Hans-Jürgen Zetzsche

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)


Successes
4 ships sunk, total tonnage 19,932 GRT
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 5,701 GRT

Born  5 Oct 1915 Annaberg, Erzgebirge
Died  21 Oct 1991(76)


Kriegsmarine Crew photo

Ranks

8 Apr 1934 Offiziersanwärter
1 Jul 1935 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1937 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1937 Leutnant zur See
1 Apr 1939 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Jan 1942 Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

 Iron Cross 2nd Class
 Iron Cross 1st Class
 Wound Badge in Silver
14 Feb 1944 German Cross in Gold
 U-boat War Badge 1939

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-20 16 Apr 1940 7 Jun 1940   No war patrols 
U-8 7 Jul 1940 28 Jul 1940   No war patrols 
U-4 29 Jul 1940 2 Feb 1941   No war patrols 
U-560 6 Mar 1941 24 Aug 1941   No war patrols 
U-591 9 Oct 1941 8 Sep 1942   4 patrols (91 days) 
U-378 10 Sep 1942 11 Oct 1942   1 patrol (15 days) (Acting CO)
U-591 12 Nov 1942 17 May 1943   3 patrols (99 days) 

After the war

Upon his release from captivity on April 25, 1947, Hans-Jürgen Zetzsche joined the PR department of the ESSO (EXXON) corporation in Hamburg (Rust, 2009).

Sources

Rust, E. (2009) E-mail correspondence. Author of Naval Officers under Hitler.

Patrol info for Hans-Jürgen Zetzsche

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-591 15 Jan 1942  Kiel  20 Feb 1942  Bergen  Patrol 1,37 days
2. U-591 1 Apr 1942  Bergen  11 Apr 1942  Trondheim  Patrol 2,11 days
3. U-591 10 May 1942  Trondheim  2 Jun 1942  Narvik  Patrol 3,24 days
4. U-591 4 Jun 1942  Narvik  7 Jun 1942  Bergen   4 days
5. U-591 27 Jul 1942  Bergen  14 Aug 1942  Bergen  Patrol 4,19 days
6. U-591 22 Aug 1942  Bergen  24 Aug 1942  Skjomenfjord   3 days
7. U-591 27 Aug 1942  Skjomenfjord  27 Aug 1942  Bogenbucht   1 days
8. U-591 28 Aug 1942  Bogenbucht  29 Aug 1942  Skjomenfjord   2 days
9. U-591 8 Sep 1942  Skjomenfjord  9 Sep 1942  Trondheim   2 days
10. U-591 11 Sep 1942  Trondheim  12 Sep 1942  Bergen   2 days
11. U-378 12 Sep 1942  Trondheim  26 Sep 1942  Skjomenford  Patrol 5,15 days
12. U-591 1 Dec 1942  Bergen  12 Jan 1943  Brest  Patrol 6,43 days
13. U-591 17 Feb 1943  Brest  7 Apr 1943  St. Nazaire  Patrol 7,50 days
14. U-591 12 May 1943  St. Nazaire  17 May 1943  St. Nazaire  Patrol 8,6 days
8 patrols, 205 days at sea

Ships hit by Hans-Jürgen Zetzsche

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
21 Dec 1942U-591 Montreal City3,066brON-152
28 Dec 1942U-591 Norse King (d.)5,701nwONS-154
29 Dec 1942U-591 Zarian4,871brONS-154
 
7 Mar 1943U-591 Empire Impala6,116brSC-121
8 Mar 1943U-591 Vojvoda Putnik5,879yuSC-121
 25,633

4 ships sunk (19,932 tons) and 1 ship damaged (5,701 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.

Media links


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim


Naval Officers Under Hitler

Rust, Eric C.

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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