U 752

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U 752
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Coat of arms Heilbronn.svg
Coat of arms of Heilbronn, sponsored city of the boat
Type : VII C
Shipyard: Kriegsmarine shipyard, Wilhelmshaven
Keel laying: January 5, 1940
Launch: March 29, 1941
Commissioning: May 24, 1941
Commanders:

May 24, 1941 - May 23, 1943 Kkpt. Karl-Ernst Schroeter

Calls: 7 activities
Sinkings:

8 ships (33,492 GRT)

Whereabouts: sunk in the North Atlantic on May 23, 1943

U 752 was a German submarine from the Type VII C in the Second World War .

construction

The hull number of U 752 was 135, the keel was laid on January 5, 1940 at the Wilhelmshaven naval shipyard, and it was finally launched on March 29, 1941. The boat was put into service on May 24, 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Karl-Ernst Schroeter. The sponsored city of the boat was Heilbronn am Neckar, the boat had the city coat of arms on the tower.

Flotilla affiliation

First, U 752 was used as a training boat in the 3rd U-Flotilla from May to August 1941. It was then assigned to the 3rd Flotilla as a front boat, to which it belonged until it was sunk on May 23, 1943.

Sinking

On May 23, 1943, in the North Atlantic at position 51 ° 40 ′  N , 29 ° 49 ′  W , while attempting to attack convoy HX 239 , the boat was attacked by a Fairey Swordfish under the command of Sub-Lt. H. Horrocks of 819 Naval Air Sqn. ( FAA ) of the British carrier HMS Archer , attacked by surprise and hit by missiles in diving tank 4. It was badly damaged and was not clear to dive, and there were many wounded and dead on board. The anti-aircraft guns of the boat could still be occupied and further attacks by the Swordfish and an accompanying Martlet were repelled. However, when the British destroyers HMS Keppel and HMS Escapade approached , the situation became hopeless. During the rocket attack on the boat, the commander, among others, had died.

The twenty-one-year-old chief engineer, Heinz Krey, who had only entered the Navy in December 1939, took over command. He ordered the remaining crew to leave the boat, as the outcome of a possible surface battle with the far superior enemy ships was completely clear. But he stayed on board the submarine to sink it. The boat and important documents should not get into enemy hands. He succeeded in sinking, but Krey was no longer able to leave the submarine, which was sinking quickly after opening the bottom valves, in time.

Losses and consequences

The sinking was observed by U 91 , who took ten men in, but only four of them survived. 13 men fell into British captivity. During the air raid on the boat, 30 crew members were killed or so badly wounded that they could not leave the boat because the submarine was so badly damaged that the jammed bulkheads could no longer be opened to escape. U 752 was the first German submarine to be sunk by a missile. The No. 819 Sqn. had only been fitted with it three weeks earlier.

Heinz Krey was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on September 4, 1943 for sinking the boat, which prevented it from being attacked by the enemy . The names of the fallen crew members of U 752 were recorded on a plaque of the 1930/33 submarine memorial in Möltenort . The commandant is mentioned first, followed by Heinz Krey in alphabetical order. A barrack camp , which was built shortly after the start of the Second World War in Flensburg - Mürwik , opposite the marine sports school , and in which refugees were housed after the war, was given the name Heinz-Krey-Lager. On July 4, 1957 and April 30, 1959, the neighboring streets of the camp were named Heinz-Krey-Straße and Heinz-Krey-Hof at the suggestion of an officer from the Mürwik Naval School .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , p. 46.
  2. ^ Georg Högel: Emblems, coats of arms, Malings German submarines 1939-1945. 5th edition. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7822-1002-7 , pp. 143-144.
  3. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 2: U-boat construction in German shipyards. ES Mittler und Sohn, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 , p. 381.
  4. ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing vor München 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 , p. 124.
  5. ↑ Flensburg street names . Society for Flensburg City History, Flensburg 2005, ISBN 3-925856-50-1 , article: Heinz-Krey-Straße, -Hof
  6. ↑ Flensburg street names . Society for Flensburg City History, Flensburg 2005, ISBN 3-925856-50-1 , article: Heinz-Krey-Straße, -Hof
  7. ↑ Gerhard Paul, Broder Schwensen (Ed.): May '45. End of the war in Flensburg. Flensburg 2015, p. 164.