| Born | 26 Mar 1918 | Braunschweig | |
| Died | 5 Jan 1991 | (72) | Bonn, Germany |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-978 | 12 May 1943 | 9 May 1945 | 2 patrols (124 days) |
 Kapitänleutnant Günther Pulst after his last patrol in April 1945 |
Günther Pulst began his naval career in October 1937. In December 1939 he began service on the destroyer Wolfgang Zenker. When the destroyer was sunk in the Norwegian Campaign, Günther Pulst fought for a few weeks in the battle ashore. For this he was awarded the Narvik shield, a decoration received by only a few men of the U-boat force (e.g., Rolf Thomsen). In autumn 1940 he became a training officer at the Marineschule Flensburg-Mürwik (Mürwik Naval Academy) before joining the U-boat force in April 1942.
He made two patrols in U-752 as I WO (1st Watch Officer). He left U-753 in March 1943, and in May 1943 commissioned the type VIIC U-boat U-978.
His first patrol with U-978 was notable due to the fact that he made the whole patrol of 68 days underwater, using the Schnorchel - the longest submerged patrol of WWII (and two days longer than U-997's famous voyage to Argentina after the ceasefire). He attacked three ships and was credited with one certain sinking.
After his second patrol Germany surrendered, and Günther Pulst sailed U-978 under British control from Norway to Loch Ryan, Scotland at the end of May 1945. He then spent nearly three years in British captivity.
In September 1957 he became a civilian staff member of the Bundeswehr (Federal German Armed Services) and worked for some years in the 1960s as Financial Controller NATO in Paris. He retired in March 1983. He was decorated in 1980 with the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Merit Cross) and in 1983 with the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal (USA).
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).
Patrol info for Günther Pulst
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | U-978 | 22 Aug 1944 | Kiel | 24 Aug 1944 | Horten | 3 days | ||
| 2. | U-978 | 5 Sep 1944 | Horten | 7 Sep 1944 | Flekkefjord | 3 days | ||
| 3. | U-978 | 13 Sep 1944 | Flekkefjord | 13 Sep 1944 | Egersund | 1 days | ||
| 4. | U-978 | 7 Oct 1944 | Egersund | 8 Oct 1944 | Bergen | 2 days | ||
| 5. | U-978 | 9 Oct 1944 | Bergen | 16 Dec 1944 | Bergen | Patrol 1, | 69 days | |
| 6. | U-978 | 25 Feb 1945 | Bergen | 20 Apr 1945 | Trondheim | Patrol 2, | 55 days | |
| 2 patrols, 124 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Günther Pulst
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Nov 1944 | U-978 | William D. Burnham (t.) | 7,176 |  | am | TMC-44 | ||
| 7,176 | ||||||||
1 ship sunk (7,176 tons). Legend | ||||||||
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.
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