Otto Kretschmer

Lawrence Paterson

• Publisher: Greenhill Books
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781784381943
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World War II
• Index: History

Otto Kretschmer was only in combat from September 1939 until March 1941 but was Germany's highest-scoring U-boat commander sinking 47 ships totaling 274, 333 tons. This definitive work details his personal story and the political backdrop from his earliest days. Aged 17 he spent 8 months studying literature at Exeter University where he learned to speak English fluently. The following year, on 1 April 1930, he enlisted as an officer candidate in the Weimar Republic's small navy.After completing his officer training and time on the training ship Niobe he served aboard the light cruiser Emden. In December 1934 he was transferred to the light cruiser Köln, then in January 1936 made the move to the fledgling U-boat service. His first operational posting was to the 2nd U-Flotilla's Type VII U35 where he almost being drowned during training in the Baltic Sea! During the Spanish Civil War, he was involved in several patrols as part of the international nonintervention force.He was finally given command of U23, a post which he held until April 1940. He had already sunk 8 ships including the destroyer HMS Daring east of Pentland Firth on 18 February 1940. He demonstrated a cool approach to combat: his mantra 'one torpedo for one ship' proved that the best way for his boat to succeed against a convoy was to remain surfaced as much as possible, penetrating the convoy and using the boat's high speed and small silhouette to avoid retaliation.His nickname 'Silent Otto' referred to his ability to remain undetected and his reluctance to provide the regular radio reports required by Dönitz: he had guessed that the Allies had broken German codes. Alongside his military skill was a character that remained rooted in the traditions of the Prussian military. While other U-boat commanders and crew returned from patrol with beards and a relaxed demeanor, U99 always returned with all men clean-shaven and paraded on deck.In the Bowmanville POW camp he organized a 2-way radio link to the German Naval High Command and planned a mass breakout with a U-boat rendezvous arranged. He was also instrumental in the 'Battle of Bowmanville' that lasted for 3 days in October 1942. His antics behind the wire became the inspiration for the 1970 film 'The McKenzie Break'.Postwar he answered the call for volunteers upon the establishment of the Bundesmarine. He retired from the rank of Flotillenadmiral in 1970. He suffered a fall celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary aboard a boat and died two days later at the age of 86.

Chapter One

Between the Wars

On 1 May 1912, Otto August Wilhelm Kretschmer was born to Friedrich Wilhelm Otto Kretschmer and his wife Alice (née Herbig) in Ober-Heidau within the Prussian Landkreis (county) of Liegnitz, Silesia. Now named Golanka Dolna and a part of Poland, the small Silesian town was barely a speck on the map in 1921 and numbered only 283 inhabitants in a 1925 census. Friedrich was a school teacher of the Heidau Volksschule (elementary school) which Otto attended between 1918 and 1921 before later enrolling in the Wahlstatt Realgymnasium, the equivalent of a British grammar school. This institute of learning had various famous military alumni who had become luminaries of the First World War such as Paul von Hindenburg, Manfred von Richthofen and Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, the last the most successful U-boat commander of the First World War.

Otto Kretschmer’s early years were spent during a tumultuous period for Germany. As the guns fell silent on 11 November 1918, Germany ended the First World War a broken nation. Bolshevik revolution sparked amongst the listless crews of the Imperial German Navy’s High Seas Fleet that had lain ineffectively at anchor for two years after the inconclusive Battle of Jutland eliminated the Navy’s offensive doctrine. Restless, bored and unhappy, the smouldering crews of stagnating sailors were soon fanned into the flames of full-scale revolt that soon spread throughout Germany as the war ended. Revolution polarised political and nationalist groups as never before in what was still a relatively young nation.

Meanwhile, the harsh dictated terms of the Treaty of Versailles severely curtailed German military power, with U-boats, tanks and military aircraft strictly forbidden. Territorial losses, a forced acceptance of total responsibility for the outbreak of war and crippling reparation payments sowed seeds of resentment that took root in extreme politics. Unable to face the humiliation of defeat, many Germans took refuge within the myth that disloyal elements of the home front had ‘stabbed the German soldier in the back’. Those perceived to be of questionable loyalty – notably socialists, communists, and Jews – were viewed with suspicion and hostility and the atmosphere became ripe for Adolf Hitler’s incendiary brand of politics.

While Germany endured years of turbulence, the Kretschmers remained a largely apolitical family. Otto’s father’s passion for languages and scientific subjects infected the young teenager and he developed into a studious young man. His character developed to that of calm reserve, capable of intense concentration that could occasionally flash to irritation if disturbed by unwelcome intrusion. Though quiet and unassuming, he was not introverted and accumulated a wide circle of friends, though never became the centre of any social group. Perhaps incongruously in such a scholarly outlook, Kretschmer also excelled at sports, particularly skiing. He harboured a healthy sense of competitiveness, though his primary motivation was perhaps more internal than external. He simply believed that any man who applied himself to any task should attempt to achieve mastery for his own satisfaction.

Kretschmer achieved good grades in mathematics, chemistry and physical education. His final Abitur qualification, issued when he had reached the age of seventeen, ended with the following statement: ’Kretschmer demonstrated his extraordinary courage in many instances. He wants to be a naval officer.’ Since Otto was still too young to enlist in the Reichsmarine, Kretschmer’s father arranged for his son to spend time in Britain in order to broaden his knowledge of languages and science. He stayed in Exeter for eight months and was privately tutored there by Professor Jacob Wilhelm Schopp. Schopp, born in Germany in 1871, was a naturalised Briton who had made Exeter his home and lectured in modern languages at what was then the University College of South West England. Otto’s time in Britain left an indelible mark on him. Not only did he achieve mastery of the English language but he observed what he considered to be a distinctly practical approach in British education rather than the theoretical, scientific experience of his German schooling. This would later cause him intuitively to believe rumours of ingenious advances in anti-submarine warfare weapons and code-breaking as he felt that the British possessed both the intellect and the mechanical ability to excel at such projects. His cautious acceptance of these possibilities later stood him in good stead as a combat U-boat commander.

Family tragedy during his first term forced his temporary return home for a brief period when his mother unexpectedly died of tetanus as a result of medical malpractice. Following this unwelcome hiatus, as part of his continuing schooling Kretschmer took part in an organised study trip that passed through Paris, Geneva, Milan, Pisa, Rome, Naples, Capri, Pompeii, Florence, Venice and back into Switzerland. Kretschmer’s absorption of English language and customs was augmented by basic Italian that he learned while abroad. Not long afterward, during his second term back in Germany, Kretschmer officially applied to join the Reichsmarine in Bremerhaven, travelling to the port city during a trip to Kiel to study the Schleswig-Holstein education system. The application process complete, Kretschmer was declared fit for service following the standard introductory medical examination. Despite his father’s wishes that he would follow in his academic trail and become a teacher, Kretschmer remained determined to pursue a naval career. Though clearly disappointed with their son’s choice, neither his father nor late mother had ever placed any obstacles before him so that he finally joined the Reichsmarine on 1 April 1930, one month short of his eighteenth birthday, as a See Offizier Anwärter (Naval Officer Candidate).

Germany’s navy had been severely limited by the Treaty of Versailles that followed the end of hostilities in 1918, with more applications than there were positions to be filled within the maximum of 1,500 officers allowed under the treaty terms. Thus, the Reichsmarine could carefully select who it accepted into the ranks and by 1930 it truly was a highly specialised and elite force, still several years away from possessing a U-boat arm although covert experiments with new U-boat designs had already begun outside of Germany’s borders. Each intake of officer cadets into the Reichsmarine, and later the Kriegsmarine, was known as a Crew and of the seventy-eight cadets who comprised Crew 30, twenty would go on to subsequent careers as U-boat officers.1 Though Kretschmer’s well-known reputation is one of a certain reflective gravity in all situations, this was clearly only one facet of his character as, amongst the fellow cadets of Crew 30, Kretschmer was a popular figure who melded well with all. Within the wide association of friends, he formed a firm and close friendship with at least one other who would later become one of the ‘Three U-boat Aces’: Joachim Schepke.

Schepke was a tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed good-looking man. When we, the Crew 30, started in the navy at Stralsund at No. 4 Company I (on the island of Dänholm) of the 2nd Abteilung (Battalion) of the Schiffsstammdivision der Ostsee, the company was subdivided into eight Korporalschaften (groups under the command of a Petty Officer). Number 1 Korporalschaft was composed of the tallest, No. 8 of the shortest young men (of about 18 to 20 years of age). I came into No. 4 with my 179 cm. I guess Schepke must have been in about No. 1 or 2. Schepke was not at all a heavy drinker – not more than any one of his fellow officers. He was happily married and had, I think, two children: a boy and a girl.2

The young men of Crew 30 included many who would later make indelible marks during the Second World War and in their company Kretschmer excelled. The community of the naval ‘Crew’ of officer cadets was forged over a total period of fifty-four months of training and remained an indelible bond that was a cornerstone of German naval officer development. Traits of each man were frequently highlighted in yearbooks as running ‘in-jokes’ that would even last through wartime and into the peace that followed Germany’s second defeat. For example, the gregarious and handsome Schepke was nicknamed Ihrer Majestät bestaussehender Offizier (‘Her Majesty’s best-looking officer’) by his crewmates, exuding an easy-going charm that almost belied his intelligence and exceptional abilities as a naval officer. German cadets spent six months in basic training at Stralsund before moving on to three and a half months of practical instruction aboard the sail training ship Niobe as a Seekadet. This beautiful ship was used for the instruction of both officer cadets and aspiring non-commissioned officers. On board, the men would learn practical seamanship while also building experience and character worthy of a naval officer.

Following the end of the First World War, the two sail-training ships that had been used by the Imperial Navy – Grossherzog Friedrich August and Prinzess Eitel Friedrich – were seized by the Allied powers as war reparations. Not until 1922 did the Reichsmarine purchase a new tall ship for training, buying a Danish-built four-masted schooner and rechristening it Niobe. The elegant ship had begun life in the Danish Frederikshavn Værft og Flydedok shipyard, originally named Morten Jensen and sailing as a freighter before being sold to a Norwegian shipping line in 1916 and renamed Thyholmen. On 21 November that same year, it was intercepted in the North Sea by Oblt.z.S. Friedrich Karl Schiart von Sichartshofen’s UB41 and taken as prize as it was carrying mine props from Scandinavia to Britain. Once in German hands it drifted through various companies for diverse purposes before its purchase by the Reichsmarine.

The steel-hulled ship was re-rigged as a three-masted barque and served successfully as a training ship for the entire decade that followed. Though the Reichsmarine had, of course, been severely curtailed by the Versailles Treaty, there were stirrings of covert rearmament and a slow increase in military strength even before the rise of Hitler’s National Socialist Party. However, on 26 July 1932 – long after Kretschmer had departed the vessel – tragedy that would have far-reaching consequences for the German Navy overtook Niobe.

Sailing with a full complement of trainees aboard in full summer heat, Niobe was suddenly engulfed in what is known as a ‘white squall’. This phenomenon refers to a sudden violent windstorm that is not presaged by the usual weather warnings such as darkening skies or a freshening breeze and can occur with alarming speed even on clear cloudless days. The Niobe was between the German Fehmarn Island and Denmark in the Baltic Sea, caught so abruptly that it heeled dramatically, allowing water to flood through portholes and hatches that had been left open to provide ventilation in the stifling heat below decks. The ship capsized and sank within four minutes. Of the 109 men aboard, sixty-nine were lost and the remaining forty rescued by German freighter SS Theresia L. M. Russ. Of those killed, thirty-six young men were from Crew 32: twenty-seven officer cadets, two NCO candidates and seven medical officer candidates.

An immediate enquiry followed and, despite a desire to assign blame for the tragedy, no fault was found during the subsequent court-martial proceedings of the ship’s captain, Heinrich Rufus, who had survived the sinking, or indeed with the conduct of any of his complement. The hulk was raised and the dead recovered from where they had been trapped below decks, and later buried with military honours. The wreck was subsequently sunk once more, this time in a ceremony attended by almost all of the fledgling German Navy in which it was torpedoed and sent to the bottom one final time. With the Navy now bereft of a training vessel, the Prussian state mint struck a memorial coin the equivalent of a five-mark piece that was sold to banks at a profit for the sole purpose of fund raising for ‘Project 1115’, building a replacement training ship. Though many had begun debating the efficacy and relevance of using sail training, the Reichsmarine had committed to replacing Niobe. A total of 200,000 marks was raised by the sale of the coin and the Gorch Fock built within a hundred days and launched from the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg on 3 May 1933. Two more ships – Horst Wessel and Albert Leo Schlageter – followed in 1936 and 1937 respectively.

The sinking of the Niobe and loss of so many officer cadets resulted in a direct appeal by Admiral Erich Raeder, head of the Navy, to Germany’s merchant navy for volunteers to join the naval officer corps as an additional draft for Crew 32. The shipping industry was wallowing in the doldrums because of the worldwide Great Depression, the longest-lasting economic decline of the Western industrialised nations that began in 1929 and lasted for ten years. Many qualified sea-going officers were unemployed as a result and took the opportunity to join the military, amongst them Günther Prien, who had been languishing in the Labour Corps in land-locked Oelsnitz in the Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, after achieving his master’s ticket but failing to secure a working position.

Prien had been born in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck before moving with his mother and two siblings to a life of near poverty in Leipzig following his parents’ separation. Obsessed with Vasco da Gama as a child, he dreamed of a life at sea and had begun his career as a fifteen-year-old cabin boy aboard SS Hamburg. After his arduous climb to master only resulted in sustained unemployment in a depressed shipping industry, Prien had enrolled in the National Socialist Party in desperation and fury at the state of joblessness within Germany. He then enlisted in the voluntary Labour Corps that provided free board and lodging in exchange for civic construction jobs, working at the camp situated within Oelsnitz’s Schloß Voigtsberg. With at least temporary purpose and structure to his life, he rose to Group Leader, though amidst a contentious atmosphere that culminated in a disciplinary incident and dismissal by Prien of thirty men. Prien had developed a tangible air of authority, but it was backed by bitter cynicism and barely restrained anger at his perception of worldly injustice, hallmarks that appear never to have left him.

A few days later I heard that the Navy were giving commissions to officers of the Merchant Navy to bring the establishment up to strength. All the time I had longed to go back to the sea and now the longing gripped me irresistibly. Thus, I joined the Navy in Stralsund in January 1933. Once again I began from the bottom as an ordinary sailor.3

Prien would also rise meteorically through the ranks of the Kriegsmarine and later go on to become the last member of the famed ‘Three Aces’ in Lorient during 1940. However, that still lay some years in the future.

Kretschmer was posted to the light cruiser Emden on 10 October 1930, which would sail international training cruises showing the German flag. Serving as an ordinary seaman, he remained assigned to Emden until 4 January 1932, by which time he had achieved the rank of Matrosengefreiter. During this period the Emden was commanded by Fregattenkapitän Robert Witthoeft-Emden, the third commander of the cruiser, who replaced the First World War U-boat ace Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière in the same month that Kretschmer joined the ship. Kretschmer’s training officer was Kaptlt. Jürgen Wattenberg, who would later serve aboard the Graf Spee before transferring to U-boats in 1941. Wattenberg was nicknamed Der Uhrmacher (‘The Watchmaker’) because of his constant striving for precision and accuracy in all that he and his cadets did and was perhaps an influential man in reinforcing a trait that Kretschmer already possessed and would later make him particularly effective in action.

Of course, this particular demeanour also included a strict code of discipline which Kretschmer rarely fell foul of. However, on one particular occasion Kretschmer and Schepke purchased US Navy underwear from a nearby visiting ship anchored in harbour to replace their unpopular and uncomfortable Kriegsmarine issue. Watt...