Hans-Günther Lange

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 37a)


Successes
1 ship sunk, total tonnage 10 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 925 tons
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 20 GRT

Born  28 Sep 1916 Hannover
Died  3 Apr 2014(97)Kiel, Germany


Kptlt. Hans-Günther Lange

Ranks

3 Apr 1937 Offiziersanwärter
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 Aug 1944 Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

7 Jun 1940 Iron Cross 2nd Class
12 Dec 1940 Iron Cross 1st Class
11 May 1944 German Cross in Gold
26 Aug 1944 Knights Cross
29 Apr 1945 Knights Cross with Oak Leaves

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-711 26 Sep 1942 4 May 1945   12 patrols (304 days) 

HG Lange Kapitänleutnant Hans Günther Lange

Leutnant Lange received his first experience as an officer on board the torpedo boat Jaguar. In September 1941 he joined the U-boat arm and only two months later started his first patrol as IWO on U-431 in the Mediterranean. In July 1942 he completed the usual Kommandantenschießlehrgang (commander fire course) in the 24th Flotilla.

Oblt. Hans-Günther Lange commissioned U-711 in September 1942. He commanded eleven patrols on this boat, all in Arctic waters and mainly against British and Soviet convoys. Three times U-711 attacked Soviet radio stations on small islands in the Barents Sea and nearby waters.

On 23 August, 1944 Kptlt. Lange fired torpedoes at the Soviet battleship Archangelsk (former HMS Royal Sovereign and a sister ship to HMS Royal Oak sunk by U-47 at Scapa Flow in Oct 1939) and a Soviet destroyer, but this attack was unsuccessful.

HG Lange
Fregattenkapitän Lange

U-711 was sunk on 4 May 1945 by British aircraft (Niestlé, 1998). The next three months Lange spent in British-Norwegian captivity.

In October 1957 Lange joined the Bundesmarine. Here he took part in the construction of a new German U-boat weapon. For two years he commanded the 1. Ubootgeschwader (1st U-boot squadron) and in January 1964 became commander of the entire U-boat force. Later he held several staff positions, ending his second naval career in 1972 as staff officer in the Marinedivision der Nordsee (naval forces in the North Sea).

Hans-Günther passed away on 3 April 2014; he was 97 years old.

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).
forum-marinearchiv.de. (2014). Hans-Günther Lange.
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Hans-Günther Lange

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-711 20 Mar 1943  Kiel  23 Mar 1943  Bergen   4 days
2. U-711 25 Mar 1943  Bergen  30 Apr 1943  Hammerfest  Patrol 1,37 days
3. U-711 12 May 1943  Hammerfest  14 May 1943  Hammerfest   3 days
4. U-711 25 May 1943  Hammerfest  18 Jun 1943  Narvik  Patrol 2,25 days
5. U-711 22 Jul 1943  Narvik  30 Sep 1943  Narvik  Patrol 3,71 days
6. U-711 2 Oct 1943  Narvik  5 Oct 1943  Trondheim   4 days
7. U-711 15 Dec 1943  Trondheim  17 Dec 1943  Narvik   3 days
8. U-711 18 Dec 1943  Narvik  19 Dec 1943  Narvik   2 days
9. U-711 20 Dec 1943  Narvik  23 Dec 1943  Trondheim   4 days
10. U-711 19 Mar 1944  Trondheim  21 Mar 1944  Narvik   3 days
11. U-711 22 Mar 1944  Narvik  6 Apr 1944  Hammerfest  Patrol 4,16 days
12. U-711 11 Apr 1944  Hammerfest  15 Apr 1944  Narvik  Patrol 5,5 days
13. U-711 24 Apr 1944  Narvik  5 May 1944  Narvik  Patrol 6,12 days
14. U-711 30 May 1944  Narvik  8 Jul 1944  Bogenbucht  Patrol 7,40 days
15. U-711 29 Jul 1944  Bogenbucht  30 Jul 1944  Hammerfest   2 days
16. U-711 2 Aug 1944  Hammerfest  19 Aug 1944  Hammerfest  Patrol 8,18 days
17. U-711 22 Aug 1944  Hammerfest  26 Aug 1944  Hammerfest   5 days
18. U-711 27 Aug 1944  Hammerfest  28 Aug 1944  Bogenbucht   2 days
19. U-711 3 Sep 1944  Bogenbucht  5 Sep 1944  Hammerfest   3 days
20. U-711 7 Sep 1944  Hammerfest  4 Oct 1944  Narvik  Patrol 9,28 days
21. U-711 6 Oct 1944  Narvik  8 Oct 1944  Trondheim   3 days
22. U-711 23 Jan 1945  Trondheim  26 Jan 1945  Narvik   4 days
23. U-711 9 Feb 1945  Narvik  24 Feb 1945  Harstad  Patrol 10,16 days
24. U-711 14 Mar 1945  Harstad  31 Mar 1945  Harstad  Patrol 11,18 days
25. U-711 15 Apr 1945  Harstad  2 May 1945  Harstad  Patrol 12,18 days
12 patrols, 304 days at sea

Ships hit by Hans-Günther Lange

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
13 Apr 1944U-711 Solvoll10nw
 
17 Feb 1945U-711 HMS Bluebell (K 80)925brRA-64
22 Mar 1945U-711 VPS-5 (d.)20sj
 955

2 ships sunk (935 tons) and 1 ship damaged (20 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


U-Boat Attack Logs

Daniel Morgan and Bruce Taylor


amazon.co.uk
(£ 38.25)


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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