Hermann Rasch

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)

Successes
12 ships sunk, total tonnage 78,553 GRT
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 4,639 GRT
1 auxiliary warship damaged, total tonnage 8,246 GRT

Born	26 Aug 1914		Wilhelmshaven
Died	10 Jun 1974	(59)	Hamburg, Germany

Kapitänleutnant Hermann Rasch

Ranks

8 Apr 1934		Offiziersanwärter
1 Jul 1935		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1937		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1937		Leutnant zur See
1 Apr 1939		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Mar 1942		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

		Iron Cross 2nd Class
6 Jun 1939		Spanish Cross in Bronze without Swords
11 Jul 1941		Iron Cross 1st Class
29 Dec 1942		Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-106	20 Oct 1941	Apr, 1943	6 patrols (308 days)

Hermann Rasch began his naval career in April 1934. In April 1940 he joined the U-boat force and after some months of training he became I WO on U-106 in September 1940. In July 1941 he left the U-boat to begin commander training. Three months later he took over U-106 from Kptlt. Jürgen Oesten.

On six patrols, mostly in the North and Western Atlantic, he sank 11 ships. On his second patrol he achieved notable success, sinking two large ships of 10,354 and 15,355 tons apiece in three days. He was awarded the Knights Cross in Dec 1942. He left U-106 in April 1943.

For the next year he was an Asto (Admiral staff officer) at OKM (Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine, Naval High Command), and from June 1944 he was 4th Asto on the staff of BdU (BdU op, Commander-in-Chief U-boats, Operations).

In October 1944 he became commander of the KdK (Kommando der Kleinkampfverbände, Midget Combat Units Command), where he was responsible for the midget U-boat types Seehund and Biber until the end of the war.

He spent over a year in Allied captivity and then worked as a journalist in Hamburg, Berlin and Düsseldorf until his death in 1974.

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.

Patrol info for Hermann Rasch

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-106	21 Oct 1941	Lorient	22 Nov 1941	Lorient	Patrol 1,	33 days
2.	U-106	3 Jan 1942	Lorient	22 Feb 1942	Lorient	Patrol 2,	51 days
3.	U-106	15 Apr 1942	Lorient	29 Jun 1942	Lorient	Patrol 3,	76 days
4.	U-106	25 Jul 1942	Lorient	29 Jul 1942	Lorient	Patrol 4,	5 days
5.	U-106	22 Sep 1942	Lorient	26 Dec 1942	Lorient	Patrol 5,	96 days
6.	U-106	17 Feb 1943	Lorient	4 Apr 1943	Lorient	Patrol 6,	47 days
6 patrols, 308 days at sea

Ships hit by Hermann Rasch

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
28 Oct 1941	U-106	King Malcolm	5,120	br	SC-50
30 Oct 1941	U-106	USS Salinas (AO 19) (d.)	8,246	am	ON-28

24 Jan 1942	U-106	Empire Wildebeeste	5,631	br	ON-53
26 Jan 1942	U-106	Traveller	3,963	br
30 Jan 1942	U-106	Rochester	6,836	am
3 Feb 1942	U-106	Amerikaland	15,355	sw
6 Feb 1942	U-106	Opawa	10,354	br
5 May 1942	U-106	Lady Drake	7,985	ca
21 May 1942	U-106	Faja de Oro	6,067	me
26 May 1942	U-106	Carrabulle	5,030	am
27 May 1942	U-106	Atenas (d.)	4,639	am
28 May 1942	U-106	Mentor	7,383	br
1 Jun 1942	U-106	Hampton Roads	2,689	am
11 Oct 1942	U-106	Waterton	2,140	br	BS-31
			91,438
12 ships sunk (78,553 tons) and 2 ships damaged (12,885 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.