The 10. Unterseebootsflottille was a front-line combat formation of the Kriegsmarine established on 15 January 1942 at the Atlantic base of Lorient in occupied France under the continuous command of Korvettenkapitän Günther Kuhnke. It functioned as one of the principal Frontflottille operating from the five major northern French U-boat bases and was subordinated from July 1942 to the Führer der U-Boote West. Its headquarters was located at Kernevel, the former command centre of the Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote, while the boats were equipped and maintained in the massive concrete U-Boot-Bunker complexes of Lorient. Personnel were billeted in barracks on the eastern bank of the harbour as well as in the former French harbour barracks and the municipal music school. The flotilla operated primarily large ocean-going Type IXC and Type IXC/40 boats, supplemented by one Type XB minelayer and six Type XIV supply submarines known as Milchkühe, together with the two captured Dutch vessels UD-3 and UD-5, for a total of approximately eighty U-boats assigned during its existence. These boats conducted long-range patrols in the Battle of the Atlantic and the Caribbean, while several units belonging to Gruppe Monsun transferred their operational areas to the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, basing temporarily at Japanese-held ports such as Penang, Batavia and Singapore yet remaining administratively attached to the 10. Unterseebootsflottille. After the Allied invasion of Normandy and the subsequent liberation of France began, the Führer der U-Boote West relocated his headquarters to Norway and most of the French-based flotillas were gradually disbanded. The 10. Unterseebootsflottille was formally dissolved between August and October 1944; Korvettenkapitän Kuhnke himself departed Lorient as the last commander aboard U-853 on 27 August 1944, reaching Flensburg on 14 October and subsequently assuming command of the 33. Unterseebootsflottille, while the remaining boats were transferred to bases in Norway and Germany.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Korvettenkapitän Georg Lassen (1915-2012) was born on 12 May 1915 in Berlin-Steglitz and entered the Kriegsmarine in 1935, rising through the ranks from Offiziersanwärter and Seekadett to Leutnant zur See and later Oberleutnant zur See. At the outbreak of the Second World War he served as I. Wachoffizier aboard U-29 under Kapitänleutnant Otto Schuhart, participating in the sinking of multiple vessels including the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous. From 3 January to 14 September 1941 he commanded U-29 itself while it operated as a training boat with the 24. Unterseebootsflottille. On 16 October 1941 he commissioned the Type IXC boat U-160, initially attached to the 4. Unterseebootsflottille and later the 10. Unterseebootsflottille, and conducted four war patrols lasting a total of 328 days. During his first patrol between March and April 1942 in American waters he sank or damaged six ships totaling around 43,560 GRT. For his overall successes with U-160 after two patrols, amounting to eleven ships sunk for 66,012 GRT and two damaged, he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 10 August 1942 while holding the rank of Oberleutnant zur See and serving as Kommandant of U-160. Promoted to Kapitänleutnant on 1 September 1942, he continued his highly effective operations. On his fourth and final patrol in South African waters, during the night of 3 to 4 March 1943 against convoy DN-21 near Durban, Lassen and the crew of U-160 sank or damaged six ships totaling 41,076 GRT in under five hours. This outstanding action, combined with further successes that brought his career total to twenty-six ships sunk for 156,082 GRT and five damaged for 34,419 GRT, led to the award of the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 7 March 1943 as Kapitänleutnant and Kommandant of U-160. In June 1943 he was reassigned as a tactics instructor and Chef Offizierskompanie with the 1. U-Boot-Lehrdivision. Promoted to Korvettenkapitän on 1 April 1945, he survived the war, later worked as a businessman and managing director, lost an arm in a traffic accident, and eventually settled in Mallorca, where he died on 18 January 2012 at the age of ninety-six.
Korvettenkapitän Carl Emmermann (1915-1990) was born on 6 March 1915 in Hamburg and entered the Kriegsmarine in 1934, serving initially as a training officer at the Marineschule Mürwik before joining the U-boat force in 1939. In November 1940 he became first watch officer on UA under Hans Eckermann, and on 5 November 1941 he took command of U-172 as Kapitänleutnant. Over five patrols lasting 373 days in the Caribbean, South African waters with the wolf pack Eisbär, and the North and South Atlantic, he sank 26 merchant ships totaling 152,080 GRT. His greatest success came on 10 October 1942 with the sinking of the British liner-troopship SS Orcades of 23,456 GRT. For sinking 17 ships totaling 95,429 GRT, including the Orcades and the US freighter Santa Rita from which a map of Cape Town mine barriers was captured, he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 27 November 1942 as Kapitänleutnant and Kommandant of U-172. The Eichenlaub followed on 4 July 1943, the 256th award, for a further ten ships of 57,475 GRT while still Kapitänleutnant and Kommandant of U-172. During his fifth patrol his crew rescued half the men from the scuttled U-604. Afterward he commanded the 6. U-Boot-Flottille, led the Erprobungsgruppe Typ XXIII and wrote its battle instructions, briefly commanded U-3037, and in the final weeks led the 31. U-Boot-Flottille and Marine-Bataillon Emmermann around Hamburg. Promoted to Korvettenkapitän, he survived the war, studied engineering, prospered in business, and died on 25 March 1990 in Celle.
Korvettenkapitän Werner Henke (1909-1944) was born on 13 May 1909 in Rudak near Thorn in West Prussia and after service in the merchant marine joined the Reichsmarine in April 1934 as Offiziersanwärter. He trained at the Naval Academy Mürwik, served aboard the Panzerschiff Admiral Scheer and the Linienschiff Schleswig-Holstein, participating in the opening action at Westerplatte in September 1939, and later became II. and then I. Wachoffizier on U-124 under Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Schulz and Kapitänleutnant Johann Mohr. In November 1941 he attended the Kommandantenlehrgang and on 21 February 1942 commissioned the Type IXC boat U-515 as its first Kommandant, assigned to the 10. U-Boots-Flottille. On his first two Feindfahrten he sank ten ships totaling 71 677 GRT, including the destroyer depot ship Hecla and the passenger liner Ceramic on 7 December 1942 west of the Azores; for these successes he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 17 December 1942 as Oberleutnant zur See zur Verwendung. During his third patrol, on the night of 30 April to 1 May 1943, Henke attacked convoy TS-37 some ninety miles south of Freetown and in the space of eight hours sank eight merchant vessels amounting to 49 456 tons, an action that, together with further sinkings raising his score by another thirteen ships of 81 373 GRT, earned him the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz on 4 July 1943 as Kapitänleutnant zur Verwendung, the 257th award of the decoration. Overall he was credited with approximately twenty-five ships of some 155 000 BRT. On 9 April 1944 U-515 was sunk north of Madeira by aircraft from the escort carrier USS Guadalcanal and depth charges from four destroyer escorts; Henke and forty-three crewmen were captured. Fearing extradition to Britain over false accusations arising from the Ceramic sinking, he attempted to climb the fence of the Fort Hunt interrogation center on 15 June 1944 and was shot dead by a guard. He was posthumously promoted to Korvettenkapitän and is buried at Fort George G. Meade.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_U-boat_Flotilla
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