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Born	12 Mar 1918		Kairien, Memel
Died	10 Apr 1944	(26)	north-west of Madeira

Ranks 3 Apr 1937   Offiziersanwärter 21 Sep 1937   Seekadett 1 May 1938   Fähnrich zur See 1 Jul 1939   Oberfähnrich zur See 1 Aug 1939   Leutnant zur See 1 Sep 1941   Oberleutnant zur See 1 Jul 1944   Kapitänleutnant (posthumous) Decorations     Iron Cross 2nd Class     Iron Cross 1st Class 21 Jan 1944   German Cross in Gold

Albert Lauzemis joined the Kriegsmarine in 1937. He went through U-boat training and U-boat construction familiarization (Baubelehrung) from Jun 1940 to Feb 1941. He was trained for type IX U-boats, and when U-68 was commissioned by KrvKpt. Karl-Friedrich Merten he became 2nd Watch Officer (II WO). Lauzemis sailed on the boat for two patrols as II WO and then for the third patrol as 1st Watch Officer (I WO). He served on the boat until April 1942 (Busch & Röll, 1999). During Lauzemis' stint on U-68 Merten sank 11 ships totalling over 63,000 tons.

Lauzemis went through U-boat Commander training with the 24th (Training) Flotilla during May 1942, and on 18 May he was given command of the small school boat U-139. After only six weeks he took over the much larger Type XI U-37 on 1 July 1942 (Busch & Röll, 1999). This hugely successful boat was by that time a school boat in the Baltic.

Oblt. Lauzemis left U-37 on 3 Jan 1943 and on the 21st took command of U-68, his old boat (Busch & Röll, 1999). He left for his first war patrol as commander on 7 May 1943, heading for the Caribbean (Busch & Röll, 1997).

On the second patrol in U-68 the outbound boat was attacked on 14 June 1943, only two days after leaving Lorient. Lauzemis, the II WO and another man were wounded, and one man was lost overboard. The I WO, Scherraus, brought the boat back to base. Lauzemis spent six weeks in hospital and was relieved of command during his recovery (Busch & Röll, 1999).

During his five patrols (228 days at sea) Lauzemis sank six ships of almost 28,000 tons total (Rohwer, 1998).

On 30 July Albert Lauzemis took command of U-68 again and left for patrol on 14 Aug 1943. The boat was sunk on 10 Apr 1944 north-west of Madeira, Portugal in position 33.24N, 18.59W by depth charges and rockets from Avenger and Wildcat aircraft of the US escort carrier USS Guadalcanal (VC-58). 56 dead and 1 survivor (Niestlé, 1998). Lauzemis died on his boat.

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

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.

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