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Heinrich Wilhelm Herbert Wohlfarth (5 June 1915 – 13 August 1982) was a successful World War II U-boat commander. He was also a 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. ==Naval career== Herbert Wohlfarth began his naval career in April 1933. After the usual training he spent more than a year on the cruiser . In May 1937 he joined the U-boat force, and like many of the later successful commanders received a solid pre-war training under Karl Dönitz. After some months as aide-de-camp in the 3rd U-boat Flotilla, in September 1938 he became watch officer on . On 19 October 1939 ''Oberleutnant zur See'' Wohlfarth took command of . On his first three patrols he sank nine mostly smaller ships in Scottish and Norwegian waters. The fourth patrol with ''U-14'' was for him, as for most other commanders during Operation Hartmut, supporting the invasion of Norway, without success.〔(Bismarck Portrait of the Men Involved )〕 On 15 June 1940 Wohlfarth commissioned , also a Type IIB boat, referred to as ''Einbaum'' (dugout canoe). But these small boats were also very successful and other well-known commanders including Hardegen, Kretschmer and Lüth won their first successes in them. Wohlfarth led ''U-137'' on three patrols during the autumn of 1940. He sank six ships for a total of , mostly in the area south of the Hebrides. Especially notable was his torpedo hit on the 10,552-ton armed merchant cruiser , damaging the ship so badly that she had to spend six months in the shipyard for repairs.〔 On 15 December 1940 ''Kapitänleutnant'' Wohlfarth left ''U-137'' and two months later commissioned the Type VIIC boat . On his first patrol in the Atlantic with this new boat he sank six ships for a total of and damaged another of . On 15 May 1941 he received the Knight's Cross while still on patrol. On 26 May, during the return voyage, and ten days before his 26th birthday, Wohlfahrt responded to a call for all ''U-boats'' in the Bay of Biscay to support the 's increasingly deteriorating position. The aircraft carrier , battlecruiser and battleship had a lucky escape during the night, unaware they had come within firing range of Wohlfarth's ''U-556'', which had already fired off all its torpedoes. This was particularly galling for Wohlfahrt, as ''U-556'' and ''Bismarck'' had exercised together in the Baltic. ''U-556'' continued to shadow the British forces, reporting their position and guiding other U-boats to the area.〔Jackson 2002, p. 49.〕 Wohlfarth witnessed the night battles between ''Bismarck'' and British destroyers. 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「Herbert Wohlfarth」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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