Hi Michael,

Thanks for the info.

Johannes Graf von Ballestrem came aboard U-126 as a Leutnant zur See d. R. but was promoted to Oberleutnant zur See before the next patrol & I wasn't sure if the d. R. still applied now that he was on active duty. After his promotion, Bauer didn't reference his as d. R. anymore. I really have no idea how the Kriegsmarine dealt with reserve officers though.

Bacher wasn't listed as d. R. so perhaps he did come over from the merchant marine.

Schlumberger was listed as an Obermaschinist for 2 war patrols on U-126 then as an Oberleutnant (Ing) on U-534 later in the war. If that were the case he wouldn't have a real crew designation & I don't know if they assigned those that got promoted into the officer ranks a retroactive crew designation. I just assumed he had been promoted into the officer ranks but perhaps there were two men with the same name. I got the U-534 connection from [historisches-marinearchiv.de]

Regards,

Ken Dunn