Wolfgang Lüth

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The crew at the commissioning of U 1305 with Wolfgang Lüth (center) as guest of honor

Wolfgang Lüth (born October 15, 1913 in Riga ; † May 14, 1945 in Flensburg ) was a German naval officer , most recently a sea captain . He was submarine - Commander of the Navy in World War II . Lüth and Albrecht Brandi were the only submarine commanders who were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds.

Life

Lüth, born in the Baltic States , was the son of the jersey manufacturer August Lüth (1872–1947) and his wife Elfriede, née Schindler (1876–1957). In 1939 Lüth married Ilse-Monika Lerch (* 1915), daughter of a merchant ship captain. The couple had four children.

Promotions

Patrols U 9

  • January 16 to January 22, 1940
    (2 ships with 2,367 GRT sunk)
  • February 6 to February 12, 1940
    (2 ships of 7,208 GRT sunk)
  • March 3 to March 6, 1940
  • March 14 to March 19, 1940
  • April 4 to April 24, 1940
  • May 5 to May 15, 1940
    (2 ships of 3,838 GRT sunk)
  • May 16 to May 27, 1940
    (1 ship with 3,256 GRT sunk)

Patrols U 138

  • September 10 to September 25, 1940
    (4 ships with 34,644 GRT sunk)
  • October 8 to October 20, 1940
    (1 ship with 5,327 GRT sunk)

Patrols U 43

  • November 9 to November 10, 1940
  • November 17 to December 18, 1940
    (2 ships with 19,360 GRT sunk)
  • May 13 to July 1, 1941
    (2 ships with 7,529 GRT sunk)
  • August 2 to September 23, 1941
  • November 10 to December 16, 1941
    (2 ships with 10,437 GRT sunk)
  • December 30, 1941 to January 22, 1942
    (3 ships with 17,469 GRT sunk)

Patrols U 181

  • September 12, 1942 to January 18, 1943
    (12 ships with 58,381 GRT sunk)
  • March 23 to October 14, 1943
    (10 ships with 45,331 GRT sunk)

Beginnings and the inter-war period

Lüth graduated from the natural science grammar school, passed the Abitur and studied law for three semesters at the Herder Institute in Riga . On April 1, 1933, he joined the Reichsmarine as an officer candidate ( crew 1933 ) . On September 23, 1933, he became a midshipman , on 1 July 1934, Midshipman , on April 1, 1936. Midshipman , on 1 October 1936 Ensign and on June 1, 1938 Lieutenant promoted .

Lüth initially completed several courses and training on ships and began his training with submarines on February 1, 1937. During this time he was awarded the service award IV class on March 31, 1937 and, together with the other crew members of the U 27, the Spanish Cross in bronze on July 6, 1939.

As a submarine commander in World War II

He drove on various boats as first watch officer and with U13 as deputy commander, until he became commander of U 9 ( Type II B ) on December 28, 1939 . On six patrols he sank eight ships with 17,221 GRT , on his penultimate trip the French submarine Doris . During this time he was awarded several times, including the Iron Cross II and I Class on January 25 and May 15, 1940.

On June 27, 1940 Lüth took over the Type II D boat U 138 , with which he operated in the North Atlantic until October 19, 1940 . On two patrols with a total of 27 days at sea, he sank five ships with 39,971 GRT. He was named in the Wehrmacht report on September 23, 1940 and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on October 24, 1940.

On October 21, 1940 Lüth received the IX (A) boat U 43 . From November 1940 to February 1942 he sank in the North Atlantic, on six patrols in 192 days at sea, nine ships with 54,795 GRT. On January 1, 1941, Lüth became a lieutenant captain . On February 4, 1941, the U 43 under his command sank at the pier of the German submarine base in Lorient due to negligence: a valve in the torpedo room or the torpedo hatch had not been properly closed. The submarine could be lifted again immediately, but was not ready for use again until three months later. The incident apparently had no consequences for Lüth's further military career. In addition to being awarded the Italian War Cross with Swords on November 1, 1941, he was named in the Wehrmacht report on January 14, 1942.

In May 1942 Lüth put one of the monsoon boats of the type IX D 2 into service with U 181 . With this boat he undertook two enemy voyages with a total of 333 days at sea. On its first voyage from September 12, 1942 to January 18, 1943, Lüth sank twelve ships with a total of 58,380 GRT in the South Atlantic. For this he received the oak leaves for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on November 13, 1942.

His second patrol with this boat was to be the second longest of the war with 205 days at sea. U 181 left the Bordeaux base on March 23, 1943 . In the following months it sank ten ships with 45,528 GRT in the Indian Ocean . He was promoted to Korvettenkapitän on April 1, 1943 and two weeks later on April 15, 1943 he was awarded the Swords of the Oak Leaves of the Knight's Cross (29th bearer). After the last sinking on August 11, 1943, Lüth was the first naval officer to be awarded the diamonds for the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (7th bearer). U 181 returned to Bordeaux on October 14, 1943 . Under Lüth's leadership it had sunk a total of 22 ships with 103,908 GRT.

Flotilla Chief

On January 15, 1944 Lüth - to prevent the death of the highly decorated - was removed from service at the front and deployed as head of the 22nd submarine flotilla in Gotenhafen . In July he became head of the I. Department at the Naval War School in Flensburg - Mürwik . On August 1, 1944, he was promoted to frigate captain . On September 1, 1944, Lüth, who was only 31 years old, was promoted to sea captain and appointed commander of the Naval War School. According to Admiral Karl Dönitz, he should “blow a fresh wind into the dusty booth”. But his leadership style was controversial.

End of war and death

Shortly before the end of the war, members of the SS from the inspection of the concentration camps in Mürwik , who had reached Mürwik on the so-called Rattenlinie Nord , were provided with naval uniforms and false pay books. The responsible Lüth received the express backing of Dönitz for this action. On May 5, 1945, Flensburg was occupied by British forces . The convinced Nazi Lüth, combat commander of the city, had decreed immediately before the arrival of the Allies: “All soldiers and the civilian population must be informed immediately that it is incompatible with the upright demeanor of a German person and the pride of a National Socialist if the advancing enemy is greeted with a waving of a cloth or similar actions. "And when the British forbade the Hitler salute to the German units , Lüth resisted on May 8, 1945 with an order to the troops:" The German greeting is and remains the greeting of the Wehrmacht. "

The 400 man strong, commanded by Corvette Captain Peter-Erich Cremer ( U 333 and U 2519 ) was not disarmed by the British for reasons of self-protection. Lüth had ordered that the men of the guard battalion had to shoot immediately anyone who did not say the slogan when called. On May 14, 1945, shortly after midnight, Lüth was shot dead by the sailor Matthias Gottlob on duty when he did not respond to a patrol call. According to the historian Gerhard Paul , Lüth was in the "alcohol intoxication". Gottlob's behavior was judged by officers and the naval judge at the site to be proper. Lüth's widow is said to have expressed the view in 1953, after having examined her husband's estate, letters and notes in detail , that her husband wanted it so, that it was his will, to part with life in this way, - He would have refused a [handwritten] suicide for reasons of faith! If this is the case, Lüth's death would nevertheless be regarded as the form of suicide known as suicide by cop , a variant of suicide which Lüth, in addition to the reasons of belief mentioned, also encourages concern for his own fame as a " submarine ace " could have.

Burial and afterlife

Lüth was laid out in the assembly hall of the Mürwik naval school and buried two days later, on May 16, 1945, in the Adelby cemetery near Flensburg. His coffin was covered with a (already banned) swastika flag. (- of as opposed to the usual on his manufactured after the war grave stone was at the vital statistics Christian symbolism committed - genealogy characters) Elhaz - Rune used. It was the last state funeral of the Third Reich at which the then President Dönitz spoke the last words.

Twelve years later, on the day of national mourning in 1957, Corvette Captain Karl Peter and the ensigns of Crew V / 56 in the presence of Ms. Lüth and her children placed a memorial stone not far from the place where Lüth had found death, this time with the usual genealogical Characters ( asterisk and Latin cross ). Otto Schuhart , then head of training at the Mürwik Naval School , gave the commemorative speech. Decades later, a small plaque with a text was installed next to the stone, which emphasizes that Lüth can no longer be a role model for the Bundeswehr today. The historian Gerhard Paul explained in a lecture in 2012 regarding the memorial stone: “I don't understand why the Bundeswehr still remembers this man with a memorial stone on the grounds in Mürwik. This stone belongs forever on the bottom of the fjord ! ”After the terrorist investigations against Bundeswehr soldiers from 2017 and the subsequent measures proposed by Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen against the legacy of the Wehrmacht in the Bundeswehr, the historian Gerhard Paul said again. He moved away from the previous "emotional" demand to sink the memorial stone into the fjord. He emphasized that the stone and the fate behind it are part of the story and therefore it is worth preserving. At the same time he suggested a more informative design of the monument, for example by adding photos of the atrocities of the submarine war.

In the published 1973 novel Das Boot by Lothar-Guenther Buchheim Lüth place anonymously as Lieutenant L. mention. In chapter Gammel 2 , in any case, a lecture given by Lüth on December 17, 1943 in Weimar at a meeting of commanders of the Navy is quoted; In the course of the action, the first-person narrator discovered the relevant passages in a primer compiled by the first officer on watch and used for his training sessions .

In the German U-Boat Museum in Cuxhaven-Altenbruch , which is run by a foundation, there is a Wolfgang Lüth room, in which u. a. the U-Flotilla of the German Navy has its place . For the Ostpreußenblatt he was still hoping for the Navy in 2001 . In 2020, he again moved into the public eye after it became known that the long-time FDP parliamentary group employee and later AfD party and parliamentary group spokesman, Christian Lüth , had pretended to be his grandson to third parties in order to make his claim that he was himself "Aryan" to underline. Two children of Lüth protested against this instrumentalization of their father and made it clear that Christian Lüth is not a grandson of Wolfgang Lüth. According to Zeit Online, Wolfgang Lüth is just a great uncle of Christian Lüth. In this context, Jan Lüth, Wolfgang Lüth's youngest son, expressed his concern about the fact that there are younger people who apparently adore my father and considered it correct for a representative of a right-wing party with an alleged family connection to acknowledge my father hoped for in his circles.

rating

Grave in Adelby Cemetery

Lüth was involved in 17 operations in 609 days at sea with U 9 , U 138 , U 43 and U 181 and, according to official announcements, sank 47 ships with a total of 225,755 GRT as well as the French submarine Doris . According to Otto Kretschmer, this made him the most successful, and according to Bodo Herzog in the NDB the second most successful submarine commander in World War II. However, it was in accordance with naval practice at the time that the commanders extrapolated their sinking numbers using estimates. That was known in the naval command. According to its own documents, the 3rd (news evaluation) department of the naval war command (Foreign Marines) considered the "ridiculously high" reports about sunk tonnage to be "grotesquely exaggerated". Lüth received the highest Nazi awards for his sinkings, but had never met the official lending guidelines for the awards of the Knight's Cross or its other levels . This corresponded to the rental practice of the time, the aim of which was to present as many successful submarine commanders as possible to the public.

Lüth was a staunch National Socialist and was specifically built up as a hero and role model by the Nazi propaganda . The aim of this heroic presentation, to the public development of which Lüth also contributed as a private person, was to promote the “spiritual mobilization” of young men through the idealization of knight cross bearers like him. Image cultivation also included autograph postcards that were produced by Hitler's “personal photographer” Hoffmann and distributed by his publisher. Therefore, after his “enemy trips”, Lüth was regularly used for propaganda lectures and similar events. In 1943, together with Lieutenant Claus Korth and a ghostwriter from the Propaganda Ministry, he published the book “Boot attacks again”, which was only moderately successful, despite being advertised in relevant publications. In December 1944, Lüth used his image as a war hero to compare the task of the Volkssturm men with the unselfish work of the men in the submarines, which is unique in its kind .

Awards

  • Iron Cross (1939) 2nd class on January 25, 1940
  • Iron Cross (1939) 1st Class on May 15, 1940
  • Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves, swords and diamonds
    • Knight's Cross on October 24, 1940 as first lieutenant at sea and commander of U-138
    • Eichenlaub on November 17, 1942 (142nd award) as lieutenant captain and commander of U-181
    • Schwerter on April 15, 1943 (29th award) as corvette captain and commander of U-181
    • Brillanten on August 11, 1943 (7th award) as corvette captain and commander of U-181
  • Clausewitz Prize of the Reich Foundation for German Ostforschung on October 26, 1943
  • Honorary citizenship of the city of Riga on February 16, 1944

See also

Works

  • Lüth, Wolfgang; Korth, Claus (ed.): Boot attacks again! - Tell a knight's cross bearer , drawings by Adolf Bock; Berlin, E. Klinghammer, 1943.
  • Leadership on a submarine. Details from the human guidance of a submarine crew on patrol. Lecture dated December 17, 1943, published in 1944.

literature

  • Manfred Dörr: The knight's cross bearers of the submarine weapon. Vol. II: K-Z. Biblio Verlag Osnabrück, 1988, ISBN 3-7648-1153-6 .
  • The Submarine War 1939–1945. Volume 5: Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The knight's cross bearers of the submarine weapon from 1939 to May 1945. Verlag ES Mittler & Sohn, 2003, ISBN 3-8132-0515-0 , pp. 86–92.
  • Bodo Herzog :  Lüth, Wolfgang. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-428-00196-6 , p. 479 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Jordan Vause: The submarine commander Wolfgang Lüth. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-613-01937-X . (From the American: U-BOAT ACE - The story of WOLFGANG LÜTH. The United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland 1990)
  • Jordan Vause: The Wolves. German submarine commanders in World War 2. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-613-02002-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Gerhard Paul: The downfall 1945 in Flensburg. (Background. Series of publications by the State Center for Political Education). Kiel undated [2012], p. 19.
  2. ↑ a b c d Bodo Herzog:  Lüth, Wolfgang. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-428-00196-6 , p. 479 f. ( Digitized version ).
  3. ↑ Severin Weiland: Affair with AfD parliamentary group spokesman: "You can't let it stand like that". In: Spiegel Online . May 1, 2020, accessed on May 1, 2020 (interview with Jan Lüth).
  4. ↑ a b c d e Bodo Herzog, Günter Schomaekers: Knight of the Deep. Gray wolves. The most successful submarine commanders in the world. 2nd Edition. Verlag Welsermühl, Munich-Wels 1976, ISBN 3-85339-136-2 , pp. 278-281.
  5. ^ War diary of the Naval War Command 1939–1945. Part A. Vol. 18: February 1941, p. 60 under February 5: ( online as PDF): U 43 sank at the berth for reasons that have not yet been clarified and was not ready for war for a long time.
  6. ^ So German U-Boats 1935-1945 .
  7. ↑ So Strandgut from January 2018 .
  8. ↑ a b Rolf Güth: Group officer at the Naval School Flensburg-Mürwik. In: Walther Günther (ed.): S o it was back then ... Reports from the experiences of crewmates 1944–45. Norderstedt 2000, pp. 31-36, here: p. 33.
  9. ^ Gerhard Paul: Landunter. Schleswig-Holstein and the swastika. Münster 2001, p. 351; Uwe Danker, Astrid Schwabe: Schleswig-Holstein and National Socialism. Neumünster 2005, p. 151.
  10. ^ Gerhard Paul: The downfall 1945 in Flensburg. (Background. Series of publications by the State Center for Political Education). Kiel undated [2012], p. 14.
  11. ^ Renate Dopheide: Kiel, May 1945. British troops occupy the navy city. Kiel 2nd edition 2007, p. 92.
  12. ↑ Hans Herlin : Damned Atlantic. Fate of German submarine drivers. Weltbild, Augsburg 1993, ISBN 3-89350-553-9 , p. 214.
  13. ^ Memento of the original online (accessed 2020-05-02).
  14. ↑ Gerhard Paul: "They whored and drank up here", in: Husumer Nachrichten, May 22, 2020, p. 3
  15. ↑ Lüth's tombstone in the Adelby cemetery (Flensburg) . - For this rune, which is popular with the SS and Wehrmacht, cf. Betty J. Viktoria: Heroism under National Socialism and the memorial in Hanover 1943 . BookRix, Munich 2012 ISBN 9783955004798 , Chapter: The Symbol - The Rune of Death ( as a preview online at Google Books).
  16. ↑ a b c Joachim Pohl: Captain Lüth: The stumbling block. In: Flensburger Tageblatt . June 1, 2017, accessed April 28, 2020 .
  17. ^ Gerhard Paul: The downfall 1945 in Flensburg. (PDF) State Center for Civic Education Schleswig-Holstein , p. 19 , archived from the original on October 20, 2016 ; accessed on October 21, 2018 (talk on January 10, 2012 by Gerhard Paul ).
  18. ^ Lüth: Guiding people on a submarine (see under 'Works'). - This lecture is regarded as pointing the way towards leading people on a submarine (Kathrin Orth: Combat morale and operational readiness in the Kriegsmarine 1945. In: End of war 1945 in Germany. Ed. By Jörg Hillmann and John Zimmermann (= contributions to military history . Vol. 55). R. Oldenbourg, Munich 2002 ISBN 3-486-56649-0 , pp. 137–155, p. 151; as a preview online at Google Books).
  19. ^ Lothar-Günther Buchheim: The boat. dtv , Munich 1977 ISBN 3423012064 , p. 55 ( online preview at Google Books). - Relevant quotes then also found their way into the depiction of ensign instruction by the First Watch Officer, who was drawn as particularly true to the line, in the film adaptation of the book.
  20. ^ Memento of the original online (accessed 2020-05-02).
  21. ↑ Manuel Ruoff: Hope bearers of the Navy. Memories of Wolfgang Lüth. In: The Ostpreußenblatt / Preußische Zeitung / Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen eV December 22, 2001, accessed on May 2, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Christian Fuchs, Jan Aleksander Karon: AfD fires press spokesman because of allegations of fascism. In: Zeit Online . April 26, 2020, accessed May 2, 2020 .
  23. ↑ a b Severin Weiland: Affair with AfD parliamentary group spokesman: “You can't leave it like that”. In: Spiegel Online . May 1, 2020, accessed on May 2, 2020 (interview with Jan Lüth).
  24. ↑ Christian Fuchs: Christian Lüth: The silent speaker. In: zeit.de . May 1, 2020, accessed May 10, 2020 .
  25. ↑ Erich Murawski : The German Wehrmacht Report 1939-1945. A contribution to the study of intellectual warfare. Boppard am Rhein 1962, ( Writings of the Federal Archives. Volume 9), p. 43.
  26. ↑ Manfred Dörr (arrangement): The knight's cross bearer submarine weapon. (= The knight's cross bearers of the German Wehrmacht 1939–1945; IV) , Osnabrück 1989, vol. 1, p. XV.
  27. ↑ Bodo Herzog: Knight's Cross and submarine weapon. Notes on rental practice. In: Deutsches Schiffahrtsarchiv 10 (1987), pp. 245–260; Ders .: Provocative findings on the German submarine weapon. In: Historische Mitteilungen der Ranke-Gesellschaft 11 (1998), pp. 101–124, especially p. 105f on Knight's Cross awards: “The criteria for this (100,000 GRT sinking result) were constantly undermined. Of 122 commanders awarded this medal (there were 9 exceptions) only 31 achieved this high standard (there were even officers decorated with the Knight's Cross without scoring results) ”.
  28. ↑ René Schilling: "War Heroes". Patterns of interpretation of heroic masculinity in Germany 1813–1945 (= War in History; Vol. 15) , Paderborn 2002, p. 368, note 199.
  29. ↑ Jordan Vause: U-Boat Ace. The Story of Wolfgang Lüth. Annapolis (MD) 2001, passim, esp. Pp. 123-126.
  30. ↑ Jordan Vause: U-Boat Ace. The Story of Wolfgang Lüth. Annapolis (MD) 2001, pp. 187-194.
  31. ↑ Cf. for example the " homestory-like " reports from October 1943 ([…] is currently in Berlin with his wife : Völkischer Beobachter . Kampfblatt der Nationalsozialistbewegung Greater Germany (Vienna edition). No. 303 of October 30, 1943, p. 3 ( online at ANNO)); of November 1943 ( "And that's my boy!" : Innsbrucker Nachrichten. No. 276 of November 22, 1943, p. 3 ( online at ANNO)). - In mid-November 1944 Lüth and his wife Ilse-Monika, geb. Lerch, in an advertisement in the Völkischer Beobachter - surrounded by obituaries for a dozen fallen and aerial warfare victims - stating that our fourth war child was born ( Völkischer Beobachter. Kampfblatt der Nationalsozialistbewegung Greater Germany (Vienna edition). No. 313 of November 17, 1944 , P. 3, under family advertisements ( online at ANNO)).
  32. ↑ René Schilling: The heroes of the Wehrmacht - construction and reception. In: Rolf-Dieter Müller , Hans-Erich Volkmann (ed.): The Wehrmacht. Myth and Reality. Munich 1999, pp. 550–572, p. 570 with note 93 ( online preview at Google Books).
  33. ↑ In the presence of Reich Minister Albert Speer , Lüth presented an award given by the Führer to the head of the main committee for shipbuilding, Otto Merker ( award of high war awards. In: Neues Wiener Tagblatt. No. 235 of August 26, 1944, p. 2 ( online at ANNO)).
  34. ↑ On an appearance in the presence of Reich Minister Alfred Rosenberg during an ideological ceremony, cf. "Men died for the empire." Ceremony with Captain Lüth in Potsdam. In: Oberdonau newspaper. Daily mail. Official daily newspaper of the NSDAP , Gau Oberdonau. No. 296 of November 6, 1944 p. 2 ( online at ANNO).
  35. ↑ Jordan Vause: U-Boat Ace. The Story of Wolfgang Lüth. Annapolis (MD) 2001, p. 22.
  36. ↑ Every beginning is difficult. The first shot. In: Völkischer Beobachter. Combat Journal of the National Socialist Movement (Vienna edition). No. 301 of October 28, 1943, p. 3 ( online at ANNO).
  37. ↑ Brilliant carrier Lueth before Volkssturm soldiers. In: Small Vienna War Newspaper. Episode 84 of December 7, 1944, p. 2 ( online at ANNO ).
  38. ^ Günter Fraschka : With swords and diamonds: The bearers of the highest German valor award. 10th edition. Universitas Verlag, Wiesbaden / Munich 2002, ISBN 3-8004-1435-X , p. 324.
  39. ^ Clausewitz Prize for Lüth. In: Völkischer Beobachter. Combat journal of the National Socialist movement of Greater Germany (Vienna edition). No. 300 of October 27, 1943, p. 1 ( online at ANNO).
  40. ^ Revaler Zeitung. No. 41 of February 18, 1944, p. 1 ( online as PDF). - The award of Lüth with the letter of honorary citizenship took place together with that of the Latvian SS legionary standard leader Voldemārs Veiss .
  41. ↑ Recently reprinted a. a. at VE Tarrant: course west. The German submarine offensives 1914–1945. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1993 ISBN 978-3613015425 .
personal data
SURNAME Lüth, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naval officer, submarine commander in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Riga
DATE OF DEATH May 13, 1945
Place of death Flensburg