Joachim Schepke

German World War II U-boat commander

61°N 12°W / 61°N 12°W / 61; -12Allegiance

Weimar Republic (to 1933)

Nazi GermanyService/branch

Reichsmarine

KriegsmarineYears of service1930–41RankKapitänleutnantCommands heldU-3
U-19
U-100Battles/warsWorld War IIAwardsKnight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

Joachim Schepke (8 March 1912 – 17 March 1941) was a German U-boat commander during World War II. He was the seventh recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.^[1]

Schepke is credited with having sunk 36 Allied ships. During his career, he gained notoriety among fellow U-boat commanders for exaggerating the tonnage of ships sunk.

Career

Schepke joined the Reichsmarine in 1930. In 1934, he was assigned to the newly created U-boat arm, and in 1938 he commanded U-3. After a short stint commanding U-19 and serving in a staff position, Schepke received the command of U-100, a Type VIIB boat. After 5 patrols in U-100 she was heavily damaged on 17 March 1941 by depth charges from HMS Walker and Vanoc while attacking Convoy HX 112. U-100 was forced to surface and was detected on radar and rammed by Vanoc. Schepke and most of the crew died.

Schepke claimed to have sunk 37 ships, for a total of 213,310 gross register tons (GRT) and damaged 4 more. If true, this would have made him the third skipper to have sunk over 200,000 tons. While he definitely sank 36 ships, he was known throughout the fleet to exaggerate his tonnage claims; other U-boat men came to use the expression "Schepke tonnage" in reference to this. Nonetheless, at one point Schepke ranked first in number of ships sunk, and was recommended by Admiral Dönitz for the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves.^[2]

Awards

Iron Cross (1939)
- 2nd Class ^[3]
- 1st Class (27 February 1940)^[3]^[4]
U-Boat War Badge (1939) (3 January 1940 – 30 April 1940)^[3]
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
- Knight's Cross on 24 September 1940 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-100^[5]^[6]
- 7th Oak Leaves on 1 December 1940 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-100^[5]^[7]

References

Citations

^ Williamson & Bujeiro 2004, pp. 3, 7.
^ Blair 1996, p. 218.
^ ^a ^b ^c Busch & Röll 2003, p. 71.
^ Thomas 1998, p. 252.
^ ^a ^b Scherzer 2007, p. 659.
^ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 376.
^ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 53.

Bibliography

Blair, Clay (1996). Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters 1939-1942. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-58839-8.
Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (2003). 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] (in German). Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn Germany: Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn. ISBN 978-3-8132-0515-2.
Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [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] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
Fuhren, Franz (1943). Kapitänleutnant Schepke erzählt. Mit einem Geleitwort von Großadmiral Dönitz. Minden: Köhler Verlag.
Hadley, Michael L. (1995). Count Not the Dead: The Popular Image of the German Submarine. Montreal, Quebec: McGill-Queen's Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-6526-5.
Rohwer, Jürgen (1999). Axis submarine successes of World War Two: German, Italian, and Japanese submarine successes, 1939-1945. Greenhill Books. ISBN 978-1557500298.
Schepke, Joachim (1940). U-Boot-Fahrer von heute. Erzählt und gezeichnet von einem U-Boot-Kommandanten. Berlin, Deutscher Verlag 1940
Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
Thomas, Franz (1998). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 2: L–Z [The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 2: L–Z] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2300-9.

Williamson, Gordon; Bujeiro, Ramiro (2004). Knight's Cross and Oak Leaves Recipients 1939–40. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-641-6.