The Men - The Commander listing

Herbert Wohlfarth

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 33)

Successes
21 ships sunk for a total of 66,032 GRT
2 ships damaged for a total of 9,903 GRT
1 auxiliary warship damaged for a total of 10,552 GRT

Born	5 Jun 1915		Kanazawa, Japan
Died	13 Aug 1982	(67)	Villingen, Germany

Kapitänleutnant Herbert Wohlfarth

Ranks

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 Oct 1940	Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

6 Oct 1939	Iron Cross 2nd Class
20 Dec 1939	U-boat War Badge 1939
1 Oct 1940	Iron Cross 1st Class
15 May 1941	Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-14	19 Oct 1939	1 Jun 1940	4 patrols (60 days)
U-137	15 Jun 1940	14 Dec 1940	3 patrols (38 days)
U-556	6 Feb 1941	27 Jun 1941	2 patrols (39 days)

Personal information

Fähnrich Herbert Wohlfarth

Herbert Wohlfarth began his naval career in April 1933. After the usual training he spent more than a year on the cruiser Admiral Graf Spee. In May 1937 he joined the U-boat force, and like many of the later successful commanders received a solid pre-war training under Dönitz. After some months as aide-de-camp in the 3rd Flotilla 'Lohs', in September 1938 he became watch officer on U-16.

On 19 October 1939 he became the commander of U-14. On his first three patrols he sank nine mostly smaller ships in Scottish and Norwegian waters. The fourth patrol with U-14 was for him, as for most other commanders during Operation 'Hartmut' against Norway, without success.

Kptlt. Herbert Wohlfarth during patrol

On 15 June, 1940 Herbert Wohlfarth commissioned U-137, also a Type IIB boat, referred to as 'Einbaum' (dugout canoe). But these small boats were also very successful and other well-known commanders including Hardegen, Kretschmer and Lüth won their first successes in them.

Herbert Wohlfarth led U-137 on three patrols during the autumn of 1940. He sank seven ships for a total of 25,465 tons, mostly in the area south of the Hebrides. Especially notable was his torpedo hit on the armed merchant cruiser Cheshire (10,552 tons), damaging the ship so badly that she had to spend six months in the shipyard for repairs.

In the U-boat force Herbert Wohlfarth was well known by his nickname, Parzival. After a radio message to the BdU, reporting his successes with his 'dugout', he received the following praise from Dönitz:

An Wohlfarth: Gut gemacht!
(To Wohlfarth: Well done!)

And Wohlfarth answered, also by radio:

An Löwe von Parzival: Ja, ja, die kleinen Boote !
(To Lion from Parzival: Well, well, these small boats!)

This typical example of communication between Dönitz and his commanders became famous throughout the Kriegsmarine.

Herbert Wohlfarth after patrol

On 15 December, 1940 Wohlfarth left the boat and two months later commissioned the Type VIIC boat U-556. On his first patrol in the Atlantic with this new boat he sank four ships for a total of 18,583 tons and damaged two more.

During his return he witnessed one of the most tragic moments in the history of the Kriegsmarine, when the German battleship Bismarck was sunk in the Atlantic. Wohlfarth was unable to help because he had fired all his torpedoes during his patrol. He saw a battleship and a carrier pass in front of his boat on their way to sink the pride of Germany, and could do nothing to hinder them.

On 15 May, 1941 he received the Knights Cross for this patrol.
(See also: Dönitz and his aces)

On 19 June, 1941 Wohlfarth started his second patrol on U-556, but just eight days later the boat was sunk in the North Atlantic southwest of Iceland by the British corvettes HMS Nasturtium, Celandine and Gladiolus. The commander and most of the crew were captured.

Herbert Wohlfarth then spent more than six years in English and Canadian POW camps, before returning to Germany on 14 July, 1947.

Patrol info for Herbert Wohlfarth

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-14	17 Jan 1940	Kiel	18 Jan 1940	Helgoland	Patrol 1,	2 days
2.	U-14	20 Jan 1940	Helgoland	26 Jan 1940	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 1,	7 days
3.	U-14	11 Feb 1940	Wilhelmshaven	20 Feb 1940	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 2,	10 days
4.	U-14	3 Mar 1940	Wilhelmshaven	11 Mar 1940	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 3,	9 days
5.	U-14	4 Apr 1940	Wilhelmshaven	5 May 1940	Kiel	Patrol 4,	32 days
6.	U-137	14 Sep 1940	Kiel	17 Sep 1940	Stavanger		4 days
7.	U-137	21 Sep 1940	Stavanger	29 Sep 1940	Lorient	Patrol 5,	9 days
8.	U-137	9 Oct 1940	Lorient	17 Oct 1940	Lorient	Patrol 6,	9 days
9.	U-137	3 Nov 1940	Lorient	22 Nov 1940	Bergen	Patrol 7,	20 days
10.	U-137	24 Nov 1940	Bergen	27 Nov 1940	Kiel		4 days
11.	U-556	1 May 1941	Kiel	30 May 1941	Lorient	Patrol 8,	30 days
12.	U-556	19 Jun 1941	Lorient	27 Jun 1941	Sunk	Patrol 9,	9 days
9 patrols, 137 days at sea

Ships hit by Herbert Wohlfarth

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
25 Jan, 1940	U-14	Biarritz	1,752		nw
15 Feb, 1940	U-14	Sleipner	1,066		da
16 Feb, 1940	U-14	Liana	1,646		sw
16 Feb, 1940	U-14	Osmed	1,526		sw
16 Feb, 1940	U-14	Rhone	1,064		da
7 Mar, 1940	U-14	Vecht	1,965		nl
9 Mar, 1940	U-14	Abbotsford	1,585		br
9 Mar, 1940	U-14	Akeld	643		br
9 Mar, 1940	U-14	Borthwick	1,097		br
26 Sep, 1940	U-137	Ashantian	4,917		br	OB-218	damaged
26 Sep, 1940	U-137	Manchester Brigade	6,042		br	OB-218
26 Sep, 1940	U-137	Stratford	4,753		br	OB-218
14 Oct, 1940	U-137	HMS Cheshire (F 18)	10,552		br		damaged
13 Nov, 1940	U-137	Cape St. Andrew	5,094		br	OB-240
16 Nov, 1940	U-137	Planter	5,887		br	SLS-53
17 Nov, 1940	U-137	Saint Germain	1,044		br	HG-46
17 Nov, 1940	U-137	Veronica	1,316		sw	HG-46

6 May, 1941	U-556	Emanuel	166		fa
10 May, 1941	U-556	Aelybryn	4,986		br	OB-318	damaged
10 May, 1941	U-556	Empire Caribou	4,861		br	OB-318
10 May, 1941	U-556	Gand	5,086		be	OB-318
20 May, 1941	U-556	British Security	8,470		br	HX-126
20 May, 1941	U-556	Cockaponset	5,995		br	HX-126
20 May, 1941	U-556	Darlington Court	4,974		br	HX-126
			86,487
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk.