Hans-Gunther Lange German submarine officer, lieutenant commander Date of Birth: 28.09.1916 Country: Germany

Biography of Hans-Günther Lange

Hans-Günther Lange was a German submarine officer, a captain-lieutenant (as of August 1, 1944), and a participant in World War II. He joined the navy as a cadet on September 1, 1937. On August 1, 1939, he was promoted to lieutenant. He served on the destroyer "Jaguar." On September 1, 1941, he was transferred to the submarine fleet. As the first watch officer, he made a campaign in the Mediterranean Sea on the U-431 submarine. In July 1942, he was transferred to the 24th submarine flotilla. On September 26, 1942, he was appointed commander of the U-711 submarine, on which he completed 12 missions (spending a total of 304 days at sea).

The main area of ​​operations for U-711 was the Arctic waters, where Lange operated against Allied convoys. In the autumn of 1943, he operated as part of the "Viking" submarine group, in March-April 1944 - the "Blitz" group, and in April-May 1944 - the "Kiel" group. Three times Lange attacked small Soviet radio stations located on the islands of the Barents Sea (Pravda, Blagopoluchiya, Sterligova). On August 23, 1944, Lange attacked the Soviet battleship "Arkhangelsk" and the Soviet destroyer "Zorkiy," and three days later, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

On September 21, 1944, as part of the "Griffon" group, he participated in the attack on the Soviet convoy VD-1 (4 transports, 5 minesweepers, 2 destroyers). On February 16, 1945, in the area of ​​the Bear Island, Lange sank the British corvette "Bluebell" (925 tons) with a performance of the "Flight of the Valkyries" by an ensemble of 8 pianos. In March-April 1945, he took part in the attacks on convoys JW-65 and JW-66. On April 29, 1945, he received oak leaves to the Knight's Cross.

On May 4, 1945, Lange's submarine was sunk by British aviation off the coast of Norway; 40 people died, and 12 people, including Lange, were taken prisoner. He was released in August 1945. In October 1957, he joined the Federal Republic of Germany Navy and participated in the development of new types of submarines. He commanded the 1st submarine squadron. Starting from January 1964, he served as the commander of the submarine fleet, and later held high staff positions. In 1972, he retired.