Harald Gelhaus

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 35)

Successes
19 ships sunk, total tonnage 100,373 GRT
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 10,068 GRT

Born	24 Jul 1915		Göttingen
Died	2 Dec 1997	(82)	Bochum, Westphalia, Germany

Kptlt. Harald Gelhaus

Ranks

5 Apr 1935		Offiziersanwärter
25 Sep 1935		Seekadett
1 Jul 1936		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1938		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1938		Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1939		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1942		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

31 Oct 1940		Iron Cross 2nd Class
31 Dec 1940		U-boat War Badge 1939
24 Feb 1941		Iron Cross 1st Class
26 Mar 1943		Knights Cross
1 Oct 1944		U-boat Front Clasp

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-143	31 Mar 1941	19 Nov 1941	4 patrols (82 days)
U-107	1 Dec 1941	6 Jun 1943	6 patrols (343 days)

Harald Gelhaus began his naval career in April 1935. He served on the light cruiser Karlsruhe and on the battleship Gneisenau. In October 1939 he transferred to the U-boat force. His first three patrols were as I WO on U-103 under Korvkpt. Schütze (Busch & Röll, 1999).

He left the boat in March 1941 and took command of the type IIB boat U-143. After four patrols he became the commander of U-107, the already famous boat of Korvkpt. Hessler (Busch & Röll, 1999). On the next six patrols he sank 19 ships with a total of little more than 100,00 tons (Rohwer, 1998). In June 1943 he became a staff member of the OKM, the High Command of the German Navy (Busch & Röll, 1999).

From February 1944 Gelhaus was a training officer in the 22nd (Training) Flotilla and 27th (Training) Flotillas. The final months of the war he spent in staff positions, the last one being in Naval High Command North. After the war he spent three months in Allied captivity (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Harald Gelhaus

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-143	19 Apr 1941	Kiel	13 May 1941	Bergen	Patrol 1,	25 days
2.	U-143	13 May 1941	Bergen	18 May 1941	Kiel		6 days
3.	U-143	9 Jun 1941	Kiel	29 Jun 1941	Bergen	Patrol 2,	21 days
4.	U-143	6 Jul 1941	Bergen	14 Jul 1941	Bergen	Patrol 3,	9 days
5.	U-143	17 Jul 1941	Bergen	21 Jul 1941	Kiel		5 days
6.	U-143	17 Aug 1941	Kiel	12 Sep 1941	Kiel	Patrol 4,	27 days
7.	U-107	10 Dec 1941	Lorient	26 Dec 1941	Lorient	Patrol 5,	17 days
8.	U-107	7 Jan 1942	Lorient	7 Mar 1942	Lorient	Patrol 6,	60 days
9.	U-107	21 Apr 1942	Lorient	11 Jul 1942	Lorient	Patrol 7,	82 days
10.	U-107	15 Aug 1942	Lorient	18 Nov 1942	Lorient	Patrol 8,	96 days
11.	U-107	30 Jan 1943	Lorient	25 Mar 1943	Lorient	Patrol 9,	55 days
12.	U-107	24 Apr 1943	Lorient	26 May 1943	Lorient	Patrol 10,	33 days
10 patrols, 425 days at sea

Ships hit by Harald Gelhaus

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
23 Aug 1941	U-143	Inger	1,409	nw

31 Jan 1942	U-107	San Arcadio	7,419	br
6 Feb 1942	U-107	Major Wheeler	3,431	am
21 Feb 1942	U-107	Egda (d.)	10,068	nw	ON-65
29 May 1942	U-107	Western Head	2,599	br
1 Jun 1942	U-107	Bushranger	4,536	pa
7 Jun 1942	U-107	Castilla	3,910	ho
8 Jun 1942	U-107	Suwied	3,249	am
10 Jun 1942	U-107	Merrimack	2,606	am
19 Jun 1942	U-107	Cheerio	35	am
26 Jun 1942	U-107	Jagersfontein	10,083	nl
3 Sep 1942	U-107	Hollinside	4,172	br
3 Sep 1942	U-107	Penrose	4,393	br
7 Oct 1942	U-107	Andalucia Star	14,943	br

22 Feb 1943	U-107	Roxburgh Castle	7,801	br
13 Mar 1943	U-107	Clan Alpine	5,442	br	OS-44
13 Mar 1943	U-107	Marcella	4,592	br	OS-44
13 Mar 1943	U-107	Oporto	2,352	br	OS-44
13 Mar 1943	U-107	Sembilangan	4,990	nl	OS-44
1 May 1943	U-107	Port Victor	12,411	br
			110,441
19 ships sunk (100,373 tons) and 1 ship damaged (10,068 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.