Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock

Lehmann-Willenbrock was born on 11 December 1911 in Bremen, in what was then the German Empire. He joined the Reichsmarine of the Weimar Republic in April 1931, as an Officer Candidate, and received his basic training with the Naval Infantry. He was promoted to Sea Cadet in October 1931 and attended Navy Officer Training from March 1932 to January 1933. He was then advanced to the rank of Midshipman and spent the next two years performing at-sea training. In August 1933, he was also appointed as navigation officer of the naval tender "Weser". He was advanced to Senior Midshipman in January 1935.[1]

In April 1935, Lehmann-Willenbrock was commissioned as a Leutnant zur See (Lieutenant) and assigned as signals officer onboard the cruiser Karlsruhe. The following year, in September 1936, he was assigned for five months to the Naval Barracks at Glücksburg before receiving orders to report as Watch officer onboard the sailing vessel Horst Wessel. Lehmann-Willenbrock reported to the ship in February 1937, having received a promotion to Senior Lieutenant one month earlier. He served on the ship for twenty six months before applying to join the German Navy's submarine branch[2]

Lehmann-Willenbrock transferred to the U-boat arm of the German Navy in April 1939. Upon serving as an executive officer on U-8, he was promoted to captain and took command of U-5 in December 1939. His first patrol, which lasted 15 days, was along the coast of Norway during Operation Hartmut, the U-boat operation in support of the invasion of Norway.

Upon the return of U-5, Lehmann-Willenbrock was transferred to the newly commissioned U-96, a Type VIIC U-boat. During three patrols under Willenbrock's command, U-96 sank 125,580 tons of Allied shipping. In 1941, U-96 sunk three British troop ships: Oropesa (16 January), Almeda Star (17 January) and Anselm (15 July), each with considerable loss of life. The seventh patrol was the approximate time that Lothar-Günther Buchheim boarded U-96 and documented the boat's operations in his book Das Boot.

Lehmann-Willenbrock left U-96 in March 1942 to be promoted to Korvettenkapitän and appointed commander of the 9th U-boat Flotilla, stationed in Brest. On 2 September 1944 he assumed command of U-256 and escaped the besieged Brest just a few days before the town's surrender. He reached Bergen, Norway, on 23 October. In Bergen he was appointed commander of the 11th U-boat Flotilla in December, and held the position until the German surrender in Norway on 9 May 1945.

U-boat combat summary

During his patrols with U-96, Lehmann-Willenbrock was awarded with the Iron Cross 2nd Class, the Iron Cross 1st Class, the U-Boat War Badge, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves for his achievements. He sank 24 ships for 170,237 gross register tons (GRT), damaged two ships for 15,864 GRT and damaged one ship as a total loss for 8,888 GRT. A total of 1,272 people lost their lives.

Date	Ship	Nationality	Tonnage (GRT)	Convoy	Fate[3]	Location	Deaths
11 December 1940	Rotorua	United Kingdom	10,890	HX-92	Sunk	58°56′N 11°20′W	22
11 December 1940	Towa	Netherlands	5,419	HX-92	Sunk	58°50′N 10°10′W	18
12 December 1940	Macedonier	Belgium	5,227	HX-92	Sunk	57°52′N 08°42′W	4
12 December 1940	Stureholm	Sweden	4,575	HX-92	Sunk	57°50′N 08°40′W	32
14 December 1940	Empire Razorbill	United Kingdom	5,118	OB-257	Damaged	59°31′N 13°15′W	0
14 December 1940	Western Prince	United Kingdom	10,926		Sunk	59°32′N 17°47′W	14
18 December 1940	Pendrecht	Netherlands	10,746	OB-259	Damaged	45°18′N 36°40′W	0
16 January 1941	Oropesa	United Kingdom	14,118		Sunk	56°28′N 12°00′W	106
17 January 1941	Almeda Star	United Kingdom	14,936		Sunk	58°16′N 13°40′W	360
13 February 1941	Arthur F. Corwin	United Kingdom	10,516	HX-106	Sunk	60°25′N 17°11′W	46
13 February 1941	Clea	United Kingdom	7,987	HX-106	Sunk	60°25′N 17°10′W	59
18 February 1941	Black Osprey	United Kingdom	5,589	HX-107	Sunk	61°30′N 18°10′W	25
22 February 1941	Scottish Standard	United Kingdom	6,999	OB-287	Sunk	59°20′N 16°12′W	5
23 February 1941	Anglo-Peruvian	United Kingdom	5,457	OB-288	Sunk	59°30′N 21°00′W	29
24 February 1941	Linaria	United Kingdom	3,385	OB-288	Sunk	61°00′N 25°00′W	34
24 February 1941	Sirikishna	United Kingdom	5,458	OB-288	Sunk	58°00′N 21°00′W	43
28 April 1941	Caledonia	Norway	9,892	HX-121	Sunk	60°03′N 16°10′W	12
28 April 1941	Oilfield	United Kingdom	8,516	HX-121	Sunk	60°05′N 17°00′W	47
28 April 1941	Port Hardy	United Kingdom	8,897	HX-121	Sunk	60°14′N 15°20′W	1
19 May 1941	Empire Ridge	United Kingdom	2,922	HG-61	Sunk	54°47′N 11°10′W	31
5 July 1941	Anselm	United Kingdom	5,954		Sunk	44°25′N 28°35′W	254
31 October 1941	Bennekom	Netherlands	5,998	OS-10	Sunk	51°20′N 23°40′W	8
19 February 1942	Empire Seal	United Kingdom	7,965		Sunk	43°14′N 64°45′W	1
20 February 1942	Lake Osweya	United States	2,398		Scuttled	43°14′N 64°45′W	39
22 February 1942	Kars	United Kingdom	8,888	HX-175	Total Loss	44°15′N 63°25′W	50
22 February 1942	Torungen	Norway	1,948		Sunk	44°00′N 63°30′W	19
9 March 1942	Tyr	Norway	4,265		Sunk	43°40′N 61°10′W	13

Awards and decorations

• Wehrmacht Long Service Award 4th Class (2 October 1936)[4]
• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (20 April 1940) & 1st Class (31 December 1940)[4]
• U-boat War Badge (1939) (2 January 1941)[4]
• Italian Croce di Guerra with Swords (1 November 1941)[4]
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross on 26 February 1941 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-96[5]
  • 51st Oak Leaves on 31 December 1941 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-96[5]
• Wound Badge (1939) in Black (8 May 1942)[6]
• War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords (30 January 1944)[4]
• U-boat Front Clasp in Bronze (19 October 1944)[6]
• Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany