Harro Schacht

Fregattenkapitän (Crew 26)

Successes
19 ships sunk, total tonnage 77,143 GRT
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 6,561 GRT

Born	15 Dec 1907		Cuxhaven
Died	13 Jan 1943	(35)	South Atlantic

Korvettenkapitän Harro Schacht

Ranks

1 Apr 1926		Offiziersanwärter
26 Oct 1926		Seekadett
1 Apr 1928		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jun 1930		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1930		Leutnant zur See
1 Aug 1932		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1936		Kapitänleutnant
1 Oct 1940		Korvettenkapitän
1 Jan 1944		Fregattenkapitän (posthumous)

Decorations

29 Mar 1940		Spanish Cross in Bronze without Swords
19 Apr 1940		Iron Cross 2nd Class
6 Jun 1942		Iron Cross 1st Class
6 Jun 1942		U-boat War Badge 1939
9 Jan 1943		Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-507	8 Oct 1941	13 Jan 1943 (+)	4 patrols (227 days)

Korvettenkapitän Harro Schacht

Harro Schacht began his naval career, like Merten, von Stockhausen, and Rollmann, in April 1926. He served some years on the light cruisers Emden and Nürnberg, and in 1937 took a staff position at OKM (Naval High Command).

In June 1941 he joined the U-boat force, and his standard training was followed by a short patrol on the "Red Devil Boat" U-552 under Erich Topp, as a Kommandantenschüler (Commander-in-training).

In October 1941 he commissioned the type IXC U-boat U-507. During his third patrol in the South Atlantic in August 1942, Schacht sank six Brazilian ships outside Brazilian territorial waters. The Brazilian government used this as a reason to declare war on Germany. A month later U-507 took part in the rescue operations following the Laconia incident.

Harro Schacht died when U-507 was sunk with all hands on 13 January 1943 in the South Atlantic off the coast of Brazil by bombs from a US Catalina flying boat (Niestlé, 1998).

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).
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Harro Schacht

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-507	7 Mar 1942	Hamburg	8 Mar 1942	Helgoland		2 days
2.	U-507	12 Mar 1942	Helgoland	25 Mar 1942	Lorient	Patrol 1,	14 days
3.	U-507	4 Apr 1942	Lorient	4 Jun 1942	Lorient	Patrol 2,	62 days
4.	U-507	4 Jul 1942	Lorient	12 Oct 1942	Lorient	Patrol 3,	101 days
5.	U-507	24 Nov 1942	Lorient	26 Nov 1942	Lorient	Patrol 4,	3 days
6.	U-507	28 Nov 1942	Lorient	13 Jan 1943	Sunk	Patrol 4,	47 days
4 patrols, 227 days at sea

Ships hit by Harro Schacht

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
30 Apr 1942	U-507	Federal	2,881	am
4 May 1942	U-507	Norlindo	2,686	am
5 May 1942	U-507	Munger T. Ball	5,104	am
5 May 1942	U-507	Joseph M. Cudahy	6,950	am
6 May 1942	U-507	Alcoa Puritan	6,759	am
7 May 1942	U-507	Ontario	3,099	ho
8 May 1942	U-507	Torny	2,424	nw
12 May 1942	U-507	Virginia	10,731	am
13 May 1942	U-507	Gulfprince (d.)	6,561	am
16 May 1942	U-507	Amapala	4,148	ho
16 Aug 1942	U-507	Baependy	4,801	bz
16 Aug 1942	U-507	Araraquara	4,872	bz
16 Aug 1942	U-507	Annibal Benévolo	1,905	bz
17 Aug 1942	U-507	Itagiba	2,169	bz
17 Aug 1942	U-507	Arará	1,075	bz
19 Aug 1942	U-507	Jacyra	89	bz
22 Aug 1942	U-507	Hammaren	3,220	sw	OS-36
27 Dec 1942	U-507	Oakbank	5,154	br

3 Jan 1943	U-507	Baron Dechmont	3,675	br
8 Jan 1943	U-507	Yorkwood	5,401	br
			83,704
19 ships sunk (77,143 tons) and 1 ship damaged (6,561 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (d.) means the ship was damaged.

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.