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Adalbert Schnee

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 34)

Successes 21 ships sunk, total tonnage 90,189 GRT 2 auxiliary warships sunk, total tonnage 5,700 GRT 3 ships damaged, total tonnage 28,820 GRT

'Adi' Schnee on board

Adalbert Schnee joined the Reichsmarine in April 1934. After some months on the light cruiser Leipzig, he began his U-boat career in May 1937.

He spent two pre-war years on board U-23 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Otto Kretschmer. He completed five patrols on her before going on to win great success with his own boat, U-201. He was awarded the Knights Cross after three patrols in U-201, then on the seventh he sank ships totalling 41,036 tons, which earned him the Oak Leaves to his Knights Cross.

In October 1942 he joined the BdU staff. In his position as the "Geleitzugs-Asto" (A I op), he planned and organised operations against Allied convoys.

'Adi' Schnee returning from his 'Oak Leaves' patrol
The snowman on the conning tower only has the Knights Cross as yet (Schnee is the German word for snow)

In September 1944 he took over the command of the new 'Elektro-boot' U-2511, the first type XXI Elektro U-boat to see active service, commencing her first patrol on 16 March*. It is claimed that on her second patrol on the last day of the war, in the hours immediately after the cease-fire order of 4 May 1945, Korvettenkapitän Schnee had an excellent opportunity to sink the British cruiser HMS Norfolk, and in fact simulated an actual attack, evaded the destroyer screen, closed to point-blank range, and then simply left the area. (In recent years doubt has been cast on this version of events, however. See: http://www.u-boot-archiv-cuxhaven.de/lang1/u_2511.html).

Adalbert Schnee

After the surrender he served for six months in a minesweeper unit. In October 1945 he was called into court to testify in defence of Heinz-Wilhelm Eck and some of his officers, who were being tried for their actions in the Peleus Affair. On the stand, Schnee was placed in a difficult position by the prosecutor, and faced with the choice of either incriminating himself or condemning Eck's decision. Backed into a corner, Schnee, who was to have been the star witness for the defense, was forced to admit he would not have done what Eck did.

Schnee later completed a commercial training course and worked for some years as a commercial representative. Then he retired from this profession to become the director of a sailing school on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean.

Adalbert Schnee was for many years chairman of the Verband der U-Boots-Fahrer (Association of U-Boat Crew).

*Kptlt. Manseck took U-3008 out on patrol from 1 Apr - 8 May 1945. U-3008 surrendered at sea two days after U-2511.

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.

Date	U-boat		Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy
13 Aug 1940	U-60		Nils Gorthon	1,787		sw	HX-62
31 Aug 1940	U-60		Volendam (d.)	15,434		nl	OB-205
3 Sep 1940	U-60		Ulva	1,401		br
2 May 1941	U-201		Capulet	8,190		br	HX-121
9 May 1941	U-201		Gregalia	5,802		br	OB-318
9 May 1941	U-201		Empire Cloud (d.)	5,969		br	OB-318
19 Aug 1941	U-201		Aguila	3,255		br	OG-71
19 Aug 1941	U-201		Ciscar	1,809		br	OG-71
23 Aug 1941	U-201		Aldergrove	1,974		br	OG-71
23 Aug 1941	U-201		Stork	787		br	OG-71
21 Sep 1941	U-201		Runa	1,575		br	OG-74
21 Sep 1941	U-201		Lissa	1,511		br	OG-74
21 Sep 1941	U-201		Rhineland	1,381		br	OG-74
27 Sep 1941	U-201		Cervantes	1,810		br	HG-73
27 Sep 1941	U-201		HMS Springbank	5,155		br	HG-73
27 Sep 1941	U-201		Margareta	3,103		br	HG-73
18 Apr 1942	U-201		Victoria (d.)	7,417		ar
21 Apr 1942	U-201		Bris	2,027		nw
22 Apr 1942	U-201		San Jacinto	6,069		am
22 Apr 1942	U-201		Derryheen	7,217		br
6 Jul 1942	U-201		Avila Star	14,443		br
12 Jul 1942	U-201		Cortona	7,093		br	OS-33
12 Jul 1942	U-201		Siris	5,242		br	OS-33
13 Jul 1942	U-201		Sithonia	6,723		br	OS-33
15 Jul 1942	U-201		British Yeoman	6,990		br
25 Jul 1942	U-201		HMS Laertes (T 137)	545		br
				124,709
23 ships sunk (95,889 tons) and 3 ships damaged (28,820 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.

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