| Born | 1 Oct 1918 | Constantinople, Turkey | |
| Died | 24 Oct 1943 | (25) | North Atlantic |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
| U-505 | 6 Sep 1942 | 24 Oct 1943 (+) | 7 patrols (118 days, * died during this patrol) |
Personal information
Peter Zschech was of crew 1936. He was a watch officer on the destroyer Z 7 Hermann Schoemann from July 1939 through April 1940 and then served on the Z 14 Friedrich Ihn from April 1940 to October 1940. He began his U-boat training in Oct 1940 and after completing his courses was sent to the U-124 as a watch officer in August 1941.
He served on U-124 during Mohr’s first 4 very successful patrols sinking 22 ships and damaging 3 more. With this valuable experience he went to Commander Training at the 24th U-boat flotilla at Memel during August – early Sept 1942 before being assigned to the U-505 on 6 Sept 1942.
Peter Zschech’s background was thus ideal and great things were expected of him. He never really lived up to that and was, according to many accounts, not well liked by his crew. Repeated sabotage on the boat forced to return to port on several occasions when just starting his next patrol and this surely did not help his morale.
During his almost 14 month command he spent only 96 days at sea during 6 patrols (3 of them abortive 1 day attempts during August 1943). Only his first patrol, 69 days, was a normal one and during it he sank his only ship, the 7.173 ton British merchant Ocean Justice sunk without casualties off South America.
While outbound east of the Azores on 24 Oct, 1943 the boat was severely attacked by depth charges. Peter Zschech apparently broke down and took his own life with a handgun in the control room of the boat. The IWO, Oblt. Paul Mayer (26), then took command, evaded the pursuers and returned the boat to Lorient on 7. Nov, 1943.
The approximate location of the boat during the attack
1936 crew
Peter Zschech was one of the famous Olympia class of the Kriegsmarine. The 1936 class chose the Olympic rings as their symbol (Olympic games being held in Berlin during 1936). This class trained the most U-boats commanders – 140 from their ranks took command during the war.
Sources
Busch, R. & Röll, H. (1999). German U-boat Commanders of World War II.
Patrol info for Peter Zschech
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-505 | 4 Oct 1942 | Lorient | 12 Dec 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 1, | 70 days | |
| 2. | U-505 | 1 Jul 1943 | Lorient | 13 Jul 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 2, | 13 days | |
| 3. | U-505 | 1 Aug 1943 | Lorient | 2 Aug 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 3, | 2 days | |
| 4. | U-505 | 14 Aug 1943 | Lorient | 15 Aug 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 4, | 2 days | |
| 5. | U-505 | 21 Aug 1943 | Lorient | 22 Aug 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 5, | 2 days | |
| 6. | U-505 | 18 Sep 1943 | Lorient | 30 Sep 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 6, | 13 days | |
| 7. | U-505 | 9 Oct 1943 | Lorient | 7 Nov 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 7, | 16 days | * |
| 7 patrols, 118 days at sea * Peter Zschech died during this patrol on 24 Oct 1943 | ||||||||
Ships hit by Peter Zschech
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Nov 1942 | U-505 | Ocean Justice | 7,173 |  | br | ||
| 7,173 | |||||||
1 ship sunk (7,173 tons). | |||||||
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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.
Special thanks to Fernando Almeida for data on ranks and decorations.