Gerd Suhren

Gerd Suhren

Gerd Suhren
Born (1914-05-16)16 May 1914
Tafaigata, Samoa
Died 6 May 1991(1991-05-06) (aged 76)
Bonn
Allegiance  Nazi Germany
Service/branch  Kriegsmarine
Years of service 1933–45
Rank Korvettenkapitän (Ing.)
Unit cruiser Karlsruhe
Schleswig-Holstein
aviso Grille
U-21, U-31, U-37, U-2511
Battles/wars

World War II

Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Relations Reinhard Suhren

Gerd Suhren (16 May 1914, in Tafaigata, Samoa – 6 May 1991 in Bonn), was a German U-boat engineer (Ingenieur - Ing.) in World War II and older brother of Fregattenkapitän and Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords recipient Reinhard Suhren.

Career

Suhren joined the Kriegsmarine in April 1933. Since April 1937 he served in the U-boat force and got a solid pre-war training. In September 1939 he was chief engineer (Leitender Ingenieur abbreviated LI) on U-37 and in the next year he rode 8 patrols on this boat. During this time he served under the command of Werner Hartmann, Victor Oehrn and Nicolai Clausen. He was the first engineering officer to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Gerd Suhren left U-37 in October 1940 and became a training officer in the 25th flotilla. Later he served in several staff positions.

In September 1944 he became once more the Leitender Ingenieur on the new commissioned type XXI U-boat under the command of Adalbert Schnee. He took part in the patrol, that U-2511 rode in May 1945. After the war Gerd Suhren served for more than 2 years in the German Mine Sweeping Administration. His parents and sister committed suicide in 1945, after failure to escape from the Sudetenland.[1]

Awards

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Brustal-Naval 1999, pp. 15–16.
  2. 1 2 3 Busch & Röll 2003, p. 81.
  3. ↑ Scherzer 2007, p. 735.
  4. ↑ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 417.

Bibliography

  • Brustal-Naval, Fritz and Suhren, Teddy (1999). Nasses Eichenlaub: als Kommandant und F.d.U. im U-Boot-Krieg. Frankfurt/M; Berlin:Ullstein. ISBN 3-548-23537-9.
  • 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. 
  • Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2. 


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