- Peter Cszhech
Kapitanleutnant Peter Zschech (?–October 24 ,1943 ) was the second commander of the Germansubmarine U-505, which was captured by the U.S. Navy. He is notorious for being the only known German officer to commitsuicide in battle duringWorld War II .Fact|date=September 2007"U-505"'s first and very successful commander was Kapitanleutnant
Axel Löwe , who was relieved for illness in October 1942. Löwe was replaced by Zschech, a veteran U-boat officer, who served for a year as watch officer in "U-124". Zschech was a "hard" commander, ambitious in his first command,indifferent to the morale of his men, and bad-tempered.On
November 11 ,1942 , a month into her first war patrol under Zschech, "U-505" was heavily damaged by air attack in theCaribbean Sea . The deck guns were torn from the boat and the hull was breached. Zschech ordered his men to abandon ship but his officers refused and managed to keep her afloat.Fact|date=September 2007 She became the most heavily damaged U-boat to return to port.Fact|date=September 2007"U-505" returned to
Lorient onDecember 12 . Repairs took six months. Then when Zschech took her to sea, mechanical failures forced him to turn back for repairs after only a few days. This happened six more times, usually due to sabotage by French dockyard workers in the Resistance.On
October 10 ,1943 "U-505" finally got to sea. But after only 14 days, she came underdepth charge attack from an Allied destroyer. Zschech broke down and committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. His second-in-command,Oberleutnant Paul Meyer, took command, escaped from the attack and returned the boat to port.Zschech’s collapse devastated the morale of "U-505"’s crew. But
Grossadmiral Karl Doenitz did not break up the crew, fearing the effect on fleet morale if the story spread. Thus when "U-505" was attacked on her next patrol, the crew panicked almost at once. The captain surfaced and abandoned ship, leading to "U-505"’s capture.References
*cite book
last = Gallery
first = Daniel
authorlink = Daniel V. Gallery
title = "U-505"
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