Harro Schacht

Fregattenkapitän (Crew 26)


Successes
19 ships sunk, total tonnage 77,143 GRT
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 6,561 GRT

Born  15 Dec 1907 Cuxhaven
Died  13 Jan 1943(35)South Atlantic


Korvettenkapitän Harro Schacht

Ranks

1 Apr 1926 Offiziersanwärter
26 Oct 1926 Seekadett
1 Apr 1928 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jun 1930 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1930 Leutnant zur See
1 Aug 1932 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1936 Kapitänleutnant
1 Oct 1940 Korvettenkapitän
1 Jan 1944 Fregattenkapitän (posthumous)

Decorations

29 Mar 1940 Spanish Cross in Bronze without Swords
19 Apr 1940 Iron Cross 2nd Class
6 Jun 1942 Iron Cross 1st Class
6 Jun 1942 U-boat War Badge 1939
9 Jan 1943 Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-507 8 Oct 1941 13 Jan 1943  (+)  4 patrols (227 days) 


Korvettenkapitän Harro Schacht

Harro Schacht began his naval career, like Merten, von Stockhausen, and Rollmann, in April 1926. He served some years on the light cruisers Emden and Nürnberg, and in 1937 took a staff position at OKM (Naval High Command).

In June 1941 he joined the U-boat force, and his standard training was followed by a short patrol on the "Red Devil Boat" U-552 under Erich Topp, as a Kommandantenschüler (Commander-in-training).

In October 1941 he commissioned the type IXC U-boat U-507. During his third patrol in the South Atlantic in August 1942, Schacht sank six Brazilian ships outside Brazilian territorial waters. The Brazilian government used this as a reason to declare war on Germany. A month later U-507 took part in the rescue operations following the Laconia incident.

Harro Schacht died when U-507 was sunk with all hands on 13 January 1943 in the South Atlantic off the coast of Brazil by bombs from a US Catalina flying boat (Niestlé, 1998).

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.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Harro Schacht

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-507 7 Mar 1942  Hamburg  8 Mar 1942  Helgoland   2 days
2. U-507 12 Mar 1942  Helgoland  25 Mar 1942  Lorient  Patrol 1,14 days
3. U-507 4 Apr 1942  Lorient  4 Jun 1942  Lorient  Patrol 2,62 days
4. U-507 4 Jul 1942  Lorient  12 Oct 1942  Lorient  Patrol 3,101 days
5. U-507 24 Nov 1942  Lorient  26 Nov 1942  Lorient  Patrol 4,3 days
6. U-507 28 Nov 1942  Lorient  13 Jan 1943  Sunk  Patrol 4,47 days
4 patrols, 227 days at sea

Ships hit by Harro Schacht

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
30 Apr 1942U-507 Federal2,881am
4 May 1942U-507 Norlindo2,686am
5 May 1942U-507 Munger T. Ball5,104am
5 May 1942U-507 Joseph M. Cudahy6,950am
6 May 1942U-507 Alcoa Puritan6,759am
7 May 1942U-507 Ontario3,099ho
8 May 1942U-507 Torny2,424nw
12 May 1942U-507 Virginia10,731am
13 May 1942U-507 Gulfprince (d.)6,561am
16 May 1942U-507 Amapala4,148ho
16 Aug 1942U-507 Baependy4,801bz
16 Aug 1942U-507 Araraquara4,872bz
16 Aug 1942U-507 Annibal Benévolo1,905bz
17 Aug 1942U-507 Itagiba2,169bz
17 Aug 1942U-507 Arará1,075bz
19 Aug 1942U-507 Jacyra89bz
22 Aug 1942U-507 Hammaren3,220swOS-36
27 Dec 1942U-507 Oakbank5,154br
 
3 Jan 1943U-507 Baron Dechmont3,675br
8 Jan 1943U-507 Yorkwood5,401br
 83,704

19 ships sunk (77,143 tons) and 1 ship damaged (6,561 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.
(d.) means the ship was damaged.


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.

Men who sank over 50,000 tons

Media links


The sinking of the laconia and the u-boat war

Duffy, James P.


One Common Enemy

McLoughlin, Jim


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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