Peter-Erich Cremer

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 32)

Successes
6 ships sunk, total tonnage 26,873 GRT
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 8,327 GRT
1 warship damaged, total tonnage 925 tons

Born	25 Mar 1911		Metz, Lorraine
Died	5 Jul 1992	(81)	Hamburg, Germany

Peter Erich Cremer

Ranks

15 Aug 1932		Offiziersanwärter
4 Nov 1932		Seekadett
1 Jan 1934		Fähnrich zur See
1 Sep 1935		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1936		Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1937		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Feb 1940		Kapitänleutnant
11 Jul 1944		Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

11 Feb 1940		Iron Cross 2nd Class
19 Oct 1940		Destroyer War Badge
10 Feb 1942		Iron Cross 1st Class
26 May 1942		U-boat War Badge 1939
5 Jun 1942		Knights Cross
11 Nov 1942		Wound Badge in Silver
27 Sep 1944		U-boat Front Clasp

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-152	29 Jan 1941	21 Jul 1941	No war patrols
U-333	25 Aug 1941	6 Oct 1942	4 patrols (156 days)
U-333	18 May 1943	19 Jul 1944	5 patrols (211 days)
U-2519	15 Nov 1944	Feb, 1945	No war patrols

Korvettenkapitän 'Ali' Cremer

Peter Erich Cremer began his naval career in August 1932 after studying law for six semesters. This was four months later than the usual start date, due to an accident in June of that year in which the German sailing school ship Niobe sank after capsizing, killing most of the cadets (27 men) of Crew 1932. Some men from the Reichsmarine thus went on to replace this loss.

Cremer completed the one year of basic on-board training on the light cruiser Köln. After a few months on the heavy cruiser Deutschland, he served three years in the naval artillery, returning to service at sea as II WO on the destroyer Theodor Riedel and then transferring to the U-boat force in August 1940.

In January 1941 Kptlt. Cremer commissioned U-152, a small coastal type IID U-boat which was to serve as a school boat. A few months later he took command of the larger type VIIC U-boat U-333, the 3 Little Fishes boat, an emblem suggested by the boat's number. Although 'Ali' Cremer went out for his first patrol on U-333 without any combat experience, he sank three enemy ships - but also, unfortunately, the German blockade-runner Spreewald. The subsequent official investigation exonerated Cremer, however. His next patrol, in US waters, was also successful, with four ships sunk, but it ended with Cremer nursing a badly damaged boat back to base after being rammed.

On his third patrol Cremer was seriously wounded by gunfire from the British corvette HMS Crocus. Seven of the crew were killed, and a replacement WO from the milch cow U-459 was needed to assist Cremer in bringing a once more heavily-damaged U-333 to base. After this, Cremer got the nickname 'Ali Wrack' (Ali Wreck). But his crew members insisted that "Ali on board is the the best life insurance!". Cremer spent three months in hospital recovering from his wounds.

Cremer
'Ali' Cremer and his LI Oblt. (Ing) Spangenberg on board U-333.

Kptlt. Cremer returning from patrol (note the '3 Little Fishes' on his capband)

From February to May 1943 he served on Dönitz' staff, but when Dönitz decided to send some experienced commanders out on patrol to investigate the situation following the massive U-boat losses of May 1943, Cremer was amongst them. And so once again Cremer took U-333 out on patrol, and in April 1944 once again returned with her badly damaged, this time from a severe depth charge attack. In July 1944 he left the boat, which was lost on the next patrol.

Cremer then commissioned the new type XXI Elektro U-boat Elektro boat U-2519, one of the highly decorated U-boat commanders (like Schnee, Bülow, Emmermann, Witt and Topp), given command of the new boats in an attempt to turn the tide in the battle of the Atlantic.

Korvkpt. Cremer left U-2519 in February 1945 to become field commander of the Marine-Panzervernichtungsbataillon (Naval Tank Destroying Battalion) which was pitted against British tanks attempting to occupy the city of Hamburg.

On 25 April, 1945 the daily Armed Forces' Wehrmachtsbericht announced:

"Ein von Korvettenkapitän Cremer geführter Panzervernichtungstrupp der Kriegsmarine, zusammengestellt aus Freiwilligen eines Unterseeboot-Stützpunktes, vernichtete innnerhalb weniger Tage 24 Panzer."

(A naval tank destroying unit under command of Korvettenkapitän Cremer, including volunteers from a U-boat base, destroyed 24 tanks during the last few days.)

In the last days of the war Cremer became commander of Dönitz's guard unit and was thus involved in the tragic incident in which Kapitän z. See Wolfgang Lüth was shot and killed by a German sentry. Following Germany's surrender he spent one month in British captivity. After the war he was successful in a new career, managing several companies.

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.

Patrol info for Peter-Erich Cremer

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-333	27 Dec 1941	Kiel	9 Feb 1942	La Pallice	Patrol 1,	45 days
2.	U-333	30 Mar 1942	La Pallice	26 May 1942	La Pallice	Patrol 2,	58 days
3.	U-333	11 Aug 1942	La Pallice	24 Aug 1942	La Pallice	Patrol 3,	14 days
4.	U-333	1 Sep 1942	La Pallice	9 Oct 1942	at sea	Patrol 4,	39 days
5.	U-333	2 Jun 1943	La Pallice	31 Aug 1943	La Pallice	Patrol 5,	91 days
6.	U-333	21 Oct 1943	La Pallice	1 Dec 1943	La Pallice	Patrol 6,	42 days
7.	U-333	10 Feb 1944	La Pallice	12 Feb 1944	La Pallice	Patrol 7,	3 days
8.	U-333	14 Feb 1944	La Pallice	20 Apr 1944	La Pallice	Patrol 8,	67 days
9.	U-333	6 Jun 1944	La Pallice	13 Jun 1944	Lorient	Patrol 9,	8 days
9 patrols, 367 days at sea

Ships hit by Peter-Erich Cremer

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
22 Jan 1942	U-333	Vassilios A. Polemis	3,429	gr	ON-53
24 Jan 1942	U-333	Ringstad	4,765	nw	ON-55
31 Jan 1942	U-333	Spreewald	5,083	dt
6 May 1942	U-333	Java Arrow (d.)	8,327	am
6 May 1942	U-333	Amazone	1,294	nl
6 May 1942	U-333	Halsey	7,088	am
10 May 1942	U-333	Clan Skene	5,214	br
6 Oct 1942	U-333	HMS Crocus (K 49) (d.)	925	br
			36,125
6 ships sunk (26,873 tons) and 2 ships damaged (9,252 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (d.) means the ship was damaged.