German U- Boat U-564

U-564 was a Type VIIC U-boat built by Blohm and Voss, in Hamburg. Commissioned 03 Apr 41. U-564 conducted nine patrols & compiled a record of 19 ships sunk & five ships damaged. On 13 Jun 43, U-564 shot down an RAF Sunderland patrol a/c from 228 Sqn. U-546 was sunk the following day at 1730, on 14 Jun 43, north-west of Cape Ortegal, Spain, in position 44.17N, 010.25W, by depth charges from a British 'Whitley' patrol a/c from 10 OTU. There were 18 casualties from U-564's crew of 46 men. Reinhard Suhren was born in 1916, at Langenschwalbach, Taunus. He joined the navy in 1935 & transferred to the U-boat force in Mar 38. He spent a year as the First Weapons Officer on the very successful U-48, where he received the Knight's Cross. In April 1941 he took command of U-564, & in August 1941 he sank the Flower-class corvette HMS Zinnia. Suhren compiled a record of 19 ships sunk for a total of 96,444 tons & damaged five ships for a further 31,036 tons making him the fourth-highest scoring U-boat 'ace' of the war. On 01 Sep 1942, he was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, the second-highest award of which 150 were given; only 4 were awarded to U-boat men. On Oct 42 he left the boat and became an instructor in the 2nd U-boat Training Division. Later, he served in the 27th U-boat flotilla along with Korvettenkapitän Erich Topp. During the last year of the war Fregattenkapitän, Suhren was the Commander in Chief of U-boats in Norwegian waters & from Sep 44 the Commander in Chief of the North Sea area. Reinhard Suhren survived the war & died on 25 Aug 84, in Hamburg