Harro Schacht

Harro Schacht
Born (1907-09-15)15 September 1907
Cuxhaven
Died 14 January 1943(1943-01-14) (aged 35)
north-west of Natal in the South Atlantic
Buried at (01°38′S 39°52′W / 1.633°S 39.867°W / -1.633; -39.867 (place of death of Harro Schacht))
Allegiance Weimar Republic Weimar Republic (to 1933)
 Nazi Germany
Service/branch  Reichsmarine
 Kriegsmarine
Years of service 1926–43
Rank Fregattenkapitän
Unit Emden
Nürnberg
Commands held U-507
Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Harro Schacht (15 December 1907 in Cuxhaven – 14 January 1943 in the South Atlantic) was a German U-boat commander in World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. He is credited with the sinking of 19 ships for a total of 77,143 gross register tons (GRT), including the SS Alcoa Puritan and one ship damaged of 6,561 GRT.

Biography

Schacht began his naval career in April 1926 as an Offiziersanwärter (Officer Cadet), receiving promotion to Fähnrich zur See in April 1928 and Oberfähnrich zur See in June 1930. On 1 October 1930 he was commissioned as a Leutnant zur See, serving on the light cruisers Emden and Nürnberg, and receiving promotion to Oberleutnant zur See on 1 August 1932.[1]

Promoted to Kapitänleutnant on 1 April 1936, he served in the staff of the Oberkommando der Marine (OKM) from 1937. Promoted to Korvettenkapitän on 1 October 1940, he joined the U-boat force in June 1941, sailing under Erich Topp in U-552 as a commander-in-training.[1]

Following this, in October 1941 he was appointed commander of the newly built Type IXC U-507 submarine. On his second patrol, Schacht took U-507 to the Gulf of Mexico in May 1942, sinking 9 ships, including 4 tankers.[2]

On his next patrol, he took U-507 to operate off the coast of Brazil. From 16 to 19 August 1942, U-507 sank six neutral Brazilian ships and a Swedish tanker. As a result of this (and previous attacks) Brazil declared war on Germany on 22 August 1942.[1][3] On the way home from this patrol, U-507, together with U-156, U-506 and the Italian submarine Comandante Cappellini took part in the rescue operations during the Laconia incident, rescuing survivors, including many Italian Prisoners of War after the Laconia was sunk on 12 September 1942.[1][4]

Schacht and the entire crew of U-507 were killed in the South Atlantic on 13 January 1943 when a U.S. PBY Catalina aircraft sank the U-boat with depth charges. Schacht received posthumous promotion to Fregattenkapitän on 1 January 1944. Under his command U-507 sank 19 merchant ships totalling 77,143 tons and damaged another of 6,561 tons.[1]

Awards

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Helgason, Guðmundur. "Fregattenkapitän Harro Schacht". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 8 January 2011.
  2. ↑ Blair 2000a, pp. 578–580, 729.
  3. ↑ Blair 2000a, pp. 670–671.
  4. ↑ Blair 2000b, pp. 58–65.
  5. 1 2 3 Busch & Röll 2003, p. 298.
  6. 1 2 Busch & Röll 2003, p. 299.
  7. ↑ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 372.

Bibliography

  • Blair, Clay (2000a). Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters 1939–1942. London: Cassell. ISBN 0-304-35260-8.
  • Blair, Clay (2000b). Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted 1942–1945. New York: Modern Library. ISBN 0-679-64033-9.
  • Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (2003). Der U-Boot-Krieg 1939–1945 — Die Ritterkreuzträger der U-Boot-Waffe von September 1939 bis Mai 1945 [The U-Boat War 1939–1945 — The Knight's Cross Bearers of the U-Boat Force from September 1939 to May 1945] (in German). Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn Germany: Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn. ISBN 978-3-8132-0515-2. 
  • Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6. 
  • Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2. 
  • Die Wehrmachtberichte 1939–1945 Band 2, 1. Januar 1942 bis 31. Dezember 1943 (in German). München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. 1985. ISBN 3-423-05944-3. 

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/11/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.