Reinhard Johann Heinz Paul Anton Suhren (16 April 1916 – 25 August 1984) was a German U-boat commander in World War II and younger brother of Korvettenkapitän (Ing.) and Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipient Gerd Suhren.
Suhren was born in Langenschwalbach, the second of four children, and grew up in the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. He joined the navy in 1935 and began his U-boat career in March 1938. He spent a year as 1st watch officer on where he received the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross for his contribution in the sinking of of merchant shipping. In April 1941 he took command of . As a commander, he is credited with the sinking of 18 merchant vessels of , 1 warship of and damaged four merchant vessels of for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.
Suhren left the boat and became an instructor in October 1942. He then served in the 27th U-boat Flotilla along with Korvettenkapitän Erich Topp. During the last year of the war Fregattenkapitän Suhren was the Führer der Unterseeboote Norwegen (Leader of U-boats in Norwegian waters) and from September 1944 the Commander-in-Chief of U-boats of the North Sea. After the war he worked in the petroleum industry and died of stomach cancer on 25 August 1984.
Childhood, education and early career Suhren was born on 16 April 1916 in Langenschwalbach in the Taunus in his grandmothers house. He was the second child of Geert Suhren and his wife Ernestine Ludovika Suhren, née Ludovika. Suhren had an older brother Gerd and a younger brother Ernst, and sister Almut. He received his Abitur from the Landständischen Oberschule in Bautzen. Prior to graduation, during his last summer vacation, Suhren was allowed and accepted at a sailing course at the Hanseatic Yacht School in Neustadt in Holstein. The course had some paramilitary components and learning to march was one of them. During one of these marches the boy behind Suhren yelled out: "Hey Reinhard, when I look at you marching, it reminds me of a Teddy bear." Later, the same boy met Suhren again during basic military training and greeted Suhren with the words: "Hey, Teddy, you're here too?" The nickname "Teddy" would stick with him from then on.
He began his naval career with the Reichsmarine on 5 April 1935 as a member of "Crew 35" (the incoming class of 1935).The German Reichsmarine was renamed to Kriegsmarine on 1 June 1935. 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 (5 April 1935 – 17 June 1935).2nd company—2. Kompanie2nd department—II. Abteilungstanding ship division—Schiffsstammdivision He was then transferred to the school ship Gorch Fock (18 June 1935 – 26 September 1935) attaining the rank of Seekadett (midshipman) on 25 September 1935. Following his promotion he was posted to the light cruiser (27 September 1935 – 16 June 1936).
Suhren sailed on Emdens sixth training cruise, which started on 23 October 1935 and took him and her crew to the Azores, West Indies and Venezuela, through the Panama Canal to Guayaquil, where they celebrated Christmas. The journey then continued to Puerto San José and Portland, Oregon to Honolulu. From Honolulu they continued to Middle America, back through the Panama Canal and after visiting a few harbours in the West Indies to Baltimore and Montreal. Their final stopover was Pontevedra, Spain before they returned home on 11 June 1936.
Following his journey on Emden, Suhren attended the main cadet course at the Naval Academy Mürwik (20 June 1936 – 31 March 1937).main cadet course—Hauptlehrgang für Fähnriche This course was briefly interrupted for two navigational training courses, the first on the tender Nordsee (10–15 August 1936) and the second on the steamer Hecht (16–21 November 1936). During this time frame at the naval academy he advanced in rank to Fähnrich zur See (officer cadet) on 1 July 1936. His military career almost came to an unexpected end on Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), the highlight of the German "Karneval" (carnival), 8 February 1937. The cadets of "Crew 1935" had been given special leave to celebrate carnival. Every company had to be back at the academy by 6:00, except for Suhren's company, who had to return by 5:00. Suhren missed the curfew and was reported to the company chief. Naval cadets at the time were rated on scale of 1 to 9 regarding the service worthiness (Diensttüchtigkeit). Prior to this incidence, Suhren was rated at 7.5, which had placed him at the top of his class. After this incidence, he was down rated to 4, later corrected to 5, which then placed him last in his class. The service worthiness rating in combination with the officers' final exam would determine the ranking in the navy and had implications on an officers' future naval career. Suhren was especially disappointed by the behavior of his commanding officer, his group commander Kapitänleutnant Walther Kölle. Kölle, who was present during the inquiry, could have spoken on Suhren's behalf, but chose to remain quiet.
He then underwent a number of specialized training courses which included a torpedo course in Mürwik (1 April – 19 May 1937),torpedo course for cadets—Torpedolehrgang für Fähnriche an anti-aircraft artillery course at Wilhelmshaven (20 May – 7 June 1937),anti-aircraft artillery course for cadets—Fla-Waffenlehrgang für Fähnriche a pathfinder course for cadets at Kiel-Wik (8–12 June 1937),pathfinder course for cadets—Sperrlehrgang für Fähnriche a communication course for cadets at Mürwik again (13 June – 3 July 1937),communication course for cadets—Nachrichtenlehrgang für Fähnriche a naval infantry course for cadets at Stralsund (4–28 July 1937),infantry course for cadets—Infanterielehrgang für Fähnriche and lastly an artillery course for cadets at Kiel-Wik (29 July – 2 October 1937).artillery course for cadets—Artillerielehrgang für Fähnriche Suhren was then transferred to the destroyer Z3 Max Schultz (3 October 1937 – 29 March 1938) for further ship based training. On this assignment he was promoted to Oberfähnrich zur See (Senior Ensign) on 1 January 1938.
Max Schultz at the time was under the command of Korvettenkapitän (Corvette Captain) Martin Baltzer. Baltzer would later be promoted in rank to Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) and hold the position of chief of the Marinepersonalamt (Naval Personnel Office) in the Oberkommando der Marine. Suhren and Baltzer did not share a positive personal relationship during their career. According to Suhren, their conflict began during their mutual time on Max Schultz. Suhren claimed that later during his career, Baltzer personally prevented him from advancing in rank to Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea).
Suhren career with the U-boat force started on 30 March 1938 with his assignment to the U-boat school. In parallel he attended another torpedo course (30 March – 11 June 1938) at Flensburg. He was promoted to Leutnant zur See (Second Lieutenant) on 1 April 1938. His training at the U-boat school included a specialized U-boat Torpedo Officer course (13 June – 2 July 1938) and U-boat course (3 July – 28 August 1938) which concluded his stay at the U-boat school. As a second Watch Officer he served on , and , under the command of Günther Prien, from 6 November 1938 to 21 April 1939 in the Wegener Flotilla.
World War II The German invasion of Poland began on 1 September 1939, and marked the beginning of World War II in Europe. Suhren spent one and a half years as first Watch Officer on (22 April 1939 – 9 November 1940) going on nine war patrols. Here he served under the command of Herbert Schultze on five war patrols, under Hans-Rudolf Rösing on two war patrols, and under Heinrich Bleichrodt for a further two war patrols. Otto Ites was the second Watch Officer and Horst Hofmann the coxswain on all of these patrols, and Erich Zürn was the chief engineer on all but three patrols. Suhren received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross () for assisting in the sinking of of allied shipping. The award had been requested by Bleichrodt on account of his Knight's Cross presentation by Karl Dönitz, at the time Vizeadmiral and Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote (Commander of the Submarines). Bleichrodt expressed that he would refuse to wear his Knight's Cross if Suhren was not also honoured. He argued that the success of U-48 was more so attributed to Suhren than himself as commander. The request, with the support of Engelbert Endrass, was approved and the Knight's Cross was presented by Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, the 2nd Admiral of the U-boats and responsible for staffing.
On this occasion Suhren inquired when he would be given command of his own U-boat. Von Friedburg responded that Dönitz had given the order that a U-boat commander had to be at least 25 years of age before receiving his own command. Suhren was still six months shy of this criterion and had to be "parked" before he could take command of a U-boat. To breach this period (10 November 1940 – 2 March 1941), he was sent to lecture at the torpedo firing school of the 24th U-boat Flotilla in Memel, present-day Klaipėda. At the same time he was listed as a commander-in-training. While serving on U-48, a total of 119 torpedoes were fired; 65 torpedoes were aimed and fired by Suhren while U-48 was surfaced, 30 of which found their mark.
Command of U-564 In April 1941 he took command of , a Type VIIC U-boat. Construction training began at the Blohm & Voss shipbuilding works in Hamburg on 3 March 1941. A month later, on 3 April, U-564 was commissioned into the 1st U-boat Flotilla. Work-up and training was done with AGRU-Front in Hela in the Eastern Baltic Sea.Technische Ausbildungsgruppe für Front U-Boote—technical training group for front-line U-boats Suhren's chief engineer (Leitender Ingenieur) on U-564 was Oberleutnant zur See (Ing.) Ulrich Gabler. After World War II, Gabler became one of the leading experts on conventional submarine construction and honorary professor at the University of Hamburg for shipbuilding. Suhren had recommended Gabler for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, a request that was turned down and Gabler received the German Cross in Gold () on 15 October 1942. U-564 was in Gotenhafen, present-day Gdynia, when on 5 May, Adolf Hitler and Wilhelm Keitel, with a large entourage, arrived to visit the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz, which were also in Gotenhafen at the time. Suhren, and his brother Gerd, who also happened to be in Gotenhafen at the time, both already decorated with the Knight's Cross, were invited to lunch with Hitler and his entourage.
Suhren's first patrol (17 June 1941 – 27 July 1941) as a commander, his tenth overall, took U-564 from Kiel to Brest. On this patrol into the North Atlantic he was credited with sinking three ships of and further damaging one ship of .
On his second patrol (16 August 1941 – 27 August 1941) from Brest he sank two ships of and the British corvette , of .
Third patrol and Oak Leaves
Following his third patrol (16 September 1941 – 1 November 1941) Suhren was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves () on 31 December 1941. The patrol had left Brest and headed for the North Atlantic, North Channel, before Gibraltar, and Cape Trafalgar. U-564 was resupplied with fuel at Cádiz, Spain before arriving in Lorient, France. On this patrol he was credited with sinking three ships of , including the on 24 October 1941.
Fourth patrol The fourth patrol (11 January 1942 – 6 March 1942) left Lorient on 11 January 1942 and took U-564 to La Pallice on 12 January. They left La Pallice again on 18 January heading for the East Coast of the United States and arrived in Brest on 6 March 1942. On this patrol he sank one ship of and damaged another of . Suhren had to abort the patrol prematurely as the muzzle doors of the torpedo tubes had been damaged in a collision with off of Cape Hatteras.
Fifth patrol