Group to crewmember of U-121 and U-968

[Ian Jewison 134]

I've had this group sometime and was very pleased to get it as I corresponded many years ago with the U-Boat commander.

A nice group to Mechaniker Obermaat (Torpedo) Willi Lüders who served aboard U-121 (training boat) and U-968 (front boat) under Oberleutnant zur See Otto Westphalen RKT.

Inside covers shows a replaced photo which was common for Kriegsmarine, generally showing awards or promotion. Of course unlike Heer, Luftwaffe, and SS Soldbücher the Kriegsmarine Soldbuch was issued with a photo.
Page 1 bears a large red "U" denoting U-Boat personnel.

Page 3 bears the FP Nr. 51536 which corresponds with U-Boot 968 against his promotion and the authorsing signature of Oberleutnant zur See und Kommandant Otto Westphalen RKT.

Page 4 again has Westphalen's signature again his awards.

U-Boat Badge and EK II awarded 11.9.1944, 1 day after putting into port after U-968s second patrol. This should have been the third patrol, however she left Narvik on 17.7.1944 and was sighted on the 18th by a B-24 Liberator of 85 Sqn. (Fl/Lt W F J Harwood). Two depth charge attacks were made in the face of heavy flak and the aircraft was shot down. Six of her crew were picked up my Catalina three days later.
On the morning of the 19th however, she was damaged in three attacks by another Liberator. One crewman was killed and 6 wounded. The boat had to put in for repairs on 21.7.1944 at Bogenbucht.

U-Boat Bar in Bronze was awarded 22.2.1945, 2 days after putting into Kilbotn after her fifth patrol. This was a successful patrol:
14.2.45: Torpedoed and damaged SS Norfjell (8129t) of Soviet convoy BK3 off Kola Inlet.
14.2.45: Torpedoed and damaged US Liberty ship Horace Grey (7200t) of Soviet convoy BK3 off Kola Inlet.
17.2.45: Torpedoed and damaged HMS Lark (U 11) (1350t) of convoy RA64 northeast of Murmansk.
17.2.45: Torpedoed and damaged SS Thomas Scott (7176t) of convoy RA64 13 miles southwest of Kilden Island.

Iron Cross 1st Class was awarded 1.4.1945, 1 day after putting into Kilbotn after her sixth patrol:

20.3.45: Torpedoed and sunk HMS Lapwing (U 62) (1350t) of convoy JW65 north of Murmansk.
20.3.45: Torpedoed and sunk Liberty ship Thomas Donaldson of convoy JW65 20 miles from the mouth of Kola Inlet.

This was also the day that Oberleutnant zur See und Kommandant Otto Westphalen received his Ritterkreuz on deck.

Page 12 and 13 records issued of clothing of interest are some signatures. Just over half way down page 13 is that of Bootsmaat Nr. 1 Werner Hahne, he was the person killed on 19.7.1944. Underneath that of Leutnant zur See Hans Schatteburg, I Wach Offizier.

Page 14 again has Hans Schatteburg, Otto Westphalen also Leutnant zur See und Kommandant i.V. Richard Hähnelt and Sanitätsmaat Heinrich van Rassum.

Page 23-24 records his units but not much to get from that as was posted to 21 U-Flottillen (FP Nr. 11878) on 11.3.1942, of course U-121 was under this Flotilla. From there to 8 Kriegsschiffbaulehrabteilung for commissioning of U-968. On completion transferred to 5 U-Flottille on 17.3.1943 for training and sea trials prior to becoming a front boat with 13 U-Flottille on 1.3.1944.

Page 36-37 of course recorded leaves over 5 days. Leave 3 has the signature of Otto Westphalen as a Leutnant zur See und Kommandant U-121, underneath that of the later Kommandant Leutnant zur See Ewald Hülsenbeck. Two more signature of Otto Westphalen as Kommandant U-968 and leave 8 that of Oberleutnant zur See und Kommandant i.V. Claus-Dieter Oelschlägel.

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[Ian Jewison 134]

Also with the following citations:

Citation for the shooting lanyard 1st grade. Dated 25.9.1939 and signed by Korvettenkapitän Hans-Caspar von Schönermark DKiG.

Citation for the U-Boat Badge. Dated 11.9.1944 and signed by Fregattenkapitän Reinhard Suhren RK m.EL u.S.

Citation for the Iron Cross 2nd Class. Dated 11.9.1944 and signed by Fregattenkapitän Hans Eckermann.

Citation for the U-Boat Bar in Bronze. Dated 22.2.1945 and signed by Fregattenkapitän Rolf Rüggeberg.

Copy photo of Lüders wearing awards except EK I. Also his business card.

Signed photo of Otto Westphalen RKT. Also his business card.

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[Ian Jewison 134]

And lastly a book written by Willi Lüders: “Tatsachenbericht eines U-Bootfahrers 1942-1945” - "Factual report of a submariner 1942-1945". Written according to the records of the diary.

For more info on U-968 you can look here: http://www.ubootarchiv.de/ubootwiki/index.php/U_968

Enjoy!
Ian

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[Alberto 127]

Great grouping Ian!

soldbuch,citations,foto,lots of awards,a good bunch of sunk ships...

Super super nice!!!

[Michael1000 170]

Wow, this group is extraordinary. I am not so much interested in u-boats normally but all those sunk ships in 1945 (!) caught my eye. I thought that U-968 must have been one of the new designs to make that possible but it seems it was just a normal type VIIC with an aggressive commander and surely also a good bit of luck. I can only recommend spending a few minutes and reading the stroy of the boat in the internet - it is impressive. No surprise you are happy with that group!!!

By the way, we were recently talking about the habit of the KM to replace soldbuch pictures. Do you know of an official reason for that?

[Ian Jewison 134]

2 hours ago, Michael1000 said:

By the way, we were recently talking about the habit of the KM to replace soldbuch pictures. Do you know of an official reason for that?

I don't know if there was any official order that came out in respect of changing photos but it was more common with Kriegsmarine as they were issued with a photo. First ones I seem to remember are from April/May 1941. Prior to that the Truppenausweis was used, or if you were land based Kriegsmarine then ordinary Heer Soldbücher were used.

I have the book on KM orders for 1941 and 1943....I remember the KM Soldbuch didn't get a mention until something like November 1941.

Will take a look later.

I have a KM Soldbuch where the photo was changed just for promotion if I remember correctly but it was nice as it came with the removed photo as well!

[Bart V. 770]

Ian, this is such a great grouping you've posted as Michael already said with all those ships sunk in 1945, in those end years after the Enigma was cracked the U-boats were more hunted than they were the hunters, which they were early in the war. Getting so much kills in 1945 is impressive! Thanks for sharing and showing our Forum!

[J Slavick 35]

Ian:

Beautiful, beautiful and historic -- complete set.  Thank you so much for sharing. 

Enjoyed it greatly!

Joe

[Eric JB 1,413]

Hi Ian,

I do remember asking you "did you see this grouping" , you did have a look at the link I showed you and your reply was, "looked at it and bought it"
Again congratulations with buying such an outstanding uboat grouping.
Thank you for showing us your grouping -  a real pleasure to look at, and for the informative writing.

Best regards

Eric-Jan

[Ian Jewison 134]

After nearly five years I found a signed copy of his book

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[Richard Auld 162]

5 years is a long time, glad you got it!

Best

Rich