Joachim Matz

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 32)

Successes
6 ships sunk, total tonnage 22,432 GRT
4 ships damaged, total tonnage 28,493 GRT
1 ship a total loss, total tonnage 4,943 GRT

Born	1 Oct 1913		Magdeburg
Died	22 Aug 1996	(82)

Joachim Matz while POW in Canada

Ranks

4 Nov 1932		Seekadett
1 Sep 1935		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1936		Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1937		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Nov 1939		Kapitänleutnant
1 Jan 1944		Korvettenkapitän

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-6	17 Dec 1938	26 Nov 1939	1 patrol (21 days)
U-59	18 Jul 1940	10 Nov 1940	5 patrols (71 days)
U-70	23 Nov 1940	7 Mar 1941	1 patrol (16 days)

Joachim Matz joined the Reichsmarine in 1932. He served as a Watch Officer (WO) on U-14 during 1937, then as Watch Officer on U-30 1937-38 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

He was given his first command, the small 'duck' boat U-6, on 17 Dec 1938. Matz took the boat on a 21 day patrol in the North Sea at the beginning of the war and left the boat on 26 Nov 1939 (Busch & Röll, 1997). He then served on the staff of the Commander in Chief U-boats (BdU) until June 1940 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

On 18 July 1940 Joachim Matz was given command of another 'duck', U-59. He took her on five patrols, sinking six ships with a total of over 26,000 tons and damaging a large tanker of 8,000 tons.

Matz left U-59 on 10 Nov 1940 and on the 23rd commissioned U-70, a larger type VIIC U-boat (Busch & Röll, 1999). On 26 Feb 1941, after working up exercises in the Baltic, U-70 left for her only patrol(Busch & Röll, 1997). His boat was sunk after Matz had hit his 4th ship on the patrol (one sunk, three damaged). 20 died and 25 survived when the boat was sunk south-east of Iceland on 7 March 1941 (Niestlé, 1998).

Kptlt Joachim Matz was captured with the other survivors and then spent more than six years in a POW camp, being released on 26 June 1947 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

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 Joachim Matz

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-6	24 Aug 1939	Neustadt	13 Sep 1939	Kiel	Patrol 1,	21 days
2.	U-59	18 Jul 1940	Kiel	4 Aug 1940	Bergen	Patrol 2,	18 days
3.	U-59	8 Aug 1940	Bergen	19 Aug 1940	Lorient	Patrol 3,	12 days
4.	U-59	26 Aug 1940	Lorient	3 Sep 1940	Lorient	Patrol 4,	9 days
5.	U-59	7 Sep 1940	Lorient	21 Sep 1940	Lorient	Patrol 5,	15 days
6.	U-59	3 Oct 1940	Lorient	15 Oct 1940	Bergen	Patrol 6,	13 days
7.	U-59	17 Oct 1940	Bergen	20 Oct 1940	Kiel	Patrol 6,	4 days
8.	U-70	20 Feb 1941	Kiel	7 Mar 1941	Sunk	Patrol 7,	16 days
7 patrols, 108 days at sea

Ships hit by Joachim Matz

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
1 Aug 1940	U-59	Sigyn	1,981	sw
14 Aug 1940	U-59	Betty	2,339	br
30 Aug 1940	U-59	San Gabriel (t.)	4,943	gr	OB-205
30 Aug 1940	U-59	Anadara (d.)	8,009	br	OB-205
31 Aug 1940	U-59	Bibury	4,616	br	OB-205
7 Oct 1940	U-59	Touraine	5,811	nw	OB-225
12 Oct 1940	U-59	Pacific Ranger	6,865	br	HX-77

26 Feb 1941	U-70	Göteborg	820	sw
7 Mar 1941	U-70	Delilian (d.)	6,423	br	OB-293
7 Mar 1941	U-70	Athelbeach (d.)	6,568	br	OB-293
7 Mar 1941	U-70	Mijdrecht (d.)	7,493	nl	OB-293
			55,868
7 ships sunk (27,375 tons) and 4 ships damaged (28,493 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).