The Men - The Commander listing

Wolfgang Wenzel

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)



No ships sunk or damaged.


Born  29 Mar 1910 Dresden
Died  14 Apr 1992(82)

No picture of
Wolfgang Wenzel
available now.


If you can get us one that would be great. If you can help with any information on this man please contact us at gummi@uboat.net.

Ranks

8 Apr 1934Offiziersanwärter
1 Jul 1935Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1937Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1937Leutnant zur See
1 Apr 1939Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1942Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-231 14 Nov 1942 13 Jan 1944   3 patrols (125 days) 

Personal information

When the damaged-beyond-repair U-231 was abandoned Wenzel, "apparently in a state of despondence attempted suicide by firing a revolved bullet to the mouth". Incredibly the bullet lodged harmlessly in the back of the throat. All 50 men from the boat escaped the wreck but 7 died of exposure before being rescued by Allied destroyers. The bullet was removed from Wenzel's throat by a doctor on the American escort carrier USS Block Island. (Blair, Clay. 1998. Hitler's U-boat War.)

Wolfgang Wenzel, a former merchant marine officer, resumed that career after the war. He spent his POW time in Arizona and was released on May 17, 1946.

Patrol info for Wolfgang Wenzel


 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-231 13 Apr 1943  Kiel  31 May 1943  La Pallice  Patrol 1,49 days
2. U-231 27 Jul 1943  La Pallice  29 Jul 1943  La Pallice   3 days
3. U-231 23 Sep 1943  La Pallice  24 Sep 1943  Bordeaux   2 days
4. U-231 27 Sep 1943  Bordeaux  22 Nov 1943  La Pallice  Patrol 2,57 days
5. U-231 26 Dec 1943  La Pallice  13 Jan 1944  Sunk  Patrol 3,19 days
3 patrols, 125 days at sea

Ships hit by Wolfgang Wenzel

No entries found.


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.

Listing of all U-boat commanders