Gerd Schaar

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 37b)

Successes
2 ships sunk, total tonnage 7,564 GRT
2 warships sunk, total tonnage 604 tons

Born	5 Mar 1919		Berlin
Died	24 Jan 1983	(63)	Maseru / Lesotho, South Africa

Gerhard Schaar

Ranks

9 Oct 1937		Offiziersanwärter
28 Jun 1938		Seekadett
1 Apr 1939		Fähnrich zur See
1 Mar 1940		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 May 1940		Leutnant zur See
1 Apr 1942		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Jan 1945		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

15 May 1940		Iron Cross 2nd Class
14 Feb 1944		German Cross in Gold
1 Oct 1944		Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-957	1 Apr 1943	21 Oct 1944	7 patrols (162 days)
U-2551	20 Apr 1945	5 May 1945	No war patrols

Gerhard Schaar began his naval career in October 1937. He served on the destroyer Erich Giese, which was sunk during the occupation of Norway in April 1940. After some months on shore in Narvik, he served as training officer in the Marineschule Mürwik (Naval Academy) before transferring to the U-boat force in February 1942.

After two patrols in U-704, in April 1943 he took over command of the type VIIC U-boat U-957, which was attached to the 11th Flotilla and was in action in Arctic and northern waters. Schaar won his Knights Cross for leading the landing operation on the Russian island of Sterligova, where a radio station was destroyed in September 1944.

In April 1945 Schaar commissioned the type XXI Elektro U-boat Elektro boat U-2551. It was run aground and wrecked one month later when Germany surrendered.

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.

Patrol info for Gerd Schaar

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-957	14 Dec 1943	Kiel	12 Jan 1944	Narvik	Patrol 1,	30 days
2.	U-957	24 Jan 1944	Narvik	2 Feb 1944	Hammerfest	Patrol 2,	10 days
3.	U-957	6 Feb 1944	Hammerfest	20 Feb 1944	Narvik	Patrol 3,	15 days
4.	U-957	22 Feb 1944	Narvik	25 Feb 1944	Hammerfest		4 days
5.	U-957	26 Feb 1944	Hammerfest	4 Mar 1944	Bergen	Patrol 4,	8 days
6.	U-957	29 Apr 1944	Bergen	2 May 1944	Narvik		4 days
7.	U-957	11 May 1944	Narvik	8 Jun 1944	Narvik	Patrol 5,	29 days
8.	U-957	14 Jun 1944	Narvik	15 Jun 1944	Tromsö		2 days
9.	U-957	23 Jun 1944	Tromsö	23 Jun 1944	Tromsö		1 days
10.	U-957	26 Jun 1944	Tromsö	28 Jun 1944	Tromsö		3 days
11.	U-957	2 Jul 1944	Tromsö	3 Jul 1944	Narvik		2 days
12.	U-957	18 Jul 1944	Narvik	20 Jul 1944	Hammerfest		3 days
13.	U-957	23 Jul 1944	Hammerfest	3 Sep 1944	Hammerfest	Patrol 6,	43 days
14.	U-957	7 Sep 1944	Hammerfest	3 Oct 1944	Narvik	Patrol 7,	27 days
15.	U-957	6 Oct 1944	Narvik	8 Oct 1944	Trondheim		3 days
16.	U-957	17 Oct 1944	Trondheim	21 Oct 1944	Narvik		5 days
7 patrols, 162 days at sea

Ships hit by Gerd Schaar

Date	U-boat	Commander	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
26 Jan 1944	U-957	Gerd Schaar	Fort Bellingham	7,153	br	JW-56A
26 Jan 1944	U-957	Gerd Schaar	USS PTC-38	54	am	JW-56A
26 Aug 1944	U-957	Gerd Schaar	Nord	411	sj
23 Sep 1944	U-957	Gerd Schaar	Brilliant (No 29)	550	sj	VD-1
				8,168
4 ships sunk (8,168 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.