Reinhard Suhren

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Reinhard "Teddy" Suhren (born April 16, 1916 in Langenschwalbach ; † August 25, 1984 in Halstenbek ) was a German naval officer and submarine commander in World War II . His brother, two years older than him, was the former chief submarine engineer and knight's cross holder Gerd Suhren .

Pre-war period

Suhren's nautical career began as a sea officer candidate on April 5, 1935 ( crew 1935 ) at the 2nd ship master department of the Baltic Sea in Stralsund .

He received his basic military training and then his nautical training on the sailing training ship Gorch Fock . This was followed by a nine-month trip abroad on the light cruiser Emden , which led to North and South America. After this trip, Suhren was assigned to the Mürwik Naval School. After passing the main naval officer examination, he started training on board the destroyer Z 3 Max Schultz in autumn 1937 .

Promoted to Oberfähnrich zur See on January 1, 1938, followed on April 1, 1938 by promotion to lieutenant at sea and command to submarine weaponry. After the submarine courses, he served in the Wegener submarine flotilla . There he completed training drives on U 29 as II. WO (Second Watch Officer) .

Second World War

In April 1939 he became I. WO (First Watch Officer) on U 48 . This boat became one of the most successful of WWII. On November 3, 1940, Suhren was the first to receive the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross .

On April 3, 1941, Suhren took over a type VII C boat from the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg U 564 . The boat was assigned to the 1st submarine flotilla in the French Atlantic port of Brest . With U 564 he sank 18 merchant ships totaling 95,544 GRT on six patrols , one warship with 900 GRT and damaged four other ships with 28,907 GRT.

Suhren, whose nickname was "Teddy", was awarded the Oak Leaves for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on December 31, 1941. On January 1, 1942, he was promoted to lieutenant captain . Soon afterwards, on September 1, 1942, Suhren received the swords for the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves when he was promoted to Corvette Captain . From Grand Admiral Erich Raeder he also received a custom-made submarine war badge in gold with diamonds.

On October 1, 1942, Oberleutnant zur See Hans Fiedler U 564 took over . The boat was on 14 June 1943 depth charges of a British Whitley -Flugzeugs northwest of Cape Ortegal (northern coast of Galicia sunk). 18 submariners survived the sinking.

In March 1943 Suhren came to Korvettenkapitän Erich Topp as group leader and chief of staff for the 27th U-Flotilla . Both officers now trained the younger generation. In 1944 Suhren became a frigate captain and leader of the U-Boats (FdU) Norway, later continued as FdU Nordmeer, in Narvik .

post war period

Suhren was a prisoner of war until April 1946 . His parents and sister committed suicide in 1945 after it became impossible to escape from the Sudetenland . On May 31, 1953, Suhren was on the founding board of the German Navy Federation . He lived as a self-employed businessman in Leichlingen (Rhineland) and died on August 25, 1984 in Halstenbek .

Awards

Works

See also

literature

  • Lawrence Paterson: U 564 on patrol. 70 days on board . Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 978-3-613-02528-8 (original title: U-boat war patrol . Translated by Wolfram Schürer).

Web links

Individual evidence

  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. 735.
personal data
SURNAME Suhren, Reinhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Teddy Suhren, nickname
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naval officer, submarine commander in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH April 16, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Langenschwalbach
DATE OF DEATH August 25, 1984
Place of death Halstenbek