Albrecht Brandi


Albrecht Brandi was a German U-boat commander in Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. Together with Wolfgang Lüth, he was the only Kriegsmarine sailor who was awarded with the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. The Knight's Cross, and its variants were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. Brandi is credited with the sinking of eight merchant ships for a total of, one auxiliary warship of, and three warships of.
Brandi, the son of the industrial-manager Ernst Brandi, was born in Dortmund, Germany and grew up in the Weimar Republic. After the rise of the Third Reich in 1933, he joined the navy in 1935. Following service on minesweepers, Brandi began his U-boat career in April 1941. He first served as a commander-in-training on, which was commanded by Erich Topp, before taking command of in April 1942 on seven war patrols, all but one in the Mediterranean theater of operations. On 12 September 1943, U-617 came under aerial attack off the Moroccan coast. U-617 was severely damaged forcing Brandi to beach the boat. The crew abandoned ship and were interned by Spanish forces. Brandi escaped internment and returned to Germany, where he was given command of which he took on one patrol before the submarine was destroyed in an aerial attack while at port in Toulon. He was then given command of. After one patrol, Brandi was appointed chief of U-boat operations in the eastern Baltic Sea. In January 1945, Brandi was placed in charge of the Marinekleinkampfverbände in the Netherlands where he surrendered to Canadian forces at the end of the war.
Following his release from captivity in September 1945, Brandi became a bricklayer and then studied architecture. For three years he served as chairman of the Association of German Architects. Brandi fell ill and died suddenly on 6 January 1966 at a hospital in Cologne and was buried with military honors in Dortmund.

Early life and career

Brandi was born on 20 June 1914 in Dortmund at the time in the Province of Westphalia, a province of the Kingdom of Prussia. He was the sixth and youngest child of Ernst Brandi, a mining director and board member of the Vereinigte Stahlwerke, and his wife Clara, née Jucho. Following graduation with his Abitur from a Gymnasium, he joined the Reichsmarine on 1 April 1935 as a member of "Crew 35".
He received his military basic training in the 2nd company in the 2nd department of the standing ship division of the Baltic Sea in Stralsund. He was then transferred to the school ship Gorch Fock attaining the rank of Seekadett on 25 September 1935. Following his promotion he was posted to the light cruiser . Brandi sailed on Karlsruhe fifth training cruise, which started on 21 October 1935 in Kiel and ended on 13 June 1936. The journey took him and her crew to Tenerife, São Tomé, Lobito, Durban, Port Victoria on the Seychelles, Batavia present-day Jakarta, Iloilo City on the Philippines, Hong Kong, various Japanese ports, Dutch Harbor on the Aleutian Islands, San Diego, through the Panama Canal and via Saint Thomas and Pontevedra back to Kiel.
Following his journey on Karlsruhe, Brandi attended the main cadet course at the Naval Academy Mürwik. During this time frame at the naval academy he advanced in rank to Fähnrich zur See on 1 July 1936. Starting on 1 April, he underwent a number of specialized weapons training courses for cadets at Mürwik. Brandi was then transferred to the minesweeper M-125, serving as third watch officer. On 2 October 1937, he then transferred to the minesweeper, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Hans Bartels, in the 1. Minensuchflottille, again holding the position of a watch officer. On this assignment he was promoted to Oberfähnrich zur See on 1 January 1938 and to Leutnant zur See on 1 April 1938.

World War II

At the outbreak of World War II, Brandi continued to serve on minesweeper M-1 under Bartels. M-1 transported the Marinestosstruppkompanie, a reinforced naval infantry platoon, to the battleship prior to the attack of the Polish base at Danzig's Westerplatte in the early morning hours of 1 September 1939. On 1 October 1939, he was promoted to Oberleutnant zur See. Following the Invasion of Poland, M-1 undertook various minefield clearing operations in the North and Baltic Sea. On 24 February 1940, without prior warning, M-1 rammed and sank four Esbjerg based Danish trawlers, Ejjam, Gerlis, Mercator and Polaris in the vicinity of the Dogger Bank. Bartels reported to his superiors that no one was rescued due to "military reasons"; 16 fishermen from the then neutral Denmark lost their lives. In April 1940 on M-1, Brandi participated in Operation Weserübung, Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway, and was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross.
On 25 May 1940, Brandi was appointed commander of M-1. In this command position, Brandi came into contact with the U-boat arm, providing escort duty to U-boats leaving and returning to port. He applied for service with U-boat arm but was rejected at first. In April 1941, Brandi applied again, was accepted and started his U-boat training at the Naval Academy Mürwik which he completed on 24 December 1941 at Neustadt in Holstein. On 25 December 1941, Brandi became a Kommandantenschüler aboard, which was commanded by Kapitänleutnant Erich Topp, for one war patrol. On this patrol before the coast of Newfoundland, U-552 sank three ships, the British Dayrose on 15 January, the US Frances Salman and the Greek Maro on 18 January. On 28 January 1942, Brandi was stationed at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, for familiarization with, a Type VIIC U-boat. On 9 April 1942, Brandi commissioned U-617 in Kiel and completed various trainings with this boat in the 5th U-boat Flotilla.

First patrol, Wolfpack ''Pfeil''

For his first patrol, Brandi left Kiel in August 1942, operating in the Western Approaches before arriving at St. Nazaire, France in October. There U-617 was subordinated to the 7th U-boat Flotilla. On this patrol, Brandi claimed four merchant ships sunk. On 7 September, Brandi sank his first ship, the Faroes trawler Tor II. U-617 was then part of Wolfpack Pfeil, which also included,,,,, and, and operated against Convoy SC 100. On the night 22/23 September, Brandi sank one ship, the tanker Athelsultan, and on the following day two stragglers for. One of the stragglers sunk by Brandi on 23 September was the formerly Danish steamer Tennessee. The other straggler, the Belgian steamer Roumanie, was sunk at 13:58 on 24 September, killing the master, 35 crewmen and 6 gunners; only the chief engineer survived. Brandi rescued the chief engineer in violation of the Laconia Order issued by Großadmiral Karl Dönitz. On 26 September, Brandi sighted Convoy ON 131, his attack failed due to torpedo malfunctions. On this patrol, Brandi was promoted to Kapitänleutnant on 1 October 1942. After this patrol, on 8 October 1942, he received the U-boat War Badge.

Second patrol, war in the Mediterranean Sea

On his second patrol, Brandi was ordered to the Mediterranean Sea where he was placed under the command of the 29th U-boat Flotilla. His mission in the Mediterranean theater of operations was to help secure the supply routes for the Afrikakorps in North Africa. To get to his destination Brandi had to traverse the heavily guarded Strait of Gibraltar. Brandi made the passage on 8 November 1942 submerged. Nevertheless, U-617 was discovered by a British Short Sunderland bomber which dropped two depth charges, but missed. That day, British-American forces invaded French North Africa in Operation Torch. At 11:27 on 21 November, Brandi attacked a strong British naval task force, firing a spread of four torpedoes at distance. Following the assault, U-617 came under attack. Over four hours, 80 depth charges were dropped on U-617. At 16:00 on 23 November, Brandi unsuccessfully attacked a cruiser before arriving in La Spezia on 28 November 1942. Although no ships were actually sunk that day, the Führer der Unterseeboote Italy later credited Brandi with the sinking of one cruiser of French or American origin, and one destroyer. Additionally the FdU acknowledged that Brandi had torpedoed two freighters, their sinking was assumed. The FdU denied him credit for having severely damaged a battleship.

Third patrol, Knight's Cross

On his third patrol before the coast of Cyrenaica, in December 1942, Brandi sank the ocean tug, and two merchant ships, Annitsa and Harboe Jensen on 15 January 1943. Following this patrol which ended in Salamis, the FdU credited Brandi with the destruction of one destroyer, one tug of and one lighter of unknown tonnage, all three sunk on 28 December 1942. The FdU further acknowledged the sinking of three ships on 30 December of, two ships on 13 January 1943 of, and two more ships on 15 January of. The Befehlshaber der U-Boote confirmed this assessment and credited Brandi with the sinking of eight ships totalling and one destroyer. For this achievement, Brandi was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 21 January 1943. The presentation was made by the commanding Admiral Aegean Sea, Vizeadmiral Erich Förste, in La Spezia.

Fourth patrol

During his fourth patrol which started at the Salamis Naval Base and ended in Pula, Brandi sank the British minelayer a few miles from the Maltese coast on 1 February 1943. Welshman, together with the minelayer and the mine-laying submarine, had been operating against the Axis supply route between the Gulf of Tunis and Sicily. In addition, Brandi also claimed to have sunk four ships from two convoys for a total of. Verifiable were the destruction of the Norwegian freighter Corona and Henrik, both sunk on 5 February 1943 from Convoy AW 22.