Josef Röther

[Terrence]

I am looking for information on a u-boat commander, Kapitanleutnant Joseph Rother. He was in command of U-380 from its commissioning on December 22, 1941 to his departure from it in November 1943. He completed 11 sailings while on U-380 (8 were in the Mediterranean) for a total of three ships sunk (21,241 tons) and an additional one damaged for 7,191 tons. He also rescued five German soldiers who were escaping from Tunisia in a small boat and brought them to port in La Spezia, Italy May 16, 1943. He received the German cross in gold on November 19, 1943. U-380 has Olympic rings depicted on the conning tower suggesting he may have been part of the class of 1936. Given his rank of Kapitanleutnant while in command of U-380, this makes some sense. I have no information on him previous to his assignment or after his departure on U-380 and receipt of the German cross.

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Suggestions on where I can find more information on this fellow??

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Best regards,

Terrence

[Terrence]

I have been through a whole bunch of books and I have still reached the limit of what I was able to find. As this is my first "person" search, I would appreciate any sugestions on who/where to ask next.

Terrence

[Terrence]

Hey guys,


Somebody say something....please

[Rick Research]

Patience! Patience! He's not GOING anywhere!

Part of the problem, of course, is the poorly written THREAD SUBJECT line. If it had said "? On Uboat Commander Name Name" that would CERTAINLY have gotten all the attention you wanted, right away! With hundreds of posts to check, you always have to FOCUS yours to get the RIGHT attention. (There is NOTHING worse than those "Look At This" or "Help Needed" ones... skip 'em, skip 'em...)

Born in Iserlohn 7 October 1907. "German U-Boat Commanders of World War II" says he joined the navy in 1927, as does "Axis Submarine Successes." If so, it was in the ranks.

He had been commissioned Leutnant zur See before 1.1.39, but is NOT listed--at all-- in the '37 Navy Rank List. This suggests a career 12 year Petty Officer commissioned from the ranks.

Kapitänleutnant zur See 1 July 1941 #3, tucked in for seniority with the "Crew" of 1933-- which he was NOT a cadet member of.

First Officer netlayer "Genua" September 1939 to June 1940
Commander of the Outpost Flotilla for Oslo Harbor defenses June 1940 to March 1941, then submarine training and etc.

Prisoner of war 21 August 1944 on the Staff of 29th Submarine Flotilla NOT on a sub-- but I don't know where that would have been that he was captured on LAND, apparently. The only place that date would seem to indicate would be the Black Sea forces in Rumania, unless he was caught in the south of France. I have no references on WW2 Kregsmarine UNIT placements.

He was NOT a member of the post war German Naval Officers' Association (MOHeV)

He died 20 February 1988 according to "The Uboat Net" where you will find an incredibly tiny photo of him--

http://uboat.net/men/commanders/r.htm

Pick letter "R" and run down to "Rot..."

They should also be able to tell you WHERE 29th Flotilla was.

Our "library" starts at

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...598#post176598

BTW, he was married before 1939. His wife Karla was born 5 October 19XX.

[Terrence]

Dear Rick,

Thank you so very much. Yes, a better title would have helped greatly. Lesson learned. I had only intended for someone with experience to point me to a set of resources. You provided me with a great deal of information. Thank you for taking the time to look some of this up. If I could trouble you with book references I will try to purchase some of these books. Hopefully, in time I will be able to help others as my knowledge base grows.

The 29th flotilla spent its last days in Toulon. I will have to look to see when this base was overrun by the allied forces. With 12 completed u-boat patrols, I suspected he became part of command and staff. I was very suprised to see he was most likely not a student in the class of 1936. Which leaves the question, why were there olympic rings painted on the tower of u-380? Could his first officer have been in the class of "36?" Would this have warrented painting the rings on the conning tower?

Thanks again

Best regards,
Terrence

[Rick Research]

Rainer Busch & Hans-Joachim Röll, "German U-Boat Commanders of World War II: A Biographical Dictionary," 1999 joint (?) publication of Greenhill Books, London and the Naval Institute Press, Annapolis. ISBN British 1-85367-366-8, American ISBN 1-55750-186-6

originally published in Germany 1996 as "Die Deutschen U-Boot-Kommandanten" by good old "official" gubamints (they come, they go... the printer stays the same! ) Verlag E. S. Mittler & Sohn.

Jürgen Rohwer, "Axis Submarine Successes 1939-1945," English transalation 1983 by the Naval Institute Press (ISBN 0-87021-082-3) from the 1968 J.F. Lehmanns Verlag edition "Die U-Boot-Erfolge Der Achsenmachte 1939-45."

U-380 was lost, bombed at the Toulon docks (shades of "Das Boot!") by USAAF bombers at noon on 11 March 1944, with only one crewmember killed, so I suppose this was a "lucky ship" considering how many were destroyed "all crew lost." I didn't think Röther would have been ashore almost a year later but still in the same unit! (Dieter Jung and Martin Maass, "German Warships 1815-1945, Volume Two: U-Boats and Mine Warfare Vessels," Naval Institute Press translation no date (after 1985) ISBN 1-55750-301-X and Paul Kemp, "U-Boats Destroyed: German Submarine Losses in the World Wars," Arms & Armour, London, 1999 ISBN 1-85409-515-3)

For things like wives' birthdays you have to go to the originals! (Leutnant und Frau Röther then resided at Düppelstraße 83, Kiel)

[Svante]

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