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Born	12 May 1915		Berlin-Steglitz
Died	18 Jan 2012	(96)	Calviá, Mallorca, Spain

Korvettenkapitän Georg Lassen wearing his Knights Cross.

Ranks 5 Apr 1935   Offiziersanwärter 25 Sep 1935   Seekadett 1 Jul 1936   Fähnrich zur See 1 Jan 1938   Oberfähnrich zur See 1 Apr 1938   Leutnant zur See 1 Oct 1939   Oberleutnant zur See 1 Sep 1942   Kapitänleutnant 1 Apr 1945   Korvettenkapitän Decorations 26 Sep 1939   Iron Cross 2nd Class 18 Jul 1940   Iron Cross 1st Class 18 Jul 1940   U-boat War Badge 1939 10 Aug 1942   Knights Cross 7 Mar 1943   Knights Cross with Oak Leaves 22 Oct 1944   U-boat War Badge with Diamonds

For more than a year Georg Lassen was I WO on the very successful U-29 under Kptlt. Otto Schuhart. They sank 12 ships with a total of 80,688 tons as well as the aircraft carrier HMS Courageous. From January to September 1941, Kptlt. Lassen was the commander of U-29, which at this time was a training boat in the 24th (Training) Flotilla U-boat flotilla.

On 16 October 1941 Lassen commissioned the type IXC U-boat U-160, and on his first patrol as commander in March/April 1942 he sank or damaged six ships with a total of 43,560 tons. Also outstanding was his last patrol, in South African waters, where on 3/4 March, 1943 he sank or damaged six ships in less than five hours with a total of 41,076 tons. Three days later he received the Oak Leaves to his Knights Cross.

On 9 March, 1943 the daily Wehrmachtsbericht announced:

Der Oberste Befehlshaber verlieh dem Kapitänleutnant Georg Lassen als 208. Soldaten der deutschen Wehrmacht das Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz. Kapitänleutnant Lassen hat auf 4 Feindfahrten 31 Schiffe mit 212,544 BRT versenkt. Zwei weitere Schiffe wurden von ihm torpediert. Siebzehn Schiffe mit 101,860 BRT schoß er aus stark gesicherten Geleitzügen heraus.

Georg Lassen then became a tactics instructor and the chief of the "Offiziers-kompanie" in the 1st ULD (U-Boot-Lehrdivision, training division).

Georg Lassen died at Calviá, Mallorca, Spain on 18 Jan 2012 after an illness. He was 96 years old. His ashes were scattered in Santa Ponça Bay, with the ashes of his wife.

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

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.

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