Gerd Suhren

Gerd Suhren
File:Gerd Suhren.jpg Gerd Suhren
Born	(1914-05-16)16 May 1914
Died	6 May 1991(1991-05-06) (aged 76)
Place of birth	Tafaigata, Samoa
Place of death	Bonn
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Kriegsmarine
Years of service	1933 – 1945
Rank	Korvettenkapitän (Ing.)
Unit	cruiser Karlsruhe SMS Schleswig-Holstein U-21, U-31, U-37, U-2511
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of the Atlantic (1939–1945)
Awards	Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class U-boat War Badge Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Relations	Reinhard Suhren

Gerd Suhren (16 May 1914, in Tafaigata, Samoa – 6 May 1991 in Bonn), was a German U-boat engineer (Ing.) in World War II and older brother of Fregattenkapitän and Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords recipient Reinhard Suhren.

Gerd Suhren joined the Kriegsmarine in April 1933. Since April 1937 he served in the U-boat force and got a solid pre-war training. In September 1939 he was chief engineer (Leitender Ingenieur abbreviated LI) on U-37 and in the next year he rode 8 patrols on this boat. During this time he served under the command of Werner Hartmann, Victor Oehrn and Nicolai Clausen. He was the first engineering officer to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Gerd Suhren left U-37 in October 1940 and became a training officer in the 25th flotilla. Later he served in several staff positions.

In September 1944 he became once more the Leitender Ingenieur on the new commissioned type XXI U-boat under the command of Adalbert Schnee. He took part in the patrol, that U-2511 rode in May 1945. After the war Gerd Suhren served for more than 2 years in the German Mine Sweeping Administration. His parents and sister committed suicide in 1945, after failure to escape from the Sudetenland.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (8 November 1939)
  • 1st Class (28 February 1940)
• U-boat War Badge 1939 (8 November 1939)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 21 October 1940 as Oberleutnant (Ing.) and chief engineer on U-37

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Brustal-Naval, Fritz and Suhren, Teddy (1999). Nasses Eichenlaub: als Kommandant und F.d.U. im U-Boot-Krieg. Frankfurt/M; Berlin:Ullstein. ISBN 3-548-23537-9.
• Busch, Hans-Joachim; Röll (2003) (in German). Der U-Boot-Krieg 1939–1945 — Die Ritterkreuzträger der U-Boot-Waffe von September 1939 bis Mai 1945 [The U-Boat War 1939–1945 — The Knight's Cross Bearers of the U-Boat Force from September 1939 to May 1945]. Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn Germany: Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn. ISBN 978-3-8132-0515-2. 
• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) (in German). Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 – Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtsteile [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches]. Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6. 
• Kurowski, Franz (1995). Knight's Cross Holders of the U-Boat Service. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-88740-748-2. 
• Range, Clemens (1974). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Kriegsmarine [The Knight's Cross Bearers of the Navy]. Stuttgart, Germany: Motorbuch Verlag. ISBN 978-3-87943-355-1. 
• Scherzer, Veit (2007) (in German). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives]. Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2. 

External links

• "Gerd Suhren". uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/men/suhren_gerd.htm. Retrieved 25 January 2011.