Herbert Zoller

Oberleutnant zur See (Crew 38)

Successes
1 ship sunk, total tonnage 6,996 GRT
1 warship a total loss, total tonnage 1,370 tons

Born

19 May 1919

Rottweil, Neckar

Ranks

1 Oct 1938		Offiziersanwärter
1 Jul 1939		Seekadett
1 Dec 1939		Fähnrich zur See
1 Aug 1940		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1941		Leutnant zur See
1 Jan 1943		Oberleutnant zur See

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-3	1 Oct 1942	18 May 1943	No war patrols
U-315	10 Jul 1943	9 May 1945	11 patrols (265 days)

Herbert Zoller joined the Kriegsmarine in 1938, and received initial training on the square-rigged school ship Gorch Fock from March to June 1939. He then spent two months on the light cruiser Emden before going through further training from Sept 1939 to April 1940. He was at the Military hospital at Kiel from May to June 1940 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Zoller served on the battleship Gneisenau from July to Oct 1940 before joining the U-boat arm and undergoing standard instruction from Oct 1940 to March 1941, followed by U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) on a U-boat under construction (Busch & Röll, 1999).

On 8 May 1941 the type VIIC U-569 was commissioned at Hamburg by Kptlt. Hans-Peter Hinsch and Herbert Zoller took on his duties as a Watch Officer (WO). After three months of working up exercises in the Baltic they left on the first patrol from Trondheim, Norway on 11 Aug 1941 (Busch & Röll, 1997).

Zoller sailed on five patrols with U-569 from Aug 1941 to June 1942, spending 180 days at sea (Busch & Röll, 1997). He left the boat in July for his U-boat Commander training with the 24th (Training) Flotilla, which he completed in August. He briefly served as a supernumerary WO on the small school "duck" U-3 before taking command of the boat on 1 Oct 1942. Zoller left U-3 on 18 May 1943 for another U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung), this time to prepare him for his own command (Busch & Röll, 1999).

On 10 July 1943 Oblt. Herbert Zoller commissioned the type VIIC U-315 at Lübeck (Busch & Röll, 1999). After extensive training in the Baltic he left for his first war patrol from Bergen, Norway on 21 Feb 1944 (Busch & Röll, 1997).

Zoller sailed on 11 patrols, spending 265 days at sea. He sank two ships, both on his last patrol near the end of the war; Empire Kingsley on 22 March and the Canadian River class frigate HMCS Teme (K 458) on 29 March 1945 (Rohwer, 1998).

The steam merchant Empire Kingsley sunk by U-315 (Zoller) on 22 March 1945.

Oblt. Herbert Zoller arrived at Trondheim, Norway after his last patrol on 24 April 1945. The boat was stricken from the German Navy at Trondheim on 1 May and then surrendered to the Allies on 9 May 1945 (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 Herbert Zoller

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-315	17 Feb 1944	Kiel	20 Feb 1944	Bergen		4 days
2.	U-315	21 Feb 1944	Bergen	9 Mar 1944	Narvik	Patrol 1,	18 days
3.	U-315	23 Mar 1944	Narvik	10 Apr 1944	Narvik	Patrol 2,	19 days
4.	U-315	19 Apr 1944	Narvik	14 May 1944	Bogenbucht	Patrol 3,	26 days
5.	U-315	25 May 1944	Bogenbucht	26 May 1944	Hammerfest		2 days
6.	U-315	30 May 1944	Hammerfest	10 Jul 1944	Bergen	Patrol 4,	42 days
7.	U-315	28 Aug 1944	Bergen	4 Sep 1944	Narvik	Patrol 5,	8 days
8.	U-315	8 Sep 1944	Narvik	26 Sep 1944	Bogenbucht	Patrol 6,	19 days
9.	U-315	29 Sep 1944	Bogenbucht	3 Oct 1944	Hammerfest	Patrol 7,	5 days
10.	U-315	12 Oct 1944	Hammerfest	10 Nov 1944	Kilbotn	Patrol 8,	30 days
11.	U-315	19 Nov 1944	Kilbotn	21 Nov 1944	Skjomenfjord		3 days
12.	U-315	21 Nov 1944	Skjomenfjord	6 Dec 1944	Harstad	Patrol 9,	16 days
13.	U-315	9 Dec 1944	Harstad	12 Dec 1944	Trondheim		4 days
14.	U-315	25 Dec 1944	Trondheim	6 Jan 1945	Trondheim	Patrol 10,	13 days
15.	U-315	15 Feb 1945	Trondheim	24 Apr 1945	Trondheim	Patrol 11,	69 days
11 patrols, 265 days at sea

Ships hit by Herbert Zoller

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
22 Mar 1945	U-315	Empire Kingsley	6,996	br	TBC-103
29 Mar 1945	U-315	HMCS Teme (K 458) (t.)	1,370	ca	BTC-111
			8,366
2 ships sunk (8,366 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (t.) means the ship was a total loss (included in ships & tonnage lost).

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.