Heinrich Schonder

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 34)


Successes
14 ships sunk, total tonnage 28,318 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 1,050 tons
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 155 GRT
1 warship damaged, total tonnage 1,690 tons

Born  23 Jul 1910 Erfurt
Died  24 Jun 1943(32)North Atlantic


Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Schonder

Ranks

8 Apr 1934 Offiziersanwärter
26 Sep 1934 Seekadett
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 Sep 1941 Kapitänleutnant
1 Jun 1943 Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

1 Oct 1939 Iron Cross 2nd Class
1 Dec 1939 U-boat War Badge 1939
23 Jul 1940 Iron Cross 1st Class
19 Aug 1942 Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-53 Dec, 1939 Jan, 1940   No war patrols 
U-58 1 Jul 1940 24 Nov 1940   4 patrols (56 days) 
U-77 18 Jan 1941 2 Sep 1942   7 patrols (222 days) 
U-200 22 Dec 1942 24 Jun 1943  (+)  1 patrol (13 days) 


Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Schonder on board

Heinrich Schonder began his naval career in April 1935. After some months on the torpedo boat Falke he transferred to the U-boat force in January 1938.

He served for two years on several U-boats as watch officer before taking command of the type IIC U-boat U-58 in June 1940. During four patrols, mostly in the North Atlantic, he sank four ships.

He left U-58 and in January 1941 commissioned the type VIIC U-boat U-77. After three patrols in the North Atlantic, in December 1941 he succeeded in breaking through to the Mediterranean. He went on six patrols there, sinking, among other vessels, the British the frigate HMS Grove, and damaging the destroyer HMS Kimberley.

'Hein' Schonder left U-77 in September 1942 and three months later commissioned the type IX-D2 U-200, which was sunk with all hands on her first patrol, southwest of Iceland, by an RAF B-24 Liberator on 24 June 1943. (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 Heinrich Schonder

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-58 6 Jul 1940  Kiel  22 Jul 1940  Lorient  Patrol 1,17 days
2. U-58 29 Jul 1940  Lorient  12 Aug 1940  Lorient  Patrol 2,15 days
3. U-58 2 Sep 1940  Lorient  20 Sep 1940  Lorient  Patrol 3,19 days
4. U-58 2 Oct 1940  Lorient  12 Oct 1940  Bergen   11 days
5. U-58 14 Oct 1940  Bergen  18 Oct 1940  Kiel  Patrol 4,5 days
6. U-77 29 May 1941  Kiel  7 Jul 1941  St. Nazaire  Patrol 5,40 days
7. U-77 2 Aug 1941  St. Nazaire  10 Sep 1941  St. Nazaire  Patrol 6,40 days
8. U-77 11 Oct 1941  St. Nazaire  13 Nov 1941  Lorient  Patrol 7,34 days
9. U-77 10 Dec 1941  Lorient  19 Dec 1941  Messina  Patrol 8,10 days
10. U-77 21 Dec 1941  Messina  14 Jan 1942  Salamis  Patrol 8,25 days
11. U-77 28 Mar 1942  Salamis  3 Apr 1942  Salamis  Patrol 9,7 days
12. U-77 7 Apr 1942  Salamis  11 Apr 1942  La Spezia   5 days
13. U-77 6 Jun 1942  La Spezia  17 Jun 1942  Salamis  Patrol 10,12 days
14. U-77 23 Jun 1942  Salamis  9 Jul 1942  Salamis  Patrol 10,17 days
15. U-77 16 Jul 1942  Salamis  21 Aug 1942  Salamis  Patrol 11,37 days
16. U-77 25 Aug 1942  Salamis  30 Aug 1942  Pola   6 days
17. U-200 12 Jun 1943  Kiel  24 Jun 1943  Sunk  Patrol 12,13 days
12 patrols, 291 days at sea

Ships hit by Heinrich Schonder

Date U-boat Commander Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
18 Jul 1940U-58Heinrich Schonder Gyda1,591nw
4 Aug 1940U-58Heinrich Schonder Pindos4,360grSL-40
8 Oct 1940U-58Heinrich Schonder Confield4,956brHX-76
 
13 Jun 1941U-77Heinrich Schonder Tresillian4,743brOB-330
22 Jun 1941U-77Heinrich Schonder Arakaka2,379br
25 Jun 1941U-77Heinrich Schonder Anna Bulgaris4,603gr
15 Dec 1941U-77Heinrich Schonder Empire Barracuda4,972br
 
12 Jan 1942U-77Heinrich Schonder HMS Kimberley (F 50) (d.)1,690br
12 Jun 1942U-77Heinrich Schonder HMS Grove (L 77)1,050brMW-11
22 Jul 1942U-77Heinrich Schonder Vassiliki140gr
24 Jul 1942U-77Heinrich Schonder Toufic El Rahman30sy
30 Jul 1942U-77Heinrich Schonder Fany43ag
1 Aug 1942U-77Heinrich Schonder St. Simon85ag
6 Aug 1942U-77Heinrich Schonder Ezzet158ag
6 Aug 1942U-77Heinrich Schonder Adnan (d.)155ag
10 Aug 1942U-77Heinrich Schonder Kharouf158pl
16 Aug 1942U-77Heinrich Schonder Daniel100pl
 31,213

15 ships sunk (29,368 tons) and 2 ships damaged (1,845 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


Naval Officers Under Hitler

Rust, Eric C.

Listing of all U-boat commanders


As an Amazon Associate uboat.net earns a commission from qualifying purchases.