U-Boat Collection

SUMMARY: This offering is a collection of of autographs of Kretchmer, Topp and Suhren the famous German U-Boat captains and Admiral Doenitz

SOLD

U-Boat collection.U-boat is the anglicization of the German word U-Boot (help·info), itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot (undersea boat). The primary targets of the U-boat campaigns in both world wars were the merchant convoys bringing supplies from Canada and the United States to Europe. The distinction between U-boat and submarine is common in English-language usage (where "U-Boat" is used to refer exclusively to the German naval submarines of the First and Second World Wars) but unknown in German, in which the term U-Boot refers to any submarine.This offering is a collection of the autographs of three of the most famous German U-Boat commanders Kretschmer and Topp and Suhren as well of that of Admiral Karl Doenitz. Kretschmer, Topp and Suhren have designated on the FDC the # of the U-boat they were last commanding in WW II.

Otto Kretschmer (1912 - 1998) was a German U-Boat commander of the Second World War, and was the most successful Ace of the Deep. From September 1939 until being captured in March 1941, he sank 47 ships for a total of 274,333 tons. For this he received the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, among other commendations. He earned the nickname "Silent Otto" both for his successful use of the "silent running" capability of the U-Boats as well as for his reluctance to make Nazi propaganda broadcasts.His most successful patrol occurred in November-December 1940. During that patrol, Kretschmer and U-99 sank three British armed merchant cruisers, HMS Laurentic (18,724 tons), HMS Patroclus (11,314 tons) and HMS Forfar (16,402 tons). Laurentic and Patroclus were sunk on the night of 3-4 November after they responded to distress calls from the 5,376 ton British freighter Casanare, which U-99 had mortally wounded about 250 miles west of Ireland. Forfar was sunk a month later on 2 December while steaming to join up with and escort outbound convoy OB-251. Put together, the three AMCs totalled over 46,000 gross tons. These three successes earned Kretschmer the number-one spot on the Aces list, and was never surpassed. Klaus Bargsten served aboard U-99 under Kretschmer, before being promoted to captain himself and becoming the sole survivor of U-521 on June 2, 1942.On his last patrol in March 1941, he sank 10 more ships, but these were to be Kretschmer's last victims. During a counterattack by British escorts, U-99 was disabled by depth charges dropped from the British destroyer HMS Walker. On March 17, Kretschmer surfaced and scuttled his boat. Three of his men were lost, but Kretschmer and the remainder of U-99's crew were captured by the British. Even though Kretschmer only served three years out of seven in WWII, he would never be surpassed in terms of tonnage sunk. He was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class, the U-boat War Badge, the Iron Cross 1st Class, the Knight's Cross, the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, and the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.He spent the remainder of the war in a prison camp in Canada.He died in an accident while celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary.

 

Erich Topp (1914 - 2005). Topp was the 3rd most successful German U-Boot (submarine) commander of World War II. He joined the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) in 1934, serving his first stint after being commissioned as Leutnant zur See (Ensign) on the light cruiser Karlsruhe in 1937, before transferring to the U-Bootwaffe (submarine fleet) in the same year.He was given his first command – U-57 – on 5 June 1940, leading her on two missions during which the boat managed to sink six ships. She was sunk after a collision with a Norwegian vessel on 3 September 1940.Topp survived to take command of U-552, with which he mainly operated against convoys in the North Atlantic, sinking 30 ships and crippling several others on ten patrols. One of his victims during this period was the destroyer USS Reuben James, the first US warship to be sunk in WWII on 31 October 1941.This offering incluses a photocopy of a letter Topp wrote describing the sinking of the Reuben James.

 

Commander Reinhard "Teddy" Suhren (1916 – 1984) was a German U-boat commander in World War II. Suhren began his U-boat career in March 1938. He spent a year as 1st watch officer on U-48 where he received the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross. In April 1941 he took command of U-564. He is credited with the sinking of 18 merchant vessels of 95,544 gross register tons (GRT), 1 war ship of 900 tons and damaged 4 merchant vessels of 28,907 GRT for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub mit Schwertern).

 

Admiral Karl Dönitz (1891 – 1980) was a German naval Commander who served in the Imperial German Navy during World War I, commanded the German submarine fleet during World War II, and eventually was given control of the entire German Navy (Kriegsmarine).

In the final days of the war, Dönitz was surprisingly named by Adolf Hitler as his successor, and after the Führer committed suicide, the admiral assumed the office of President (Reichspräsident) of Nazi Germany's Flensburg government. He held this position for about 20 days, until the final surrender to the Allies.After the war, Dönitz was convicted of war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials and served ten years in prison.

 

In related material we are also offering the rare book Doenitz at Nuremberg: A Reappraisal signed by Doenitz.

The autographs comes with a letter of authenticity as to its origin, history and authenticity.

Price: Sold