The Men - U-boat Commanders

Otto Westphalen

Oberleutnant zur See (Crew 38)

Successes
2 ships sunk, total tonnage 14,386 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 1,350 tons
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 8,129 GRT
1 ship a total loss, total tonnage 7,200 GRT
1 warship a total loss, total tonnage 1,350 tons

Born	12 Mar 1920		Hamburg
Died	9 Jan 2008	(87)	Hamburg, Germany

Otto Westphalen

Ranks

1 Oct 1938		Offiziersanwärter
1 Jul 1939		Seekadett
1 Dec 1939		Fähnrich zur See
1 Aug 1940		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1941		Leutnant zur See
1 Jan 1943		Oberleutnant zur See

Decorations

8 Oct 1941		U-boat War Badge 1939
3 Apr 1944		Iron Cross 1st Class
18 Feb 1945		German Cross in Gold
23 Mar 1945		Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-121	16 May 1942	8 Feb 1943	No war patrols
U-968	18 Mar 1943	9 May 1945	7 patrols (129 days)

Otto Westphalen began his naval career in October 1938. A year later he took part in the Poland campaign on the school ship Schlesien, and afterwards served six months on the torpedo boat Kondor before joining the U-boat force in October 1940.

In 1941 he made four patrols as Watch Officer on U-566, two in the Arctic and two in the North Atlantic - the last in Canadian waters during Jan - March 1942. In May 1942 he took command of the school boat U-121.

In March 1943 he commissioned the type VIIC U-968, which was then detached to the 13th Flotilla (Arctic) Flotilla, where Westphalen became one of the most successful commanders.

He sank two British warships: the sloops HMS Lark and Lapwing. He surrendered U-968 at Narvik in May 1945.

The Oskar Kusch Case

In Jan 1944 Otto Westphalen was empanelled, along with fellow U-boat officer Wolfgang Dittmers, to serve on the court martial of the commander of U-154, Oscar-Heinz Kusch, accused of defeatism and other politically motivated charges by his 1WO, Dr. Ulrich Abel. The prosecutor asked for Kusch to be given ten years imprisonment, but the court imposed the death sentence.

After the war Westphalen and Dittmers tried to defend their actions by stating that Kusch's political views had somehow made his U-boat less effective in the war effort - a questionable view at best. Kusch's fellow officers did nothing to save his life (and neither did Dönitz, who could probably have chosen to prevent the matter going this far, as he did in the case of other U-boat officers who fell foul of the Gestapo). Kusch was executed by firing squad in Kiel on 12 May 1944 (Rust, 2001).

Sources

Busch, R & Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.

Rust, E. (2001). The Case of Oskar Kusch and the Limits of U-boat Camaraderie in World War II: Reflections on a German Tragedy

Patrol info for Otto Westphalen

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-968	7 Mar 1944	Kiel	2 Apr 1944	Narvik	Patrol 1,	27 days
2.	U-968	4 Apr 1944	Narvik	6 Apr 1944	Trondheim		3 days
3.	U-968	11 Jul 1944	Trondheim	14 Jul 1944	Narvik		4 days
4.	U-968	17 Jul 1944	Narvik	21 Jul 1944	Bogenbucht		5 days
5.	U-968	20 Aug 1944	Bogenbucht	22 Aug 1944	Hammerfest		3 days
6.	U-968	29 Aug 1944	Hammerfest	10 Sep 1944	Bogenbucht	Patrol 2,	13 days
7.	U-968	24 Sep 1944	Bogenbucht	3 Oct 1944	Narvik	Patrol 3,	10 days
8.	U-968	14 Oct 1944	Narvik	11 Nov 1944	Ramsund	Patrol 4,	29 days
9.	U-968	13 Nov 1944	Ramsund	16 Nov 1944	Rörvik		4 days
10.	U-968	23 Jan 1945	Rörvik	25 Jan 1945	Narvik		3 days
11.	U-968	1 Feb 1945	Narvik	1 Feb 1945	Harstad		1 days
12.	U-968	7 Feb 1945	Harstad	20 Feb 1945	Kilbotn	Patrol 5,	14 days
13.	U-968	12 Mar 1945	Kilbotn	30 Mar 1945	Kilbotn	Patrol 6,	19 days
14.	U-968	21 Apr 1945	Kilbotn	6 May 1945	Harstad	Patrol 7,	16 days
15.	U-968	7 May 1945	Harstad	7 May 1945	Skjomenfjord	Patrol 7,	1 days
16.	U-968	15 May 1945	Skjomenfjord	19 May 1945	Loch Eriboll, UK		5 days
7 patrols, 129 days at sea

Ships hit by Otto Westphalen

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
14 Feb 1945	U-968	Norfjell (d.)	8,129	nw	BK-3
14 Feb 1945	U-968	Horace Gray (t.)	7,200	am	BK-3
17 Feb 1945	U-968	HMS Lark (U 11) (t.)	1,350	br	RA-64
17 Feb 1945	U-968	Thomas Scott	7,176	am	RA-64
20 Mar 1945	U-968	Thomas Donaldson	7,210	am	JW-65
20 Mar 1945	U-968	HMS Lapwing (U 62)	1,350	br	JW-65
			32,415
5 ships sunk (24,286 tons) and 1 ship damaged (8,129 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (d.) means the ship was damaged. (t.) means the ship was a total loss (included in ships & tonnage lost).

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.