Friedrich Guggenberger

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)

Successes
15 ships sunk, total tonnage 43,098 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk, total tonnage 1,150 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 22,600 tons
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 6,003 GRT

Born	6 Mar 1915		Munich
Died	13 May 1988	(73)	Erlenbach am Main, Germany

Kptlt. Friedrich Guggenberger

Ranks

8 Apr 1934		Offiziersanwärter
26 Sep 1934		Seekadett
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 Sep 1941		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

23 Mar 1940		Iron Cross 2nd Class
8 Jul 1940		U-boat War Badge 1939
9 Sep 1940		Iron Cross 1st Class
10 Dec 1941		Knights Cross
8 Jan 1943		Knights Cross with Oak Leaves

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-28	16 Nov 1940	11 Feb 1941	No war patrols
U-81	26 Apr 1941	24 Dec 1942	9 patrols (261 days)
U-847	23 Jan 1943	1 Feb 1943	No war patrols
U-513	15 May 1943	19 Jul 1943	1 patrol (63 days)

Friedrich Guggenberger with the IWO
before patrol

Friedrich Guggenberger began his U-boat career in October 1939 with the usual training. His first U-boat was U-28 under the command of Knights Cross holder Günther Kuhnke. During the autumn of 1940 Guggenberger took over U-28 and commanded the boat for a few months in a training flotilla.

In April 1941 he commissioned U-81. After three patrols in the Atlantic, during which he sank two ships, he took the boat into the Mediterranean in November 1941. On 13 Nov 1941, shortly after passing the Straits of Gibraltar, he torpedoed the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (22,600 tons), which sank one day later.

After six further successful patrols in the Mediterranean, Guggenberger left the boat in early 1943, and for three months was a member of Dönitz's staff.

In May 1943 he took over U-513, a type IXC U-boat, but she was sunk on his first patrol, on 19 July 1943 in Brazilian waters, by an American aircraft (Niestlé, 1998). The badly wounded Guggenberger, together with six other survivors, spent one day in a lifeboat before being picked up by the US seaplane tender USS Barnegat (AVP-10).

Following a surgical operation and a long stay in hospital he was transferred to Fort Hunt interrogation center, New York on 25 September 1943, then to the POW camp at Crossville, Tennessee later that month, finally arriving at Papago Park POW camp near Phoenix, Arizona in late January 1944.

Escape from Papago Park
On 12 February 1944 Guggenberger and four other U-boat commanders escaped from this camp. Guggenberger and his companion August Maus were recaptured in Tucson, Arizona. Guggenberger was also one of the 25 POWs who escaped from this camp during the night of 23-24 December, 1944. He and his companion on that occasion Jürgen Quaet-Faslem were recaptured on 6 January 1945, less than 10 miles from the Mexican border.

Guggenberger was transferred to Camp Shanks, New York in February 1946, then to a POW compound in the British Zone of Germany near Münster. He was released from Allied captivity in August 1946.

After the war he became an architect, before joining the Federal German Navy, the Bundesmarine, in 1956. After graduating from the Naval War College in Newport (USA), Konteradmiral Guggenberger served as Deputy Chief of Staff on NATO command AFNORTH (Allied Forces North Europe) for four years. He retired in October 1972.

On 13 May 1988 he went for a walk in the forest from which he never returned. His body was not found until two years later.

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.

Patrol info for Friedrich Guggenberger

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-81	21 Jun 1941	Kiel	3 Jul 1941	Trondheim		13 days
2.	U-81	17 Jul 1941	Trondheim	7 Aug 1941	Kirkenes	Patrol 1,	22 days
3.	U-81	9 Aug 1941	Kirkenes	13 Aug 1941	Trondheim		5 days
4.	U-81	27 Aug 1941	Trondheim	19 Sep 1941	Brest	Patrol 2,	24 days
5.	U-81	29 Oct 1941	Brest	31 Oct 1941	Brest		3 days
6.	U-81	4 Nov 1941	Brest	10 Dec 1941	La Spezia	Patrol 3,	37 days
7.	U-81	27 Jan 1942	La Spezia	4 Mar 1942	La Spezia	Patrol 4,	37 days
8.	U-81	4 Apr 1942	La Spezia	25 Apr 1942	Salamis	Patrol 5,	22 days
9.	U-81	6 May 1942	Salamis	3 Jun 1942	Salamis	Patrol 6,	29 days
10.	U-81	6 Jun 1942	Salamis	24 Jun 1942	La Spezia	Patrol 7,	19 days
11.	U-81	5 Oct 1942	La Spezia	16 Nov 1942	La Spezia	Patrol 8,	43 days
12.	U-81	24 Nov 1942	La Spezia	21 Dec 1942	Pola	Patrol 9,	28 days
13.	U-513	18 May 1943	Lorient	19 Jul 1943	Sunk	Patrol 10,	63 days
10 patrols, 324 days at sea

Ships hit by Friedrich Guggenberger

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
9 Sep 1941	U-81	Empire Springbuck	5,591	br	SC-42
10 Sep 1941	U-81	Sally Mærsk	3,252	br	SC-42
13 Nov 1941	U-81	HMS Ark Royal (91)	22,600	br

16 Apr 1942	U-81	FFL Vikings (P 41)	1,150	fr
16 Apr 1942	U-81	Caspia	6,018	br
16 Apr 1942	U-81	Bab el Farag	105	ag
16 Apr 1942	U-81	Fatouh el Kher	97	ag
19 Apr 1942	U-81	Hefz el Rahman	90	ag
22 Apr 1942	U-81	El Saadiah	122	ag
22 Apr 1942	U-81	Aziza	100	ag
10 Jun 1942	U-81	Havre	2,073	br	AT-49
10 Nov 1942	U-81	Garlinge	2,012	br
13 Nov 1942	U-81	Maron	6,487	br	Torch

21 Jun 1943	U-513	Venezia	1,673	sw
25 Jun 1943	U-513	Eagle (d.)	6,003	am
1 Jul 1943	U-513	Tutoya	1,125	bz
3 Jul 1943	U-513	Elihu B. Washburne	7,176	am
16 Jul 1943	U-513	Richard Caswell	7,177	am
			72,851
17 ships sunk (66,848 tons) and 1 ship damaged (6,003 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.