Heinrich Zimmermann
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 32)
Successes 5 ships sunk, total tonnage 23,649 GRT 2 warships sunk, total tonnage 1,850 tons 1 ship damaged, total tonnage 8,955 GRT |
Born | 21 Jan 1907 | Duisburg | |
Died | 11 Jul 1942 | (35) | west of Madeira |
Ranks
Decorations |
U-boat Commands
U-boat | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
U-136 | 30 Aug 1941 | 11 Jul 1942 (+) | 3 patrols (108 days) |
Heinrich Zimmermann joined the Reichsmarine in 1932. From Aug 1939 to May 1940 he served as an acting Commander of the 7th Minesweeping Flotilla while commanding his own minesweeper. He then joined the 3rd Minesweeping Flotilla from May 1940 to March 1941 (Busch & Röll, 1999).
From March to Aug 1941 he went through U-boat training, U-boat Commander training, and finally U-boat construction familiarization (Baubelehrung) for his own U-boat command (Busch & Röll, 1999).
On 30 Aug 1941 Kptlt. Heinrich Zimmermann commissioned the brand new type VIIC boat U-136 at Bremen. After training in the Baltic he left Kiel for his first patrol on 22 Jan 1942.
First patrol
On his first patrol around the British Isles he sank four ships (almost 13,000 tons) from four different convoys before arriving at his new base at St. Nazaire, France on 1 March 1942. These included the British corvette HMS Arbutus (K 86) on 5 Feb, and on 11 Feb the Canadian corvette HMCS Spikenard (K 198) (Rohwer, 1998).
His second patrol was also successful. This time he operated off the US east coast and sank three ships (12,707 tons) and damaged a large ship of 8,955 tons (Rohwer, 1998). He arrived back to France on 20 May 1942 after 58 days at sea (Busch & Röll, 1997).
On 29 June 1942 Zimmermann left base in U-136 for the last time (Busch & Röll, 1997). 13 days later his boat was sunk with all hands (45 men) in the Atlantic west of Madeira, Portugal by depth charges from the Free French destroyer Léopard, the British frigate HMS Spey and the British sloop HMS Pelican (Niestlé, 1998).
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).
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.
Patrol info for Heinrich Zimmermann
U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | U-136 | 22 Jan 1942 | Kiel | 24 Jan 1942 | Kristiansand | Patrol 1, | 3 days | |
2. | U-136 | 26 Jan 1942 | Kristiansand | 28 Jan 1942 | Bergen | Patrol 1, | 3 days | |
3. | U-136 | 30 Jan 1942 | Bergen | 1 Mar 1942 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 1, | 31 days | |
4. | U-136 | 24 Mar 1942 | St. Nazaire | 20 May 1942 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 2, | 58 days | |
5. | U-136 | 29 Jun 1942 | St. Nazaire | 11 Jul 1942 | Sunk | Patrol 3, | 13 days | |
3 patrols, 108 days at sea |
Ships hit by Heinrich Zimmermann
Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
5 Feb 1942 | U-136 | HMS Arbutus (K 86) | 925 | br | ON-63 | |||
11 Feb 1942 | U-136 | Heina | 4,028 | nw | SC-67 | |||
11 Feb 1942 | U-136 | HMCS Spikenard (K 198) | 925 | ca | SC-67 | |||
17 Feb 1942 | U-136 | Empire Comet | 6,914 | br | HX-174 | |||
19 Apr 1942 | U-136 | Axtell J. Byles (d.) | 8,955 | am | ||||
24 Apr 1942 | U-136 | Empire Drum | 7,244 | br | ||||
28 Apr 1942 | U-136 | Arundo | 5,163 | nl | ||||
8 May 1942 | U-136 | Mildred Pauline | 300 | ca | ||||
34,454 | ||||||||
7 ships sunk (25,499 tons) and 1 ship damaged (8,955 tons). Legend |
Media links
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