Hans Heidtmann
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)
Successes 4 ships sunk, total tonnage 11,811 GRT 1 warship sunk, total tonnage 1,060 tons 2 ships a total loss, total tonnage 6,117 GRT |
Born | 8 Aug 1914 | Bahnhof Gleschendorf, Pönitz, Lübeck | |
Died | 5 Apr 1976 | (61) | Hamburg, Germany |
Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
U-boat | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
U-2 | 7 Jul 1940 | 5 Aug 1940 | No war patrols (Acting CO) |
U-14 | Aug, 1940 | 29 Sep 1940 | No war patrols (Acting CO) |
U-21 | 1 Aug 1940 | 20 Dec 1940 | No war patrols |
U-559 | 27 Feb 1941 | 30 Oct 1942 | 10 patrols (247 days) |
Hans Heidtmann joined the Navy in April 1934. He served on the light cruiser Deutschland, before transferring to the U-boat arm in January 1938. He made six patrols on U-2 and U-14. Beginning in July 1940 he was commander on several school boats in the 21st (Training) Flotilla.
In February 1941 he commissioned the type VIIC U-boat U-559, and after two patrols in the North Atlantic he managed to break through into the Straits of Gibraltar on 26 September 1941. For the next year he operated successfully in the Mediterranean until his U-boat was sunk on 30 October 1942 by British destroyers (Niestlé, 1998). Heidtmann and most of the crew were captured. He spent four and a half years in British captivity in Egypt, Canada and England before being released in May 1947.
In January 1958 he joined the Bundesmarine, serving in several staff positions and retiring in September 1972 as Kapitän zur See.
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 Hans Heidtmann
U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | U-559 | 4 Jun 1941 | Kiel | 5 Jul 1941 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 1, | 32 days | |
2. | U-559 | 26 Jul 1941 | St. Nazaire | 22 Aug 1941 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 2, | 28 days | |
3. | U-559 | 20 Sep 1941 | St. Nazaire | 20 Oct 1941 | Salamis | Patrol 3, | 31 days | |
4. | U-559 | 24 Nov 1941 | Salamis | 4 Dec 1941 | Salamis | Patrol 4, | 11 days | |
5. | U-559 | 8 Dec 1941 | Salamis | 31 Dec 1941 | Salamis | Patrol 5, | 24 days | |
6. | U-559 | 16 Feb 1942 | Salamis | 26 Feb 1942 | Salamis | Patrol 6, | 11 days | |
7. | U-559 | 4 Mar 1942 | Salamis | 21 Mar 1942 | Salamis | Patrol 7, | 18 days | |
8. | U-559 | 24 Mar 1942 | Salamis | 27 Mar 1942 | Pola | 4 days | ||
9. | U-559 | 10 May 1942 | Pola | 12 May 1942 | Pola | 3 days | ||
10. | U-559 | 18 May 1942 | Pola | 22 Jun 1942 | Pola | Patrol 8, | 36 days | |
11. | U-559 | 15 Aug 1942 | Pola | 21 Aug 1942 | Salamis | 7 days | ||
12. | U-559 | 29 Aug 1942 | Salamis | 21 Sep 1942 | Messina | Patrol 9, | 24 days | |
13. | U-559 | 29 Sep 1942 | Messina | 30 Oct 1942 | Sunk | Patrol 10, | 32 days | |
10 patrols, 247 days at sea |
Ships hit by Hans Heidtmann
Date | U-boat | Commander | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
19 Aug 1941 | U-559 | Hans Heidtmann | Alva | 1,584 | br | OG-71 | ||
27 Nov 1941 | U-559 | Hans Heidtmann | HMAS Parramatta (L 44) | 1,060 | au | |||
23 Dec 1941 | U-559 | Hans Heidtmann | Shuntien | 3,059 | br | TA-5 | ||
26 Dec 1941 | U-559 | Hans Heidtmann | Warszawa | 2,487 | po | AT-6 | ||
10 Jun 1942 | U-559 | Hans Heidtmann | Athene | 4,681 | nw | AT-49 | ||
10 Jun 1942 | U-559 | Hans Heidtmann | Brambleleaf (t.) | 5,917 | br | AT-49 | ||
12 Oct 1942 | U-559 | Hans Heidtmann | Bringhi (t.) | 200 | ag | |||
18,988 | ||||||||
7 ships sunk (18,988 tons). Legend |
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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