Hans Jenisch

Hans Jenisch (19 October 1913 – 29 April 1982) was a ''Kapitänleutnant'' in Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' during the Second World War and a ''Kapitän zur See'' in West Germany's ''Bundesmarine''. He commanded , a Type VIIA U-boat, sinking seventeen ships on seven patrols, for a total of of Allied shipping.

Career

Jenisch joined the navy, then named ''Reichsmarine'', in 1933, and after serving in the cruiser transferred to the U-boat arm in 1937. He served as 1WO (second-in-command) of under Werner Lott, before taking command of the U-boat in February 1940.

Jenisch, on his first war patrol as commander of ''U-32'', sunk the Swedish cargo ship ''Lagaholm'' on 2 March 1940. On 18 June, during his fourth war patrol, he sunk the Norwegian cargo vessel ''Altair'', and the two Spanish trawlers ''Nuevo Ons'' and the ''Sálvora''. The following day, he sunk the ''Labud''. He then sunk the ''Eli Knudsen'' on 22 June. In total, Jenisch on his fourth war patrol was credited with the destruction of of shipping.

On 31 August 1940, sailed for the African Atlantic coast to take part in Operation Menace (the Battle of Dakar) but before she could join the task force, ''Fiji'' was damaged by a torpedo from the ''U-32'' on 1 September and had to return to Britain for repairs, which lasted for the next six months.

On 26 October 1940, was spotted by a German Focke-Wulf C 200 ''Condor'' long-range bomber, commanded by ''Oberleutnant'' Bernhard Jope, west of Isle of Arran. Jope's bomber strafed ''Empress of Britain'' three times and hit her twice with bombs setting the ship on fire and causing severe damage. Jenisch had been informed of the location of the damaged vessel and intercepted her on the evening of 27 October. Jenisch fired three torpedoes, hitting her twice. ''Empress of Britain'' sank at 02:05 on 28 October 1940. At 42,348 gross tons, she was the largest ship sunk by a German U-boat.

During seven patrols he sank 17 ships, including the 42,348-ton , for a career total of , as well as damaging 3 ships for 22,749 tons, including the cruiser . Jenisch was captured on 30 October 1940 after ''U-32'' was sunk north-west of Ireland by the British destroyers and . Nine of her crew died but 33 survived to be taken prisoner, including Jenisch. He spent the next 6.5 years in British captivity before his return to Germany in June 1947.

Post-war

Even though Jenisch became known as a celebrated U-boat commander, his subsequent assessment of submarines was highly negative. In POW camp, he told a shocked Wilfried Prellberg (ex-CO of ) he considered submarines in warfare "obsolete. All of it." On joining the West German ''Bundesmarine'' in 1956, Jenisch held staff positions and commanded the training frigate ''Hipper'' (originally a ''Black Swan''-class sloop, the ex-HMS ''Actaeon'') for a time.

Jenisch was Divisional Training Commander at the '' Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr'' in Hamburg from 1 October 1966 to 31 March 1970. He retired in 1972 with the rank of ''Kapitän zur See'', and died in 1982.

Awards

* Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class
* U-boat War Badge (1939)
* Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 7 October 1940 as ''Oberleutnant zur See'' and commander of ''U-32''

References

Notes

Bibliography

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenisch, Hans
1913 births
1982 deaths
People from Pravdinsky District
Military personnel from East Prussia
U-boat commanders (Kriegsmarine)
German Navy personnel
Reichsmarine personnel
Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross