Günther Prien
Günther Prien | |
---|---|
NSDAP #1,128,487 | |
Unit | 7th U-boat Flotilla |
Commands held | U-47 |
Battles/wars | See battles
|
Awards | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves |
Günther Prien (16 January 1908 – presumed 8 March 1941) was a German
Under Prien's command, the submarine U-47 was credited with sinking over 30 Allied ships totalling about 200,000 gross register tons (GRT), along with the British battleship HMS Royal Oak at anchor in the Home Fleet's anchorage in Scapa Flow.
Early life and career
Prien was one of three children of a judge and completed his basic education.
Unable to find work due to the severe contraction of the German shipping industry during the Great Depression, he was forced to turn to the Freiwilliger Arbeitsdienst ('Voluntary Labour Service', FAD). He earned a living dredging fields and digging ditches.[2] Prien joined the Nazi Party in May 1932, but had to resign his membership upon joining the navy prior to Hitler's ascent to power.[7] His membership of the party cemented Prien's image as a Nazi supporter, though his actions have been described as career advancing opportunism rather than genuine political conviction; one author wrote "it is hard to determine his politics."[7] However, Donald Macintyre described Prien as "the most Nazified U-boat captain", "an ardent ruthless Nazi".[8] Prien applied to the Reichsmarine in January 1933 when he found the navy was offering officer-candidate programs for merchant marine officers. He was integrated into the Reichsmarine as a member of "Crew 31" (the incoming class of 1931), but had the age and experience of a 1926 class.[2][9]
Prien received his military basic training in the 2nd company in the 2nd department of the standing ship division of the
On 11 May 1936, Prien was appointed first Watch Officer on
Prien married in 1939 to Ingeborg; the couple had two children. Ingeborg Prien later married an Oberstleutnant in the Bundeswehr and changed her name to Inge Sturm-Prien.[10]
World War II
Second patrol: Scapa Flow
On 1 October 1939,
Prien left port to navigate the shallow
Prien pressed on and passed through the narrow entrance to the sound. He selected the wrong channel—between Lamb Holm and
He returned to Germany on 17 October to instant fame.
Purportedly Prien did not enjoy being a propaganda tool, but he cooperated with the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, and conferenced with Joseph Goebbels.[27] The conference was unique in that it was the first time the Nazis showcased an individual military success.[28] American journalist William L. Shirer met Prien but was not impressed by his lack of humility and wrote of Prien that he appeared "cocky" and a "fanatical Nazi."[29] The story that Prien had simply followed a ship into the harbour was rightly disbelieved; Prien said nothing of his route in.[29] Prien wrote a book of his experiences during the war, Mein Weg Nach Scapa Flow (My way to Scapa Flow), released in the autumn, 1940.[30] One historian wrote, "for a story of potentially high propaganda value, it is told with striking restraint."[31] The media compensated for this apparent modesty. The Illustrierter Beobachter lionised Prien. It provided plenty of images of Prien, his crew and Hitler, exalting him as a hero. These sentiments were picked up and spread throughout Germany by other state-controlled media outlets.[31]
Prien received the nickname Der Stier von Scapa Flow ("The Bull of Scapa Flow"); the emblem of a snorting bull was painted on the conning tower of U-47 and soon became the emblem of the entire
Kept secret by the German naval command was the fact that Prien had fired a total of seven G7e torpedoes at his target; only one from the first salvo hit the target and exploded on the bow, near the anchor chain. The stern torpedo also failed to hit or detonate. The second salvo did strike and explode.[35] The navy had long-standing problems with their depth, steering and their magnetic detonator systems. These problems continued to bedevil the German submariners for a long time.[36] In 2002, part of a torpedo fired during the attack resurfaced near to an anchored tanker. The warhead had detached but the missile contained compressed air necessitating its destruction by a bomb disposal team.[37]
The historian Riederer argues that Sonderunternehmen P (Special Operation P), the codename for the attack on Scapa Flow, was very likely predominantly motivated by Nazi propaganda. Following World War I, the German High Seas Fleet was interned at Scapa Flow under the terms of the Armistice whilst negotiations took place over the fate of the ships. Fearing that all the ships would be seized and divided amongst the Allies, Admiral Ludwig von Reuter decided to scuttle the fleet. Whilst the internment was considered a national humiliation by the Kriegsmarine, the scuttling of the fleet was romanticised as an act ridding the navy of the shame associated with the Kiel mutiny of 3 November 1918. The NS-propaganda spread the interpretation that Prien's success at Scapa Flow turned the symbolic triumph of scuttling the fleet, and had finally rid the older generation from the Scapa Flow traumata.[38]
Third patrol
U-47 under the command of Prien with 1st watch officer (I. WO)
On 5 December 1939, U-47 spotted nine merchant vessels escorted by five destroyers. At 14:40, Prien fired one torpedo. U-47 continued to attack Allied shipping in the Western Approaches, however eight out of twelve
- steamer of unknown origin 12,000 GRT
- Norwegian tanker 10,000 GRT
- Dutch tanker 9,000 GRT
for a total of 31,000 GRT plus one British warship damaged, while the actual tonnage was only 23,168 GRT.
Fourth patrol
Prien's fourth patrol started on 29 February 1940 from Kiel. The former 1st watch officer Endrass had been replaced by Oberleutnant zur See
Torpedo failures still afflicted the U-boat fleet but the number of sinkings rose in the first months of 1940. U-boat commanders, determined to enter the ranks of "aces" such as Prien, were prepared to take greater risks, most often attacking at night on the surface—the Admiralty noted that by February 1940 these reached 58 percent.[45]
Fifth patrol: Weserübung
In April 1940 the OKM planned Operationsbefehl Hartmut to support Operation Weserübung, the invasions of Denmark and Norway.[46] The purpose was to provide seaborne protection for the German amphibious landings on Norway's large coast line from the Royal Navy and French Navy. The German surface fleet could not fight a large-scale surface action against the British and win. Dönitz hoped the U-boats could compensate for this weakness. The faulty G7e torpedo rendered the German submarine fleet useless for the duration of Weserübung.[47][36] The failure of torpedoes was a factor in the German naval defeat in the Battles of Narvik.[48]
Prien formed part of a group patrolling east of the
Prien succeeded in penetrating an Allied-held anchorage again at Vagsfjord fjord. Prien counted three large and three small transport ships, two cruisers, all slightly overlapping—he described it as a "wall of ships".
On the way home Prien intercepted the battleship Warspite on 19 April. He stalked her and fired two torpedoes with the same result—one exploded at the end of its run, alerting the escorts which counterattacked with depth charges. A convoy was sighted later, but Prien did not bother attacking; he had lost faith in his main weapons. Prien angrily signalled Dönitz to tell him they had been sent into battle with "wooden rifles."[51] A full report was made by Prien: "we found ourselves equipped with a torpedo which refused to function in northern waters either with contact or magnetic pistols. To all intents and purposes, the, U-boats were without a weapon." The report was crushing to Dönitz.[53]
The commander-in-chief of U-boats conceded of the U-boat operation, "I doubt whether men have ever had to rely on such a useless weapon."[36] In no fewer than 40 attacks on Allied warships, not a single sinking was achieved.[54] Dönitz appealed to Erich Raeder, and he was forced to agree on the hopeless situation. He ordered all but three submarines to port. The remaining trio were ordered to continue reconnaissance patrols.[51]
Sixth patrol
On his sixth war patrol (3 June – 6 July 1940), Prien intercepted Convoy HX 47, part of the HX convoys. This patrol, again Kraus served as 1st watch officer, started and ended in Kiel and targeted the shipping routes in the North Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay west of the English Channel.[43]
Prien was a Wolfpack leader and made the tactical decisions for this patrol line. Wolfpack Prien planned to attack HX 47, 400 nautical miles (740 kilometres; 460 miles) west of Lorient prior to its rendezvous with its home–home bound escort.[55] He sank the 5,834 GRT ship Balmoralwood.[56] The merchant had fallen behind. The ship carried 8,730 tons of wheat and four aircraft.[57]
The 13,056 GRT
Seventh patrol
U-47 remained in Kiel until 27 August 1940 when it sortied again. The 1st watch officer on Prien's seventh patrol was again Kraus. Upon the conclusion of the patrol, which had taken U-47 into the North Atlantic west of the Hebrides, Prien was ordered to the U-boat base at Lorient, in occupied France where it arrived on 26 September 1940.[43] The Battle of France and the occupation of the Atlantic coast afforded the BdU bases. They allowed German submarines to strike deeper into the Atlantic and spend much longer on patrol.[63]
Prien accounted for the destruction of six ships plus a further vessel damaged.[64] His largest victim was Titan, over 9,000 GRT from convoy OA 207. Prien lost one man overboard during the patrol. 89 men survived and six were killed.[55] His greatest success was against the large Convoy SC 2. He attacked and claimed four ships sunk after U-65 led him to the scene.[65] The attacks were carried out on the surface in dark Atlantic night during poor weather.[66] U-28 sank another ship, but Otto Kretschmer in U-99 failed. Dönitz was disappointed, it was not the annihilation battle he hoped for.[67] Dönitz ordered Prien to act as a weather-boat at a point 23° west, mainly for Luftwaffe air fleets engaged in the Battle of Britain.[66]
The signals from the 53-strong convoy were decoded on 30 August which gave the time, position and arrival times enabling the BdU to order Prien and a Wolfpack into action.[68] Prien had known where to search. Dönitz and the BdU were reading Admiralty codes and this information had been passed to Prien. The information led to the sinking of Ville de Mons in ten minutes. All but one of the crew were saved. The captain reported the sighting of three U-boats, two of which approached him and asked for his ship's identity. They were eventually rescued by an Allied merchant ship. [69] The U-boats were forced to abandon the attack when a Short Sunderland appeared and they lost contact with the convoy.[66]
Prien formed part of a Wolfpack that attacked Convoy HX 72. While searching for the previous convoy they ran into HX 72. While the operation was a German success, Prien damaged only one ship with his only remaining torpedo. Six ships were sunk by other U-boats.[66] The Germans waited for the sole escort, Jervis Bay to turn away. Prien maintained contact to guide U-29, U-43, U-46, U-48 and U-65 into attack. 12 ships were sunk from the convoy amounting to 77,863 GRT. On the patrol Prien sank 35,005 GRT of shipping, with another 5,156 damaged.[70] On 21 September U-48 relieved Prien on shadowing duties.[71]
Eighth patrol: Oak Leaves
Prien took U-47 on its eighth war patrol on 14 October 1940, the last with Kraus as 1st watch officer, patrolling the sea routes in the North Atlantic, from the
While at sea, Prien received the message on 21 October that he had been awarded the
Heinz Rühmann, Hans Brausewetter and Josef Sieber sang a persiflage of the 1939 song "Das kann doch einen Seemann nicht erschüttern" ("That won't shake a sailor"), written by Michael Jary from the film Paradies der Junggesellen—Bachelor's Paradise, on occasion of the Oak Leaves presentation to Prien. The reworded lyrics are "Das muss den ersten Seelord doch erschüttern" ("That must shake the First Sea Lord", alluding to Winston Churchill).[79][Note 2] The lyrics also refer to Neville Chamberlain and mock the song Rule, Britannia! by adapting an English phrase into German: "die Waves zu rulen ist jetzt schluß" ("the rule of the waves is over").[82]
Ninth patrol
The ninth war patrol began on 3 November 1940 from Lorient and took U-47 to the North Atlantic, west of the North Channel. After 34 days at sea, U-47 returned to Lorient on 6 December.[72] On this patrol, Prien damaged the Gonçalo Velho on 8 November,[76] and sank the Ville d'Arlon and damaged Conch on 2 December 1940.[83] The tanker survived Prien's attack, then withstood a three torpedo salvo from U-95. The ship finally sank after a single torpedo from Otto Kretschmer's U-99.[55]
Tenth patrol and death
On 20 February 1941, U-47 departed from Lorient on its tenth and final war patrol.[72] Prien located well south of the main wolfpack concentrations. He intercepted and repeatedly attacked convoy OB 290. The solitary attacks sank two ships. Prien continued to pursue the convoy but did not succeed again. West of Ireland, Fw 200s sank seven ships from this convoy making it the most successful intervention of German aircraft in the Atlantic.[84] The success of the Fw 200s, well out to sea, depredations of U-boat concentrations between Iceland and Britain simultaneously with Operation Berlin, in which battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau cruised the convoy lanes was an anxious and operationally complex period for the German Admiralty.[84]
U-47 went missing after intercepting
To date, there is no official record of what happened to U-47 or her 45 crewmen, though a variety of possibilities exists, including mines, a mechanical failure, falling victim to her own torpedoes, and possibly a later attack that did not confirm any kills by the corvette team of HMS Camellia and HMS Arbutus.[87][88][89] Posthumously on 18 March, Prien was promoted to Korvettenkapitän (corvette captain/lieutenant commander), effective as of 1 March 1941.[14]
Prien's death was kept secret until 23 May.[86] Churchill had personally announced it to the House of Commons, and propaganda broadcasts to Germany had repeatedly taunted listeners with the question "Where is Prien?" until Germany was forced to acknowledge his loss.[90] The announcement was made in the Wehrmachtbericht on 24 May 1941 stating: "The U-boat under the command of Korvettenkapitän Günter Prien did not return from his last patrol against the enemy. The loss of the boat has to be assumed."[91] The importance of Prien was known to the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. To offset the negative impact his death might have on the German population, the message was hidden among the information about the tonnage sunk by U-boats.[92]
Commemoration and in popular culture
According to one biographer, in contrast with Kretschmer, Prien was purportedly a strict disciplinarian who rarely allowed humanity to compromise or interfere with the running of his boat. His crew despised him for it. He harboured much bitterness because of his difficult beginning. He could be genial among fellow officers but his reputation among subordinates was low.[93]
The 1958 war film U 47 – Kapitänleutnant Prien, directed by Harald Reinl, was loosely based on Prien's combat record and command of U-47. Prien was portrayed by the German actor Dieter Eppler.[94] Prien was portrayed by Werner Klemperer in the 1957 US TV series The Silent Service in the episode, "The U-47 in Scapa Flow".[95]
Prien was a subject of a
Here he [Kurowski] wished to commemorate the "meritorious soldier and human being Günther Prien [who is] forgotten neither by the old submariners nor" —and this would have startled most observers in Germany today [in 1995] —"by the young submariners of the Federal German Navy".
The
The street "Günther-Prien-Straße" in Schönberg, Plön, is named after him.[99]
Summary of career
According to Busch and Röll, Prien sailed on ten war patrols and sank 30 commercial ships of 162,769 GRT, one warship with a displacement of 29,970 long tons (30,450 t), and damaged eight commercial ships for 62,751 GRT and one warship of 10,035 long tons (10,196 t).[72]
Awards
- Wehrmacht Long Service Award 4th Class (22 January 1937)[9]
- Iron Cross (1939)
- U-boat War Badge with Diamonds[101]
- Diamond-studded Navy Honour Dagger[101]
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
- Knight's Cross on 18 October 1939 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-47[102][103]
- 5th Oak Leaves on 20 October 1940 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-47[102][104]
Dates of rank
1 March 1933: | Fähnrich zur See (naval cadet)[9] |
1 January 1935: | Oberfähnrich zur See (senior midshipman)[9] |
1 April 1935: | Leutnant zur See (acting sub-lieutenant)[9] |
1 January 1937: | Oberleutnant zur See (sub-lieutenant)[9] |
1 February 1939: | Kapitänleutnant (captain lieutenant/lieutenant)[9] |
18 March 1941: | Korvettenkapitän (corvette captain/lieutenant commander), effective as of 1 March 1941[14] |
Translation notes
Notes
- ^ In 1940, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves was second only to the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, which was awarded only to senior commanders for winning a major battle or campaign, in the military order of the Third Reich. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves as highest military order was surpassed on 28 September 1941 by the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.[1]
- First Sea Lord at the time was Admiral Dudley Pound; the office is usually held by a naval officer.[80] Churchill had been First Lord of the Admiralty (a different office usually held by a Member of Parliament) in 1911–1915 and from the outbreak of the war until he became Prime Minister in May 1940.[81]
References
Citations
- ^ Williamson & Bujeiro 2004, pp. 3, 7.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Blair 1998, pp. 79–80.
- ^ Hartwig 2002, p. 68.
- ^ a b c d Mitcham & Mueller 2012, p. 250.
- ^ Zabecki 2014, p. 1019.
- ^ Meyer 2015, p. 29.
- ^ a b Vause 1997, p. 96.
- ^ article, p. 32 onwards, in issue 4, of War Monthly, Marshall Cavendish 1974
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Busch & Röll 2003, p. 15.
- ^ Der Spiegel Volume 39/1958.
- ^ a b Rohwer 1999, p. 1.
- ^ a b Padfield 1995, pp. 55–56.
- ^ Showell 2006, p. 93.
- ^ a b c Busch & Röll 2003, p. 16.
- ^ Milner 2011, pp. 21–22.
- ^ a b Padfield 1995, p. 60.
- ^ Roskill 1954, p. 74.
- ^ Terraine 1989, pp. 223–224.
- ^ Haarr 2010, p. 168.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Blair 1998, pp. 104–108.
- ^ Terraine 1989, p. 223.
- ^ Morgan & Taylor 2011, pp. 7–11.
- ^ Morgan & Taylor 2011, p. 10.
- ^ Hadley 1995, p. 80.
- ^ Haarr 2012, p. 179.
- ^ Rohwer 1996, p. 33.
- ^ Vause 1997, pp. 50, 96.
- ^ Vause 1997, p. 50.
- ^ a b Terraine 1989, p. 224.
- ^ Hadley 1995, p. 81.
- ^ a b Hadley 1995, p. 83.
- ^ Vause 1997, p. 52.
- ^ Morgan & Taylor 2011, p. 33.
- ^ Padfield 1995, p. 62.
- ^ Milner 2011, p. 21.
- ^ a b c d Milner 2011, p. 35.
- ^ Haarr 2012, p. 176.
- ^ Riederer 2019, p. 213.
- ^ a b c d Busch & Röll 2003, p. 18.
- ^ Rohwer 1999, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Wynn 1997, p. 33.
- ^ a b Haarr 2010, p. 446.
- ^ a b c d e Busch & Röll 2003, p. 19.
- ^ Haarr 2010, p. 463.
- ^ Padfield 1995, pp. 67–68.
- ^ Haarr 2012, p. 197.
- ^ Terraine 1989, pp. 235–238.
- ^ Claasen 2001, p. 95.
- ^ Hessler 1989, p. 20.
- ^ Rohwer 1996, p. 21.
- ^ a b c d e Haarr 2010, p. 206.
- ^ Mitcham & Mueller 2012, p. 254.
- ^ Terraine 1989, pp. 236–237.
- ^ Morgan & Taylor 2011, p. 61.
- ^ a b c d e Wynn 1997, p. 34.
- ^ Rohwer 1999, p. 19.
- ^ Tennent 2001, p. 81.
- ^ Rohwer 1999, p. 20.
- ^ Tennent 2001, p. 109.
- ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 26.
- ^ Rohwer 1999, pp. 20–22.
- ^ Tennent 2001, p. 25.
- ^ Rohwer 1996, p. 37.
- ^ Rohwer 1999, pp. 27–29.
- ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 38.
- ^ a b c d Terraine 1989, p. 263.
- ^ Padfield 1995, pp. 92–93.
- ^ Showell 1989, pp. 40–41.
- ^ Hoyt 2002, p. 64.
- ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 40.
- ^ Padfield 1995, p. 95.
- ^ a b c d e Busch & Röll 2003, p. 20.
- ^ Showell 1989, p. 44.
- ^ Padfield 1995, p. 98.
- ^ Zabecki 2014, p. 290.
- ^ a b Rohwer 1999, p. 34.
- ^ Claasen 2001, p. 180.
- ^ Busch & Röll 2003, pp. 15–16, 20.
- ^ Ossmann-Mausch 2006, p. 151.
- ^ Heathcote 2002, p. 217.
- ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 239.
- ^ Fischer & Widmaier 2014, pp. 143–170.
- ^ Rohwer 1999, p. 37.
- ^ a b Milner 2011, pp. 48–49.
- ^ a b Terraine 1989, p. 314.
- ^ a b Van der Vat 2000, p. 212.
- ^ Blair 1998, pp. 249–253.
- ^ Kemp 1997, p. 68.
- ^ Niestlé 1998, pp. 39, 223.
- ^ Williams 2003, pp. 124–126.
- ^ Schilling 2015, p. 552.
- ^ Schilling 2015, p. 553.
- ^ Paterson 2018, p. xvii.
- ^ Riederer 2019, pp. 218–220.
- IMDb
- ^ Wagener 1997, p. 664.
- ^ Hadley 1995, p. 129.
- ^ Der Spiegel Volume 35/1967.
- ^ "Günther-Prien-Straße in Schönberg (Holstein)". strassenkatalog.de (in German). Retrieved 3 January 2020.
- ^ a b Thomas 1998, p. 171.
- ^ a b Williamson & Bujeiro 2004, p. 23.
- ^ a b Scherzer 2007, p. 604.
- ^ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 344.
- ^ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 53.
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