John and Gerard.

I had looked into Beucke several years ago as part of my research into his replacement, Hans-Adolf Schweichel (IWO and TO of U-126 when it sank the Arkansan). If you search on his name (Beucke) you'll find several old posts of mine on the forum.

Here is his career information from Markus Hofmann's www.u-boot-archiv.de/mannschaften website:

Daten

Geburtsdatum 12.01.1904
Geburtsort Berlin

Werdegang

1922 Crew

00.00.1922 - 00.00.0000 Eintritt in die Reichsmarine.
00.00.1922 - 00.08.1939 Kommandos nicht ermittelt (Ausbildung,Lehrgänge,diverse Kommandos usw. ?).
00.09.1939 - 00.04.1940 Referent im Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine/ Seekriegsleitung U.
00.04.1940 - 00.08.1940 1.Admiralstabsoffizier im Stab Admiral norwegische Westküste.
00.08.1940 - 00.02.1941 3.Admiralstabsoffizier im Stab des Marinegruppenkommandos West.
00.03.1941 - 00.11.1941 U-Bootsausbildung und Baubelehrung U 173 (Deschimag AG Weser Bremen).
15.11.1941 - 00.10.1942 Kommandant von U 173 (Typ IX C). 4.U-Flottille Stettin, 2.U-Flottille Lorient. 1 UNTERNEHMUNG : >>15.06.1942 - 20.09.1942 Westatlantik, Karibik, Große Antillen<<.
00.11.1942 - 00.02.1943 Dienst im Stab des 2.Admirals der U-Boote.
00.02.1943 - 00.05.1943 Chef des Stabes des Komandierenden Admirals der U-Boote.
00.06.1943 - 00.08.1944 Chef der Kommandoabteilung U-Boote (Skl/Qu A U) im Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine.
00.08.1944 - 08.05.1945 1.Führungsstabsoffizier im Marine-Oberkommando Nord.
00.05.1945 - 18.04.1947 Kriegsgefangenschaft.

U-Boote
15.11.1941 - 00.10.1942 Kommandant auf U 173

Ränge
00.00.0000 - 31.05.1943 Fregattenkapitän
01.06.1943 - 08.05.1945 Kapitän zur See

As you can see, he was a well established staff officer, and must have pulled some strings to get command of a U-boat at this time of the war.

Heinz-Ehler Beucke took U-173 on her maiden patrol sailing June 16th, 1942 where she was to refuel north of Bermuda (by U-460 - Kptlt. Friedrich Schäfer) before going on to her designated patrol area south of Cuba & off the Antilles. While East to Southeast of the Caribbean she was sighted no less than 3 times and depth charged. The first attack on July 19th knocked both periscopes out of order. After a failed attempt to temporarily retreat outside the range of patrol aircraft to repair the periscopes, she was re-directed out of the Caribbean to the northern coast of South America off Suriname. During this time U-173 sighted only two ships. The first on August 8th was fired on with two torpedoes, which both missed. The second was on August 17th, but apparently Beucke was not able to get into a firing position before the ship escaped. On August 27th U-173 was attacked by aircraft again, this time causing more severe damage in the form of damaging 5 of her 6 torpedo tubes, as well as 4 of the extra torpedo containers they kept between the deck and the pressure hull. Her ability to dive was also compromised, and her periscopes were still out. Beucke reported in, and after being ordered to return she was sighted once more but escaped further damage.

Beucke sank no shipping and according to one source, on return he paid the price for the poor showing and returned to a shore post. I have his letter of reprimand and have translated it, and it's very damning:

1. The aircraft lookout was insufficient during the entire patrol. The boat was seen too often and bombed.
2. On June 28th the commander tends to assume danger immediately, and boat submerges. Steamer proves itself later to be harmless Neutral Irish.
3. On June 29th let off the opponent too early and missed because again a trap is assumed. A 3 torpedo fan shot would have been more correct than a 2 torpedo fan shot.
4. On July 6th remained submerged too long. The steamer should have become certain prey.
5. On August 8th again a 3 torpedo fan shot would have been more correct. Also these steamers went lost through manuevering in the twilight.
6. On August 17th the commander had had to force the success after the many failures and shot should have been a 4 torpedo fan shot. Steamer goes lost also again in the twilight. Tried to make the shot based on sound bearing and failed.

He did manage to bring his crew and badly damaged boat safely home all away across the Atlantic, which may have helped a bit.

Another factor may have been a letter someone here on the forum sent me that stated that Beucke was removed because he was last last male survivor of his family, also talked about in previous posts.

Eric Stone
www.ssarkansan.com