Kurt Diggins

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)

Successes
2 ships sunk, total tonnage 7,584 GRT

Born	17 Oct 1912		Gut Mohrberg, Eckernförde
Died	1 Mar 2007	(94)	Bonn, Germany

Ranks

8 Apr 1934		Offiziersanwärter
1 Jul 1935		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1937		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1937		Leutnant zur See
1 Apr 1939		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Jan 1942		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

Dec 1939		Iron Cross 2nd Class
1940		Minesweeper War Badge
15 Jul 1941		Fleet War Badge
16 Oct 1942		U-boat War Badge 1939
1943		Iron Cross 1st Class
16 Aug 1943		Italienische Tapferkeitsmedaille in Bronze "Medaglia di Bronzo al Valore Militare"

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-458	12 Dec 1941	22 Aug 1943	7 patrols (170 days)

After joining the Kriegsmarine Kurt Diggins served on the square-rigger school ship Gorch Fock and the light cruiser Karlsruhe.

He was Captain Langsdorff's Flag Lieutenant on the Admiral Graf Spee from April 1939 (Grove, 2001). After the Graf Spee was scuttled on 17 December, Diggins escaped from Montevideo to Buenos Aires by stowing away in a river ferry, and from there made his way back to Germany.

Oblt. Diggins commanded the 6th and 5th Minesweeping Flotillas for two years before transferring to the U-bootwaffe (U-boat arm) in April 1940. He commissioned U-458 on 12 Dec. 1941, and commanded her until her sinking by Greek and British destroyers in the Mediterranean off Pantelleria on 22 Aug 1943.

Kptlt. Diggins was a POW at Camp 18 at Haltwhistle, UK, not being released until late 1947.

Kurt Diggins joined the Bundesmarine (Federal German Navy) in 1957, and eventually retired with the rank of Kapitän zur See.

From Naval Officers Under Hitler:

"Internees from the pocket battleship Graf Spee - Kurt Diggins, Rolf Schauenburg, Detlef Spiering and Karl-Heinrich Vagt - upon crossing the River Plate from Uruguay to Argentina, faced comparatively minor difficulties in making their way home from that neutral and traditionally anglophobic South American country. The greatest challenge seems to have been to get from Uruguay to Argentina. It took Diggins no fewer than 18 attempts before he succeeded in reaching Buenos Aires from Montevideo as a stowaway on a river steamer. He then left for home disguised as a Romanian."

Sources

Grove, E. (2001) Price of Disobedience.
Rust, E. (1991) Naval Officers Under Hitler.

Patrol info for Kurt Diggins

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-458	21 Jun 1942	Kiel	27 Aug 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 1,	68 days
2.	U-458	1 Oct 1942	St. Nazaire	15 Oct 1942	La Spezia	Patrol 2,	15 days
3.	U-458	26 Oct 1942	La Spezia	15 Nov 1942	La Spezia	Patrol 3,	21 days
4.	U-458	6 Feb 1943	La Spezia	11 Mar 1943	Toulon	Patrol 4,	34 days
5.	U-458	19 May 1943	Toulon	19 May 1943	Toulon		1 days
6.	U-458	25 May 1943	Toulon	31 May 1943	Toulon	Patrol 5,	7 days
7.	U-458	21 Jun 1943	Toulon	6 Jul 1943	Toulon	Patrol 6,	16 days
8.	U-458	14 Aug 1943	Toulon	22 Aug 1943	Sunk	Patrol 7,	9 days
7 patrols, 170 days at sea