Hans-Günther Lange

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 37a)

Successes
1 ship sunk, total tonnage 10 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 925 tons
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 20 GRT

Born	28 Sep 1916		Hannover
Died	3 Apr 2014	(97)	Kiel, Germany

Kptlt. Hans-Günther Lange

Ranks

3 Apr 1937		Offiziersanwärter
21 Sep 1937		Seekadett
1 May 1938		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jul 1939		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Aug 1939		Leutnant zur See
1 Sep 1941		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Aug 1944		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

7 Jun 1940		Iron Cross 2nd Class
12 Dec 1940		Iron Cross 1st Class
11 May 1944		German Cross in Gold
26 Aug 1944		Knights Cross
29 Apr 1945		Knights Cross with Oak Leaves

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-711	26 Sep 1942	4 May 1945	12 patrols (304 days)

Kapitänleutnant Hans Günther Lange

Leutnant Lange received his first experience as an officer on board the torpedo boat Jaguar. In September 1941 he joined the U-boat arm and only two months later started his first patrol as IWO on U-431 in the Mediterranean. In July 1942 he completed the usual Kommandantenschießlehrgang (commander fire course) in the 24th Flotilla.

Oblt. Hans-Günther Lange commissioned U-711 in September 1942. He commanded eleven patrols on this boat, all in Arctic waters and mainly against British and Soviet convoys. Three times U-711 attacked Soviet radio stations on small islands in the Barents Sea and nearby waters.

On 23 August, 1944 Kptlt. Lange fired torpedoes at the Soviet battleship Archangelsk (former HMS Royal Sovereign and a sister ship to HMS Royal Oak sunk by U-47 at Scapa Flow in Oct 1939) and a Soviet destroyer, but this attack was unsuccessful.

Fregattenkapitän Lange

U-711 was sunk on 4 May 1945 by British aircraft (Niestlé, 1998). The next three months Lange spent in British-Norwegian captivity.

In October 1957 Lange joined the Bundesmarine. Here he took part in the construction of a new German U-boat weapon. For two years he commanded the 1. Ubootgeschwader (1st U-boot squadron) and in January 1964 became commander of the entire U-boat force. Later he held several staff positions, ending his second naval career in 1972 as staff officer in the Marinedivision der Nordsee (naval forces in the North Sea).

Hans-Günther passed away on 3 April 2014; he was 97 years old.

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).
forum-marinearchiv.de. (2014). Hans-Günther Lange.
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Hans-Günther Lange

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-711	20 Mar 1943	Kiel	23 Mar 1943	Bergen		4 days
2.	U-711	25 Mar 1943	Bergen	30 Apr 1943	Hammerfest	Patrol 1,	37 days
3.	U-711	12 May 1943	Hammerfest	14 May 1943	Hammerfest		3 days
4.	U-711	25 May 1943	Hammerfest	18 Jun 1943	Narvik	Patrol 2,	25 days
5.	U-711	22 Jul 1943	Narvik	30 Sep 1943	Narvik	Patrol 3,	71 days
6.	U-711	2 Oct 1943	Narvik	5 Oct 1943	Trondheim		4 days
7.	U-711	15 Dec 1943	Trondheim	17 Dec 1943	Narvik		3 days
8.	U-711	18 Dec 1943	Narvik	19 Dec 1943	Narvik		2 days
9.	U-711	20 Dec 1943	Narvik	23 Dec 1943	Trondheim		4 days
10.	U-711	19 Mar 1944	Trondheim	21 Mar 1944	Narvik		3 days
11.	U-711	22 Mar 1944	Narvik	6 Apr 1944	Hammerfest	Patrol 4,	16 days
12.	U-711	11 Apr 1944	Hammerfest	15 Apr 1944	Narvik	Patrol 5,	5 days
13.	U-711	24 Apr 1944	Narvik	5 May 1944	Narvik	Patrol 6,	12 days
14.	U-711	30 May 1944	Narvik	8 Jul 1944	Bogenbucht	Patrol 7,	40 days
15.	U-711	29 Jul 1944	Bogenbucht	30 Jul 1944	Hammerfest		2 days
16.	U-711	2 Aug 1944	Hammerfest	19 Aug 1944	Hammerfest	Patrol 8,	18 days
17.	U-711	22 Aug 1944	Hammerfest	26 Aug 1944	Hammerfest		5 days
18.	U-711	27 Aug 1944	Hammerfest	28 Aug 1944	Bogenbucht		2 days
19.	U-711	3 Sep 1944	Bogenbucht	5 Sep 1944	Hammerfest		3 days
20.	U-711	7 Sep 1944	Hammerfest	4 Oct 1944	Narvik	Patrol 9,	28 days
21.	U-711	6 Oct 1944	Narvik	8 Oct 1944	Trondheim		3 days
22.	U-711	23 Jan 1945	Trondheim	26 Jan 1945	Narvik		4 days
23.	U-711	9 Feb 1945	Narvik	24 Feb 1945	Harstad	Patrol 10,	16 days
24.	U-711	14 Mar 1945	Harstad	31 Mar 1945	Harstad	Patrol 11,	18 days
25.	U-711	15 Apr 1945	Harstad	2 May 1945	Harstad	Patrol 12,	18 days
12 patrols, 304 days at sea

Ships hit by Hans-Günther Lange

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
13 Apr 1944	U-711	Solvoll	10	nw

17 Feb 1945	U-711	HMS Bluebell (K 80)	925	br	RA-64
22 Mar 1945	U-711	VPS-5 (d.)	20	sj
			955
2 ships sunk (935 tons) and 1 ship damaged (20 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.