehle testified against his former superior. The former flotilla commander of the 5th Flotilla stated that he had told the submarine commander who was about to leave the port with regard to the Laconia order that survivors of sinkings were to be killed. On the basis of this testimony, Moehle was charged himself and sentenced to five years in prison on October 16, 1946 before a British military court in Hamburg. On November 8, 1949, Moehle was released early from British custody.

family

Karl-Heinz Moehle was married to Erika, Hoffmann von Hoffmannswaldau , with whom he had several children. According to a document from the Ministry of the Interior in Kiel dated January 20, 1949, the name was changed to "Moehle von Hoffmannswaldau".

Awards

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 .
  • Case No. 54: Trial of Karl-Heinz Moehle, British Military Court, Hamburg, 15th to 16th October 1946 . In: UNWCC (Ed.): Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals , Volume IX. London 1949, pp. 75-82. ( LRTWC in full text at the Library of Congress )

Individual evidence

  1. Clay Blair : Der U-Boot-Krieg, Volume 2 The Hunted 1942 - 1945 , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1999, page 627
  2. ^ Knut Dörmann: Elements of War Crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court - sources and commentary . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003, ISBN 0-521-81852-4 , pp. 188-189.
  3. ^ Lexicon for the Genealogical Handbook of the Nobility