The Men - The Commander listing

Heinrich Liebe

Fregattenkapitän (Crew 27)

Successes
34 ships sunk for a total of 187.267 GRT
1 ship damaged for a total of 3.670 GRT

Born	29 Jan, 1908	Gotha
Died	27 Jul, 1997

Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Liebe

Ranks

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

Decorations

8 Oct, 1939	Iron Cross 2nd Class
16 Dec, 1939	U-boat War Badge 1939
6 Apr, 1940	Iron Cross 1st Class
14 Aug, 1940	Knights Cross
10 Jun, 1941	Knights Cross with Oak Leaves

U-boat Commands

U-2	1 Oct, 1936	-	31 Jan, 1938	No war patrols
U-38	24 Oct, 1938	-	22 Jul, 1941	9 patrols (333 days)

Personal information

Kptlt. Heinrich Liebe after a patrol.

Heinrich Liebe began his naval career in April 1927. Starting in 1931 he served on the line ship Schleswig- Holstein, then transferred in September 1935 to the newly formed U-boat force.

He was one of the few commanders with a long and solid pre-war U-boat experience. In October 1938 he commissioned U-38 and made a total of nine patrols with this boat. On his last patrol he sank eight ships for a total of 47,279 tons in the waters off Freetown, Africa. During this patrol he received the Oak Leaves cluster to the Knights Cross.

In July 1941 he left U-38 and served for three years a staff member in the OKM (Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine, German Navy High Command).

From August 1944 to the end of the war he served on the staff of the BdU (2. SKL, BdU op).

Patrol info

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-38	19 Aug, 1939	Wilhelmshaven	18 Sep, 1939	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol	31 days
2.	U-38	14 Nov, 1939	Wilhelmshaven	16 Dec, 1939	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol	33 days
3.	U-38	26 Feb, 1940	Wilhelmshaven	5 Apr, 1940	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol	40 days
4.	U-38	8 Apr, 1940	Wilhelmshaven	27 Apr, 1940	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol	20 days
5.	U-38	6 Jun, 1940	Wilhelmshaven	2 Jul, 1940	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol	27 days
6.	U-38	1 Aug, 1940	Wilhelmshaven	3 Sep, 1940	Lorient	Patrol	34 days
7.	U-38	25 Sep, 1940	Lorient	24 Oct, 1940	Lorient	Patrol	30 days
8.	U-38	18 Dec, 1940	Lorient	22 Jan, 1941	Lorient	Patrol	36 days
9.	U-38	9 Apr, 1941	Lorient	29 Jun, 1941	Lorient	Patrol	82 days

Ships hit by Heinrich Liebe

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
6 Sep, 1939	U-38	Manaar	7.242		br
11 Sep, 1939	U-38	Inverliffey	9.456		br
7 Dec, 1939	U-38	Thomas Walton	4.460		br
11 Dec, 1939	U-38	Garoufalia	4.708		gr
13 Dec, 1939	U-38	Deptford	4.101		br

9 Mar, 1940	U-38	Leukos	216		ir
17 Mar, 1940	U-38	Argentina	5.375		da
21 Mar, 1940	U-38	Algier	1.654		da
21 Mar, 1940	U-38	Christiansborg	3.270		da
26 Mar, 1940	U-38	Cometa	3.794		nw
2 Apr, 1940	U-38	Signe	1.540		fi	HN-23A
14 Jun, 1940	U-38	Mount Myrto	5.403		gr
15 Jun, 1940	U-38	Erik Boye	2.238		ca	HX-47
15 Jun, 1940	U-38	Italia	9.973		nw	HX-47
20 Jun, 1940	U-38	Tilia Gorthon	1.776		sw
21 Jun, 1940	U-38	Luxembourg	5.809		be
22 Jun, 1940	U-38	Neion	5.154		gr
7 Aug, 1940	U-38	Mohamed Ali El-Kebir	7.527		br
11 Aug, 1940	U-38	Llanfair	4.966		br	SL-41
31 Aug, 1940	U-38	Har Zion	2.508		br	OB-205
1 Oct, 1940	U-38	Highland Patriot	14.172		br
17 Oct, 1940	U-38	Aenos	3.554		gr	SC-7
18 Oct, 1940	U-38	Carsbreck	3.670		br	SC-7	damaged
19 Oct, 1940	U-38	Bilderdijk	6.856		nl	HX-79
19 Oct, 1940	U-38	Matheran	7.653		br	HX-79
27 Dec, 1940	U-38	Waiotira	12.823		br
31 Dec, 1940	U-38	Valparaiso	3.760		sw	HX-97

4 May, 1941	U-38	Japan	5.230		sw	OB-310
5 May, 1941	U-38	Queen Maud	4.976		br	OB-309
23 May, 1941	U-38	Berhala	6.622		nl	OB-318
24 May, 1941	U-38	Vulcain	4.362		br	OB-318
29 May, 1941	U-38	Tabaristan	6.251		br
30 May, 1941	U-38	Empire Protector	6.181		br
31 May, 1941	U-38	Rinda	6.029		nw
8 Jun, 1941	U-38	Kingston Hill	7.628		br
			190.937
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk.