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Harro Schacht (15 December 1907 in Cuxhaven – 14 January 1943 in the South Atlantic) was a German U-boat commander in World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross ((ドイツ語:Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes)). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. He is credited with the sinking of 19 ships for a total of , including the and one ship damaged of . ==Biography== Schacht began his naval career in April 1926 as an ''Offiziersanwärter'' (Officer Cadet), receiving promotion to ''Fähnrich zur See'' in April 1928 and ''Oberfähnrich zur See'' in June 1930. On 1 October 1930 he was commissioned as a ''Leutnant zur See'', serving on the light cruisers and , and receiving promotion to ''Oberleutnant zur See'' on 1 August 1932. Promoted to ''Kapitänleutnant'' on 1 April 1936, he served in the staff of the ''Oberkommando der Marine'' (OKM) from 1937. Promoted to ''Korvettenkapitän'' on 1 October 1940, he joined the U-boat force in June 1941, sailing under Erich Topp in as a commander-in-training.〔 Following this, in October 1941 he was appointed commander of the newly built Type IXC submarine. On his second patrol, Schacht took ''U-507'' to the Gulf of Mexico in May 1942, sinking 9 ships, including 4 tankers.〔Blair 2000a, pp. 578–580, 729.〕 On his next patrol, he took ''U-507'' to operate off the coast of Brazil. From 16 to 19 August 1942, ''U-507'' sank six neutral Brazilian ships and a Swedish tanker. As a result of this (and previous attacks) Brazil declared war on Germany on 22 August 1942.〔〔Blair 2000a, pp. 670–671.〕 On the way home from this patrol, ''U-507'', together with , and the Italian submarine took part in the rescue operations during the Laconia incident, rescuing survivors, including many Italian Prisoners of War after the Laconia was sunk on 12 September 1942.〔〔Blair 2000b, pp. 58–65.〕 Schacht and the entire crew of ''U-507'' were killed in the South Atlantic on 13 January 1943 when a U.S. PBY Catalina aircraft sank the U-boat with depth charges. Schacht received posthumous promotion to ''Fregattenkapitän'' on 1 January 1944. Under his command ''U-507'' sank 19 merchant ships totalling 77,143 tons and damaged another of 6,561 tons.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Harro Schacht」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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