Robert Bartels

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 34)

Successes
7 ships sunk, total tonnage 38,374 GRT
2 ships damaged, total tonnage 11,224 GRT
1 ship a total loss, total tonnage 5,062 GRT

Born	28 Apr 1911		Kiel-Pries
Died	20 Aug 1943	(32)	Indian Ocean off Madagascar

Ranks

3 Apr 1935		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 Feb 1942		Kapitänleutnant
1 Aug 1943		Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

2 Oct 1939		Iron Cross 2nd Class
27 Nov 1939		U-boat War Badge 1939
1941		Iron Cross 1st Class
28 Aug 1942		German Cross in Gold
17 Sep 1942		Italienische Tapferkeitsmedaille in Bronze Im Felde "Medaglia di Bronzo al Valore Militare sul campo"

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-139	24 Jul 1940	20 Dec 1940	No war patrols
U-561	13 Mar 1941	5 Sep 1942	8 patrols (243 days)
U-197	10 Oct 1942	20 Aug 1943 (+)	1 patrol (140 days)

Robert Bartels joined the German Navy (Reichsmarine) in 1934. From 1937 to June 1940 he served as a Watch Officer on the U-21. He went through U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) in July 1940 in preparation for his own command.

On 24 July 1940 Oblt. Robert Bartels commissioned the new type IID "duck" U-139. he left the boat on 20 Dec 1940. From there he went to the 1st Flotilla and another U-boat familiarization, this time in order to prepare for his command of the larger type VIIC boat, the U-561 on 13 march 1941.

With his U-561 Oblt. Bartels went out on his first war patrol on 25 May 1941, a 69-day long patrol where he sank one small ship. When he left the boat on 5 Sept 1942 after 8 patrols he had sunk or destroyed 5 ships for over 21,000 tons and damaged another - the last 3 ships fell to mines laid by U-561.

Kptlt. Bartels went through his third Baubelehrung from Sept to Oct 1942 in order to prepare for the much, much larger type IXD2 boats. These boats were very long range and later convert for transport use. Bartels commissioned the new U-197 on 10 Oct 1942.

Loss of U-197

KrvKpt. Robert Bartels was killed when the U-197 was sunk on 20 Aug, 1943 south of Madagascar, in position 28.40S, 42.36E, by depth charges from 2 British Catalina aircraft (Sqdn. 259/C & 265/N). 67 men died, no survivors (Niestlé, 1998). During his 140 days at sea the boat has sunk 3 ships for over 21,000 GRT and damaged a large merchant.

The day before its loss U-197 had met with Lüth's U-181 where Bartels told Lüth he intended to stay in this area and hunt the traffic Lüth had told him about. Their radio chatter had allowed the Allies to pinpoint the location finding Bartel's boat the next day (Blair, 1998).

Sources

Blair, C. (1998). Hitler’s U-boat War. The Hunted, 1942-1945.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Niestle, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.

Patrol info for Robert Bartels

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-561	25 May 1941	Kiel	1 Aug 1941	Brest	Patrol 1,	69 days
2.	U-561	20 Aug 1941	Brest	20 Sep 1941	Lorient	Patrol 2,	32 days
3.	U-561	1 Nov 1941	Lorient	26 Nov 1941	Brest	Patrol 3,	26 days
4.	U-561	3 Jan 1942	Brest	22 Jan 1942	Messina	Patrol 4,	20 days
5.	U-561	26 Jan 1942	Messina	20 Feb 1942	Pola	Patrol 5,	26 days
6.	U-561	4 Apr 1942	Pola	5 May 1942	Pola	Patrol 6,	32 days
7.	U-561	11 Jun 1942	Pola	25 Jun 1942	Messina	Patrol 7,	15 days
8.	U-561	2 Jul 1942	Messina	24 Jul 1942	La Spezia	Patrol 8,	23 days
9.	U-197	3 Apr 1943	Kiel	20 Aug 1943	Sunk	Patrol 9,	140 days
9 patrols, 383 days at sea

Ships hit by Robert Bartels

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
28 Jul 1941	U-561	Wrotham	1,884	br	OG-69
11 Nov 1941	U-561	Meridian	5,592	pa	SC-53
14 Nov 1941	U-561	Crusader	2,939	pa	SC-53

14 May 1942	U-561	Fred (d.) [Mine]	4,043	gr
14 May 1942	U-561	Hav (t.) [Mine]	5,062	nw
14 May 1942	U-561	Mount Olympus [Mine]	6,692	gr

20 May 1943	U-197	Benakat	4,763	nl
24 Jul 1943	U-197	Pegasus	9,583	sw
30 Jul 1943	U-197	William Ellery (d.)	7,181	am
17 Aug 1943	U-197	Empire Stanley	6,921	br
			54,660
8 ships sunk (43,436 tons) and 2 ships damaged (11,224 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). [Mine] indicates the vessel was hit by a mine laid by said U-boat.