Heinrich Lehmann Willenbrock
Fregattenkapitn Heinrich LehmannWillenbrock was a German naval officer and submarine commander during World War II. He was sixth among the top ten Aces of the Deep during the Battle of the Atlantic against the Allies, in terms of tonnage of merchant ships sunk. He commanded four Uboats, and his most notable and successful tour was commanding the U96 a Type VIIC Uboat, which gained widespread recognition when one of its patrols was documented and publicized by an accompanying war correspondent LotharGnther Buchheim. He was awarded the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves for his achievements as a Uboat commander. The story of the U96 was eventually made into a miniseries and film called Das Boot, in which he was portrayed by Jrgen Prochnow.
LehmannWillenbrock was born onDecember 1911 in Bremen, German Empire. He joined the Reichsmarine of the Weimar Republic in April 1931 as a member Crew 1931 , with the rank of Seekadett, serving on a light cruiser and a sailing school ship before he transferred to the UBoatwaffe in April 1939, five months before World War II began. Upon serving as an executive officer on U8, he was promoted to Kapitnleutnant and took command of U5 in December 1939. Both U8 and U5 were Type II submarines. His first patrol, which lasteddays, was along the coast of Norway during Operation Hartmut, the Uboat operation in support of the invasion of Norway. No ships were sunk.
Source: Wikipedia