Günther Pfeffer

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)

Successes
4 ships sunk, total tonnage 22,304 GRT

Born	23 Oct 1914		Berlin
Died	25 Apr 1966	(51)	Bonn, Germany

Ranks

8 Apr 1934		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 Mar 1942		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

		Iron Cross 2nd Class
		Iron Cross 1st Class
		U-boat War Badge 1939

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-67	5 Jun 1941	2 Jul 1941	No war patrols
U-171	25 Oct 1941	9 Oct 1942	1 patrol (115 days)
U-170	19 Jan 1943	Jul, 1944	3 patrols (270 days)
U-548	Aug, 1944	Nov, 1944	2 patrols (52 days)

Günther Pfeffer joined the Reichsmarine in 1934. He served as 1st Watch Officer (1WO) on U-67 from January to May 1941 before taking command of the boat for a month. (Busch & Röll, 1999)

Pfeffer went through U-boat Commander training with the 24th (Training) Flotilla and 7th Flotilla, and U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) from July to Oct 1941. (Busch & Röll, 1999)

OL Pfeffer commissioned the type IXC U-boat U-171 at Bremen on 25 Oct 1941. (Busch & Röll, 1999) He went out on one long patrol of 115 days to the Gulf of Mexico during the summer of 1942, sinking three ships totalling 17,641 tons. On reaching base on 9 Oct the boat was sunk by a mine, leaving 22 dead and 30 survivors. (Niestlé, 1998)

After another Baubelehrung from Nov 1942 to Jan 1943, KL Pfeffer commissioned a second type IXC boat, U-170, on 19 Jan 1943, and again at Bremen. (Busch & Röll, 1999) He commanded the boat on three patrols of 270 days total, sinking one ship of 4,663 tons.

In August 1944 Pfeffer took over as acting commander of U-548, then stationed at besieged Lorient, France (Busch & Röll, 1999), leaving there on 11 Aug to arrive at Bergen, Norway on 25 Sept. From there he took the boat to Flensburg, with a brief stop at Hölen, arriving 12 Oct. (Busch & Röll, 1997)

Günther Pfeffer spent the last months of the war as a training leader of torpedo schools and other staff positions at Kiel. (Busch & Röll, 1999)

Post war

Günther Pfeffer joined the Federal German Navy (Bundesmarine) after the war and held the rank of Fregattenkapitän at the time of his death (Rust, 2009).

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.
Rust, E. (2009) E-mail correspondence. Author of Naval Officers under Hitler.

Patrol info for Günther Pfeffer

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-171	17 Jun 1942	Kiel	9 Oct 1942	Sunk	Patrol 1,	115 days
2.	U-170	27 May 1943	Kiel	9 Jul 1943	Lorient	Patrol 2,	44 days
3.	U-170	29 Aug 1943	Lorient	23 Dec 1943	Lorient	Patrol 3,	117 days
4.	U-170	9 Feb 1944	Lorient	27 May 1944	Lorient	Patrol 4,	109 days
5.	U-548	11 Aug 1944	Lorient	25 Sep 1944	Bergen	Patrol 5,	46 days
6.	U-548	27 Sep 1944	Bergen	28 Sep 1944	Hölen		2 days
7.	U-548	7 Oct 1944	Hölen	12 Oct 1944	Flensburg	Patrol 6,	6 days
6 patrols, 437 days at sea

Ships hit by Günther Pfeffer

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons
26 Jul 1942	U-171	Oaxaca	4,351	me
13 Aug 1942	U-171	R.M. Parker Jr.	6,779	am
4 Sep 1942	U-171	Amatlan	6,511	me

23 Oct 1943	U-170	Campos	4,663	bz
			22,304
4 ships sunk (22,304 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.