Gerhard Bigalk

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 33)

Successes
5 ships sunk, total tonnage 21,412 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 11,000 tons
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 8,096 GRT

Born	26 Nov 1908		Berlin-Niederschönhausen
Died	17 Jul 1942	(33)	North Atlantic

Kptlt. Gerhard Bigalk

Ranks

1 Apr 1933		Offiziersanwärter
1 Jul 1934		Fähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1936		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1936		Leutnant zur See
1 Jun 1938		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Jun 1939		Kapitänleutnant
5 Apr 1945		Korvettenkapitän (posthumous)

Decorations

1 Jun 1939		Feldzugsmedaille des Roten Kreuzes "Cruz roja medalla de la campane"
6 Jun 1939		Spanish Cross in Silver with Swords
30 Nov 1940		Iron Cross 2nd Class
7 Jul 1941		U-boat War Badge 1939
26 Dec 1941		Iron Cross 1st Class
26 Dec 1941		Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-14	2 Jun 1940	Aug, 1940	No war patrols
U-751	31 Jan 1941	17 Jul 1942 (+)	7 patrols (218 days)

Gerhard Bigalk on the conning tower.

Gerhard Bigalk began his naval career in April 1934. Like Günther Prien and some other U-boat commanders he spent some years in the merchant navy before joining the U-boat arm. In October 1935 he began reconnaissance training in the naval air force, and in 1937 made 21 combat flights in the Spanish Civil War. In November 1939 he transferred to the U-boat force and after the usual training and a short time as commander of the school boat U-14, he commissioned the larger Atlantic boat U-751 in January 1941.

During his very successful fourth patrol, he sank the British escort carrier HMS Audacity (11,000 tons) on 21 December, 1941. Five days later he received the Knights Cross.

Kapitänleutant Gerhard Bigalk died on 17 July, 1942 when a British aircraft sank U-751 with all hands in the North Atlantic northwest of Cape Ortegal, Spain (Niestlé, 1998).

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.

Patrol info for Gerhard Bigalk

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-751	3 Jun 1941	Kiel	5 Jul 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol 1,	33 days
2.	U-751	2 Aug 1941	St. Nazaire	8 Sep 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol 2,	38 days
3.	U-751	11 Oct 1941	St. Nazaire	8 Nov 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol 3,	29 days
4.	U-751	16 Dec 1941	St. Nazaire	26 Dec 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol 4,	11 days
5.	U-751	14 Jan 1942	St. Nazaire	23 Feb 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 5,	41 days
6.	U-751	15 Apr 1942	St. Nazaire	15 Jun 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 6,	62 days
7.	U-751	14 Jul 1942	St. Nazaire	17 Jul 1942	Sunk	Patrol 7,	4 days
7 patrols, 218 days at sea

Ships hit by Gerhard Bigalk

Date	U-boat	Commander	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
14 Jun 1941	U-751	Gerhard Bigalk	St. Lindsay	5,370	br	OG-64
21 Dec 1941	U-751	Gerhard Bigalk	HMS Audacity (D 10)	11,000	br	HG-76

2 Feb 1942	U-751	Gerhard Bigalk	Corilla (d.)	8,096	nl	HX-173
4 Feb 1942	U-751	Gerhard Bigalk	Silveray	4,535	br	ON-55
7 Feb 1942	U-751	Gerhard Bigalk	Empire Sun	6,952	br
16 May 1942	U-751	Gerhard Bigalk	Nicarao	1,445	am
19 May 1942	U-751	Gerhard Bigalk	Isabela	3,110	am
				40,508
6 ships sunk (32,412 tons) and 1 ship damaged (8,096 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (d.) means the ship was damaged.

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.