Erwin Rostin

Erwin Rostin (8 October 1907 in Güstrow – killed in action 1 July 1942 in Atlantic Ocean) was a German U-boat commander in World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. He is numbered thirty-one in the list of U-Boat aces of World War II.

Career
Rostin joined the German Navy in 1933 and served eight years on minesweepers. He was transferred to submarine training in 1941. Rostin sailed for his first combat patrol as commander of GERMAN SUBMARINE U-158 on 7 February 1942, sinking five ships (38,785 tons), including the SS Empire Celt, and damaging two (15,264 tons) of the east coast of the United States His second and last patrol (4 May–30 June 1942), took him into the Gulf of Mexico where U-158 sank 12 ships (62,536 tons), one of the most successful patrols in the Kriegsmarine. However it ended with the sinking of U-158 by a United States Navy PBM Mariner bomber, with all hands lost, at 32.83333°N, -67.46667°W. In five months Rostin sank 17 ships for a total of 101,321 GRT, and damaged two others for a total of 15,264 GRT.

Ships attacked
Erwin Rostin as commander of U-158 sank 17 merchant ships totalling, and damaged another two of.

Awards

 * Iron Cross (1939)
 * 2nd Class (10 October 1939)
 * 1st Class (21 November 1940)
 * Sudetenland Medal (20 December 1939)
 * Minesweeper, Submarine Hunter and Security Forces War Badge (3 January 1941)
 * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 28 June 1942 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-158
 * U-boat War Badge (1939) posthumously on 1 July 1942
 * Mentioned twice in the Wehrmachtbericht (18 March 1942 and 25 June 1942)