Harald Gelhaus

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 35)


Successes
19 ships sunk, total tonnage 100,373 GRT
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 10,068 GRT

Born  24 Jul 1915 Göttingen
Died  2 Dec 1997(82)Bochum, Westphalia, Germany


Kptlt. Harald Gelhaus

Ranks

5 Apr 1935 Offiziersanwärter
25 Sep 1935 Seekadett
1 Jul 1936 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1938 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1938 Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1939 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1942 Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

31 Oct 1940 Iron Cross 2nd Class
31 Dec 1940 U-boat War Badge 1939
24 Feb 1941 Iron Cross 1st Class
26 Mar 1943 Knights Cross
1 Oct 1944 U-boat Front Clasp

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-143 31 Mar 1941 19 Nov 1941   4 patrols (82 days) 
U-107 1 Dec 1941 6 Jun 1943   6 patrols (343 days) 

Harald Gelhaus began his naval career in April 1935. He served on the light cruiser Karlsruhe and on the battleship Gneisenau. In October 1939 he transferred to the U-boat force. His first three patrols were as I WO on U-103 under Korvkpt. Schütze (Busch & Röll, 1999).

He left the boat in March 1941 and took command of the type IIB boat U-143. After four patrols he became the commander of U-107, the already famous boat of Korvkpt. Hessler (Busch & Röll, 1999). On the next six patrols he sank 19 ships with a total of little more than 100,00 tons (Rohwer, 1998). In June 1943 he became a staff member of the OKM, the High Command of the German Navy (Busch & Röll, 1999).

From February 1944 Gelhaus was a training officer in the 22nd (Training) Flotilla and 27th (Training) Flotillas. The final months of the war he spent in staff positions, the last one being in Naval High Command North. After the war he spent three months in Allied captivity (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Harald Gelhaus

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-143 19 Apr 1941  Kiel  13 May 1941  Bergen  Patrol 1,25 days
2. U-143 13 May 1941  Bergen  18 May 1941  Kiel   6 days
3. U-143 9 Jun 1941  Kiel  29 Jun 1941  Bergen  Patrol 2,21 days
4. U-143 6 Jul 1941  Bergen  14 Jul 1941  Bergen  Patrol 3,9 days
5. U-143 17 Jul 1941  Bergen  21 Jul 1941  Kiel   5 days
6. U-143 17 Aug 1941  Kiel  12 Sep 1941  Kiel  Patrol 4,27 days
7. U-107 10 Dec 1941  Lorient  26 Dec 1941  Lorient  Patrol 5,17 days
8. U-107 7 Jan 1942  Lorient  7 Mar 1942  Lorient  Patrol 6,60 days
9. U-107 21 Apr 1942  Lorient  11 Jul 1942  Lorient  Patrol 7,82 days
10. U-107 15 Aug 1942  Lorient  18 Nov 1942  Lorient  Patrol 8,96 days
11. U-107 30 Jan 1943  Lorient  25 Mar 1943  Lorient  Patrol 9,55 days
12. U-107 24 Apr 1943  Lorient  26 May 1943  Lorient  Patrol 10,33 days
10 patrols, 425 days at sea

Ships hit by Harald Gelhaus

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
23 Aug 1941U-143 Inger1,409nw
 
31 Jan 1942U-107 San Arcadio7,419br
6 Feb 1942U-107 Major Wheeler3,431am
21 Feb 1942U-107 Egda (d.)10,068nwON-65
29 May 1942U-107 Western Head2,599br
1 Jun 1942U-107 Bushranger4,536pa
7 Jun 1942U-107 Castilla3,910ho
8 Jun 1942U-107 Suwied3,249am
10 Jun 1942U-107 Merrimack2,606am
19 Jun 1942U-107 Cheerio35am
26 Jun 1942U-107 Jagersfontein10,083nl
3 Sep 1942U-107 Hollinside4,172br
3 Sep 1942U-107 Penrose4,393br
7 Oct 1942U-107 Andalucia Star14,943br
 
22 Feb 1943U-107 Roxburgh Castle7,801br
13 Mar 1943U-107 Clan Alpine5,442brOS-44
13 Mar 1943U-107 Marcella4,592brOS-44
13 Mar 1943U-107 Oporto2,352brOS-44
13 Mar 1943U-107 Sembilangan4,990nlOS-44
1 May 1943U-107 Port Victor12,411br
 110,441

19 ships sunk (100,373 tons) and 1 ship damaged (10,068 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.
(d.) means the ship was damaged.


About ranks and decorations
Ranks shown in italics are our database inserts based on the rank dates of his crew comrades. The officers of each crew would normally have progressed through the lower ranks at the same rate.

Media links


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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