Albrecht Brandi

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Albrecht Brandi
Albrecht Brandi.jpg
Albrecht Brandi
Born (1914-06-20)20 June 1914
Dortmund
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Dortmund
Allegiance  Nazi Germany
Service/branch  Kriegsmarine
Years of service 1935–45
Rank Fregattenkapitän
Unit SSS Gorch Fock
light cruiser Karlsruhe
5th U-boat Flotilla
7th U-boat Flotilla
29th U-boat Flotilla
Commands held U-617, April 1942 – September 1943

U-380, December 1943 – March 1944

U-967, April 1944 – July 1944
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds
Other work Architect

Albrecht Brandi (20 June 1914 – 6 January 1966) was a German U-boat commander in World War II. Together with Wolfgang Lüth he was the only Kriegsmarine sailor who was awarded with the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds.

During his naval career Brandi destroyed twelve ships, including one minelayer and two destroyers. With these victories Brandi became the U-boat commander who destroyed the most warships. However, he is not the U-boat commander with the most ships sunk; that record is held by Otto Kretschmer with 47 victories. Brandi is ranked number 24 on the top scoring list of Germany's U-boat commanders.

Biography

Early years

Brandi joined the Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine in 1935 and studied to become a naval officer on board on the German cruiser Karlsruhe (26 September 1935 – 19 June 1936). After graduating he became commander of the minesweeper M-1. During the first year of World War II, Brandi cleared various minefields in the North Sea.

In April 1941 Brandi started his U-boat training at the U-boat training camp in Neustadt in Holstein. From May 1941 to April 1942, Brandi was a Kommandantenschüler (Commander-in-training) aboard U-552, which was commanded by the famous commander Erich Topp, for three patrols. On 9 April 1942 Brandi was given the command of his own U-boat, U-617 and completed the usual training with the new boat in the 5th U-boat Flotilla.

War in the Mediterranean Sea

For his first patrol, Brandi left Kiel in August 1942, operating in the Western Approaches before arriving at St. Nazaire in October. During this time Brandi destroyed four merchant ships. On his second patrol, in November 1942, Brandi was ordered to the Mediterranean Sea. To get to his destination Brandi had to traverse the heavily guarded Strait of Gibraltar. He decided to proceed through the Strait on the surface by night with engines stopped, relying on the current in the Straits (which on the surface move from the Atlantic into the Mediterranean) to propel his boat through. During this extremely dangerous trip, Brandi was discovered by a Short Sunderland bomber which dropped two depth charges, which missed.

In the Mediterranean, U-617 was assigned to 29th U-boat Flotilla, located in La Spezia and Toulon and commanded by Fritz Frauenheim. Through 1943 Brandi made various patrols in the Mediterranean Sea. During these patrols Brandi targeted British warships that were attacking the German and Italian supply ships that were so vital for the Afrikakorps in North Africa.

On his third patrol, in December 1942, Brandi sank the ocean tug St Issey, and two more merchant ships.

In February 1943 Brandi sank the British minelayer HMS Welshman a few miles from the Maltese coast. The destruction of this ship was important, as the minelayer had been an integral part of the defense of Malta. Brandi was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for this victory. He also sank two ships from a well-protected convoy. In April 1943, Brandi claimed the sinking of a light cruiser, 40 miles off Gibraltar. Brandi was awarded Oak Leaves with his Knight's Cross, though this sinking was also not confirmed.

Two more patrols followed in June and July, though these had no success.

In September 1943, in his last patrol in U-617, Brandi sank HMS Puckeridge, a Hunt class destroyer, off Gibraltar. A few days later, on 12 September, she was attacked near the Moroccan coast by Royal Air Force Wellington aircraft from No. 179 Squadron. One aircraft was claimed by the German Flak crew, though this is unconfirmed, while depth charges exploded close to the U-617. The resultant damage was so severe that Brandi decided to abandon ship off Melilla, Spanish Morocco in position Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found..[1] After evacuating into rubber boats, the crew managed to reach the shore without loss and were interned by Spanish troops. Brandi was loosely confined in the officers' camp near Cadiz, and from there he succeeded in returning to Germany. The wrecked U-617, aground offshore, was finally destroyed and sunk by air attack and naval gunfire.[2][3]

In January 1944 Brandi returned to Toulon and took command of U-380. Brandi completed one patrol with U-380, but the boat was destroyed on 13 March 1944 in Toulon by a bombing raid of the 9th USAAF. In April 1944 Brandi became commander of U-967. During his first patrol with her in May 1944 Brandi sank the destroyer USS Fechteler. Following this he received the Swords to his Knights Cross with Oak Leaves.

Brandi as a leader

During the next patrol with U-967 in June 1944, Brandi became seriously ill and had to return to base. Brandi then was appointed commander of all U-boats in the Eastern Baltic Sea. Brandi was awarded Diamonds to his Knight's Cross for his leadership of the U-boat fleet. In the last year of the war, Brandi became chief commander of the mini submarine fleet.

After the war Brandi started a career as an architect.

Summary of career

Ships attacked

During his U-boat service Brandi claimed, and was credited with, sinking 26 ships, of 100,000 gross register tons (GRT). This claim included ten warships; two cruisers and eight destroyers. Although ships sunk in the Mediterranean were doubled for award purposes, and extra credit was given for sinking warships, Brandi's actual sinkings were "startlingly less" according to Blair.[4] The confirmed total was:

  • 8 ships sunk for a total of 25,879 GRT
  • 1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 810 GRT
  • 3 warships sunk for a total of 5,000 tons
Date U-boat Name of Ship Nationality Tonnage Fate
7 September 1942 U-617 Tor II  Faroe Islands 292 sunk
23 September 1942 U-617 Athelsultan  United Kingdom 8,882 sunk
23 September 1942 U-617 Tennessee  United Kingdom 2,342 sunk
24 September 1942 U-617 Roumanie  Belgium 3,563 sunk
28 December 1942 U-617 HMS St. Issey (W25)  Royal Navy 810 sunk
15 January 1943 U-617 Annitsa  Greece 4,324 sunk
15 January 1943 U-617 Harboe Jensen  Norway 1,862 sunk
1 February 1943 U-617 HMS Welshman (M84)  Royal Navy 2,650 sunk
5 February 1943 U-617 Corona  Norway 3,264 sunk
5 February 1943 U-617 Henrik  Norway 1,350 sunk
6 September 1943 U-617 HMS Puckeridge (L108)  Royal Navy 1,050 sunk
5 May 1944 U-967 USS Fechteler (DE-157)  United States Navy 1,300 sunk

Awards

Promotions

25 September 1935: Seekadett (Midshipman)[12]
1 July 1936: Fähnrich zur See (Officer Cadet)[12]
1 January 1938: Oberfähnrich zur See (Senior Ensign)[12]
1 April 1938: Leutnant zur See (Second Lieutenant)[12]
1 October 1939: Oberleutnant zur See (First Lieutenant)[12]
1 October 1942: Kapitänleutnant (Captain Lieutenant)[12]
1 June 1943: Kapitänleutnant with rank age dated 1 March 1942[12]
8 June 1944: Korvettenkapitän (Corvette Captain), effective as of and rank age dated 9 May 1944[1]
18 December 1944: Fregattenkapitän (Frigate Captain), effective as of 1 August 1944 with rank age dated 1 December 1944[1]

References

Citations

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Busch & Röll 2003, p. 309.
  2. Blair 2000, p. 414.
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  4. Blair 2000, p. 524.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Berger 1999, p. 43.
  6. Williamson & Pavlovic 1995, p. 48.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Scherzer 2007, p. 239.
  8. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 142.
  9. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 68.
  10. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 43.
  11. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 38.
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 Busch & Röll 2003, p. 308.

Bibliography

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External links

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