| Born | 17 Oct, 1912 | Gut Mohrberg, Eckernförde |
| Died | 1 Mar, 2007 |
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Ranks
Decorations |
Personal information
Oberleutnant Diggins was Langsdorff's Flag Lieutenant on the Graf Spee. (1)
After the Graf Spee was scuttled in December 1939, Diggins escaped from Montevideo to Buenos Aires by stowing away in the river ferry, and from there made his way back to Germany. In 1957 he joined the Bundesmarine.
This information quoted from Rust's Naval Officers Under Hitler amplifies on the escape attempt:
"internees from the pocket battleship Graf Spee -- Kurt Diggins, Rolf Schauenburg, Detlef Spiering and Karl-Heinrich Vagt -- upon crossing the River Plate from Uruguay to Argentina, faced comparatively minor difficulties in making their way home from that neutral and traditionally anglophobic South American country. The greatest challenge seems to have been to get from Uruguay to Argentina. It took Diggins no fewer than 18 attempts before he succeeded in reaching Buenos Aires from Montevideo as a stowaway on a river steamer. He then left for home disguised as a Romanian."
(1) Grove's "The Price of Disobedience"
Patrol info
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | |||||
| 1. | U-458 | 21 Jun, 1942 | Kiel | 27 Aug, 1942 | St. Nazaire | Patrol, | 68 days |
| 2. | U-458 | 1 Oct, 1942 | St. Nazaire | 15 Oct, 1942 | La Spezia | Patrol, | 15 days |
| 3. | U-458 | 26 Oct, 1942 | La Spezia | 15 Nov, 1942 | La Spezia | Patrol, | 21 days |
| 4. | U-458 | 6 Feb, 1943 | La Spezia | 11 Mar, 1943 | Toulon | Patrol, | 34 days |
| 5. | U-458 | 19 May, 1943 | Toulon | 19 May, 1943 | Toulon | 1 days | |
| 6. | U-458 | 25 May, 1943 | Toulon | 31 May, 1943 | Toulon | Patrol, | 7 days |
| 7. | U-458 | 21 Jun, 1943 | Toulon | 6 Jul, 1943 | Toulon | Patrol, | 16 days |
| 8. | U-458 | 14 Aug, 1943 | Toulon | 22 Aug, 1943 | Sunk | Patrol, | 9 days |
| 7 patrols, 170 days at sea | |||||||
Ships hit by Kurt Diggins
| Date | Boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | Fate * | |
| 30 Jun, 1942 | U-458 | Mosfruit | 2.714 |  | nw | ||
| 5 Aug, 1942 | U-458 | Arletta | 4.870 |  | br | ON-115 | |
| 7.584 | |||||||
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk. | |||||||
Decorations and ranks information is in many cases not complete. If you can help on any of those missing that would be great.