| Born | 8 Jul 1913 | Rosswein, Saxony | |
| Died | 18 Oct 1982 | (69) |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-6 | 11 Jul 1940 | Mar, 1941 | No war patrols |
| U-332 | 7 Jun 1941 | 27 Jan 1943 | 5 patrols (277 days) |
Johannes Liebe joined the German Navy (Reichsmarine) in 1933. From Nov 1938 to Nov 1939 he served as a signals officer at Naval Airfield HQ when he started his U-boat training.
On completing his training he was given command of the small school boat U-6 of type IIA on 11 July 1940. Oblt. Liebe commanded the boat until March 1941 when he was sent as a supernumerary Watch Officer on the famous boat U-48 (Schultze). With that boat he went on 23 day patrol one patrol from 17 March to 8 April 1941 where the boat sank 4 ships with a total of almost 23,000 GRT.
In May 1941 the just promoted Kptlt. Johannes Liebe went to U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) before taking command of the Type VIIC boat U-332 on 7 June.
During his third patrol with U-332 in early 1942 Liebe went to Cape Hatteras, USA but was severely low on fuel and only had 6 days to hunt. Nonetheless he managed to sink 4 ships with over 25,000 GRT before heading back to France (Blair, 1996).
On 28 June 1942 after having sunk the American merchant Raphael Semmes Liebe and his men helped 10 of the survivors, taking care of their wounds, giving them tobacco, water and food before leaving (Blair, 1996).
Liebe was successful with his U-332 sinking 8 ships with a total of over 46,000 GRT on 5 patrols (277 days at sea).
After leaving the boat in January 1943 Liebe served in several staff positions, spending much of that time on Torpedo advising posts. After the surrender he was briefly detained by the Allied, being released on 29 July 1945.
Sources
Blair, C. (1996). Hitler’s U-boat War. The Hunters, 1939-1942.
Busch, R and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Patrol info for Johannes Liebe
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-332 | 30 Oct 1941 | Kiel | 16 Dec 1941 | La Pallice | Patrol 1, | 48 days | |
| 2. | U-332 | 27 Jan 1942 | La Pallice | 8 Feb 1942 | La Pallice | Patrol 2, | 13 days | |
| 3. | U-332 | 17 Feb 1942 | La Pallice | 10 Apr 1942 | La Pallice | Patrol 3, | 53 days | |
| 4. | U-332 | 24 May 1942 | La Pallice | 1 Aug 1942 | La Pallice | Patrol 4, | 70 days | |
| 5. | U-332 | 5 Sep 1942 | La Pallice | 6 Dec 1942 | La Pallice | Patrol 5, | 93 days | |
| 5 patrols, 277 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Johannes Liebe
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Mar 1942 | U-332 |  | Albert F. Paul | 735 |  | am | |
| 13 Mar 1942 | U-332 | Trepca | 5,042 |  | yu | ||
| 16 Mar 1942 | U-332 | | Australia | 11,628 | | am | |
| 19 Mar 1942 | U-332 | Liberator | 7,720 | | am | ||
| 28 Jun 1942 | U-332 | Raphael Semmes | 6,027 | | am | ||
| 19 Jul 1942 | U-332 | | Leonidas M. | 4,573 |  | gr | |
| 29 Sep 1942 | U-332 | Registan | 6,008 |  | br | ||
| 19 Oct 1942 | U-332 | Rothley | 4,996 | | br | ||
| 46,729 | |||||||
8 ships sunk (46,729 tons). Legend | |||||||
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
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