August Maus
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)
| Successes 9 ships sunk, total tonnage 62,761 GRT 1 ship damaged, total tonnage 6,840 GRT |
| Born | 7 Feb 1915 | Wuppertal | |
| Died | 28 Sep 1996 | (81) |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-185 | 13 Jun 1942 | 24 Aug 1943 | 3 patrols (229 days) |
August Maus began his naval career in April 1934. He served on the light cruiser Nürnberg and the school ship Schleswig-Holstein before transferring in April 1940 to the U-boat force. After the usual training he served for two patrols as IWO on U-68 under the command of Korvkpt. Karl-Friedrich Merten. In December 1941 he left U-68 and in June 1942 commissioned the type IXC/40 boat U-185.
He made three successful patrols with this boat, mostly in the Middle and South Atlantic, before she was sunk on 24 August 1943 by three aircraft from the US escort carrier USS Core (Niestlé, 1998).
August Maus was captured and spent nearly three years in American captivity. After being held at the POW camp in Crossville, Tennesee, he was transferred to the camp at Papago Park on 27 January, 1944. On February 12 he was one of five U-boat commanders to escape from this camp, but he and his traveling companion Friedrich Guggenberger were recaptured in Tucson. Maus participated in the digging of the tunnel through which 25 POWs escaped on the night of 23-24 December, 1944 but he was not among them, an injury compelling him to remain behind.
After a transfer to Camp Shanks in February of 1946, Maus was then held in the British zone of Germany before finally being released. Later he became a successful businessman in Hamburg.
August Maus returning from patrol
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.
Patrol info for August Maus
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-185 | 27 Oct 1942 | Kiel | 1 Jan 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 1, | 67 days | |
| 2. | U-185 | 8 Feb 1943 | Lorient | 3 May 1943 | Bordeaux | Patrol 2, | 85 days | |
| 3. | U-185 | 9 Jun 1943 | Bordeaux | 24 Aug 1943 | Sunk | Patrol 3, | 77 days | |
| 3 patrols, 229 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by August Maus
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Dec 1942 | U-185 |  | Peter Mærsk | 5,476 |  | br | ON-149 |
| 10 Mar 1943 | U-185 | | Virginia Sinclair | 6,151 |  | am | KG-123 |
| 10 Mar 1943 | U-185 | | James Sprunt | 7,177 | | am | KG-123 |
| 6 Apr 1943 | U-185 | John Sevier | 7,176 | | am | GTMO-83 | |
| 7 Jul 1943 | U-185 | James Robertson | 7,176 | | am | BT-18 | |
| 7 Jul 1943 | U-185 | William Boyce Thompson | 7,061 | | am | BT-18 | |
| 7 Jul 1943 | U-185 | | S.B. Hunt (d.) | 6,840 | | am | BT-18 |
| 7 Jul 1943 | U-185 | Thomas Sinnickson | 7,176 | | am | BT-18 | |
| 1 Aug 1943 | U-185 | | Bagé | 8,235 |  | bz | TJ-2 |
| 6 Aug 1943 | U-185 | Fort Halkett | 7,133 | | br | ||
| 69,601 | |||||||
9 ships sunk (62,761 tons) and 1 ship damaged (6,840 tons). Legend | |||||||
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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.