Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Korvettenkapitän Helmut Möhlmann

U-boat ace Helmut Möhlmann (25 June 1913 – 12 April 1977) began his naval career in April 1933. He served on the light cruiser Nürnberg and in the first months of the war made some patrols on the torpedo boat Luchs. In April 1940 he transferred to the U-boat force. For three months he commanded the school boat U-143 before commissioning the Type VIIC U-571 in May 1941. He took her on eight patrols, mostly in the North Atlantic, but also in the Arctic. The fourth patrol was particularly successful: in one week he sank two ships, each over 10,000 tons! He left the boat in May 1943 to attend a course at the Naval Academy at Berlin. From September 1943 to December 1944 he served on the BdU org (Commander in Chief U-boats) staff. From December 1944 until the end of the war he commanded the 14th Flotilla at Narvik, Norway. He was promoted to Korvettenkapitän (corvette captain) on 1 April 1945. After the surrender he spent more than four months in captivity. Möhlmann rejoined the military service of the post World War II Bundeswehr of the Federal Republic of Germany. He entered the Bundesmarine on 1 July 1960 holding the rank of Fregattenkapitän (frigate captain). He served as military attaché at the German Embassy in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil from 24 August 1965 to 24 November 1969. His last service position was Wehrbereichskommandant VI in Munich before retiring on 31 March 1970. As a U-boat commander in World War II, he sank 7 ships (47,169 tons) and damaged another one (11,394 tons). Möhlmann received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross) on 16 April 1943 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-571, after 8 patrols, 344 days at sea.


Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_M%C3%B6hlmann 
http://www.historicalwarmilitariaforum.com/topic/6937-ritterkreuztr%C3%A4ger-photos-in-color-thread/page-2
http://uboat.net/men/moehlmann.htm

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