Heinrich Zimmermann

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 32)

Successes
5 ships sunk, total tonnage 23,649 GRT
2 warships sunk, total tonnage 1,850 tons
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 8,955 GRT

Born	21 Jan 1907		Duisburg
Died	11 Jul 1942	(35)	west of Madeira

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Ranks

1 Sep 1935		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1936		Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1937		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Jun 1939		Kapitänleutnant

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-136	30 Aug 1941	11 Jul 1942 (+)	3 patrols (108 days)

Heinrich Zimmermann joined the Reichsmarine in 1932. From Aug 1939 to May 1940 he served as an acting Commander of the 7th Minesweeping Flotilla while commanding his own minesweeper. He then joined the 3rd Minesweeping Flotilla from May 1940 to March 1941 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

From March to Aug 1941 he went through U-boat training, U-boat Commander training, and finally U-boat construction familiarization (Baubelehrung) for his own U-boat command (Busch & Röll, 1999).

On 30 Aug 1941 Kptlt. Heinrich Zimmermann commissioned the brand new type VIIC boat U-136 at Bremen. After training in the Baltic he left Kiel for his first patrol on 22 Jan 1942.

First patrol

On his first patrol around the British Isles he sank four ships (almost 13,000 tons) from four different convoys before arriving at his new base at St. Nazaire, France on 1 March 1942. These included the British corvette HMS Arbutus (K 86) on 5 Feb, and on 11 Feb the Canadian corvette HMCS Spikenard (K 198) (Rohwer, 1998).

The British corvette HMS Arbutus (K 86), sunk by U-136 (Zimmermann) 5 Feb 1942.

His second patrol was also successful. This time he operated off the US east coast and sank three ships (12,707 tons) and damaged a large ship of 8,955 tons (Rohwer, 1998). He arrived back to France on 20 May 1942 after 58 days at sea (Busch & Röll, 1997).

On 29 June 1942 Zimmermann left base in U-136 for the last time (Busch & Röll, 1997). 13 days later his boat was sunk with all hands (45 men) in the Atlantic west of Madeira, Portugal by depth charges from the Free French destroyer Léopard, the British frigate HMS Spey and the British sloop HMS Pelican (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 Heinrich Zimmermann

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-136	22 Jan 1942	Kiel	24 Jan 1942	Kristiansand	Patrol 1,	3 days
2.	U-136	26 Jan 1942	Kristiansand	28 Jan 1942	Bergen	Patrol 1,	3 days
3.	U-136	30 Jan 1942	Bergen	1 Mar 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 1,	31 days
4.	U-136	24 Mar 1942	St. Nazaire	20 May 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 2,	58 days
5.	U-136	29 Jun 1942	St. Nazaire	11 Jul 1942	Sunk	Patrol 3,	13 days
3 patrols, 108 days at sea

Ships hit by Heinrich Zimmermann

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
5 Feb 1942	U-136	HMS Arbutus (K 86)	925	br	ON-63
11 Feb 1942	U-136	Heina	4,028	nw	SC-67
11 Feb 1942	U-136	HMCS Spikenard (K 198)	925	ca	SC-67
17 Feb 1942	U-136	Empire Comet	6,914	br	HX-174
19 Apr 1942	U-136	Axtell J. Byles (d.)	8,955	am
24 Apr 1942	U-136	Empire Drum	7,244	br
28 Apr 1942	U-136	Arundo	5,163	nl
8 May 1942	U-136	Mildred Pauline	300	ca
			34,454
7 ships sunk (25,499 tons) and 1 ship damaged (8,955 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (d.) means the ship was damaged.