Joachim Schepke
Joachim Schepke | |
|---|---|
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves |
Joachim Schepke (8 March 1912 – 17 March 1941) was a German
Schepke is credited with having sunk 36 Allied ships. During his career, he gained notoriety among fellow U-boat commanders for exaggerating the tonnage of ships sunk.
Career
Schepke joined the
Schepke claimed to have sunk 37 ships, for a total of 213,310 gross register tons (GRT) and damaged 4 more. If true, this would have made him the third skipper to have sunk over 200,000 tons. While he definitely sank 36 ships, he was known throughout the fleet to exaggerate his tonnage claims; other U-boat men came to use the expression "Schepke tonnage" in reference to this. Nonetheless, at one point Schepke ranked first in number of ships sunk, and was recommended by Admiral Dönitz for the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves.[2]
Awards
- Iron Cross (1939)
- U-Boat War Badge (1939) (3 January 1940 – 30 April 1940)[3]
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
- Knight's Cross on 24 September 1940 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-100[5][6]
- 7th Oak Leaves on 1 December 1940 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-100[5][7]
References
Citations
- ^ Williamson & Bujeiro 2004, pp. 3, 7.
- ^ Blair 1996, p. 218.
- ^ a b c Busch & Röll 2003, p. 71.
- ^ Thomas 1998, p. 252.
- ^ a b Scherzer 2007, p. 659.
- ^ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 376.
- ^ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 53.
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-394-58839-8.
- Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (2003). Der U-Boot-Krieg 1939–1945 — Die Ritterkreuzträger der U-Boot-Waffe von September 1939 bis Mai 1945 [The U-Boat War 1939–1945 — The Knight's Cross Bearers of the U-Boat Force from September 1939 to May 1945] (in German). Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn Germany: Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn. ISBN 978-3-8132-0515-2.
- Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
- Fuhren, Franz (1943). Kapitänleutnant Schepke erzählt. Mit einem Geleitwort von Großadmiral Dönitz. Minden: Köhler Verlag.
- Hadley, Michael L. (1995). Count Not the Dead: The Popular Image of the German Submarine. Montreal, Quebec: McGill-Queen's Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-6526-5.
- ISBN 978-1557500298.
- Schepke, Joachim (1940). U-Boot-Fahrer von heute. Erzählt und gezeichnet von einem U-Boot-Kommandanten. Berlin, Deutscher Verlag 1940
- Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
- Thomas, Franz (1998). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 2: L–Z [The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 2: L–Z] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2300-9.
- ISBN 978-1-84176-641-6.
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