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Fregattenkapitän Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock (11 December 1911 – 18 April 1986) was a German naval officer and submarine commander during World War II. He was sixth among the top ten Aces of the Deep during the Second Battle of the Atlantic against the Allies, in terms of tonnage of merchant ships sunk. He commanded four U-boats, and his most notable and successful tour was commanding the a Type VIIC U-boat, which gained widespread recognition when one of its patrols was documented and publicized by an accompanying war correspondent Lothar-Günther Buchheim. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves ((ドイツ語:Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub)) for his achievements as a U-boat commander. The story of the ''U-96'' was eventually made into a mini-series and film called ''Das Boot'', in which he was portrayed by Jürgen Prochnow. ==Biography== Lehmann-Willenbrock was born on 11 December 1911 in Bremen, German Empire. He joined the ''Reichsmarine'' of the Weimar Republic in April 1931 as a member "Crew 1931" (the incoming class of 1931), with the rank of ''Seekadett'', serving on a light cruiser and a sailing school ship before he transferred to the ''U-Boatwaffe'' in April 1939, five months before World War II began. Upon serving as an executive officer on , he was promoted to ''Kapitänleutnant'' and took command of in December 1939. Both ''U-8'' and ''U-5'' were Type II submarines. His first patrol, which lasted 15 days, was along the coast of Norway during Operation Hartmut, the U-boat operation in support of the invasion of Norway. No ships were sunk. Upon the return of ''U-5'', Lehmann-Willenbrock was transferred to the newly commissioned , a Type VIIC U-boat whose crew underwent three months of training before being put onto active duty. During three patrols under Willenbrock's command, ''U-96'' sank 125,580 tons of enemy shipping. The third patrol alone resulted in seven ships sunk, for 49,490 tons. In 1941 Willenbrock's sinkings with ''U-96'' included three British troop ships: (16 January), (17 January) and (15 July); each with considerable loss of life. The seventh patrol was the approximate time that Lothar-Günther Buchheim boarded ''U-96'' and documented the boat's successes in his book ''Das Boot''. Willenbrock earned all of his medals during his patrols with ''U-96''. Lehmann-Willenbrock left ''U-96'' in March 1942 to be promoted to ''Korvettenkapitän'' and appointed ''Flottillenchef'' of the ''9th U-boat Flotilla'', stationed in Brest. On September 2, 1944 he assumed command of and escaped the besieged Brest just a few days before the town's surrender. He reached Bergen, Norway on October 23. In Bergen he was appointed ''Flottillenchef'' of the ''11th U-boat Flotilla'' in December, and held the position until the German surrender in Norway on 9 May 1945. After a year in captivity, Lehmann-Willenbrock returned to Germany in May 1946, salvaging ships in the River Rhine. In 1948, he left Germany aboard his ship, ''Magellan'', with three of his friends to Buenos Aires. Here he was skipper on several trade ships. In March 1959 he showed great courage as skipper of the freighter Inga Bastian when he and his crew saved 57 survivors from the burning Brazilian ship Commandante Lyra. After returning to Germany, he served as captain on several merchantmen, and was appointed captain of the German freighter ''Otto Hahn'', the first of only four merchant cargo nuclear ships. Buchheim's book ''Der Abschied'' ("The Goodbye") describes one of its voyages, which Buchheim joined as a passenger. He was decorated in 1974 with the ''Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande'' (Federal Merit Cross on Ribbon). In 1982, Lehmann-Willenbrock accompanied Wolfgang Petersen and the ''Das Boot'' cast and crew as an advisor to the film. Afterwards, he returned to his home at Bremen, where he remained until his death. 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「Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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