Gustav Poel

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 36)

Successes
4 ships sunk, total tonnage 34,525 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 1,100 tons

Born	2 Aug 1917		Hamburg
Died	16 Jan 2009	(91)	Hamburg, Germany

Kapitänleutnant Gustav Poel

Ranks

3 Apr 1936		Offiziersanwärter
10 Sep 1936		Seekadett
1 May 1937		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jul 1938		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1938		Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1940		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Feb 1943		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

6 Jun 1939		Spanish Cross in Bronze without Swords
8 Nov 1939		U-boat War Badge 1939
28 Feb 1940		Iron Cross 2nd Class
26 Nov 1942		Iron Cross 1st Class
21 Mar 1944		Knights Cross
22 Dec 1944		German Cross in Gold
27 Apr 1945		U-boat Front Clasp

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-413	3 Jun 1942	19 Apr 1944	5 patrols (290 days)

Kapitänleutnant Gustav Poel

Gustav Poel joined the Kriegsmarine in April 1936, and was part of the Olympia Crew. After service on the sailing school ship Gorch Fock and the light cruiser Emden, he spent six months on the torpedo boat Tiger, seeing action in the Spanish Civil War. He transferred to the U-boat force in October 1938. Following standard training and a brief period as II WO (2nd Watch Officer) on U-27, he transferred to U-37 (Schuch), serving as II WO from May 1939 - June 1940, during which he again saw active service. He then spent a year in staff positions, first at BdU org (Commander in Chief U-boats, admin), Kiel, and with Italian Submarine Command liason at Bordeaux .

In June 1941 he became a tactical instructor at the 25th (Training) Flotilla (Training) Flotilla, and in January 1942 became a staff officer there.

On 3 June 1942 he commissioned the type VIIC U-boat U-413. He took her on five patrols, mostly in the North Atlantic. A particularly notable success was his sinking the British destroyer HMS Warwick off the Scilly Isles in February 1944. He was awarded the Knights Cross in March 1944 (Rohwer, 1998).

He left U-413 in April 1944 to become a unit leader at Marinekriegsschule Glücksburg (Naval Warfare Academy). From January 1945 he was on Admiral von Friedeburg's staff (Kommandierende Admiral der U-Boote) at Flesburg-Mürwik until the end of the war.

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).
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Special thanks to Mr. Fernando Almeida for details on date of death and post-war career.

Patrol info for Gustav Poel

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-413	22 Oct 1942	Kiel	24 Oct 1942	Marviken	Patrol 1,	3 days
2.	U-413	28 Oct 1942	Marviken	25 Nov 1942	Brest	Patrol 1,	29 days
3.	U-413	27 Dec 1942	Brest	17 Feb 1943	Brest	Patrol 2,	53 days
4.	U-413	29 Mar 1943	Brest	13 Jun 1943	Brest	Patrol 3,	77 days
5.	U-413	4 Sep 1943	Brest	5 Sep 1943	Brest	Patrol 4,	2 days
6.	U-413	8 Sep 1943	Brest	18 Sep 1943	Brest	Patrol 4,	11 days
7.	U-413	27 Sep 1943	Brest	28 Sep 1943	Brest	Patrol 4,	2 days
8.	U-413	2 Oct 1943	Brest	21 Nov 1943	Brest	Patrol 4,	51 days
9.	U-413	26 Jan 1944	Brest	27 Mar 1944	Brest	Patrol 5,	62 days
5 patrols, 290 days at sea

Ships hit by Gustav Poel

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
14 Nov 1942	U-413	Warwick Castle	20,107	br	MKF-1X

22 Jan 1943	U-413	Mount Mycale	3,556	gr	SC-117
5 Feb 1943	U-413	West Portal	5,376	am	SC-118
21 Apr 1943	U-413	Wanstead	5,486	br	ONS-3

20 Feb 1944	U-413	HMS Warwick (D 25)	1,100	br
			35,625
5 ships sunk (35,625 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel.

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.