Korvettenkapitän Hans-Ludwig Witt - German U-boat Commanders of WWII - The Men of the Kriegsmarine (original) (raw)

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 29)

Successes
19 ships sunk, total tonnage 100,773 GRT

Born 25 Dec 1909 Bautzen, Saxony
Died 13 Feb 1980 (70) Hamburg / Poppenbüttel, Germany

U-boat Commands

U-boat From To
U-161 8 Jul 1941 30 Nov 1941 No war patrols
U-161 1 Dec 1941 31 Dec 1941 No war patrols
U-129 14 May 1942 8 Jul 1943 3 patrols (275 days)
U-3524 26 Jan 1945 5 May 1945 No war patrols

Hans Witt spent his first years in the navy on school ships, including the Gorch Fock and the Schlageter. In October 1940 he began U-boat training. After taking over command of the type IXC/40 U-129 from Kptlt Clausen, he completed three very successful patrols in the western Atlantic and Caribbean, sinking 19 ships totalling over 100,000 tons. Afterwards he spent a year as a member of the BdU (U-boat Command) staff.

In the last months of the war he was one of the highly decorated U-boat commanders (like Schnee, Cremer, Emmermann and Topp) who took command of the new Elektro U-boats in an attempt to turn the tide in the battle of the Atlantic (in his case the type XXI Elektro U-boat U-3524, scuttled before she finished training).

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).

Patrol info for Hans-Ludwig Witt

| | U-boat | Departure | Arrival | | | | | | | -------------------------- | ------------------------ | ----------- | ------- | ----------- | ------- | --------- | -------- | | 1. | U-129 | 20 May 1942 | Lorient | 21 Aug 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 1, | 94 days | | 2. | U-129 | 28 Sep 1942 | Lorient | 6 Jan 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 2, | 101 days | | 3. | U-129 | 11 Mar 1943 | Lorient | 29 May 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 3, | 80 days | | 3 patrols, 275 days at sea | | | | | | | |

Ships hit by Hans-Ludwig Witt

Date U-boat Commander Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
10 Jun 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt L.A. Christensen 4,362 nw
12 Jun 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Hardwicke Grange 9,005 br
17 Jun 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Millinocket 3,274 am
27 Jun 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Tuxpam 7,008 me
27 Jun 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Las Choapas 2,005 me
1 Jul 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Cadmus 1,855 nw
2 Jul 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Gundersen 1,841 nw
4 Jul 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Tuapse 6,320 sj
12 Jul 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Tachirá 2,325 am
19 Jul 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Port Antonio 1,266 nw
23 Jul 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Onondaga 2,309 am
16 Oct 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Trafalgar 5,542 nw
23 Oct 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Reuben Tipton 6,829 am
30 Oct 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt West Kebar 5,620 am
5 Nov 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Meton 7,027 am TAG-18
5 Nov 1942 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Astrell 7,595 nw TAG-18
2 Apr 1943 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Melbourne Star 12,806 br
24 Apr 1943 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Santa Catalina 6,507 am
4 May 1943 U-129 Hans-Ludwig Witt Panam 7,277 pa NK-538
100,773
19 ships sunk (100,773 tons).Legend We have a picture of this vessel.

About ranks and decorations
Ranks shown in italics are our database inserts based on the rank dates of his crew comrades. The officers of each crew would normally have progressed through the lower ranks at the same rate.

Listing of all U-boat commanders

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