Horst Höltring

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 33)

Successes
6 ships sunk, total tonnage 39,891 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 206 tons

Born	30 Jun 1913		Altona
Died	24 Aug 1943	(30)	Central Atlantic, aboard U-185

Ranks

1 Apr 1933		Offiziersanwärter
1 Jul 1934		Fähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1936		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1936		Leutnant zur See
1 Jun 1938		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Mar 1941		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

		Iron Cross 2nd Class
		Iron Cross 1st Class
6 Nov 1943		German Cross in Gold (posthumous)

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-149	13 Nov 1940	30 Nov 1941	1 patrol (24 days)
U-604	8 Jan 1942	11 Aug 1943	6 patrols (179 days)

Horst Höltring joined the German Navy (Reichsmarine) in 1933. He went through U-boat training from March to Oct 1940. On 13 Nov 1940 he was given command of the small "duck" U-149, a training boat. He served on the boat for more than a year, giving up command on 30 Nov 1941 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Horst Höltring returning from patrol.

From Dec 1941 to Jan 1942 he went through U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) in preparation for his next command. On 8 Jan 1942 Kptlt. Horst Höltring commissioned the type VIIC U-604 at Hamburg (Busch & Röll, 1999).

U-604 went on seven patrols, spending 203 days at sea. Six ships were sunk, totaling 40,000 tons (Rohwer, 1998). On the 7th patrol the boat was lost.

Loss of his boat and death of Horst Höltring
Horst Höltring survived the loss of his boat on 11 Aug 1943 after she was scuttled following an attack by two American aircraft (Niestlé, 1998). The entire crew of 45 men was rescued by two U-boats. He died together with 13 of his men when the boat that rescued half of his crew, U-185 (Kptlt. August Maus), was sunk 13 days later (Niestlé, 1998).

According to survivors, when U-185 was fatally hit and chlorine gas was spreading through the boat, Höltring, himself wounded, jumped from his bunk with a pistol and ran to the forward torpedo room where two badly wounded men from U-604 begged to be shot to avoid drowning or suffocating, which he did, before taking his own life (Blair, 1998). 14 men from U-604 died on U-185 (Niestlé, 1998).

U-172 (Kptlt. Carl Emmermann) had rescued the rest of Höltring's crew, and reached port with them at Lorient, France on 7 Sept 1943 (Busch & Röll, 1997).

Sources

Blair, C. (1998). Hitler’s U-boat War. The Hunted, 1942-1945.
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 Horst Höltring

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-149	18 Jun 1941	Gotenhafen	11 Jul 1941	Gotenhafen	Patrol 1,	24 days
2.	U-604	4 Aug 1942	Kiel	8 Sep 1942	Brest	Patrol 2,	36 days
3.	U-604	14 Oct 1942	Brest	5 Nov 1942	Brest	Patrol 3,	23 days
4.	U-604	26 Nov 1942	Brest	31 Dec 1942	Brest	Patrol 4,	36 days
5.	U-604	8 Feb 1943	Brest	9 Mar 1943	Brest	Patrol 5,	30 days
6.	U-604	22 Apr 1943	Brest	26 Apr 1943	Brest	Patrol 6,	5 days
7.	U-604	24 Jun 1943	Brest	11 Aug 1943	Sunk	Patrol 7,	49 days
7 patrols, 203 days at sea

Ships hit by Horst Höltring

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
27 Jun 1941	U-149	M-99	206	sj

25 Aug 1942	U-604	Abbekerk	7,906	nl
27 Oct 1942	U-604	Anglo Mærsk	7,705	br	SL-125
30 Oct 1942	U-604	Président Doumer	11,898	br	SL-125
30 Oct 1942	U-604	Baron Vernon	3,642	br	SL-125
2 Dec 1942	U-604	Coamo	7,057	am	MKF-3

23 Feb 1943	U-604	Stockport	1,683	br	ON-166
			40,097
7 ships sunk (40,097 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel.

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.