The Men - The Commander listing

Günter Hessler

Fregattenkapitän (Crew 27)

Successes
19 ships sunk for a total of 108.411 GRT
2 auxiliary warships sunk for a total of 10.411 GRT

Born	14 Jun, 1909	Beerfelde, Lebus
Died	4 Apr, 1968	Bochum-Laer

Günther Hessler

Ranks

1 Oct, 1927	Seekadett
1 Apr, 1929	Fähnrich zur See
1 Jun, 1931	Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct, 1931	Leutnant zur See
1 Jul, 1933	Oberleutnant zur See
1 Oct, 1936	Kapitänleutnant
1 Sep, 1941	Korvettenkapitän
1 Dec, 1944	Fregattenkapitän

Decorations

18 Nov, 1939	Iron Cross 2nd Class
1 Mar, 1941	Iron Cross 1st Class
24 Jun, 1941	Knights Cross
3 Jul, 1941	U-boat War Badge 1939
9 Nov, 1944	German Cross in Gold

U-boat Commands

U-107

8 Oct, 1940

1 Dec, 1941

3 patrols (200 days)

Personal information

Kptlt. Günther Hessler after his second patrol

Günther Hessler joined the Navy in April 1927. After completing officer training he served some years on torpedo boats and on the line ship Schlesien.

In April 1940 he transferred to the U-boat force and six months later commissioned the Type IX B U-boat U-107. It was rare for an officer to take command of a U-boat without previous experience as a watch officer or a commander-in-training (Kommandanten- Schüler), but Hessler was an experienced Navy officer and he soon demonstrated that it was a correct decision to give him a combat U-boat right away, as during his first patrol he sank four ships for a total of 18,514 tons.

But he became famous with his second patrol on U-107. Kptlt. Günther Hessler put out from Lorient, France at 19:30 on 29 March, 1941 for what would become the most successful patrol of the entire war against Allied merchant shipping. She left the base along with U-94 commanded by Kptlt. Kuppisch, but then U-107 headed southwards. Her operational area was around the Canary Islands and near Freetown, where she sank 14 ships for a total of 86,699 tons, starting with the British merchant SS Eskdene which required two torpedoes and 104 rounds from the heavy 105mm fast-firing deck cannon. The largest ship sunk on that patrol was the British Calchas of 10,305 tons. On 1 June, 1941 they sank the British U-boat trap Alfred Jones of 5,013 tons. U-107 returned to Lorient on 2 July 1941. Before Günther Hessler left U-107 in November 1941 he made a third patrol, during which he sank three ships for a total of 13,641 tons.

He then served to the end of the war on the BdU op staff as first naval staff officer (1. Asto).

Günther Hessler and his wife Ursula.

Kptlt. Hessler married Karl Dönitz's daughter, Ursula, in November 1937. At that time Hessler was serving on torpedo boats.

(By the way, Admiral Dönitz had only one daughter, so the story told in some books, that Adi Schnee also married a daughter of Dönitz, is not true.)

Because Hessler was his son-in-law, Dönitz had some reservations about giving Hessler his deserved Knights Cross, but eventually Grand Admiral Raeder signed the papers.

After the war Hessler spent more then a year in Allied captivity. From 1947 to 1951 he was commissioned by the Royal Navy to write The U-Boat War in the Atlantic in three volumes, with the assistance of Korvkpt. Alfred Hoschatt, former commander of U-378 and later also a staff member of the BdU op.

Patrol info

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-107	24 Jan, 1941	Wilhelmshaven	1 Mar, 1941	Lorient	Patrol,	37 days
2.	U-107	29 Mar, 1941	Lorient	2 Jul, 1941	Lorient	Patrol,	96 days
3.	U-107	6 Sep, 1941	Lorient	11 Nov, 1941	Lorient	Patrol,	67 days
					3 patrols, 200 days at sea

Ships hit by Günter Hessler

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
3 Feb, 1941	U-107	Empire Citizen	4.683		br	OB-279
3 Feb, 1941	U-107	HMS Crispin	5.051		br	OB-279
6 Feb, 1941	U-107	Maplecourt	3.388		ca	SC-20
23 Feb, 1941	U-107	HMS Manistee (F 104)	5.360		br	OB-288
8 Apr, 1941	U-107	Eskdene	3.829		br	OG-57
8 Apr, 1941	U-107	Helena Margareta	3.316		br	OG-57
9 Apr, 1941	U-107	Duffield	8.516		br
9 Apr, 1941	U-107	Harpathian	4.671		br	OG-57
21 Apr, 1941	U-107	Calchas	10.305		br
30 Apr, 1941	U-107	Lassell	7.417		br	OB-309
17 May, 1941	U-107	Marisa	8.029		nl
18 May, 1941	U-107	Piako	8.286		br
27 May, 1941	U-107	Colonial	5.108		br	OB-318
28 May, 1941	U-107	Papalemos	3.748		gr
31 May, 1941	U-107	Sire	5.664		br	OB-320
1 Jun, 1941	U-107	Alfred Jones	5.013		br	OB-320
8 Jun, 1941	U-107	Adda	7.816		br	OB-323
13 Jun, 1941	U-107	Pandias	4.981		gr
24 Sep, 1941	U-107	Dixcove	3.790		br	SL-87
24 Sep, 1941	U-107	John Holt	4.975		br	SL-87
24 Sep, 1941	U-107	Lafian	4.876		br	SL-87
			118.822
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk.