The Men - The Commander listing

Siegfried Koitschka

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 37a)

Successes
2 warships sunk for a total of 2.181 tons
2 ships damaged for a total of 17.754 GRT

Born	6 Aug, 1917	Siebitz, Bautzen
Died	17 May, 2002

Siegfried Koitschka

Ranks

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 Jun, 1944	Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

8 May, 1941	Iron Cross 2nd Class
8 May, 1941	U-boat War Badge 1939
7 Oct, 1941	Iron Cross 1st Class
19 Nov, 1943	German Cross in Gold
27 Jan, 1944	Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-7	16 Jan, 1942	-	7 Oct, 1942	No war patrols
U-616	8 Oct, 1942	-	17 May, 1944	9 patrols (204 days)

Personal information

Oblt. Siegfried Koitschka after patrol

Siegfried Koitschka began his naval career in April 1937. After some months on the cruiser Admiral Hipper and in a training unit he transferred to the U-boat force in June 1940.

Six months later he became second watch officer (II WO) on the newly commissioned U-552, the famous "Red Devil Boat". He accompanied the U-boat on her first six patrols under the command of Erich Topp. He left U-552, certainly with a lot of combat experience, in December 1941.

After the commander training course in the 26th Flotilla, he became commander of the school boat U-7. But in December of the same year he took command of his own front boat, the Type VIIC U-boat U-616. After one patrol in the North Atlantic he managed to break through the Straits of Gibraltar in May 1943.

After six patrols in the Mediterranean, where he sank a US destroyer in October 1943 and damaged two ships in May 1944 for a total of more than 17,000 tons (he claimed more sinkings, but they were not confirmed successes), he left Toulon on 30 April for his last patrol.

Two weeks later, east of Cartagena, Spain, one of the longest U-boat hunting operations of the war took place. After torpedoing two ships, Kptlt. Koitschka with U-616 was located by US destroyers on 14 May, 1944. The next three days U-616 was attacked by the destroyer and also British Wellington aircraft before being forced to surface on the 17 May. All the crew survived the scuttling of the U-boat.

Siegfried Koitschka spent more than two years in Allied captivity before he was released in June 1946.

Patrol info

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-616	6 Feb, 1943	Kiel	26 Mar, 1943	St. Nazaire	Patrol	49 days
2.	U-616	19 Apr, 1943	St. Nazaire	17 May, 1943	La Spezia	Patrol	29 days
3.	U-616	28 Jul, 1943	La Spezia	18 Aug, 1943	Toulon	Patrol	22 days
4.	U-616	8 Sep, 1943	Toulon	18 Sep, 1943	Toulon	Patrol	11 days
5.	U-616	3 Oct, 1943	Toulon	15 Oct, 1943	Toulon	Patrol	13 days
6.	U-616	20 Nov, 1943	Toulon	12 Dec, 1943	Toulon	Patrol	23 days
7.	U-616	3 Jan, 1944	Toulon	15 Jan, 1944	Toulon	Patrol	13 days
8.	U-616	19 Feb, 1944	Toulon	15 Mar, 1944	Toulon	Patrol	26 days
9.	U-616	30 Apr, 1944	Toulon	17 May, 1944	Sunk	Patrol	18 days

Ships hit by Siegfried Koitschka

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
9 Oct, 1943	U-616	USS Buck (DD 420)	1.570		am
11 Oct, 1943	U-616	HMS LCT-553	611		br

14 May, 1944	U-616	Fort Fidler	7.127		br	GUS-39	damaged
14 May, 1944	U-616	G.S. Walden	10.627		br	GUS-39	damaged
			19.935
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk.