Waldemar Mehl

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 33)


Successes
4 ships sunk, total tonnage 26,279 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk, total tonnage 545 GRT
2 warships sunk, total tonnage 2,286 tons
4 ships damaged, total tonnage 28,072 GRT
2 ships a total loss, total tonnage 13,341 GRT

Born  7 Sep 1914 Grävenwiesbach, Usingen, Taunus
Died  29 Mar 1996(81)Wiesbaden, Germany


Waldemar Mehl

Ranks

1 Apr 1933 Offiziersanwärter
23 Sep 1933 Seekadett
1 Jul 1934 Fähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1936 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1936 Leutnant zur See
1 Jun 1938 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Feb 1941 Kapitänleutnant
1 Mar 1945 Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

6 Jun 1939 Spanish Cross in Bronze without Swords
30 Apr 1940 Iron Cross 2nd Class
26 Oct 1940 Iron Cross 1st Class
22 Sep 1942 U-boat War Badge 1939
19 Nov 1943 German Cross in Gold
28 Mar 1944 Knights Cross
10 Mar 1945 U-boat Front Clasp

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-62 5 Nov 1941 19 Nov 1941   No war patrols 
U-72 2 Dec 1941 6 May 1942   No war patrols 
U-371 25 May 1942 4 Apr 1944   12 patrols (227 days) 


Kapitänleutnant Waldemar Mehl

Waldemar Mehl joined the Reichsmarine in April 1933. Before the war he served on the light cruisers Köln and Nürnberg and the battleship Schleswig-Holstein. From December 1939 he served in several positions ashore before transferring to the U-boat force in April 1941.

Following standard training he spent a few months as a Kommandantenschüler (prospective commanding officer) on U-371 before taking over command of U-62, then U-72.

In May 1942 he returned to U-371 to command her on 13 successful patrols in the Mediterranean over the next two years, sinking, among other vessels, three Allied warships.

He left U-371 in April 1944 to join the FdU Mittelmeer (U-Boat Command Mediterranean) staff, and also held two other staff positions. After the war he served in a minesweeper unit for three months.

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Waldemar Mehl

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-371 1 Jul 1942  Salamis  7 Jul 1942  Pola   7 days
2. U-371 5 Sep 1942  Pola  18 Sep 1942  Salamis  Patrol 1,14 days
3. U-371 12 Oct 1942  Salamis  16 Oct 1942  Pola   5 days
4. U-371 1 Dec 1942  Pola  4 Dec 1942  Messina  Patrol 2,4 days
5. U-371 7 Dec 1942  Messina  10 Jan 1943  La Spezia  Patrol 3,35 days
6. U-371 14 Feb 1943  La Spezia  3 Mar 1943  La Spezia  Patrol 4,18 days
7. U-371 7 Apr 1943  La Spezia  11 May 1943  Toulon  Patrol 5,35 days
8. U-371 3 Jul 1943  Toulon  12 Jul 1943  Toulon  Patrol 6,10 days
9. U-371 22 Jul 1943  Toulon  11 Aug 1943  Toulon  Patrol 7,21 days
10. U-371 21 Aug 1943  Toulon  3 Sep 1943  Toulon  Patrol 8,14 days
11. U-371 7 Oct 1943  Toulon  28 Oct 1943  Toulon  Patrol 9,22 days
12. U-371 15 Nov 1943  Toulon  23 Nov 1943  Toulon  Patrol 10,9 days
13. U-371 22 Jan 1944  Toulon  13 Feb 1944  Toulon  Patrol 11,23 days
14. U-371 4 Mar 1944  Toulon  25 Mar 1944  Toulon  Patrol 12,22 days
12 patrols, 227 days at sea

Ships hit by Waldemar Mehl

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
7 Jan 1943U-371 HMS Jura (T 169)545br
7 Jan 1943U-371 Ville de Strasbourg (d.)7,159brMKS-5
23 Feb 1943U-371 Fintra2,089brRopsley
28 Feb 1943U-371 Daniel Carroll (d.)7,176amTE-16
27 Apr 1943U-371 Merope1,162nl
10 Jul 1943U-371 Gulfprince (d.)6,561amET-22A
10 Jul 1943U-371 Matthew Maury (d.)7,176amET-22A
7 Aug 1943U-371 Contractor6,004brGTX-5
11 Oct 1943U-371 HMS Hythe (J 194)656brMKS-27
13 Oct 1943U-371 USS Bristol (DD 453)1,630am
15 Oct 1943U-371 James Russell Lowell (t.)7,176amGUS-18
 
17 Mar 1944U-371 Dempo17,024nlSNF-17
17 Mar 1944U-371 Maiden Creek (t.)6,165amSNF-17
 70,523

9 ships sunk (42,451 tons) and 4 ships damaged (28,072 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.
(d.) means the ship was damaged.
(t.) means the ship was a total loss (included in ships & tonnage lost).


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.

Media links


U-Boat Attack Logs

Daniel Morgan and Bruce Taylor


amazon.co.uk
(£ 38.25)


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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