August Maus
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)
| Successes 9 ships sunk for a total of 62.761 GRT 1 ship damaged for a total of 6.840 GRT |
| Born | 7 Feb, 1915 | Wuppertal |
| Died | 28 Sep, 1996 |
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Ranks
Decorations
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Personal information
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.
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
Patrol info
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | |||||
| 1. | U-185 | 27 Oct, 1942 | Kiel | 1 Jan, 1943 | Lorient | Patrol | 67 days |
| 2. | U-185 | 8 Feb, 1943 | Lorient | 3 May, 1943 | Bordeaux | Patrol | 85 days |
| 3. | U-185 | 9 Jun, 1943 | Bordeaux | 24 Aug, 1943 | Sunk | Patrol | 77 days |
Ships hit by August Maus
| Date | Boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | Fate * | |
| 7 Dec, 1942 | U-185 | Peter Mærsk | 5.476 |  | br | ||
| 10 Mar, 1943 | U-185 | James Sprunt | 7.177 |  | am | KG-123 | |
| 10 Mar, 1943 | U-185 | Virginia Sinclair | 6.151 | | 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 | S.B. Hunt | 6.840 | | am | BT-18 | damaged |
| 7 Jul, 1943 | U-185 | Thomas Sinnickson | 7.176 | | am | BT-18 | |
| 7 Jul, 1943 | U-185 | William Boyce Thompson | 7.061 | | 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 | |||||||
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk. | |||||||
 Battle Beneath the Waves Stern, Robert C. Buy this title at amazon.co.uk See more sellers |
Books dealing with this subject include: Battle Beneath the Waves, Stern, Robert C., 1999 The Faustball Tunnel, Moore, John Hammond, 1978 |
Decorations and ranks information is in many cases not complete. If you can help on any of those missing that would be great.